Hello Rince33,
The 1% Flight Model is probably better than the stock flight model though I can't say I have flown it.
The Hurricane wasn't really the most agile aircraft around. If you are interested, there are several flight evaluations available online of modern restored Hurricanes though I don't believe any of them are Mk.I types. There are a few surprising gotcha;s with the Hurricane.
As for the 1% concept, in my opinion, the idea wasn't too bad though it had its faults in implementation, but some of the data that it was based on was not particularly accurate. I spent a LOT of time trying to address some of the issues of faulty data especially with armament. Their engine tables are an interesting read, but are not particularly accurate when compared to the aircraft manuals for the aircraft for which I have done a comparison. The spreadsheets also do not give nearly enough information to actually build an engine with reasonable power curves.
As for an example of exactly why I do not have faith:
CFS1 only seems to handle Single Speed Superchargers.
For a Single Speed Supercharger, there is the power at Sea Level at maximum Manifold Pressure and power at Critical Altitude above which the Supercharger cannot maintain Sea Level Manifold Pressure. At that critical altitude, the engine output will be pretty comparable to its sea level output.
At Intermediate altitudes, its power may be slightly higher than at Sea Level.
With a Two Speed Supercharger, things are a bit different.
I will use the Shvetsov M-82FN engine from the La-5FN as an example.
At Sea Level, Maximum non WEP manifold pressure is 1000 mm Hg giving 1650 HP.
Critical Altitude for Low Blower is 1650 Meters. Above this, Low Speed cannot maintain Sea Level boost pressure.
Switching to High Blower doesn't work because that would supply more boost than the engine can tolerate.
IIRC, the Blower shift altitude is around 4000 Meters.
The engine power still increases slightly after the shift point and reaches its maximum at 4650 Meters (about 15,200 feet)
Above that, the Supercharger cannot maintain Sea Level Boost.
The problem though is that High Blower draws more power from the engine than Low Blower did and instead of 1650 HP with 1000 mm Hg of boost, it now only gives 1450 HP with the same boost.
From 1650 Meters to 4000 Meters, the real M-82FN engine will provide something BELOW 1650 HP.
It will exceed 1650 HP but only for a few hundred meters above Sea Level and a couple hundred meters above 4000 meters.
With our single speed CFS1 supercharger, There is a HUGE altitude range in which the engine power is higher than it should be: Probably from about 2500 feet to 15000 feet if we get the boost pressure correct.
If we try to get engine output correct, the excessive power probably happens from around 2500 feet to 12500 feet.
If we match speeds at Sea Level and at Critical Altitude, then we will exceed maximum speed at intermediate altitudes and probably by quite a lot.
My belief is that I would much rather have speed at Sea Level and Critical Altitude a bit lower than they should be and not have speeds at intermediate altitudes be quite as excessive.
If someone knows of a better method, please let me know.
- Ivan.
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