Changes for 10/10/97 release:
1) disclaimer and announcement of my new job at IMOL added
2) minor tweaks done to pages
3) F4U did *not* change between 1.11 and 2.0. This was a misunderstanding of an email from Pyro, and the fact that the F4U did change between 1.10 and 1.11 in roll rate (I tested the F4U using the 1.10's FE).
Changes for 9/3/97 release:
1) Fixed ping damage levels for cannon on Bf 110E4 (was twice what it should be)
2) Completed both Hurricanes and Bf110s, and the TBF, finishing the testing for 2.0's new planes
3) Revised firepower charts for 20mm/30mm cannon explosive firepower
4) Adjusted writeup for Fw 190D9
Changes for 8/9/97 release:
1) Changed pictures to GIF format using VuePrint Pro/32 (www.hamrick.com), thanks to Ron Culver (lo2u) for suggesting this.
2) Thanks to Bill Woodell (yerk) for the AoA on the F4U page (was in mph not degrees, always knew that F4U was odd somehow :)
Changes for 8/8/97 release:
1) added a new writeup on "uber" and "dweeb" planes
2) completed testing for max speeds at 5,000ft
3) P39D retested with 1.99 beta FE
4) Redid dive tests for all 109s using F6F art (the 109s actually dive better than I thought)
5) Retested F4U roll rate for 2.0 (F4U roll was adjusted for 1.99)
6) Tested Bf109E4 and Spit Mk Ia
7) Reshot all the planes picts using 2.0's graphics engines. Due to problems converting to GIF, these images are all JPEGs. If anyone knows how to convert WB 2.0 screenshots to GIF without dither patterns (which I dislike for WB shots), please contact me.
8) Chart updates will occur when I have a few more planes tested and can do them as a batch
Changes for 7/19/97 release:
1) added Tillamook Air Museum pictures
2) added new (official from Pyro's mailing list) 2.0 planes to the "to do" list
Changes for 7/5/97 release:
1) Corrected Maximum Speed Graph
Changes for 7/4/97 release:
1) Changed "horizontal 1k blackout speed" to "Corner velocity", which is what it really is. This is the minimum speed at which maximum G can be pulled (max g limited by visibility). Your turn radius, at a max-G turn will be the minimum, and will stay that way unless you let off on the stick. Your turn rate will be max at this speed as well.
2) added percentages for firepower. Basically ki84 has 100% firepower, and each other plane relative to it. I picked the Ki84 since I needed a base, and it is currently my favorite bird (in case you couldn't tell :)
3) Added tests for corner velocity, did max-g turns at 1k, 5k, 10k, and 15k Tested were 180 degree turn and 360 degree turn at each (how long it took to get around that number of degrees). Also included turn radii. Most of the planes hit at or near sustained turn speed after 360 so figuring turn differences beyond this should be easy to calculate if needed. Oh, also did a bunch of comparison charts, including reorganizing and adding to the turn performance charts :)
4) Finally finished Net Lag writeup
5) Started working on max-speed comparisons (due to popular demand :). I didn't do this earlier since max speed plays such a limited role in WB (you are always faster after a dive, or slower). To make the numbers somewhat useful, I've included speeds at 1k for a dive from 5k (after 2 minutes of level flight), and a climb from the runway (after 2 minutes of level flight). When I get time, I'll add 5k, then 10k, then 15k. As each plane takes a minimum of about 10 minutes to test this, for each altitude (10*32*4) this will take some time :)
6) Changed Acceleration Graphs back to the original bland, but smaller (download size) graph format. This page should download much faster now.
Changes for 6/23/97 release:
1) Finished all of 1.11's planes, having completed the Ju88A4, B25H, and B17G.
2) Added links on each of the pages back to the main page. This was done since many sites link directly to individual pages of the site, and someone accessing the site this way was in a dead end otherwise.
3) Added acceleration test results for 150mph-200mph.
4) Redid Acceleration charts for Bf109 planes using F6F art (Bf109 speedometer rather innacurate). I used a different method to convert the charts from Excel format to GIF, unfortunately it introduced a dither pattern which increased image size substantially. I may go back to using Paint to do the color conversion, even though it looks more bland, it does make tight GIF images.
5) Still working on Net lag Writeup and Wing Efficiency Study
Changes for 5/22/97 release:
1) Changed "Blackhour speed" to "Blackout speed" in all plane pages. Turns out I had a spelling in my plane page template and this was replicated.
2) Changed "Hoof's Tips" to "Hoof's Tips and Opinions", to make it clear that my blurb is my opinion of the plane, and not intended as a professional writeup :) I try to be professional and objective with the data, but the tips/opinions section can/is totally subjective. The data is for all to see and judge, but the Tips/Opinions are my analysis of the data, the plane, the plane in Warbirds, and it's useage in Warbirds.
3) WB Gunnery Writeup was altered to correct the size of the beachballs that WB Planes shoot. They are 3ft in *diameter*, not radius as I thought, thus across they are only 3ft and not 6ft, and plane expansion effects due to the ball effect only increases the hittable area by 3ft, not 6ft.
4) No new planes or writeups in this release. I've been heavily involved with SolII (was promoted to CAP leader for IJ-Flop after frame 3), so haven't had much time to do new planes. My girlfriend, who I haven't seen much in a Year (she's teaching english in Korea) is back in town for 2 weeks and then she goes back to Korea for another year :( so it may be a few weeks before I can complete the last 3 planes and add my Wing Efficiency study.
5) Added stuff to the Ki43 and A6M writeups, based on my experiences training in GA for SolII. In particular, the Ki43 appears to be a very good plane for Arena duty, and is considerably tougher than the A6M2 and A6M3 (a bit of pilot armor and self-sealing fuel tanks).
Changes for 5/10/97 Release:
1) Fixed incorrect D3A2 information in Solomons II chart for acceleration. The D3A2 (val) cannot reach 250mph in level acceleration.
2) Added Gunnery Writeup page
3) B25J page completed and charts updated
4) Solomons II page updated to include sector transit times and climbout times/distances for mission planning and defence scheduling
Changes for 5/9/97 update:
SBD writeup altered, and apology made to US side in Solomons II Scenario
Changes for the 5/5/97 release:
This was planned for 5/3, but ran into time troubles (graduation and all those family things associated with it :) Finally got what I had planned done.
1) Val/Kate/SBD done
2) Solomons II Comparison Chart Done
3) NACA Roll data page done (Thanks to Richard, of dual-seat P51/Spit fame (don't know his last name) for the NACA data)
Changes for the 4/27 release:
1) Graphs made for most of the comparison charts (many thanks to Greg Peterson for the idea and the graphs he sent me)
2) A study of G limits in Warbirds was done
3) A study of Angle-of-Attack limits on the planes of Warbirds was done
Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to test the Val/Kate/SBD. Due to Solomons II coming up shortly, I am going to try to have these planes in by next week.
Changes for the 4/19/97 release:
1) P39D, P40E, P47D, P51D tested and web pages made, with performance charts updated. The fighters have all been tested now, all that remains is testing the bombers for comparison between bombers and fighters.
2) Spell checker run on all the pages to reduce spelling errors amongst the text. Turns out I'm a worse speller than I thought <g>