I'm curious about the flight characteristics if the Nieuport 11. To me this is the hardest ac to control in the game. The landings are particularly dangerous and fatal to my campaigners. In flight,the pitch has a tendency to "buck" up and down. It makes landing a risky operation as it bucks and bounces on to the field. Given this was an earlier ac, was this true of the real ac? Are there any tricks or arcane lore I need to know? What about you others out there? Am I the only one who can't easily control this singl ac? I'd appreciate any discussion, information, or help.

Most folks, myself included shied away from the N11 because when first starting out she has no gunsights period. The only way to shoot anybody down is to get extremely close before you fire. Not many have such skill, and even less want to learn, because having a mid-air is not the way to start your day, when I say close, a lipreader would get cursed at.

Landings are not so easy unless you kill you engine once your sure you won't need it anymore. Learn to sideslip when landing, you ain't got no flaps. At above 60 MPH ground speed your landing gear collapses

Sidesliping = Engine at idle, you're 12 feet up going 80mph, Slight left rudder, slight right bank, you're now going the same general direction but slightly sideways and slowing down and losing altitude. Just Make Sure you straighten out prior to your wheels touching the ground, or your landing gear collapses

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James, the N11 was a tricky little kite in RL as well. An undersized rudder means you need to have a fair amount of ground speed before it becomes really effective, which makes it hard to initially keep it going in a straight line during take-off. Landings can be equally touchy and, as Uncleal mentioned, coming in too fast can lead to the landing gear collapsing. I like to come in at a somewhat steeper angle, throttle back, then pull up in order to hit stall speed just as the wheels touch the ground. You will need to practice with the N11 more than most of the other birds in the OFF hanger but it is well worth the time to learn her quirks as she can fly rings round anything else in the early WWI skies once you're familiar with her. As to aiming the gun without a true crosshair: you can use the rigging wires in front of you to get a rough idea of where your shots are going and adjust accordingly.

Cheers!

Lou

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The early Nieuports were sometimes described as like trying to balance a ball on your finger whilst flying as they were very sensitive and nimble, and had no vertical stabiliser - these early craft needed real flying constantly. Look how the N11 sits on the airfield - the nose is very high and this is how you have to land it with the nose seemingly higher that you think. Definitely scary

Se near the bottom here http://thevintageaviator.co.nz/projects/nieuport-11-bebe there are some tips on landing the real one and this is a good way in OFF.


The N16 was less so but had a heavier engine and very poor CG very nose heavy and problematic to fly for example.

WW1 aircraft were mostly inherently dangerous to fly, and many people died in landing or take off accidents let alone "the being shot at" times
many of the early craft were very sensitive to controls - the Morane Parasol for example had to be flown with constant stick pressure or it quickly and easily went out of control.

Thanks for all your responses-very enlightening. I'll keep in mind what you've said and go back to flight training. Thanks again.

All the Nieuports are excellent gliders, great when trying glide in without an engine, but a pain in the neck when landing. Many times a row of trees are purposely placed at the ends of an airfield to make life difficult for the artillary spotter to range your airfield. Figure all he sees is an aircraft landing after a row of trees. He knows there's an airfield there somewhere, but exactly where he don't know. You're most likely to encounter such trees at an airfield close to the front. So here the pilot started his approach five miles out, and here is a row of trees he must clear, which he does.
Now he's going 90mph, 70 feet up, and running out of runway quick, with No flaps. You idle your engine, and decend you'll speed up

Nieuport 11 has a huge propellor, so you need to hold your nose extremely high

SE5a is a bouncer - only way to stop it, stall 6 inches up. Easier said than done

Fokker DR1 - will do a backflip if you try to stop by digging your tailskid in above 30mph, calls for a little side to side first ( watch those wingtips )

I just wanted to add that I've been been following the suggestions you all offered, with great, or, at least, greater, success. I've flown several missions which ended in successful, or survivable, landings. So, thanks again.

What you can also try is select . . . Pilot never Dies . . .In Workshop

Because the worst you can experience is lots of days in the Hospital

Saves the time of making more pilots

When and if you ever decide to engage in air combat, there are only some additional steps for you to take, but some strange benifits as well

PROBLEMS: Since you don't have a parachute falling as a ball of flame from 8000 feet, is a death sentence.

You know you died, as I know you died, but according to the manager you were sent to the hospital for 27 Days, after that you'll be fit as a fiddle

You must step in, anytime the hospital stay is in excess of 24 Days. Retire the pilot PERIOD

NOW for the goody . . You'll never become a P.O.W.. . . you'll always escape over the weekend to rejoin your squadron

So you can play this way and last quite awhile, or CHEAT and last forever

James, would you tell me your town and country?
I'd like to add you to our OFF Pilots Maps, over at CombatAce.

Olham,
Certainly, Sparks, Nevada, U.S.