Hello,

Thought I'd post this here rather than in the IL2 section, since there is no chance of it being fixed in IL2 if it is actually a problem.

I have been flying the Spit a lot in IL2:1946, and have noticed that the directional gyro (the instrument in the middle of the bottom row on the center panel) behaves exactly like a compass, in the sense that while you are turning it holds its old heading and "snaps" to the new heading when you level out. That is fine for a compass.

Now, it has been ten long years since I used one, but don't gyrocompasses (like the directional gyro in the Spit) show the correct heading (or approximately so) even while still in the turn?

Can anyone correct me here, or is this something that Oleg needs to fix for BoB?

Torquatus

Directional Indicator gyros operate off of gyroscopes that are either vacuum or electrically driven.

The reason why you have a Directional Indicator (DI) is precisely for the point you have mentioned above. In real life a compass is subject to errors. These errors will present themselves in turns, acceleration and deceleration. Once in a staright and level flight at constant speed the compass will return to normal setting.

The DI was therefore created. The reason for this is that a gyroscope is far less susceptible to the errors presented in a compass as described above. Therefore in a turn or accelaration/deceleration - you can acurately gauge the correct heading at a specific point of time in that manouver.

However a DI is not infallable. Friction in the components and Real drift caused by rotation of the earth means that the DI will (over a period of time) become innacurate. To compensate for this it is recommended that the DI is slaved to the compass in straight and level flight every 10-15 minutes to ensure accuracy.

So to answer your question. No, the DI should not behave (with reference to the errors in a compass) in a fashion that simulates the turning / acceleration / deceleration errors present in normal comapasses


Hope that helps.

Yes, so is the behaviour of the Il2:46 Spit's directional gyro correct?

As i posted originally. If the DI does infact perform as the original poster said, then no, it is not correct.

In actual fact, all the DI's in IL2 are not correct in the way that they are not slaveable and do not suffer from errors. But then we could say the same about the engines and the way the mixture works is totally incorrect.

Hi fellows,

I can attest that, given bogusheadbox's comments, the DG in the Spit in IL2:1946 behaviour is incorrect. It behaves exactly as I would expect a magnetic compass to, not at all like a DG as bogusheadbox has confirmed.

Has Oleg or the team mentioned anything about this being fixed in SoW:BoB?

Torquatus

And thanks for the answer, bogusheadbox - that was what I needed to confirm my suspicions!

No probs mate.

Its a good thing to point out for BOB. But in IL2's defence. The sim (in age only) is very old. It can be forgiven for some of its misgivings.

To date it has been the one sim, i have enjoyed contiuously for years on end.

Too true, bogusheadbox - I was not raising this to criticise IL2, only so it can be fixed for BoB