New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

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Destroy
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by Destroy »

Lets see if this works...
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Pilkatron
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by Pilkatron »

I' am so sad that L049 does not use turbocompound R-3350. That is something that made R-3350 so special, in this way it is just another radial.

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Aymi
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by Aymi »

Pilkatron wrote:I' am so sad that L049 does not use turbocompound R-3350. That is something that made R-3350 so special, in this way it is just another radial.
I agree with you on the first sentence, but that does not mean that the engines will be bulletproof like the current A2A pratt & witneys radials. Unlike the 377 wich was the top notch state of the art of just about everything, the L-049 was a conversion of the C-69 cargo (or the opposite, not so sure). So less systems to manage, I'm guessing the engine management will be like in the mustang but with manual mixture and flaps. No intercoolers or turbos. BUT since it was basically a WW2 plane, it used the infamous first gen 3350's that plagued the B-29. So engine managements will for sure be interesting 8)

Also performance-wise, I don't think the turbo-compounds connies performed much better than the 049, because they were much heavier.
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R-2800-59
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by R-2800-59 »

I personally am very excited about those early R-3350. They of course had Turbochargers to be controlled in the Connie, otherwise she wouldn't have had that high service ceiling, however the engines are obviously lacking the overcomplicated Turbo-Compound mechanism and I expect them to be a little more reliable without.
Let's prepare for some overheating though, the early types were prone to get very hot on high power settings. That's one issue that had a very negative impact on the B-29 reputation as well.

It might be a strange feature of a upcoming captain to be enthusiastic about his planes' technical flaws :D

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R-2800-59
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by R-2800-59 »

Well, technically you're right to call it just another radial. It get's overshadowed by the mighty 28-cylinder R-4360 in the Stratocruiser in displacement and power output.

Nevertheless it is such a fascinating powerplant! There's a few points that make me want to hear it purr:

- The biggest twin-row radial to enter serial production!
- Equipped with fuel injection!
- Very potent design that kept up with a much larger engine (R-4360) during the whole lifespan!
- Developement beginning at 1935 production was only stopped in 1957!
- the only radial engine to be a commercial success well into the jet age!
- Backbone of transatlantic air travel!

For me this engine is a masterpiece - it definetely states what was possible at the end of WWII.

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addman
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by addman »

The "corn cobs" on the 377 were supposedly more unreliable than the R-3350's. Also, A2A Connie will be supercharged, not turbocharged. It will have a two-stage supercharger just like the mustang, simple hi or low setting which I actually prefer to the 377 which can be a bit of a handful when doing both pilot and FE's job at the same time. Of course it will limit the max ceiling.
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Aymi
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by Aymi »

addman wrote:The "corn cobs" on the 377 were supposedly more unreliable than the R-3350's. Also, A2A Connie will be supercharged, not turbocharged. It will have a two-stage supercharger just like the mustang, simple hi or low setting which I actually prefer to the 377 which can be a bit of a handful when doing both pilot and FE's job at the same time. Of course it will limit the max ceiling.
Hopefully it might change with the more advanced engine simulation but the current corn cobs on the 377 seems fairly reliable. As long as you stay below red line and don't fly with cowl flaps closed but turn on the ADI on extreme power settings, the engines will live (200+ hrs on current career). They might eat more and more oil with time but that's about it (on my experience). Out of almost a hundred trips, I always landed with the four running. To me the difficulty is more to find to perfect relationship between ground speed, prop RPM, pitch, cooling flaps, supercharger, pressurization and mixture. That one sweet spot where drag is minimal, engines run at top efficiency and you fly FAST :D
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Jacques
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by Jacques »

Hi Aymi, the element missing from our very personal simulations is the constant rotation of pilots flying the same aircraft with very different styles, habits and requirements. Because I'm the only pilot flying "my" stratocruiser, the only failures I've incurred recently have been turbo failures!! And that is because I ( and you) fly it like we own it and not like a workhorse on a schedule! I think the reason Stratocruiser 4360's had a bit of a bad reputation is because the 377 came into service relatively early in engine production, and went out of service well before better reliability was engineered into the engine. (Not a fact, just a supposition on my part!)

And, yes, that sweet spot is so elusive...and devilishly hard to find!! :D

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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by Pilkatron »

You guess there will be fuel injection? I' am personally not sure engine used in l049 had injection, because it is one of early model... but maybe it depends on year of production, which let us place between 1943-1946 for lo49, however injection was replaced carb near end of war, but we have to wait what a2a choose. I would like a2a won' t let us without two things which gave r 3350 cult status.

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R-2800-59
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by R-2800-59 »

Oh, my bad. 2-stage Supercharger it is! Even more fancy.


As the fuel injection turned out to be a partial solution to the overheating issues (a few cylinders recieved a leaner mixture due to the uneven distribution from the manifold) I would rather expect the later production Injector models as real commercial use (the L-049 variant) was only seen after the war when that later production variant was available. However I would love to try out the early Carb ones as well, they seem to be even more of a thrill!

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Redglyph
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by Redglyph »

Hehe, I must confess that everytime I check the forums, I'm looking at the Accu-Sim sub-forum names, in the secret hope to see "Connie L049" :D

I know, I know ... patience and all that.

Any word on the beta testing to feed our curiosity? Is she being a nice aircraft? ;)
Accu-Sim: B-17G, C172, C182, Cherokee 180, Comanche 250, Civilian P-51, Spitfire MkI/II, T-6, CotS Constellation, CotS B377
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Alan_A
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by Alan_A »

If the recent past is any indication, expect no news at all until the sudden posting of some screenshots... followed almost immediately by a mad rush to the F5 key.

Me, I'm trying to stay busy with other things and just not think about it.

Please note, I didn't say I was succeeding, just that I was trying... 8)
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by trucker17 »

I hope their is a nice Fully detailed passenger compartment. as well.
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addman
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by addman »

trucker17 wrote:I hope their is a nice Fully detailed passenger compartment. as well.
I would too if they weren't so resource-heavy. Most developers don't do the passenger compartments for that specific reason, they simply take more than they give. Just eye-candy that bogs down performance.

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AviationAtWar
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Re: New Captain of the Ship Aircraft - Connie L049

Post by AviationAtWar »

Man, I got up this morning with an odd feeling that there was going to be a release today. I knew better, but the first thing I did was check the forum anyway. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. :D

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