bombing help

[Ohio43]

I have repeatedly tried to follow the directions for bombing (using b-17's etc) and it appears i must be doing something seriously wrong.  I have a couple questions.  This is what Im doing:

  Level and even flight.  Hit U to enter calibration mode.  get cursor steady on fixed point on ground then hit Y for a couple secs.  Hit "esc" to call up map and click on target...for some reason this part doesnt seem to do anything to target Alt.
   One major question i have is, when your calibrating the target cursor, it ends up "behind" your flight when your holding it for calibration.  Once calibration is done, can you move this cursor around, or will this throw the drop off target?

   One thing I havent done is put the cursor on the exact target Im trying to hit (during calibration mode)..is this what Im supposed to do?

[Ryusei]

Hiya Ohio43.
Now that AH2 doesn't require to click on the target of the clip board.  Once you set the calibration, the only factor you need to check is the actual air speed on E6B.  As far as your actual flying speed (E6B indicated speed) matches to the calibrated speed, the eggs will hit the point where your cross hair indicated.  Altitude doesn't matter anyway.

Also, I observed that so many bomber pilot just drop the bombs at full salvo, which I never did.  In the bomber I always set the salvo at 1 (one).  This is especially effective when you bomb the target such as city, AAA, Radar factory, town, etc.  (I have never done the 200-300ft F3 view bombing sortie)  One formation of B24 will easily hit the target, say, city, something more than 450,000 points with over 700% hit percentage.

When ever I fly bomber sorty, I do it as good-old-day method, with 20-25K, 1 sorty usually last 30 min or so to deliver the bomb and rtb.

Hoping this will help at least some idea.

Regards,

Ryusei

[Ohio43]

Thanks for the reply, but one question wasnt answered..
Once calibrated, can you move the target cursor around to aim where you want the bombs to drop or do you have to keep that from moving?

[RTR]

Ohio, once you are calibrated you need to hit the U key to get out of cal mode. zoom in on the target as it gets closer, and steer to put the crosshairs on the target you want to hit. You must do this from the bomardiers position (IE stay in F6 mode).

cheers,
RTR

[Ohio43]

AHHH..thats what i was doing wrong..thx rtr

[Tillie38]

So steering in f6 mode, I presume is moving the plane not just the crosshairs.  If this is the case, then would this not change your airspeed a bit thus making earlier calibrations inaccurate?

[GooseAW]

Just to clarify....

Level your bombers with plenty of time for speed to stabilize. Line up your plane roughly on target so that minimal final course changes are needed.
Go to F6, open bomb bay doors, hit U to go to calibration mode. You no longer have to even move the cursor just hold the Y key down for about 10 secs if you have time. I usually do this 2 or 3 times in a row just to make sure my calibrated speed is steady.
Now hit U again to get in the "drop" mode. From this position hit Z to zoom and use [ and ] to adjust level of zoom so as to see the target in bombsight. Line up on specific target with right and left stick from this position only. If you adjust from the pilot's seat you may mess up calibration. Then just drop em when the crosshair is on target!

If all this is done as written your bombs will hit! It's almost too easy now! Good Luck!

[Keiler]

Originally posted by Tillie38
So steering in f6 mode, I presume is moving the plane not just the crosshairs.  If this is the case, then would this not change your airspeed a bit thus making earlier calibrations inaccurate?

Yeah you control the entire aircraft.
I was asking myself the very same thing about speedloss. Control input from bombardier's seat is very minimal though...
Does anyone know?

[Soda]

Originally posted by Keiler
Yeah you control the entire aircraft.
I was asking myself the very same thing about speedloss. Control input from bombardier's seat is very minimal though...
Does anyone know?

Open the clipboard/E6B from the bombardiers position and you can see the impact on speed, this is also a great way to confirm that your calibration and current speeds match.  Honestly, the amount of rudder authority you have from that position is pretty limited and I wouldn't have expected it to have a huge impact on speed anyway.  Mostly from the bombardiers position you are just fine-tuning your aim, gross course changes would take too long.

[Tillie38]

Right, so since you are zoomed in, the movement looks more significant than it really is.

Thanks for the insight guys.

[RTR]

Steering from the F6 view (bombardiers position) you are actually skidding around the turn. The input is mostly rudder. What I do is get lined up with the field at least 10-12 K away (half a sector).

Open your bombay doors early and allow the airspeed to stabilize, then hop in F6 view and calibrate. If you were set up early on a track to your target, changes in direction to get a final bead on the target should be pretty minimal and have little effect on airpeed, post calibration.

When I fly a buff, once I am "in the pipe" I stay in the pipe until my bombs are gone.

cheers,
RTR

[Soda]

Originally posted by RTR
Open your bombay doors early and allow the airspeed to stabilize....

You can actually snap them open the second before you drop and it makes no difference (and I mean, a split second).  That way you can calibrate and drop at top speed if you wish to.

just an FYI,