achieving max altitude in a Camel

[rjw 48]

I know the boys in the RFC were able to take their Camels well above 15,000 but I can't seem to coax my Camel above 10,000 even when I lean out the mixture.

Is this a limitation in OFF or am I doing something wrong here?

 

Regards to all

 

OOPS! I meant to post this in the Help section!

Edited March 21, 2012 by rjw

[Shiloh 12]

Have you tried adjusting your max ceiling in workshops to 18,000 ft.?

[rjw 48]

Have you tried adjusting your max ceiling in workshops to 18,000 ft.?

 

Shiloh;

 

Thanks for the tip. I just never thought to look at that. Do you know if the workshop settings will apply equally to all aircraft or will each aircraft have it's own limits?

[Shiloh 12]

That's a good question rjw. I would think as long as a particular craft can manage to get to 18,000 feet the sim will allow it to go to that height.

[rjw 48]

Ok Shiloh;

 

I tried setting the the altitude to "High" in the workshop and then went to quick combat with a Camel setting the altitude to 15000 at startup. As soon as the sim started I experienced engine cut out so I cut back the mixture about 20 clicks with "CTRL -" key combinations to no avail. The engine continued to cut out until I reached 10,000. I was able to coach it back up to 10,600 before I lost all forward speed and could not maintain any forward motion even in level flight.

 

Can anyone shed any light on what I need to do to gain the altitude above 10,600. I have tried working the mixture up to richer settings and also reducing to no significant effect. The best I could achieve in altitude was with the 20 clicks reduction in normal mixture settings at ground level.

 

Best Regards;

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Robert and Shiloh, I believe the max ceiling setting is only for your campaigns and missions. It will not affect your ability to climb above those settings but only keeps the AI at or below them. Robert, to you question about getting the Camel to it's max ceiling, it is honestly all about finessing the beast. The Camel abhors a ham-fisted pilot and will slap him down in short order. Her traits only get worse at high altitudes. If you fly with manual throttle control, at take-off click back slowly until you hear your RPMs just start to drop, then come back up 2 or 3 clicks. Adjust again at around 6,000', again at around 9,000', and once more at around 13,000'. The rate of climb up to 10,000' is quite good, after that it becomes tedious, and at 16,000' it is downright unbearable. Figure about 40 minutes and 20% of your fuel to hit 18,500'. And, if you have lots of time you can eke out about 19,700'. But you will need the patience of Job to do it.

 

 

 

 

Best of luck, Sir.

 

Lou

 

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[rjw 48]

Lou, Thanks for your response. I am going to experiment with your suggestions to see what Ican achieve. Do you know if this was typical of the real aircraft, or just a modeling issue in OFF?

 

All the Best! Cheerio!

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Robert, if memory serves, (and it is serving less reliably than it used to), the 140hp Clerget Camel could climb to 10,000' in about 10 minutes and 15,000' in about 20 minutes. After that it was a slow crawl to its service ceiling of 19,000'. I seem to recall reading in one of the contemporary pilot diaries of how it took 45 to 60 minutes to reach the absolute height his machine could go, in this case around 20,000'. So, I would say the OFF Camel is fairly close in its climb performance to that of the real kite.

 

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[Hasse Wind 46]

The Camel was no high altitude fighter. It was at its best at lower altitudes.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Absolutely Hasse Wind. However, WWI Camel pilots would often work at higher altitudes in their attempts to intercept enemy B/R planes, or to try and be above enemy fighters when they ran across them.

 

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[rjw 48]

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Robert and Shiloh, I believe the max ceiling setting is only for your campaigns and missions. It will not affect your ability to climb above those settings but only keeps the AI at or below them. Robert, to you question about getting the Camel to it's max ceiling, it is honestly all about finessing the beast. The Camel abhors a ham-fisted pilot and will slap him down in short order. Her traits only get worse at high altitudes. If you fly with manual throttle control, at take-off click back slowly until you hear your RPMs just start to drop, then come back up 2 or 3 clicks. Adjust again at around 6,000', again at around 9,000', and once more at around 13,000'. The rate of climb up to 10,000' is quite good, after that it becomes tedious, and at 16,000' it is downright unbearable. Figure about 40 minutes and 20% of your fuel to hit 18,500'. And, if you have lots of time you can eke out about 19,700'. But you will need the patience of Job to do it.

 

 

 

Hi Lou;

 

I tried out your suggestion today and made some headway (or should I say altitude!).

 

I followed your instructions as best I could since I used my force feedback for throttle and not manual keypad. I didn't notice so much of an effect in throttle cut back as I did by reducing mixture as I made altitude in order to smooth out the engine.

From 10,000 ft to 12,300 feet my rate of climb was 100ft per 16 seconds wrist watch time at airspeed of 50 with pitch of approx 9.50 to 9.70

From 12,300 ft to 13,000 feet my rate of climb was 100ft per 20 to 25 seconds wrist watch time at airspeed of 70 with pitch of approx 9.25 to 9.40

 

At this point I had to terminate the exercise due to personal time constraints but I was still climbing, albeit very slowly. I can't imagine trying this during a mission or I would be there all day.

 

I think I'll restrict my AI to 10,000 as was suggested.

 

As you said, it's very tedious and handling is very touchy.

[redpiano 6]

Semi related question, so then what does the "average altitude" setting actually do.

[rjw 48]

Semi related question, so then what does the "average altitude" setting actually do.

 

 

Hi Redpiano;

 

I'm not sure I understand your term "average altitude". There are three radial buttons in the workshop screen under the heading "Player Flight Altitude"

These buttons are as follows:

 

High up to 18,000

Medium up to 10,000

Low up to 3000

 

If you are not referring to the above, then please elaborate.

 

Best Regards;

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Robert, my apologies, I meant to say mixture control not throttle control, you want to keep throttle at full the whole time you are climbing. But you've sorted it out so good on you Sir.

 

RP, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, I believe the alt setting in the control panel affects your campaign and mission heights and not your actual ability to climb higher if you so choose.

 

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[Olham 164]

Redpiano, the "Player Flight Altitude" seems to set the alt. you will reach, when you press "Warp".

Of course you could still go higher, if your craft can do that.

[von Baur 54]

I believe that the altitude settings also dictate the target altitudes for missions.