Dev blog #145
25.01.2017
Fw 190 A-3 flight model revision that we promised long time ago is nearly finished.
As we pointed earlier, flight model tuning in a sim is always a task of aircraft reconstruction with many unknown variables. Part of the data is missing and some values are just plain wrong, sometimes directly contradicting each other. And sometimes the missing data appears when an aircraft is released, that's why we need to correct FM sometimes. So, what will be changed in Fw 190 A-3 soon:
- Wing twist has been changed. The wing root had 2 degrees angle of incidence that was steadily reduced to 0 degrees at two thirds of the wing span. Because of this, stall at high angles of attack will begin near the wing root and not on the entire wing surface at once, resulting in 'softer stalling';
- Aircraft center of mass position has been corrected (it was shifted forward by several centimeters);
- Critical angle of attack and maximum lift coefficient increased. Stall speed of the aircraft decreased to 175 km/h;
- Drag at high angles of attack decreased thanks to lift/drag curve data of a trophy aircraft tests in VVS Research Institute;
- Propeller thrust decreased somewhat. Takeoff run of the aircraft with standard loadout is roughly 500 meters and takes 18 seconds, which corresponds to historical data.
Because of these changes, aircraft handling changed slightly. It stalls differently. Spending fuel affects its center-of-gravity position more. A pilot would need to use the entire range of the adjustable stabilizer depending on the flight mode for comfort handling. In the same time, aircraft speed and climb rate remained almost the same.
Meanwhile, we continue work on Fw 190 A-5. While being very similar to Fw 190 А-3 visually, it will have significantly different features and pecularities in loadouts and handling.
