Aerodynamically Limited MiG-17s v1.1 1.1

Aerodynamically Limited MiG-17s v1.1

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Description:

This is a mod which limits the maneuverability of the stock ThirdWire MiG-17, -17F and -17PF at high subsonic speeds, especially above .8M.  It has long been published that the MiG-17's lack of hydraulically boosted controls prevented the pilot from turning much harder than 2-2.5g as the aircraft got beyond 400 knots (especially by 450).  The stock TW MiG-17s, however, have in excess of 10g authority at the mid-to-high 400s of knots, and this is one of the reasons they are commonly called "UFOs" - they can out-turn almost any fighter anywhere in the envelope.

This mod adjusts both the lift coefficient and the aerodynamic pitch dampening coefficient to reduce the MiG-17's ability to pull high-g turns at airspeeds exceeding .8 Mach.  This provides the player with the ability to utilize real-world speed tactics employed by F-4, F-8 and other aircrews against the MiG-17.  Keep the fight fast, and you can now out-turn the FRESCO.  

This mod does NOT adjust the lower-speed performance of the FRESCO.  As such, if you try to get into the phonebooth and burn away your energy, expect the same results as before.  If you choose to fly the MiG-17 with this FM modification, it adds a degree of challenge and realism in that just like the AI, you won't be able to load a 12g turn at 500knots anymore, and will have to pay attention to airspeed.  The speedbreak is your friend!  I personally had no problem dogfighting with the FM, but it did require better energy management in that it requires you to keep the aircraft neither too slow, nor too fast.

V1.1 (23 Nov 17) has also changed the engine response time for the MiG-17's VK-1F engine.  It is reported in Red Eagles that the engine took approximately 15 seconds (p.112) to go from idle to full military power.  Most engines from the 50s and 60s had slow response times (e.g., the TF-30 taking approximately 8 seconds to go from idle to military and another 4 to stage up to Zone 5), and this required a bit of thinking and tactics to work around.  "Jose" Oberle (Lt Col, Ret) explained that the engine worked well enough if kept above 80 percent power, but pulling back to idle, then pushing back towards military power "took forever" (Ibid.), and that the easiest way to handle decelerating was to keep the engine at 80 percent and deploy the speed brakes.  The AI isn't harshly impacted by this limitation, but a player using this data.ini will have to consider this limitation.  If, as a player, you do not want to deal with the slower engine response, the original entry is simply commented out, and can be restored by editing the .ini.

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Whats in it:

There are three data.inis contained in this mod.  One for the baseline MiG-17, one for the MiG-17F and one for the MiG-17PF.  This mod adjusts the ThirdWire MiG-17s and will work with any version of StrikeFighters 2, including merged and single installs.

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Installation:

1.  Unzip the contents of the "Aero_Limited_MiG-17sV11.7z" file into a folder

2.  Open the folder.  Copy the contents of the folder (MiG-17, -17F, and -17PF folders) into your SF2 mod folder's Objects\Aircraft folder, allowing all files to overwrite.

3.  The Data.ini files should already be read only, but if not, set them to read only so the game does not re-write or over-write the data file with the game's original files upon booting up (this happens sometimes when a mod changes a core game file).

4. Go fly!

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Credits:
FM: ThirdWire
Mod: Caesar

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Some open-source examples of airspeed and engine limitations of the MiG-17:

From "Scream of Eagles," "Tooter" Teague (who flew one of the captured MiG-17's) put it that: "We found out very quickly that the MiG ['17] goes out of control at 450 knots...He [the '17] locks up at about 425 and he goes absolutely left wing down...his wing warps...so if he goes 500 knots he's out of control  He's in a left wing roll an can't do anything about it.  So just do 500 knots and it becomes only a question of eyes.  Keeping sight and keeping fast." (p. 138).  

From "Red Eagles": "We had to teach them that if they could - as a defender in an American airplane - get the MiG-17 into the 450-knot regime, and then start to turn, then the MiG pilot would have to overcome this huge aerodynamic load on the tail without any hydraulic assistance.  He may have had the potential to pull 7Gs, but he could probably pull no more than 2Gs because he simply didn't have the physical strength to overcome the loads on the tail." (p.132)  

From "Duke" Cunningham (in "Dogfights): [the MiGs are travelling fast.  Cunningham knows the MiG, lacking hydraulic controls like the F-4, is hard to turn.] "So I looked at him and said 'nope, can't do it,' so I broke into him and he overshot right down below me."

[Engine] From "Red Eagles, New Edition": The VK-1F was slow to respond to movements of the throttle, and it took in the region of 15 seconds for it to go from idle thrust to "military" thrust power setting (the maximum non-afterburning thrust available).  Oberle observed: "This slow engine response was a characteristic of the old engines.  If you kept the power up above 80 percent you had pretty good engine response, but if you ever pulled it back to idle and then pushed the power up to accelerate, it would take forever for the engine to spool back up to the 80 percent rangewhere you finally started getting power." (p.112)