WWII fighter throttle position in cruise flight

[hrc 156]

What was it, approximately, for piston fighter? For example at 50% or at 3/4...

[B52STRATO 215]

I'm afraid of talking with complete nonsense about the powerful engine units of that time. But in light aviation we tend to cruise around 80 to 85% on our flat-4/6 or radial-5 and to 75% with the Rotax 100 familly at near AMSL until 3500 ft. Of course this change with your altitude and, accordingly, RPM, manifold pressure, etc. I hope this answer helps a bit.

[Heck 496]

From the US training vids from that time I've seen (Zeno's Warbird Drive In), they talk about RPM and Manifold pressure. I know that's not what you're looking for, but that's what they used to use.

[FastCargo 412]

That's really going to be different for every aircraft and engine combination. Not to mention altitude, temperature...etc.

 

FC

[Wrench 9,429]

to say nothing of loadouts

 

like the others have said, and looking at period pilot's handbooks, they always say "x percent" manifold pressure, "a percent" mixture, 'y percent' prop pitch, and so on....

 

personally, for my ww2 mods, I like to see them climbing out at around 75-80% throttle.

[hrc 156]

Thanks.You are all correct. Also  I should look up the cruising speed data for certain fighter and compare it with its max speed in level flight. I'll do that to.   That will obviously not give me the percentage of throttle data but will give a somewhat better picture

Edited May 14, 2015 by hrc

[+Swordsman422 61]

Egads, what a loaded question! Cruise configuration is normally different for every aircraft type and also depends on altitude, air density, and even desired rate of consumption. To throw in the mix that with props you aren't just talking about throttle, but mixture rates as well. Just as an example, in a Cessna 172P for a typical cruise flight at 4500 ASL, I'd pull mixture and throttle out to aim for max conserve at 1800 RPM, but in a Diamond DA20, at the same altitude for cruise I'd be setting for 2000 RPM.

 

Best way to get a good answer is to find a checklist for the aircraft you are interested in knowing about and checking the cruise section. This will give you your target configuration info.