Aircraft instruments

From Battleground Europe Wiki

Eventually their will have a picture of each cockpit in the game, with details on each.

Aircraft may have a "partial panel", meaning some instruments are missing (most fighters have a partial), and a "full panel", meaning a full set of instruments are included.

Below is a He-111's full panel. You will see the Artificial horizon, Turn indicator, compass (2 of them), vertical speed, altitude, airspeed, Slave compass, as well as full engine instruments.

Here is a screenshot of the He 111's "office", with numbers corresponding to the instrument descriptions below. There are also two more indicators (14 and 15) that you must look up over the pilots right shoulder (Mouse look or keypad 5 and 6 keys at the same time) in order to see.

Marked Instruments are:

1. Artificial Horizon
   • This instrument indicates the plane's pitch (up-down) and roll (left-right) in relation to the horizon.
2. Turn and Slip Indicator
   • "Turn and Slip Indicator" (commonly known as Turn and Bank Indicator") shows both the rate of turn and the coordination (slip or skid) of the turn. The rate of turn is the actual rate at which the airplane is changing its heading, with tick marks showing a 'standard rate turn'. The "ball" in the curved tube is the Inclinometer and indicates the "slip" or "skid" of the aircraft, with the ball being centered meaning it is a perfect turn (if not, the aircraft looses lots of speed from excess drag).
3. "Course Pointer" ("Kurszeiger"), a.k.a "PDI"
   • This instrument informs how much left or right the pilot has to turn the bomber to align with target. The bombardier keeps aim on target with the cross hairs in the sight, and the pilot then turns toward the pointer until pilot sees it cenetered. The range of the pointer is up to 22.5 degrees either side. [As pictured indicates that the pilot should adjust course to the right in order to be on target]
4. Climb / Descent Rate Indicator
   • This instrument indicates how many M/S (meters per second) the plane is climbing or diving. As pictured it shows that the plane is in level flight (not moving upwards or downwards).
5. Altimeter
   • This indicates the planes current height above sea level. The number window in the bottom represents 1000m units (number center or LEFT OF CENTER tells which x000) up the plane is, and the dial represents 10's of units in meter altitude (Pictured indicates an altitude of 100m above sea level).
6. Airspeed Indicator
   • This instrument shows your current airspeed in kilometers per hour. It is labeled at 100 km/h intervals, each large tick is 50 km/h.
7. "Slave" compass
   • In the aft of the aircraft is a "Master" gyro compass mounted in a spring floating cage. Signals from it are displayed on this instrument, and provide a more stable reading then a magnetic compass.
8. Magnetic Compass
   • The number in middle is your compass heading, ADD 0 TO NUMBER. 36 (360) North, 9 (90) East, 18 (180) South, 27 (270) West.
9. Inclinometer / Slip Indicator
   • This indicates the slip of the plane, as #2. A spare Inclinometer.
10. RPM Indicators
    • These instruments indicate the RPM's of both engines. This instrument is not of particular importance as far as I can tell.
11. Manifold pressure indicator
    • VITAL INSTRUMENT! This instrument indicates your manifold pressure, or engine power, setting. On German aircraft, it is calibrated in in atmospheres (ata). For formation flying, the lead has to announce power settings for fellow pilots to keep formation. Example: "Max 1.0" means MAX for propeller, and "1.0" on the ATA gauge (needle straight up is 1.2). On the ground the Max power is about 1.32ata.
12. Oil Temperature Indicators
    • These dials indicate the temperature of both engines. Normally this needle is always at top, but that is OK.
13. Oil Level Indicators
    • During flight it slowly goes down (moves left). If your engine is hit this movement is accelerated (and gray smoke pours out of the engine). Once you run out, your engine will die almost immediately (in real He-111 is an Coolant Temperature indicator).
14. Fuel Indicators (located above head)
    • This is your fuel quantity, 1 tank will empty before the other will. Note that 1/2 a tank of fuel is NOT geometrically 1/2 way between 0 and 2, it is at the point labeled '1'. One tank will empty first, and you have plenty of fuel for any mission.
15. Oil Pressure Indicators (located above head)
    • Important for a smooth running engine! When your oil is gone (#13), then this needle will drop to 0, and engine will start making scary noises.