REQUEST.......

[Bison]

I can't hit anything Divebombing or with rockets, and since  my      p-38 can carry 2x 1000lbs bombs and rockets.

what do you guys think?
 

[Morfiend]

 Bison,
  use the LCG site in training arena,even after your bombs are gone you can use it to get a site picture.Then find a spot on your plane to line the target up with and try to keep dive angle consistant.

 rockets,well give one of Baumers sites a try,I find they helped me alot... oh ya practice,practice
 practice.....

[Simaril]

OK Bison: Here's my magic formula.

The key thing to remember is that bombs will be pulled off course by gravity. So making them hit where you want requires either a LOT of practice at all sorts of angles and speeds, or dropping bombs in so that gravity doesn't have either the angle or the time to throw things off. That's the concept...

And this is the application. Try to make your drops so you are as vertical as possible (shoot for about 70 degree dive angle) and so that you are not moving really slowly. Usually when I'm planning a Fighter bomber drop, I try to be at least 3k above the target. Ideally, I shoot for 4-7K though. I fly level towards the target, and when i think I'm about over it I'll rock the wings a little to check the position. Almost always I have a ways to go! When it seems like I'm right over the target, I'll roll over inverted and pull downward to get the nose straight down. (It seems straight down, anyway. Most of the time when I think I'm "right over" the target it works out to be about that 70 degree mark.) Next, PULL BACK THE THROTTLE!!! That makes a big difference in the time you have to set up! Once the dive starts I line up the target, and do any roll adjusting necessary to make sure I'm not actually inverted.

The longer you hold the plane steady, the closer to the gunsight pipper the bomb will eventually hit. The faster you're moving when you release, the closer to the gunsight the bomb will hit. When you are slower, or when you don't have as much steady flight time before you have to release, the bomb has more time to be pushed by gravity and the farther below the pipper the bomb will land. (If you are flying somewhat upside down, the bomb will actually land ABOVE the pipper by that amount.)


Best way to get a feel for this is to go offline and use the lead computing gunsight. (Does this also work for bombers in the TA???). Practice the dive technique and pay attention to the way the green plus sign moves when you go through the setup. You'll get a feel for the time it takes to let things settle down, and the way the dive length and speed affect the hit point.

Here's another thread about the same subject:  http://332nd.org/forum/index.php?topic=3202.0

[Ghosth]

Simaril's method is one way.

Myself I do better working for consistency.
I have problems waiting till I'm straight overhead to drop in, and if I do, then I over speed, can't pull out etc.

So I aim for a 45 degree dive, and try to hit the same angle every time.
Its not perfect, but with 1k bombs you don't need perfect, you just need in the ball park.

Practice helps, esp in the TA for a bit with the CCIP (constantly Computed Impact Point) aka green X

Then go offline and practice the same run at the same place. Get a feel for how much extra elevation you need.

Rockets are hard to hit things with, well small things anyway. Like bombs they DROP away from the plane then ignite, so they have a fair bit of drop to counter for.

Hold your gunsight about  > < much above your target and again practice helps.

BTW the bombing fields in the TA have airstarts for practicing.
Think its the NE spawn at 20 - 25 for fighters.
S spawns in level bombers.

Airstarts will work offline as well as online. Takes a lot of the time to climb to target out.

[Bison]

wow thanks for the help guys.


I was pacticeing the other day,
in the MA, CV battle was going on.
Got over the target ,
alot of red here,
flip the plane over cut my engine
uh oh..started to forget...
pannic!!!
45 degrees put the piper where
 ground is come up quick
BOMBS AWAY!!

looking back and hoping i hit something.
I heard "WTG Bison"
then heard laughter and more laughter.
YOU JUST MADE A RUN ON OUR CARRIER!!!!!
ITS A GOOD THING YOU SUCK!!!!!

[daddog]

lol
Well it was just a couple weeks ago several of us sunk a cruiser and a CV. You can't suck that much.

[Bison]

I didnt hit anything     

[Simaril]

Bison:

While there are advantages to each tactic, it can take a good amount of practice to get hits bombing! It is a little harder to get good at the 45 degree angle approach, since the amount of drop to allow for will vary depending on how fast you're going and how high you are. On the other hand, while it's harder to get the hits, it's easier to pull out after the drop. With the vertical attack, its almost the opposite -- since you're going more in line with gravity, the drop and speed have less effect...but the downside is that its harder to pull out and survive at the end.

Like I said, I prefer the vertical one -- partly because I never got the feel of the variations that happen with speed and angle in the other approach. I found that backing down on the  throttle as I started the dive. It also takes a bit more patience to get the altitude first. But once you get those parts down, it makes it much easier to get the hits.

Last night I also found that it helps minimize the chance of getting hammered by the ack. Rolex led a group of us in the Training Squadron on a carrier group. He wanted us to get more or less right over the carrier in our F6Fs, then to dive near vertically long enough to drop while pulling out. Because I got jumped by a Zeke with altitude, the only way I could survive was to go into a softer dive...and while I got hits on the carrier, I was the only one in the group to die when the ack got me.

Bottom line though is to take the approach that works best for you and stay with it till you get the hang of things.

[Bison]

thanks guys the vertical worked. The other night a bunch of us attack a cv, and I got
"ship destroyed" message.       

Now to work on gv's {with bombs and rockets}.


do you guys pass over where the gv's are?
do you keep zoomed in?

[Baumer]

Bison,
Here are a few of the sights I've developed for air to ground rockets. Normally I dive in around 275-300 mph and have no problem hitting ack or stationary GV's. Just put the lower sight on the target and fire at between 600-800 yards. I don't zoom in, that's why I have several different versions.

Just let me know if you'd like something a little different.

Baumer

[daddog]

Very cool Baumer. I want to try one.

Can we just right click and save em or do you have to send it to me?

[Baumer]

Just right click and save into your sights folder in AH. I have more, that I am going to include in a sight pack in the future, if anyone's interested.

[Bison]

Baumer which one do you use when flying a 38?

they all look great 

[Baumer]

3rd one down from the top is my default sight for AH. It works well in the 38 as you can't move your head way back.

The solid dot works best for aircraft where you are far away from the sight like a N1K or A6M.

Also, I like to turn down the brightness in the game so I just notice the  sight, but it doesn't get in the way, or obscure the image.

[Morfiend]

 I use the bottom 1 ...TY...lol.. with and without the rocketsite.

 Bison:

 this might be abit gamey but it works,bring up map,find GV spawn point,then fly close to it.The problem is GV's have short icon range
and in order to find them you must be quite low,around 1.5 to 2 K agl.
 This doesn't make for good bombing,rockets might work but bombs will
likely kill you.

 K now for the gamey part.... fly around 5k agl near spawn or suspected
 Gv area,press "E",ya kill your engine,listen for GV engine. You can go into game sounds and turn up external engine,external vehicle,ext. track
 etc.etc. When you kill your engine you will hear the GV's tracks and engine,provided it's on. this also works in GV vs GV,shut down and you'll hear the other guys moving and zero in on them.

 Well,there ya have it,It's up to you to decide to use this or not.

[Simaril]

I'm impressed with your ears! On the other hand, I feel more like an old guy every day...so maybe its just me!

I hardly look for the icons anymore, though. I've found pretty good success tilting the plane to look out the side window while scanning for "roaches." The ground clutter in AH is pretty regular and predictable, so when I see a few pixels that don't belong I can be pretty sure it's a GV. Once it's moving, there's no doubt! Now, I have my detail range set for full so I'm not sure how it would work otherwise. It definitely helps to use the SHIFT-f4 view range -- that cuts out long range detail (you'll see a jagged horizon) but gives extra up close.

It always helps to see the movement, but even better is seeing the Wirblewinds spraying away when you're 2k off. The trick to dropping on those boogers is to get higher, line them up sooner, and let the bomb go when you're still 2-3K above the ground.

Dave

[Bison]

I use Tracker IR....my head is never in the same place....lol 
and my engine sound is turned down{ghosth had me do that when i started}.

[Simaril]

Bison-

I use track IR too, but for some situations I've found it so useful to switch it off that I've mapped the toggle to one of the less used switches on my joystick. For shooting from GVs its particularly difficult (impossible as far as I'm concerned)!

[Bison]

no buttons left Sim, vent took'em. 
gv's tracker off...no question.
flying and turning it off and on.....pactice practice practice!!!!!
thanks guys!!!