Hello All..
Interesting debate re: the capabilities of the Viking....Dave thanks for the tip in fuel transferal..Always a bit nervous 'bout doing that..Despite the health warnings 'bout making sure one flicks the right switch!
I mentioned the climb rate etc. mainly because I'd looked at some figures to get some guidance on what the old girl could/can do.and.. when I looked at my airspeed and climb rate..both seemed quite 'fast'...as for taking off...only had 30% fuel on board...and the tail did lift.....nicely actually, (needed to know how much runway I had left
I don't suppose you have auto whatsit's turned on do you.. where the sim injects random failures?
Nooooo...

!! Hard enought to fly the things normally

...On reflection though...thinking back..when I looked at the throttle quadrant..I noticed that the 'Mixture Control' was 'down' ....

Could be that I pressed something I shouldn't have.

Still....the problem has not repeated itself..But might try again, be a test pilot and try the mixture control..
Thanks
Ralph.