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[ebennekom]

Hi Guys, total newb here. Been playing il2 for about a week now. First time playing a flight sim since f16 combat pilot for the commodore 64 back when coins were still made out of wood.

Needless to say I was shocked by the level of skill it requieres even to just get a plane safely off the ground, didn't think I'd ever want to attempt landing one. However,.. for the first time today I finally managed to land the buffalo in the first finnish mission without toppling over or leaving a crater. So I'll consider that a win.

Having said that, on that first landing when speed got down to about 60km/h the buff started veering off to the right even though I had locked the tailwheel once I knew it was on the ground. I've read somewhere you should be locking it at take off so I figured I'd lock it once happy we're rolling more or less straight over the runway on landing I'd probably have to do the same.

So the question is, is it even useful to lock the tail-wheel at all, and if so should it be locked before touchdown when the heading doesn't match the exact heading of the runway yet, or is it okay to lock it only after headings match up?
Also, realistically.. is the locking up powerful enough to override the influence of the rudder? (depending on speed ofcourse).

[tomoose]

Locking the tail wheel will definitely affect the performance of your rudder/steering while on the ground.

The short answer:  go with what works for you......however......

Generally, locking the tail wheel on takeoff is a good idea and helps to keep you straight on the runway as you accelerate.  I tend to rev the engine so the plane moves forward just a bit to ensure the tail wheel is straight before locking.  Do an external look when you first spawn and check your tail wheel.  You'll probably see that it's not in-line (i.e. straight) with your fuselage.  So locking it immediately can be problematic.

As for landing....I never lock the tail wheel as braking and steering once the tail wheel is down could become rather important very quickly if there's plane damage or you need to steer around debris or holes in the runway etc.

[Epervier]

Hello and welcome !
If I lock the tailwheel on landing I'm sure to end badly!
Regardless of the time, speed, etc...
The blocking is only useful for take-off...

[raf1659]

NO no & no 

[ebennekom]

Okay, So best leave the tail wheel unlocked on landing than. Good. Thanx for the feedback guys.

[K5083]

In real life, tailwheel lock was/is often used on landing as well as takeoff.  I use mine on landing in sims until I get slow enough and under control enough to want/need to turn sharply.  If you are landing in the right direction, it will not give you any problems.

In some planes like the P-51 you can't land without the tailwheel locked, since unlocking it requires shoving the stick forward.  You only ever have the tailwheel unlocked in a P-51 or T-6 if you're going so slow that pushing forward on the stick won't lift the tailwheel off the ground.

August

[ebennekom]

In real life, tailwheel lock was/is often used on landing as well as takeoff.

Wow Agust. Thank you for sharing that info. It makes sense too.

Meanwhile I've now completed a second and third landing with the tail wheel unlocked. I guess I´m so afraid of over-correcting sideways drift after touchdown both times that the plane veered off the runway again. Safely, no harm done, but not desirable.

I'm going to do more practicing on that and toy around with the tail wheel lock a bit and see what works best.

[K5083]

Yup, practice practice practice, that's the key.  IL-2:1946 is a pretty sophisticated and realistic sim despite its age.  It pays to follow real-world procedures, keep your approach speeds down where they should be, line up carefully, and keep control inputs small and smooth.  You may find it also helps to get to know one airplane very well, rather than keep hopping from plane to plane as is so tempting when there are so many available.

August

[ebennekom]

Thanks August, I'll take that advice and run with it.

I'm fully committed to make the buffalo my primary kite. Reason being the few other planes I tried seemed far less sensitive to minute input changes compared with the buff which seems to require trim changes if it hits a butterfly on the windscreen  Basically the thought over-here is, if I've mastered landing the buffalo I should be able to land anything after that right!?

Follow up questions though.
1. Is the buffalo really such a sensitive kite compared to say the fiat G50 or is it just my newbs false interpretation of things not understood yet?
1a. Are there other planes (ww2 types that is) more receptacle to the minutes changes in speed, throttle, altitude, aoa than the buff is?

Second follow up is. I've been thinking about what you wrote about the mustang. If a pilot always has his tail-wheel locked upon landing, doesn't that automatically imply there is no margin for error when touching down, as in... the heading of the runway needs to match the heading of the aircraft within a 1 degree precision, else it will veer off?
If so, doesn't that make a side-wind landing incredibly difficult? I mean... If crabbing onto the runway pilots straighten their planes out moments before touchdown, right? So isn't the window for final course-correction very small then?

-sigh- Sorry bout the probably obvious questions here.

[K5083]

In general, yes, you have to be pretty much right on the runway heading when you touch down.  Proper crosswind technique would be a "slip" rather than a "crab."  In a slip, you keep the airplane pointed on the correct heading and use bank, countered by opposite rudder, to counter the wind.  You level the wings just before touchdown, or it usually isn't that much of a problem if the windward main landing gear touches first.  But crabbing is also done, and you can watch any number of videos on youtube of big airliners crabbing in and straightening the heading just before touchdown.  Yes, it's hard! 

With the P-51 specifically, most real-world pilots do not three-point, they wheel land.  Here is some good footage of a flight of 8 beautiful Mustangs landing at Oshkosh a couple of years ago.  While you are still up on the mains, obviously the tailwheel is irrelevant and you can still use the rudder after touchdown to keep yourself straight.  Watch the rudders in the video, you can see they're doing that.

 

Here is some footage of three P-40s landing.  It sounds like it was quite windy and it seems that there was a crosswind component from the left (i.e. behind the cameraman).  Again, they are wheel landing, and the second and third airplanes touch down left wing low with the left main touching first. 



August

[K5083]

Here are some more fighter landings.  This time the P-51 guy 3-points it.  So does the Spitfire; 3-pointing is standard in a Spitfire although I have seen them wheel land.  The Boomerang and P-40 wheel land. 



Here is a crosswind landing in a 109.  This guy is using the crab technique.  See how he corrects the heading just before touchdown.  I guess you'd call this a 3-point, it bounces around quite a bit, there's even a moment when only the tailwheel is on the ground.  Every landing in a 109 is an adventure!



Here's the same 109 doing a wheel landing on another occasion.  This also is with a strong crosswind from behind the camera - look at the orange flag on the truck in the foreground at 2:38.  It's hard to tell his heading, but he's definitely banking into the wind at 2:20, slipping it in, almost to the ground.  The plane is obscured at the moment of first touch down but he probably touched left wheel first, then bounced from the left to right wheels a bit.  With 109s the technique is often a wheel landing with with the tail low and some flare, so something of a hybrid between wheel landing and 3-point, not like the P-51 and P-40 which are basically flown onto the runway when wheel landing.



August

[ebennekom]

Very very interesting stuff indeed.

I've never realized there is still plenty of ground clearance underneath the prop with these mustangs and warhawks. Also noticed how after main gear has touched down, there is still rudder movement going on. From watching these videos its obvious the line up is so tight there is absolutely no downsides to having the tail wheel locked.

Just one more thought. The mustangs are landing on a nice even concrete and probably long? runway so they don't have to worry about dents that would have them toppling. When you than look at the bf I think he's pitching up a bit more than on this grassy strip, would he also do more wheel landing on concrete? Also,.... the guy landing that thing must have balls of steel...

Beautiful footage by the way. Thanks for posting this August