Sorry, I tested Tu-2S ground handling and everything is OK now. I hadn't taken off in Tu-2 for a long time and now taxiing was OK. I could take off using the same power in both engines, just had to control direction with brakes like in other bombers.
THANKS for this awesome plane without that old one-engine-pushing-a-lot-more-than-the-other problem. Just wondering what corrected the taxiing?
When first starting off in the Tu-2 it is a bit of a pain to say the least but with practice you can control it at take off with ease. Just stick at it.
BTW the golden rule is that stock planes don't get touched.
Power up gently. By whacking open the throttles you add sorts of gyroscopic forces that push the aircraft round. The same is true of any taildragger to a greater or lesser degree, although some of the twins do suffer badly.
During WW2, there was one squadron flying Mosquito's who were suffering a high rate of ground handling accidents. The aeroplane was getting a bad reputation for ground looping, and eventually the exasperated C.O. strode in front of his men and said something like "The Mosquito does not ground loop. Its just you b******* that make them do so!"
In the early 1950's there was an air race arranged between two spitfires at an airshow, to be held from a standing start. Both pilots were dead keen to win (being young competitive types) and when the start flare went off both rammed their throttles open wide. Both spitfires therefore swung completely off the intended take off line and taxied at high speed toward the audience enclosure scattering senior officers and their families.
The problem isn't just the big whirling gyroscope or the huge power put out by 30 litre aero-engines, its also that at very low speed the rudder is practically ineffective. When modern warbird pilots take off, if you look closely you'll notice they start with full rudder applied for that very reason.
