Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator

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Pilots, Start Your Engines!
By Jon Seal, Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator researcher & writer

A Note on Aircraft Engine Starting in Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator--and in History

Before you can fly, you've got to start your engine. That's simple enough on a sunny peacetime morning, but when you're in a rush to get into combat, the process can seem very complex. Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator lets you choose whether to make starting your engine automatic, quick, and easy, or complex and realistic. For WWII combat pilots the stakes — and the anxiety — were high, and the process was even more involved.

Auto-Start

In Combat Flight Simulator, the fastest way to start your engine and get your fighter into the air is to use the one-step Auto-start method:

Press E on your keyboard, or use your mouse to click the starter switch.

This is a highly automated procedure that carries out all the steps for you.

Manual Start

However, many flight sim fans like to do things for themselves, especially if it makes for a more immersive and realistic flight experience. Combat Flight Simulator lets you choose the level of automation that suits you from flight to flight. If you want to skip Auto-start in favor of a more realistic Manual start procedure, follow these steps:

1. Press SHIFT+2 to open the engine controls window.

2. Click and drag the prop control lever all the way forward (for maximum rpm), or press CTRL+F4.

3. Click and drag the mixture control lever all the way forward (the Full Rich position), or press CTRL+SHIFT+F4.
Note: The Messerschmitt 109E and 109G only have throttle and prop control levers. The mixture is controlled automatically.

4. Click and drag the throttle control lever all the way back (the Idle position), then move it forward just a bit. You can also do this by moving the throttle control lever on your joystick, or by pressing F3 repeatedly, then F4.

Note: The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 has one lever that collectively controls throttle, prop, and mixture; for engine start, move it all the way back.

5. In RAF aircraft, click the Magneto switches to move them both to the On position. In Luftwaffe aircraft, click the Magneto switch to move it to the M1+M2 position. In USAAF aircraft, click the Magneto switch to move it to the Both position.

Note: The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 does not have a Magneto switch.

6. Click the Starter button/switch to engage the starter; hold the mouse button down until the engine starts, then release it.

Starting up the Real, Old Fashioned Way

Does this procedure seem laborious? Does going through all of it while your airfield is under attack make you a little nervous? This reality was even more complex and time-consuming for WWII combat pilots. No amount of haste or anxiety made a Rolls-Royce Merlin or a Daimler-Benz DB601 start up faster, and missteps could mean staying stuck to the ground while your squadronmates rose to the challenge.

For example, here's the officially prescribed engine start procedure from Air Publication 1565B (July 1940): Supermarine Spitfire Pilot's Notes.

Starting the Engine and Warming Up

(i) Set:

Both fuel cock levers	ON
Throttle	½ Inch open
Mixture control	RICH
Airscrew speed control	Fully back DH 20º
Rotol 35º Propeller	Lever fully forward
Radiator shutter	OPEN

(ii) Operate the priming pump to prime the suction and delivery pipes. This may be judged by a sudden increase in resistance of the plunger.

(iii) Prime the engine, the number of strokes required being as follows:

Air temperature ºC:	+30	+20	+10	0	-10	-20
Normal fuel:	3	4	7	13
High volatility fuel:				4	8	15

(iv) Switch ON ignition and pull out the priming pump handle.

(v) Press the starter push-button and at the same time give one stroke of the priming pump. This push-button also switches on the booster coil and should be kept depressed until the engine is firing evenly.

Note: If the engine fails to start on the first cartridge, no more priming should be carried out before firing the second, but another stroke should be given as the second cartridge is fired.

(vi) As soon as the engine is running evenly, screw down the priming pump.

Testing Engine and Installations

(i) While warming up, exercise the airscrew speed control a few times. Also make the usual checks of temperature, pressure and controls. Brake pressure should be at least 120 Lb/Sq. In.

(ii) See that the cockpit hood is locked open and that the emergency exit door is set at the "half-cock" position.

(iii) After a few minutes move the airscrew speed control fully forward.

(iv) After warming up, open the throttle to give maximum boost for cruising with WEAK mixture and test the operation of the constant speed airscrew.

(v) Open the throttle to give maximum boost for cruising with RICH mixture and check each magneto in turn. The drop in rpm. should not exceed 150.

(vi) Open the throttle fully momentarily and check the static R.P.M boost and oil pressure.

(vii) Warming up must not be unduly prolonged because the radiator temperature before taxying [sic] out must not exceed 100º C.

"When engines are being kept warm in readiness for immediate take-off, de Havilland 20º C.S. propeller should be left in fine pitch - control lever fully forward."

Final Preparation for Take-Off - Drill of Vital Actions

Drill is "T.M.P., Fuel, Flaps and Radiator"

T	Trimming Tabs	Elevator about one division nose down from neutral
M	Mixture control	RICH
P	Pitch	Airscrew speed control fully forward
Fuel		Both cock levers ON and check contents of lower tank
Flaps		UP
Radiator shutter		Fully open

And you're ready to fly. Simple, isn't it? The next time you're sweating through the Manual startup procedure in Combat Flight Simulator, you may feel lucky that there's no priming pump handle protruding from your monitor. If you'd rather fly than fiddle, press the E key and take off!

Comments or suggestions? Send them to CFSMail@microsoft.com.