TBD "Devastator"
TBD
AEC:
Its difficult to talk about aircraft that move this slowly as they will never experience the same attributes that the rest of the more competitive aircraft face. The category which the TBD belongs will never have to worry about optimizing the line and maneuvering energy retention because its already going at its maximum sea level speed for 99% of the race, without effort. Seriously this aircraft dives in at the 180 (mph) mark and sits within 1% of that speed for the entire race. The TBD does overheat 4:30 minutes in, but it can use a 103% WEP flick to get around the lack of thrust if it needs too.
MEC:
Could this have been done better? yes. Am I going to do it? no. For some reason the PP% is utterly broken on the TBD and I actually accelerate more on 0% than on any other amount. Anything more than 50% pp will "high max engine rpm" and overheat the engine. So the trick with this plane is 0% pp and 10-20 cowling %.