Here's a question for you ...

[buhdman]

Howdy,

Many times I have encountered B-17s at 30+K altitude with me in a P-51 or an F4U and I am well below.  I try to catch the B-17 and climb above it at the same time and the result is usually the same: The B-17 outclimbs and outflies me and I wind up a flaming meteor.

My question is this: Are either of these planes SUPPOSED to be able to climb above and catch said B-17 in a reasonable human's lifetime or have I been chasing after rainbows?

Thanks!

buhdman, out

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Walt (buhdman) Barrow
(formerly lt-buhd-lite)
The Buccaneers - "Return with Honor"
home.earthlink.net/~wjbarrow

[jarbo]

Rainbows Buhd, Rainbows!
I wanna know the answer as well!

Jarbo
of the Buccaneers

[coyote]

engaging a B17, or any buff for that matter from below or even level (unless make from the front quarter) should be put in a pakage labled "Don't try this at home" or "not for kids"  

Seriouly, the way to attack buffs is to be at least 5000 feet above them when you first sight the enemy, 10000 feet above is preferable. You need a high deflection and hi profile shot. The High deflection does not hinder you much, but definatly hinders the buff gunners. The altitude lets you attack and disengage the buff with great speed so you are only in danger for a few seconds.

[Torque]

The reason is the wing area of the B-17 compared to your F4u or Stang. The air thins out and the B-17 with it's much larger wing surface has the advantage, dunno specific heights which this occurs at tho.  

   


Thx again Saw  


[This message has been edited by Torque (edited 03-06-2000).]

[TT]

 I surrounded 3 b17,s one night. Got um all.
 I climbed to 35k before i went after them. The trick is to have enough of them up there to make it worth the climb. I was in a f4u so the climb took awile. never go after a bomber at less then 400 ias.

[Duckwing6]

yup .. if you don't have a few thousand feet to play with attacking a buff is deadly .. unless he's busy with the aiming of his eggs  

If you have 2k advantage you can dive below him and get a shot from undernath but this one is only good for B26'es . a good B17 driver will rip ya apart with his *ball(s)*  

[bloom25]

When I have my way, I try to attack bombers with a steep dive at their sides.  Usually as you approach the bomber you have to make a very sharp turn to line up.  If you get close, it only takes 10 - 15 hits to destroy any bomber.  When I've been able to attack this way, I've never been shot down.  It's simply too hard for the gunner to inflict serious damage with a waist gun only.  (Not to mention I'm turning onto his 6 VERY sharply.)  

bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[buhdman]

Thanks, all, for the replies.  I guess the answer is this: If you're going to CHASE bombers at altitude, you had better start with an altitude advantage.  If you're above them then you can use your speed to catch them up and tangle with them.  I was always trying to climb and catch at the same time with the resulting disastrous effects  

Thanksfor the help!

buhdman, way out

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Walt (buhdman) Barrow
(formerly lt-buhd-lite)
The Buccaneers - "Return with Honor"
home.earthlink.net/~wjbarrow

[AKDejaVu]

 

I surrounded 3 b17's one night

Hehehe... you must cast one huge fricking shadow

[bloom25]

I have another tactic that works most of the time.  If you are 1 vs 1 with a bomber and no other friendlies or cons are around, just park your fighter about 1.5 k behind the bomber.  80% of the bomber gunners will shoot at you all day long, even though they are either out of range, or doing VERY little damage.   After about 20 seconds, they should be about out of ammo, then creep a little closer and fire away.
Obviously this isn't as safe or effective a tactic as the first one I posted, but sometimes there's no way you can get alt on a bomber at 30k.  At the very least a bomber without a gunner can't even think about bombing until you are gone.  (No need for this if the bomber is a b26, just dive below him and pull up into the blind spot.)

bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[wells]

Now you know how it might have felt to be a LW pilot!

[CavemanJ]

bloom, you sure a bomber w/o a gunner can't think of droppin eggs til you're gone?

>=)

[Sundog]

Also, when you are trying to get above a Buff at alt, don't use ALt-X climb....use shift-X and set it for about 500 to 700 fpm climb (Or set Alt-X using the .speed XXX command)....it will take awhile, but you will get alt on the buff while gaining on it. If you can't get to high above the buff, pull into his front quarter...with a fair amount of seperation, then turn into him and rake him down the side and try to shoot off his vertical stabilizer and rudder.

[-towd_]

well i think the thread go lost , why is it that once a buff gets to 27 or so k if you are not ahead of him he just out runs you ?

really i was chasin some the other evening was pullin 350 true at 37 k at end and just could not get ahead was d 2.5 -2.8 for 20 min finnaly got slightly ahead of um but had burned 90 % of my 3/4 hoplessly porked fuel multipler so just got wacked. the buffs are way to fast at alt it seems to me

[Minotaur]

 

Originally posted by Sundog:
Also, when you are trying to get above a Buff at alt, don't use ALt-X climb....use shift-X and set it for about 500 to 700 fpm climb (Or set Alt-X using the .speed XXX command)....it will take awhile, but you will get alt on the buff while gaining on it. If you can't get to high above the buff, pull into his front quarter...with a fair amount of seperation, then turn into him and rake him down the side and try to shoot off his vertical stabilizer and rudder.

You can still use Alt-x.  Just type .speed xxx or whatever speed you need to get the climb rate you are looking for.

This also works for fomation flying BTW.  If you get a little behind just enter a speed 2-6 mph faster than the leader.



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Mino
The Wrecking Crew
Trainer