26.03.2009, 01:50
According to a NACA test pilot, whose book I read (can't remember name but could look it up), the fastest officially recorded Mach speeds by piston engine warbirds (in dives) was 0.8 Mach by a regular production P-51D (he said due to its clean lines), and a late mark Spitfire which had been specially modified for the purpose achieved 0.9 Mach. One of the main problems about getting piston engine planes to these kind of speeds was the propeller, whose rotating tips went supersonic well before the airspeed of the plane and tended to break apart.
The other issue for all aircraft attempting supersonic flight is even with swept wings and a clean airframe there's a huge trim change going supersonic which was part of the original barrier. These sorts of points were discovered trial and error by exceeding the sound barrier in aircraft like the X-1 and learning how to change aircraft design accordingly.
As others have said I think this supports the observation all aircraft in Il2, Me-163 or otherwise if they don't have a subsonic critical Mach, they've got a subsonic VNE. The sudden and dramatic trim change going supersonic in a diving Me-262 for example (assuming its critical Mach was supersonic), wouldn't be expected and would invariably be fatal, even if the structure per se (all things being equal) would otherwise be expected to handle it. In any case it'd mean: supersonic Me-262=desintegrated Me-262.
The MiG-15 for example killed pilots if they got it supersonic. The Sabrejet could manage breaking the sound barrier for a moment in a dive, but once the Supersabre was sustaining Mach speeds there were severe safety problems which killed pilots.
I think considering all this there is no imaginable reason Oleg would've considered the need for any dedicated Mach modelling in Il2. Thus I can't imagine what modders would work off as a basis for any Machspeed mods, like Hawk alluded.
Nice idea, but not realistic. And VNE of course limits airspeed whatever happens, very few warbirds manage past 450mph IAS (or even getting that fast in a dive) without something very bad happening.
The other issue for all aircraft attempting supersonic flight is even with swept wings and a clean airframe there's a huge trim change going supersonic which was part of the original barrier. These sorts of points were discovered trial and error by exceeding the sound barrier in aircraft like the X-1 and learning how to change aircraft design accordingly.
As others have said I think this supports the observation all aircraft in Il2, Me-163 or otherwise if they don't have a subsonic critical Mach, they've got a subsonic VNE. The sudden and dramatic trim change going supersonic in a diving Me-262 for example (assuming its critical Mach was supersonic), wouldn't be expected and would invariably be fatal, even if the structure per se (all things being equal) would otherwise be expected to handle it. In any case it'd mean: supersonic Me-262=desintegrated Me-262.
The MiG-15 for example killed pilots if they got it supersonic. The Sabrejet could manage breaking the sound barrier for a moment in a dive, but once the Supersabre was sustaining Mach speeds there were severe safety problems which killed pilots.
I think considering all this there is no imaginable reason Oleg would've considered the need for any dedicated Mach modelling in Il2. Thus I can't imagine what modders would work off as a basis for any Machspeed mods, like Hawk alluded.
Nice idea, but not realistic. And VNE of course limits airspeed whatever happens, very few warbirds manage past 450mph IAS (or even getting that fast in a dive) without something very bad happening.