Hard to admit it, but this last FSO was pretty embarrassing even if it WAS fun. We sent 17 bombers over target, and made our drops without any opposition...yet 25% of our bombs didnt even do fractional damage, which means they landed far enough away that the target was completely out of the big 1000 pounder blast radius. As a unit, we only took down 2 of our 5 targets, and we were slow enough about it that all but one of us died.
We can do better; it's not that hard to dive bomb if you remember just a few things.
1.
The steeper the dive, the better The closer you are to vertical, the less gravity will pull the bomb off target. Getting a steep dive requires 2 things -- getting right over your target (ie don't dive too soon), and enough altitude.
- Getting over the target:Approach with target off your wing, and when you think you're over it rock you wing to check. Odds are, you're pretty far off -- adjust and try again. Once you're pretty much there, you're ready for the roll out...if you have enough alt.
- altitude:When you're slow, it takes less altitude to line up the drop, so you can drop from 3-5K; if you're fast (or in a fast diving plane like a Pony or Jug), allow 5 or more.
2.
Use a rollout to initiate the dive attack. You've made sure you're close to right over the target, so roll onto your back and get a good look at the target. Pull the nose down so that the target centers in the gunsight, and make sure you aren't upside down, with canopy closer to the ground that the seat is. (More on that later.) Line things up, and hold that target in place without manuevering at all for a few seconds. If you tweak a control, then allow a bit more time to get the bomb's inertia settled down onto the new path.
3.
The longer you hold a dive, the closer the impact point will be to the gunsight. Most times, it takes 2-3 seconds flying straight on the target in the dive. If there isnt enough time, then use "Kentucky windage" to guess how much below the gunsight the bomb will actually strike. (At this point, good to point out that I'm assuming you aren't diving inverted. If gravity would pull the pilot through the canopy instead of through the floor, then the bombs will hit ABOVE the gunsight instead of below it.)
You can get good practice at this in the TA, where the lead computing gunsight is turned on. Select your bomb, and you will see a green plus sign that shows where your ordnance will hit. Watch how going faster pulls the mark up from the seat to the windscreen, and how after diving or maneuvering it takes a bit to stabilize the mark. A half hour messing around with the LCS on will do wonders for your bomb accuracy!
Friday nights (FSO) at 11 PM Eastern 
