F4F-4 Wildcat Sim Reference Data:

Additional Performance Specs:

236 Knots TAS MAX at Sea Level
276 Knots TAS MAX at 18,800 ft
140 Knots TAS at 5,000 ft for max RANGE
1100 NM max range with 2 drop tanks
Climb to 10,000 ft in 5.6 Minutes
Climb to 20,000 ft in 12.4 Minutes

YE-ZB Disk Handy to print out for reference.
Morse Code Also handy to print out for reference.
Carrier Relocation Provides information on how to re-locate carriers.

Key Assignments:
Canopy Toggle      Shift + E
Wings Fold Toggle  Shift + 0  (zero)
Tail Hook Toggle   Shift + Control + 0
AP "holds"         Z key
Attitude Hold      ^T
Heading Hold       ^H
Altitude Hold      ^Z
Release Ext. Fuel tank   ^ + Sh + D
Operation: This aircraft features a simulation of a classified WW2 Navy Navigation system called the YE-ZB system. Three carriers are simulated. The Hornet, the Yorktown, and the Stennis. The Stennis is not period authentic (too modern), but it is part of the stock FS9 scenery, if you don't want to use the "Battle of Midway" add-on scenery package. Another system, not directly related to YE-ZB navigation, is the arrester gear simulator. You can activate the tail hook on the F4F-4 and have it land on a carrier (trapping), for the successful completion of a mission. Omitting it will not harm the YE-ZB simulation. With sufficient headwinds simulating the carrier steaming into the wind, you can land and take off if you are careful.

Due to the fact that I'm featuring the simulation of a navigation system used during WW2, and not featuring a new aircraft, I have taken some liberties with the design of the Grumman F4F4 fighter. Some of the things I usually add to an airframe are missing. Below is a list of the things I did or didn't do to achieve this goal. Automixture is enabled in the aircraft. The mixture lever is used only to shut off the fuel to the engine to safely stop it without backfiring. Autolean is not simulated.

The plane doesn't trim very well, so I cheated with a very simple AutoPilot which simulates the elevator trim (altitude hold), and the rudder trim (Heading hold) and the elevator trim again for climbing/descending (Attitude hold)

Water injection for Emergency Power is not modeled.

Cowl flaps do not increase drag when they are open.

There is a "all tanks" trap to eliminate that un-realistic condition provided by FS9. You are using fuel from the tank selected by the Orange Tank Selector switch. The two fuselage tanks are not modeled separately, but combined as the "main" tank.

The wings fold and unfold by manual labor, not hydraulics. Feel free to command the ground crew to unfold the wings.

Since the gear and flaps are hydraulically operated, they won't move until the hydraulic pressure is sufficient. However, if you lose engine power you may have sufficient "residual" pressure to retract/deploy the flaps a few times.

drop tank . You must use your imagination with the use of the drop tank(s)because it doesn't show up visually in this simulation, but it can be used to increase the range of the plane. It holds up to 150 gallons of usable fuel. You may also dump the fuel (drop the tank) by using the keyboard command for "release all drop tanks" (Ctrl + Shift + D).

Use caution measuring elapsed time since FS9 sometimes "jumps" Zulu time, and frequently "jumps" the local time as the plane moves from one time zone to another.

That said, I did spend some time trying to get the performance specs correct. You should find the climb and cruise and range data reasonably accurate as depicted below. Don't overlook the NAVAER Airplane Characteristics and Performance data. A copy is saved in the Aircraft/F4F_Wildcat folder as "F4F_NAV.pdf".

For flight planning, use the following typical values:

CHT must remain under 260 degrees C.

The cowl flapsTo get full spec performance, follow the check list for proper cowl flap settings. Close the flaps during cruise unless the CHT exceeds 220-230 degrees C.

If your cockpit provides gauges for the pressure altitude and Outside Air Temp. for determining the density altitude for known Pressure altitude and OAT, use the chart below:

For questions or comments, contact Dave Bitzer; bitzer7@comcast.net
Copyright: Dave Bitzer November 2011