Cockpit and Operations for "P-38 Triple Play" ver. 2.1
Lockheed P-38F-1, P-38G-13 & P-38H-5

by David C. Copley

Introduction

This document covers most of the operational aspects of the model, including the gauges, animated cockpit features and additional information useful to fly the model.  

(Before continuing I would like to say that if you feel compelled to nit-pick this model, as it seems so many like do with FS models these days, please see the section "A Word from the Designer"  in the model documentation.)


2D Panel

The basis of the 2D panel is from a photo of Glacier Girl's actual panel -- a photo taken just for this purpose with the kind help of Bob Cardin, Lost Squadron Museum Project Manager.  The gauges are different in look than Glacier Girl's but are basically the same function and location as the actual plane. 

2Dpanel.jpg (213797 bytes)
Figure 1.

1 - Vacuum/suction gauge

1 - Standby Magnetic Compass and Heading Marker.  To change the heading marker place the mouse in the knob in the lower left corner of the gauge. A - or + should appear depending whether the mouse is to the left or right of the knob.  Click to change.   When the autopilot is engaged, this feature may be used to change the heading interactively. 

3 - Clock

4 - Directional Gyro.  When making turns, look at this instrument for correct heading information, as the magnetic compass will lead or lag depending on the orientation with respect to magnetic north. 

5 - Attitude gauge / gyro horizon. 

6 - Manifold pressure gauges (left and right)

7 - Outside air temperature (C)

8 - Fuel gauge, percentage, Empty to Full. (On actual P-38s there were separate, fuel-quantity gauges for the main tanks, auxiliary tanks, etc.)

9 - Tachometers (left and right)

10 - Altimeter.  (Unfortunately, this particular gauge does not have any means to manually calibrate for pressure changes.  Use the simulator's calibration command, typically the 'B' key, to calibrate.)

11 - Bank and turn indicator.

12 - Airspeed indicator in mile per hour (mph).  (Take note of this, as you may be used to knots!)

13 - Rate of climb indicator.

14 - Oil Pressure (Left and Right) Typical oil pressure is 60-70 psi.

15 - Flaps and gear indicator.

16 - Coolant temperature gauge (Left and Right).  Coolant should be between 101 - 121 C during normal operation.  Maximum 125 C.

17 - Oil Temperature (Left and Right).  Typical oil temperature ranges from 75 - 95 C.   

18 - Fuel Pressure (Left and Right).  Typical fuel pressure is 16-18 psi. 

Also:


2D Panel icons

These icons are located at the bottom of the 2D panel are used to access pop-up panels and other simulator features.

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Figure 2.

1 - radio, navigation and autopilot pop-up panel.

2 -  kneeboard (checklist, etc.)

3 - GPS

4 - Throttles, propeller controls and mixture controls

5 - Main switch box (engine starters, light switches, etc.)

6 - Simulator map

7 - ATC


2D Panel Pop-Up Panels

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Figure 3.

Radio / Navigation / Autopilot

Obviously, WWII-era P-38s did not have these modern navigational instruments, though some Photo Reconnaissance P-38s (F-4/F-5) had a primitive autopilot.  I envision this model as a restored P-38, flying in modern-day skies.  This pop-up panel contains some basic modern equipment that I occasionally use and should provide enough for simple IFR flying.

1 - Basic-Function Autopilot.  Note: If set to hold heading, you can use the heading marker on the standby magnetic compass on the main panel (Figure 1, #2) to change the heading.

2 - Comm1 and Nav1 radios

3 - Comm2 and Nav2 radios

4 - Transponder

5 - ADF

6 - OMI indicator lights

7 - NAV / GPS switch for autopilot control

8 - RMI - displays NAV1, NAV2 or ADF direction indicators. 

9 - elevator trim indicator

10 - Audio selector

Main Switch Box

11 - Engine starters and magneto switches (Left and Right.)

12 - Master switch.

13 - Light switches: Instrument panel, Navigation (wings), Strobe (tails), Landing (left wing, inset), Identification (underneath main fuselage).  (On the real P-38, each identification light had its own switch.)

14 - Voltmeter. 

15 - Ammeter (Note there is only one generator, powered by the left engine)

16 - Propeller feathering switches

Throttles, propeller controls and mixture controls

17 - Throttles (left and right engines)

18 - propeller pitch (left and right propellers)

19 - Mixture (left and right engines)


A Tour around the Virtual Cockpit

vc1.jpg (184703 bytes)
Figure 4.

1 - fuel management, inactive

2 - Gear lever

3 - Propeller pitch controls. 

4 - Throttles

5 - mixture control levers.  Because the P-38 had automixture, I recommend just setting automixture in the simulator.  But if you want to manage the fuel mixture yourself, move these levers.  (Also keyboard commands Ctrl+Shift+F1...F4)

6 - Cooling/radiator vent door control (mouse control is opposite of what it ought to be, due to an irregularity in FS, sorry!)  You might want assign keys to the simulator's cowling command to see these move.  Also, because of a limitation in the way the simulator models water-cooled engines, these have little effect aside from their eye candy.

7 - propeller feathering switches (red knobs, left and right)

8 - rudder pedals

9 - elevator trim (Note: on Glacier Girl this is a crank and the rudder trim is a wheel.  On the P-38G and H the elevator trim is a wheel and the rudder trim is a crank)

 

vc2.jpg (181991 bytes)
Figure 5.

1 - Control Wheel (elevator and aileron control)

2 - Microphone switch, inactive

3 - Canon trigger, inactive

4 - rudder trim (this is a crank instead of a wheel on the G and H)

5 - Flaps lever.  The animation is not exactly how it was on the P-38.  On the real plane, pulling the lever back would extend the Fowler flaps to an 8-degree so-called 'Maneuver' setting, used to help decrease the plane's turning radius.  To extend the flaps farther, the lever would be returned to the front position and the handle lifted up and brought back to the desired position. Furthermore, the flaps were continuously variable, and did not have specific set points of flap extension.  To retract the flaps the lever would be pushed all the way forward.  This is one of the many areas where compromises have been made in the model due to simulator limitations and/or practical convenience. 

6 - aileron trim, inactive

7 - identification light controls, inactive

8 - right window handle, inactive (on the P-38, the side windows rolled down like like car windows)

9 - hydraulic system's emergency hand pump handle, inactive

10 - seen from the VC, this polished oval on the inside of each nacelle was used by the pilot to verify that the nose gear had extended -- it was a mirror!

vc3.jpg (116411 bytes)
Figure 6.

1 - Right turbo-supercharger.  At high power, the turbo will glow ;-)

2 - Left main tank fuel cap

3 - Air worthiness certificate :-). Take a close up look -- texture-wise, it is the most detailed part in the virtual cockpit.

4 - Seat.  On the real P-38, the seat could be adjusted up/down only.

5 - pilot armor (removed on the G and H model to improve rear visibility)

6 - pilot headrest (removed on the G and H model to improve rear visibility)

7 - Radio equipment (behind the armor in this image)


Basic Operations

In the following section, number combinations refer to the above figures and the numbered items within.  For example 3-2 refers to Figure 3, item 2 (Comm1 and Nav1 radios).

Starting

1) Open the Main Switch box via icon (2-5)

2) Turn on main power (3-12).

3) Open Throttles, propeller controls and mixture controls panel via its icon (2-4)

4) Move the mixture levers (3-19, or 4-5) all the way forward.  (I also recommend setting automixture in the simulator)

5) Turn on both magnetos for left engine (3-11) and hold the starter switch (3-11) up for a few seconds until the engine starts.

6) Repeat step 5 for the right engine.

(alternately, you can press Ctrl+E to have the simulator start the engines via an autosequence)

Taxi

Best taxi speed is below 40 mph. Use differential braking (F11 and F12), differential thrust or the nosewheel (via rudder pedals) for steering.  For best results, use a combination.  For tight turns, slow down to just a few mph.

Take-off

Once lined up for take off, hold the brakes, bring the engines up to 47" manifold pressure (or 54" for the H) and then release the brakes.  As you pass 70mph gently pull back on the wheel until rotation and lift-off, which occurs near 100 mph (no flaps).  Retract gear as soon as you can.   For even shorter take-off, set flaps to their first setting.

Climb

A good climb rate is between 1600 ft/min and 2000 ft/min.  If you climb with full power, you will find yourself having to apply forward pressure on the yoke, as it really wants to climb!

Trimmed Flight

Once trimmed, the P-38 is very stable in flight.  There are stories of pilots nodding off on long flights, perhaps because there was so little to do!

Feathering a propeller

1 - Reduce power to the engine with the propeller to be feathered
2 - Cut the mixture to that engine (so the engine shuts off)
3 - Press the respective propeller feathering switch (3-16 or 4-7)
4 - Pull the prop pitch lever all the way back. 

(Note: Even if prop pitch is left untouched the prop will stop spinning, which is of course not realistic -- it should "windmill."  I believe this is a limitation of the simulator -- a limitation that might be overcome with some advanced programming... perhaps another update!)

Cruise and General Flight Characteristics

It likes to cruise between 270 and 300 mph IAS, depending on altitude.  At those speeds use trim liberally for level flight.   If flying high-speed for more than 200 nm, I recommend a cruise altitude between 20,000 - 25,000 ft.  Be sure to cut back on manifold pressure and rpm if you want to fly any long distances.  Max distance is about 1000 miles without external tanks using minimal power.

The aircraft is quite easy to fly, with very few odd qualities about it.  Because of the counter-rotating propellers, there is no torque effect as encountered in single-engine planes or twins with the props spinning the same direction.  Roll is pretty good for such a large airplane, but the response is a bit sluggish due to twin boom arrangement.  The P-38's stall characteristics are also very gentle... in fact you have to try pretty hard to stall it even in tight turns.  Clean stall is around 100 mph, dirty stall is near 75 mph.

Max speed is a about 410 mph, though you can push it a well past that in a dive. Watch out for compressibility if you make extended dives from high altitude.

Landing

For best landing, approach at about 150 mph indicated with flaps at 15-degrees (first notch on the F model, second notch of the G and H), gear down.  Deploy full flaps about a minute out and adjust throttle to hold speed at about 120 mph. Cross over the fence at 100 mph indicated and cut back the throttle. Set her down gently on the main gear at about 70 - 80 mph indicated, let the nose gear fall and apply brakes.

External Fuel Tanks

Due to limitations of the simulator, the external drop tanks are modeled using two disjoined techniques:

1) a separate model is used to represent them visually

2)  they must be activated by manually editing the aircraft.cfg file in a text editor, such as Notepad.  Within aircraft.cfg, see the section called [fuel] for instructions. 

On the real plane, the smaller tanks would usually hold 150 - 160 gallons.  The larger, 300-310 tanks (made of wood) were used for very long range missions and ferrying, and were jettisoned only in emergencies.  Extreme caution was required when dropping empty 300 gallon tanks, as they could hit the airplane when released; they had to be released at very low speeds (120 mph indicated, with landing gear and flaps up... not a very safe condition for the P-38 should it lose an engine.)

Flight Simulator 2004 does not readily support dropping tanks, as far as the visual and and aerodynamic considerations are concerned.  Using some very clever   techniques it is possible.  I experimented with the technique, but ultimately opted not to make them droppable for philosophical reasons: this model represents a restored P-38 flying in modern skies, and the virtual FAA would not look kindly upon us virtual pilots dropping tanks where we pleased.  However, using the simulator command 'drop tanks,' you can empty their contents, of which I'm sure the virtual FAA would also disapprove. :-)

Copyright © 1998-2007 David C. Copley