P-47 Engine Management - DCS World 

Glad you found it helpful!

@@DieselThunderAviation you basically made me go from hating the plane thinking it's slow being frustrated to a it point where I realize it can haul ass and work at the same time 😅

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! I plan on doing more of these as I really enjoy the warbirds in DCS.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for the info on the I-16, I picked that one up a while back but never tested the bearing damage in that. From what I understand, Eagle Dynamics adjusted the bearing damage in the P-47 so it's not as bad as before. You'll still damage them, just takes longer to affect the engine. The effect still scales with severity, but you won't kill the engine with light windmilling.

My pleasure, glad you found it helpful! I plan on doing more of these warbird engine videos in the near future..

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! And I don't plan on stopping with this series. AS long as they keep developing warbirds for DCS I'll keep them coming! The next one that I'm working on is for the Spitfire.

My pleasure, glad it was helpful! If speed isn’t a concern for your mission, you can always take advantage of lean cruise and really save some fuel. I have a video specifically for fuel use here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SNKKE2OszqE.htmlsi=QsKwcLNOywg5Cn7o

@@DieselThunderAviation Sweet, I think I checked that one out, after I ran out of Fuel just after the call for RTB on Mission 1. I thought I was good this morning when I had more than Half of main tank on my way Back to base...tried to ease up on the engine by backing off the Booster...and about 5 seconds later, looks like I spun the Main Bearing. Not sure where I went wrong, my temps looked great up until then. Ah well...can't learn if you don't fail I guess. 😂

I couldn’t imagine sitting in one for hours heading into combat, managing a complex aircraft, and wondering if I’d make it back. Huge ampunt of respect for the aircrew that did it for real!

The 109 is completely different, there is no engine management to speak of. Lots of time to do other things.

Thank you! Sounds like a good way to learn, and a get the best performance out of the airplane too!

Thank you! Glad you learned from and enjoyed it!

Glad you found both the article and video helpful! The Jug is a great aircraft, and really good at ground attack. Certainly can take a bit more punishment than its liquid cooled counterparts!

Why is it call Jug, just curious

Glad you found it helpful! She is a challenging aircraft to fly, and very enjoyable!

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!

Glad you liked it!

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Glad it was helpful!

I have too watch it through again. Been ceasing my motor. Think it happens when I set prop manually and close cowls all the way.

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you! It's very enjoyable, absolutely love the level of detail they put into this!

@@DieselThunderAviation Reminds me of my Cutlass Black in Star Citizen as well. Packs a punch even when flown with a single person. Well done ship interior with all sorts of odds and ends.

Awesome, glad you found it helpful!

Thank you, glad you found it helpful!

@@DieselThunderAviation Very helpful! I watched it on replay for about 4 hours yesterday while I was learning to fly the jug. So I still have a few questions if you don't mind... Firstly, I don't think you covered what the oil dilution switch is for. Can you comment on that please? Or point me toward which section of your video does cover it if I missed it? Secondly, about using the boost under 7000 feet, I am finding that I often need to add it even at 2,000-3,000ft just to keep manifold pressure at the end of the green cruise zone (~42in) with prop RPM at near redline. What am I missing? It feels to me like adding the boost at much lower altitude is quite helpful and I'm not gated by anything else.

I did not cover that in the video, sorry. What the dilution switch does, is squirts gasoline into the engine crankcase to thin out the oil and reduce the oil pressure. As the engine comes up to operating temperature, the gas evaporates and the oil remains in the crankcase. It's normally only used when it's cold outside (winter) to manage oil pressure for warmup. For using the turbo below 7K, I normally don't unless I'm in a dogfight and need the power. My process is the same as shown in the video, after takeoff, gear comes up, and once established in the climb is when I reduce to 42 inches and 2,550 RPM. I maintain that through the climb, even though the MP does drop as you go up. Throttle up to maintain until at full throttle, which happens around 3K. Once at full throttle, I'll adjust my angle of attack as needed to maintain airspeed until at 7K, then bring up the turbo to get the MP back to 42 and continue my climb. Controlling the turbo is a bit tricky at lower altitudes since you don't need much out of it down low. It's easy to overboost when the turbo spools up to speed.

She sure does, though not something I’ve used very often.

Thank you! I certainly do enjoy both! To be fair, we are not rebuilding or overhauling the F-4. We're getting her current on her maintenance inspection and repairing things that we find that need to be corrected in order to complete it. Once that is done, we'll be able to fly her again! And yes, Haetblur's F-4E is a day one purchase for me!

@@DieselThunderAviation Who is the pilot for he f4?

I've only met one of our pilots, he's a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel with the callsign "Bluto". He flew both the F-4 and F-16 during his career.

I have the Fw-190 A8 and the komandogerat system really simplifies running that engine! And I would really like to see the P-38 in DCS one day!

​@@DieselThunderAviation I would like very very much to see a TempestV.... A totally different engine and performances ;-)

I have decent luck in it, until I get slow. Really hard to get the speed back before the opponent comes around and gets guns on. And I agree, having eight 50 cals makes short work of most enemies!

Solid advice there! Respect the limits and learn how hard you can push it.

Interesting! Sounds risky, but effective. The handful of times I tried split S's in the Jug got me really close to over speeding the aircraft. I'm sure there's a good technique that they came up with to avoid that.

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it! In my opinion, no. I almost never fly with the levers linked together. By the altitudes where you need the turbo, your throttle should already be full forward. That allows you to get everything you can out of the mechanical supercharger. As a general rule, superchargers don't like being throttled. With them linked you end up bottlenecking the turbo, and choking off the supercharger at the same time, leading to some level of power loss as those components are working harder against a partially closed throttle. One advantage I can think of for the sim, is convenience for those with single axis throttles. You'd take the power loss in that configuration as mentioned, plus sacrifice useful range on longer missions, but you would gain some simplicity in operating the engine. Have to be careful not to overboost or overspeed the turbo, especially if you get bounced by enemy fighters and the instinct is to push that throttle to full!

I've seen it both ways in the manuals. The P-47D-25 through P-47D-35 manual has it listed at 130 MPH. The P-47N manual shows 150 MPH. When flying at 130 MPH in DCS, you are really close to the edge of stalling. I can't help but wonder is the Army Air Corps/Air Force increased the speed in the manuals to have a safer margin for the pilots to fly.

Not sure on the drag part for the doors. The manual says neutral for takeoff, open for normal flight unless cold. IF it's cold, then close the doors as needed to maintain the intake air at or above 25 degrees. Adjusting the oil doors is fairly normal. For these to overheat, you need to be at high power and low airspeed. I don't think I've gotten close to an overheat either.

@@DieselThunderAviationRight. Thanks. Maybe it’s possible half open might be considered open (as per the instructions quoted)? When I get some time I’ll try to evaluate the drag thing. Since I posted, I viewed the ‘Sherrif’s Sim Shack’ channel’s P-47 video where he does a test with the Intercooler doors and gets the least drag when half open. There are many issues with trusting this, however. He’s ‘flying’ IL2 and this may apply in that slightly less realistic sim but not IRL or in DCS. What IL2 does have is a fake autopilot where you can set the plane to fly level and concentrate on the engine parameters. I know this is a cheat, but I do wish DCS had something similar. Both for testing and for the long commutes across the Channel. You wouldn’t have to use it if you didn’t want to. 😂 If I get any test results I’m confident in I’ll post back here, but don’t hold your breath - my flying will need to be more consistent than it is now to get accurate data. Until then I’ll change what I do to match the instructions here. Thx.

It depends. If you need to get your manifold pressure up and get all the power you can out of the R-2800, then use the turbo. Best practice is to get all you can out of the supercharger (full throttle) and then supplement with the turbo as needed. Just be mindful that controlling the turbo at low altitudes is difficult and it is easy to overboost the engine if you aren’t careful. High altitude is where the turbo really helped and made the P-47 a solid fighter.

@@DieselThunderAviation Thanks!

My pleasure!

I’m not sure how IL2 models the engines in thier sim. The last time I flew IL2 was around 2004. If it is similar, then it should work about the same.

Not quite. The DC-3/C-47 used a different engine, also built by Pratt and Whitney, the 14 cylinder R-1830. Those only produced about 1,200 HP, compared to the R-2800 which made 2,400+ HP depending on the aircraft it was installed in.

@@DieselThunderAviation thanks

The water itself doesn't add power but does do a few things towards the engine producing more power. The first thing it does is cool the charge air, as anytime you compress air, it gets hotter. It really helps keep the carb air temp below its limit of 50 degrees at high MP. Since it cools the charge air, it becomes denser air which is good as more air allows more fuel to be burned which makes more power. The second thing it does is help keep the cylinders cool at high power and reduces combustion temperature to prevent detonation and engine damage. As you have observed, the relationship between engine power and airspeed isn't linear. One thing to keep in mind is that the airspeed indicator measures indicated airspeed, and not true airspeed. The Jugs top speed at 30,000 feet is about 425 MPH true, but about 300 MPH on the airspeed indicator. The turbo really helped the Jug be competitive against other fighters in the first half of the war, as it could hold its engine power to a much higher altitude, where the supercharger on other fighters would be above their critical altitude. The higher engine power allows you to hold turns better with the additional thrust. As this work out in DCS, the P-47 gets outmatched with the Bf-109 K4 and the Fw-190 D9 as those two are late war designs. The Fw-190 A8 is a much better match against the Jug. And I am eagerly waiting for DCS to improve the AI for the warbirds! Hope this helps!

@@DieselThunderAviation Thanks for the info - am looking forward to the La-7! Might just stick to A-G and bombers till then. Also yes some decent AI would be nice too.

impressive amount of information. thanks. this is exactly what I needed and it is delivered without fluff 🙏

I don't think any D model Jug ever got the uprated engine.

@@DieselThunderAviation it's more about the fuel than the engine in the D model. with 150 octane fuel the p-47 ran 65" of manifold pressure before it even got into the water injection range. ww2 sims always do this thing where you get the most optimistic german planes and the most pessimistic allied planes

@@ArtietheArchon Relax, just realize this is just a video game for entertainment purposes. And you should take any sources or video games with a grain of salt. There’s no such thing as 100% accurate simulation, just our interpretation.

You are correct, same with the LF Mk9. In reality 100+ Mk9 were outfit with the British Ferranti Mk2 Gyro gunsight. But no such option exists in DCS.

At low altitudes, you can get the engine pretty close to 52” MP, the max allowed running dry. Turning on the water system at that point will increase your manifold pressure above what your engine is able to make without the water. If you really needed too, you can bring in the turbo at low altitudes though it is harder to control. The turbo can easily spin up too fast and overboost the engine, and is very touchy in that aspect. The flight manual specified 7,000 feet as minimum for the turbo usage, and 12,000 feet as the recommended altitude. The manual leaves some room for pilot discretion. The turbo altitude recommendations and limits above applied in almost all flight conditions. However if you need to get all the power out of the engine and it’ll help get out of a bad situation or avoid getting shot down, then use it! For linking the levers, I typically only do that in extended dives. I keep them separate in all other conditions as once the throttle is full forward, I only have to adjust the boost lever to maintain MP without bottlenecking the supercharger or turbo.

@@DieselThunderAviation thanks for the reply sir!

My pleasure!