Prop pitch | Forums

[SirPapps]

Hey everyone

There are tonnes of articles on how prop pitch can save your life in a fight and i was wondering what the best prop pitch settings are (during climb, low, med., high alt. cruise etc.) for my two fave planes the F6F-5 and the Spitfire Mk.VIII, 1943. I actually don't fully understand prop pitch, but i'm sure i can look that up with no problem.

Thanks!

[SirPapps]

Hey everyone

There are tonnes of articles on how prop pitch can save your life in a fight and i was wondering what the best prop pitch settings are (during climb, low, med., high alt. cruise etc.) for my two fave planes the F6F-5 and the Spitfire Mk.VIII, 1943. I actually don't fully understand prop pitch, but i'm sure i can look that up with no problem.

Thanks!

[Huxley_S]

Say you're driving your car at 70mph on the motorway in 4th gear, well your revs are going to be high and your engine is going to be running hot, noisy and using too much fuel. You should change into 5th gear.

Prop pitch is a bit like a fifth gear for your plane and you should adjust it when cruising to lower your revs and increase your speed.

You can also use prop pitch as a kind of air-brake by changing it rapidly from 100% to say 30%. Kind of like if you changed into fifth gear in a car from second gear. The benefits of using it like this depend very much on the situation. It isn't usually a good idea to bleed speed in a dogfight but sometimes it can help you pull out of a dive or gain a slight advantage in a turn.

I sometimes adjust the prop pitch to try to lose speed on approach to landing, although you should be at 100% pitch when you start to land.

Normally you would only engage the enemy at 100% pitch. The same as if you are driving down a winding country lane... you wouldn't normally do that in 5th gear because you need the torque and power of a lower gear.

Kind of.

[badatit]

These settings apply to most props in the sim. To me, pitch seems more noticeable in the in-lines than the rotories.

F6F-5
At 99 power and 100 pitch (listen to your engine) your RPM's are at close to 2700.

Reduce pitch (to 95) for 2500 RPM.
In level flight your engine runs cooler at this setting, without loss of airspeed.

With pitch set to 100, go into a dive.
Note your speed increase.

Repeat...this time reduce pitch to 94-95 and note the "increased accelleration" in a dive.
Pull out of your dive, and go into a zoom climb.
Listen to your engine.
When you hear it start to pull, smoothly increase pitch.

Your engine red-lines at 3000 RPM. Reduce pitch to keep it under red-line (in maximum dive).

For climb 97-100
For cruise 94-96 (much lower power/pitch for better fuel economy)
For dive 94- and lower (depends on RPM/air speed)

[badatit]

I did a quick test on Okinowa.
Quick mission. No other a/c.
P51D-20NA 100 fuel

Start flight, drop to deck (10-20m alt.).
power/pitch..radiator setting..best speed
99/100..open..520kph
99/95...open..530kph
99/95..closed.550kph
95/95..closed.560kph
cycle wep on and off (no overheat)570kph

If I give myself a bit of alt. to work with (say 50m), I can get this plane up to 580kph on the deck (faster on some maps).

Pitch is good.

[SirPapps]

Ah, so more rpm's is a bad thing? hmm. I think I'm starting to understand. I flew a Seafire L III (since it trains me to fly both a Spitfire and shows me how to land on a CV) to test out some settings and i was wondering... sometimes, less rpm's does mean lower speed. On take-off, how would i know that this lesser amount of rpm is benefitting me?

[badatit]

High RPM's good for climbing, not for diving.
High speed dive can over rev your engine (if using 100 pitch). Over rev (over re-line) will damage your engine.

[SirPapps]

Ah i get it. So if i was flying a Spit IX for example, i'd over-rev more eaily than in the Seafire III since the Spit IX is heavier when both are empty, right?

[badatit]

Every prop planes engine has a max rpm.
Or Combat Setting RPM

Combat setting is where the engines performance is at peak. This means max rpm...where the engine has the most power.

In combat you want max rpm, at all times, for maximum power.
Now, this dosent mean 100% power and 100% pitch at all times.
It means you "manage" your engine, to keep it at max power, or at it's "maximum performance output".

This is a combination of
Fuel Mixture setting
Multi-stage supercharger setting
Power setting
Pitch setting
Cowl Flaps setting
Boost/Wep etc.

Lets say the max rpm is 3000.
So, if your diving at 3100 rpm, your engine is taking damage. You need to get the rpm back down to max fast...reduce pitch.

If your climbing, look at the TACH., if its reading 2700 RPM, your not at max RPM...increase pitch.

[BrotherJayne]

Hmm
When I use my prop pitch it goes by increments of 5%... how do you make it do 1%?