Congratulations The F9F is quite a nice aircraft and definately the better choice for a first jet than the P80A (maybe not once it gets a real FM).
Im jealous! Ive been working on jets for a while now and the grind gets to me haha. Im about halfway through the first Yak jet.
ME 262's and lower german rocket planes are what I have. I don't count the HO as a jet yet, since many prop's out run it in level flight at 5000m. Which is stupid to consider, being as how it outmaneuvered and out ran the me 262 in the german test dog fights before the airframe was captured.
The 229 is like the zero of jets in a way. It was never going to be fast with it's design and I find your claim that it out ran the Me262 a bit bold, there are reports of a fake dog-fight with the V2 or V3 model (not real size/engines and everything) versus a 262 which showed that the 229 outperformed it. That in itself is not very surprising because the 262 was used as an interceptor and not a dogfighter, hence the 262 was not made for maneauvrability (the aspect in which the 229 outperformed it).
Ill grant that the speed of the full scale production model would have been slower due to the increased surface resistance, but there is no way it should accelerate at the rate of a b-24.
I have never 'calculated' the effective thrust at average speed of a B-24 but I dabbled around with some of the formula's for maximum speed and thrust ratios with the given values for the 229 (like a CD0 of 0.011) and it seems pretty close (in game) to what it would have been in reality (a failed project).
Dimensions Wingspan: 16.8 m (55.4 ft) Length: 7.47 m (24.6 ft) Height 2.81 m (9.3 ft) Weights: Empty 5,067 kg (11,198 lb) Gross 8,999 kg (19,887 lb) Engines: (2) Junkers Jumo 004 B-2 turbojet, 900 kg (1,989 lb) thrust From this (note the full weight includes bombs which are not present in game, so minus 1000kg) I find a higher ration then your own. And some other sources cite a rounded 1000kg of thrust instead for each engine. If you look at the top speeds its rated at in both the drafted plans/test documents, and then look in game at what it can achieve. The gulf it so great its not possible to see how to achieve it. 600mph is the rough top speed, however in game in a flat dive I haven't achieved anything past 540mph. And level flight where I have the best chance to gain speed reasonably, I cant achieve even 300mph. That is why I find it completely ridiculous.
I don't know numbers in mp/h but in km/h people often cite a napkin (seriously) that was scribbled by the brothers that 'claims' it can do 950 kp/h but in no set of calculable physics could the design ever go beyond 850-875 kp/h with the Jumo B engines. NOTE that these speeds values do not refer to level flight speeds but maximumally attainable speeds. Also, what ratio are you referring to? Cd0 has nothing to do with thrust ratio but is a value for the drag coefficient at zero lift conditions. Basically, it means that the 229 has more drag than the 262 and the maximum attainable level flight speed for the 262 was ~530 mp/h at ~23.000 feet (see source -> http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/me262/RAE-german-jets.pdf), dictacting that the 229 should be significantly slower than the 262 (my best guesstimate would be ~ 500 mp/h at the same altitude). PS: I state guesstimate in the last sentence because I do not have time or things I need here (at work) to calculate it for you.
That's the hard part of the design to figure out, due to its unique flying style. Unlike the B2 or F117 it doesn't fly nose straight on either. It has to fly at a near 6* incline to maintain level flight, and who knows what kind of effect that has further on the design. All that being said, its still not possibly as bad as it is represented in game. Ill grant for sure that the sheet displayed in game when you select the aircraft is flat out lying in every regard except the weapons load. It cant climb at nearly the angle claimed, cant reach the speed claimed, and sure doesn't turn half as well as claimed without ripping your wings off at the slightest turn.
Do me a favor and put on FRC in a test flight, goto ~23.000 feet and try to fly around 300 kph. Then throttle up the aircraft and just let it 'fly' for a few minutes, record the speed every 5 seconds (while maintaining altitude) and report the numbers if you could (I don't have it myself so I have been going by values reported on the forums).
I can do that tonight, I need a period of time I wont be interrupted for that. And I will do a comparison with the 262 for comparison within the engine of RL/Engine performances.
Horton Test Flight, Full Controls, Sim level, Full Fuel, Empty weapons on runway before take off to reduce weight. 1044 Start time Angle of ascent 14* from runway to clear trees. 104 mph at take off. 1045 7 seconds per 100ft climb/ reduce angle to 10* 10 seconds per 100ft climb, speed gained 2 mph per 5 seconds capping at 131 mph. 1049 engines over heating at 85% throttle, down to 80% solves issue temp. 1051 Sharp turn right to avoid boundry at 14000ft speed at turn start 230mph, end 135 mph. 1103 Op Ceiling achieved engines over heat again, down to 75% thrust. 1105 Boundry reset, unable to turn in time Entry speed 224mph, reset altitude 21645ft, speed 142mph. 1108 Ceiling achieved again 80% thrust, 141mph. Less than 1mph per 5 sec. Throttle to 100% 2 mph per 5 sec. 1113 Reset again to 21645 alt entry speed 312 mph, exit speed 280mph. 1114 23000ft achieved 182mph. 1117:11 320 mph, slight vibrations 100% 1117: 18 323 mph, vibrations affecting control surfaces 1117:32 342 mph, slight dive to attempt to stabilize airflow 1*+ angle vibrations affecting stick and rudder controls 1118 map boundry again, unable to continue testing further as reset this time was down to 17000 ft level. Aborted. Will do the 262 test tomorrow.
