Symon -> RE: Jap "Heavy" bombers (8/7/2014 3:28:33 PM)
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And here’s Miss Helen, model 2, in red, superposed over the curves for Mistress Sally. Helen is also a space limited airframe. It’s max capacity was 2x 500kg or 4x 250kg, for 2200lbs. In the normal configuration (lower solid red line) it carried 3962lbs (661 gals) fuel and a 2200lb bomb load. This gave a 23520lb take-off weight. For extended range (the upper dotted line), she adds a removable bomb-bay tank (1582lbs, 263 gals, for a total of 5544lbs fuel). Unlike Ms Sally, whose removable internal tank precluded any use of the bomb-bay, Ms Helen’s tank only took away a “portion” of the bomb-bay space, but left room for a 1650lb bomb load (3x 250kg bombs). Somebody started thinking at the design bureau. This gave a 24400lb take-off weight. Notably, it’s the heavier plane that has significantly greater range. 28% more fuel gives roughly 28% greater range, at 75% Vmax, as one would expect, but roughly 33% greater range at 200 mph. Taking weight into account, the heavier plane (Ms Helen in Overload configuration) should only exhibit a 23% range advantage. This is clearly not the case. So weight is clearly not a linear function (it follows the square law, actually, all other things being equal). The smart modders will be plotting furiously and will soon see where the Air Team were coming from. The game data is a snapshot of a single point on a complex curve. And before I forget, and somebody goes off, the data is from Wright/Pat flight and engine tests, March 1945, at normal power settings, using 87 octane fuel. [image]local://upfiles/43462/7D44D404632345AA88BA83BFAA10D918.jpg[/image]
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