This is i consider the most difficult part of flying heavy warbirds, and i have had my fair share of tree landings
When i say heavy warbird i mean over 20 Pound with a wing span of about 80 plus inches, that would give them a high wing loading.
I don't include biplanes or high wing aircraft and also the large aerobatic type aircraft that have relatively low wing loadings.
There are a few guys in the club that fly jets and those i would include in the high wing loaded aircraft that are difficult to land
Around the 20 pound plus weight and 80 inch wing span the aircraft starts to act like a real aircraft in its flight patten and you cannot flick it around like the lower wing loading or large aerobatic aircraft, so correcting any approach mistakes becomes difficult.
With the need to descend from the ridge height i find that around 20 to 25 pounds in weight it becomes essential to use flaps on landing.
This is what i have found and some of it the hard way.
There are no instructors that can take you from the light wing loading to the high wing loadings that large warbirds have so a progression up the weight scale is recommended and around the 20 to 25 pound mark is where a large change occurs and a different flying style and knowledge are required.
I will not dwell on setting up your aircraft, power requirements,cg.requirement
your ability to fly and take off etc. because if you get those wrong your flight would be short and expensive,
This is just about getting your aircraft down in one bit.
With the 80 to 100 inch wingspan aircraft the airspeed seems for some reason to be slower then it really is and this is shown in the many overshoots that i have done due to my approaches being to fast.
If i am landing from the car-park at our field you have 2 possible approaches the first is down the ridge to the right of the flight box and you turn right through the gap in a descending circle and when i say gap i mean where the ridge of the bowl we fly in starts to rise again this is in the far right hand corner of our field. So you start descending from about the same height as the ridge but with this decent you have to fly below the hill on the right in a descending circle and then line up with the end and center of the runaway then straighten your wings over the center line for the final approach.
With this approach i found i was coming in to fast and got into all soughts of problems with throttle up wheels up flaps up for the go around.
I now approach it like this, first i do the wheels down check fly past.
The next circuit i start to slow down my aircraft over the dam and on the down wind leg on the ridge i put half flaps down so i now have wheels down and half flaps i reduce the throttle until the aircraft starts to descend and then increase the engine power until you just maintain level flight and that is the minimum engine power you need to maintain level flight in that configuration i then come through the gap keeping the nose down in the descending circuit.
Now you must consider the size of the aircraft and to get the perspective right for this i use a second pair of eyes with a spotter helping and i now try to listen to him as in the past i have made perfect approaches in this way and landed flat and level in the trees to the right of the runaway.
You then continue your descending circle where you straighten up the wings and drop full flaps you should then be 10 feet above the end of the runaway at the correct speed and naturally spot on the center line.
The second approach is flying down the ridge to the right with wheels and half flaps down and holding the aircraft on the throttle you turn right over where the ridge starts to increase in height then fly at right angles to the end of the runaway increasing throttle so the aircraft climbs up the ridge to the right of the flight box you then line up the aircraft with the end of the runaway then turn right lower the nose drop full flaps and hold the aircraft's height with the throttle, the trouble with this approach is the extra height you have on your final decent the aircraft tends to increase in speed so you have perfect height and angle of aircraft as you come over the start of the runaway but the speed is fast so confidence in your ability to slow the aircraft down enough to get the wheels on the deck before the end of the runaway.
Blackfingernail

Jeez David...you have now made me conciously think about landings. I find that, although you have to keep your wits about you, it is best to do plenty of circuits & bumps with the BIG ships so the drill becomes automatic.

It is true that airspeed can wash off dramatically on base turning to final and in the turn the aircraft can very easily stall. However, as you point out, coming over the threshold from the carpark with TOO MUCH airspeed makes it hard to touch down & roll out on a downward sloping strip with a drop-off & a dam at the end.

Full flap and 25% power gives a rule of thumb approach and it is important not to come in too high over the limbo bar so as to utilise all the strip for landing & roll.

CB

I should try and follow my own advice.

UMMMMM, what excuse can i think up,13 flights and 4 props stuffed, luckily they are only Chinese cheap as chips versions.
Well i finally got a 10 out of 10 for my landing last Friday.
I may have got hold of this P47 beast at last.
I managed to rip the retracts out of it a couple of Sundays ago totally my fault.
Landing from the damn easy as no wind.
I said to my self this is what you must do "when you are over the threshold of the field from the damn get down on the deck as quick as possible with a bit of throttle into ground affect 2 or 3 feet up fly it flat long and level with full flaps applied before the turning decent"
What i did was a long straight decent starting over the damn perfect decent angle perfect speed but as it was opposite me 3 feet up i applied the flair and it fell out of the sky and landed on its tootsies and nosed down, the tootsies stayed where they touched down and 35 Pounds of P47 carried on without a care in the world.
You cannot stop 35 Pounds easy.
No big deal i fixed Al,s retracts and put them back in the aircraft for the perfect flight and landing last Friday.This time i listened my own advice.
I found out the hard way the difference with landing from the damn and landing from the car park.
When you land from the car park you have no choice but to come in fast as you have to descend from the ridge about 150 feet so when you arive over the "Limbo bar" you are traveling faster then you want but you have full control because of the speed so then you can fly flat in ground effect and flair with full control.
Coming from the Damn you are tempted to come in much flatter and slower so you think you can get away with a straight angled decent with a nice easy flair in front of you just like a light wing loaded sport aircraft.
No chance with a heavy wing loaded aircraft.
Get you aircraft,s bum on the deck and fly it in flat and level as soon as you can.
I will also add if your decent is not 9 out of 10 to the center of the field and at the correct angle go round because it will only get worse.
Happy days its down in one bit. Blackfingernail
PS. I now put on full flaps along the ridge as trying to go from half flaps to full flaps when you are over the edge of the field causes me to let go of my throttle and find the flap switch and then back on the throttle, i found out that it was to much to do and to little time to do it so now its full flaps before you turn onto the decent.

Yeah, I think your right about going to full flaps as you come down the ridge providing you can maintain a constant descent. I have , like you, allways selected full flaps as soon as I have completed my turn onto final and as I fly mode1 and the flap switch is the three position switch above the RH stick I am too busy on the right hand, maintaining descent with the throttle, trying to keep the wings level with the ailerons and fumbling for the flap switch invariably means a wing wobble or throttle change that throws me off the approach. I'll give your way a try in the next couple of weeks and see if its better.
Cheers