Best way to shoot down Bombers

[evenhaim]

i regularly kill buffs in my d-stang and even the bravo stang, i set up high above the buffs about 1.5-2k above them roll in and focuse my short bursts into the wingroot its almost a guarentted barbeque and you almost never waste all the much ammo just climb back up rinse repeat.  but for some reason when im flying the a8 i always park behind the bomber for fun lol, but my slash attack is the same in most of the e fighters

[Rich46yo]

The way for bomber pilots to counter this move is to fly directly below the cloud layer. This is the safest place to be, as it limits the ability of the fighter pilot to see them. It is very hard to pull off the diving spiral against those bombers. Killing the low bombers is a piece of cake though.

              Exactly. And that's where you will often find me with Buffs. Right under the cloud layer. As I get better at driving and gunning Im going to start popping in ,over, and under, the clouds when attacked. I just wish I could map my elevators so they would work from the gunners positions.

            I repeat, me best defense is to never let the enemy know Im even there. That means staying away from radars and staying high. I might take 26s into a target at 10,000' , or 67s, but for everything else its 15,000' or more. I wish I could get with the experienced Buff sticks but the timing has just been wrong. There's a excellent crew that has invited me. Mostly Ive been strat bombing with 250 or 500lb's so pinpoint accuracy isn't essential.

[Bruv119]

Hope I didnt put you off attacking Buffs the other day Yarbles.

Spits aren't the best buff killers and especially against B26's.

The first time you came at me was pretty silly I slowed up a touch and held fire until you were in my honey trap.   Many buff pilots start shooting their ammo off like madmen soon as you get near, I don't.

Sometimes by not shooting the fighter pilot gets false hope thinking that he hasnt been seen.  I've done this before my self.

The second time I was playing with you I kept turning to try and get you to succumb to another rear six shot  but you didnt buy it.

If I know the bomber guy isnt a noob you have to wait it out and grab, the more energy you have to play with the better.  It looked like you were trying to do this but you got within 800 on my waist gunner and I thought what the hell i'll let him have it.  That one was a peach of a shot if i do say so myself.

Best tips vary between what type of bombers you are attacking.  More E the better.  Over the top, slashing attacks, belly shots or front quarter are usually a start.

Good luck with it.

Bruv
~S~

[Krusty]

Originally posted by GunnerCAF
BS.  Slow, lumbering, easy prey bombers is not an indication of historic speed.  The heavily gunned bombers (US and British) were historicaly intercepted by 109s and 190s that have the speed to overtake a full throttle bomber.  Huri vs. B17 is not historicly relivant.

Just FYI, Hurricane is the extreme example. It won't even catch bombers, period. Even when flying 109s and 190As, you can still only barely catch bombers. Where historical closure rates were 200+mph, in this game they are down to as low as 30mph in some cases, depending on the alt. 30mph is what we call "sitting duck" in this game.

[Rich46yo]

Well I just got shot down again. I dont mind cause I learned something from it, and, I did get one fighter as payback. As well as made the 38 that got me smoke. What happened is I attacked the same "refinery from Hell"thats been giving me problems. The problem is there is a major AB near it thats over 5k in elevation. I didn't even know a fighter was on me until I heard him while looking in my bomb site. He got me 2 drones before I smoked him from a single 17. I have found a lot of fighter pilots do stupid things when going after a loner, just because they figure they can get away with it when 3 Buffs aren't shooting at them. Ive smoked 1/2 dozen from a single Buff.

                    While OB a single 38 came in. He was good, I was good, he won tho I did get hits in and took out 1 engine. I can do a lot more with rudder pedals now that I bought some. Changing speeds, directions, is very effective against speed diving fighters like the 38 and 51. When you make them adjust their attack angles they can over compensate and get greedy wanting to end it in one pass. Frankly I blew this 38 attack cause I had him, but to him anyways. Yeah it was a long morning flight, with not much coming out of it except learning even more.

              I dont believe in wasting ammo but at the same time you cant bring the bullets with you when you die. If I have someone in my sights and can make the shot I lean on "fire all".

[Damionte]

I fly the P38 almost exclusively. This attack pattern works for me against bombers.

First off I get above and ahead of them. I learned a logn time ago not to try a tail chase, unless the tail gun is out of amo, or destroyed. The only time I attack from behind is if I have a significant hight advantage and a partner coming from a different direction who already has the gunners attention.

Anyway, I start on a line above and ahead of the bombers, off to one side or the other at an angle. I dive towards the bomber once I see the tracers i quickly dive under the bomber's top bottom line, then come up at them from underneath, going for the wing root. Then zoom back up once I've cleared the buff. I prefer to pull up before getting to the bomber, then barrel roll over the top of it.

The quick drop and under movement before my shot usually throws off the gunner. A top gunner will lose you as you drop below the bomber, a ball gunner won't even see you until it's too late. The door gunners also won't have time to react.

Since the bomber is takign hits with you below the gunners eye, he'll often switch to the ball turret from the top one, in the hopes of catching you as you go by. But as I said, I'm pulling up before crossing the bomber so that I'm back on top again.

Biggest threat to me is the nose gunner who can track me for most of the run. The closer rate though usually works in my favor as I am a smaller target.

[GunnerCAF]

Originally posted by Krusty
Just FYI, Hurricane is the extreme example. It won't even catch bombers, period. Even when flying 109s and 190As, you can still only barely catch bombers. Where historical closure rates were 200+mph, in this game they are down to as low as 30mph in some cases, depending on the alt. 30mph is what we call "sitting duck" in this game.

Your not going to have blazing speed as your climbing.  That is the mistake many make.  Once you are level above the bombers, it's an energy thing.  Turn your altitude into speed, attack, convert your speed to altitide as you are positioning for another attack.  Your closure rate is dependent on how much energy you have to convert.

Gunner

[Rich46yo]

Yeah I just had someone in a Yak make a mistake in not adjusting to the bomber he was coming against. I had a KI-67 flight OB from a good run at 10,000'. The Yak pilot probably just thought "bombers" and he came in my rear. He gave up to much energy by diving in my rear to quickly and he hung up at 600 k off my tail and tried to outgun 3 bombers and got smoked.

                                 Now when I see a fighter just hanging up there, where'as I can just see his wheels turning on how to make a successful attack, I know I have a problem. Its the thinkers, the patient ones, that scare me. As long as you have gas time is on your side. Unless were flying in a large formation with escorts theres no-one in this game going to come to help a bomber. Unless maybe your flying into a furball, but I avoid those like the plague.

                              Little did that Yak pilot know but my rudder pedals weren't even working and I couldnt have turned those aircraft, while gunning, even if I wanted to. I think he underestimated the KI-67 as well, which is suicidal. At 10,000' or more its a very dangerous bomber to come into. In some ways worse then the B-17 cause of its speed, its turn and climb, and its top cannon that can snipe at you if your high and left/right. With this bomber you have to be patient, get altitude on it, and come screaming down. If you try a below attack your going to hang up on the 6 cause of its speed.

                            The ones that rush, are in a hurry, hang up in the 6, try to do to much in one pass, are the ones that get clobbered. Don't forget we want to ace you as quickly as we can so we can either make our run, or get home, and collect our 10 points.

[CAP1]

Originally posted by Rich46yo
Exactly. And that's where you will often find me with Buffs. Right under the cloud layer. As I get better at driving and gunning Im going to start popping in ,over, and under, the clouds when attacked. I just wish I could map my elevators so they would work from the gunners positions.

            I repeat, me best defense is to never let the enemy know Im even there. That means staying away from radars and staying high. I might take 26s into a target at 10,000' , or 67s, but for everything else its 15,000' or more. I wish I could get with the experienced Buff sticks but the timing has just been wrong. There's a excellent crew that has invited me. Mostly Ive been strat bombing with 250 or 500lb's so pinpoint accuracy isn't essential.

i see so many buff drivers fly through so many dar rings, i thought i was the only one that went around them. i agree with this, as, like i've said before, when bombing, it's all about surviving the mission..if it takes an extra 1/2 hour......then it's worth it.

 a decent...and somewhat entertaining way to practice your precision rich.......find a base where there might be a furball nearby.....obviously stay high....set your salvo to 1, and line up on runway heading(i like the ju88's for this as they carry 20 50kg eggs), and de-ack the field. it's soooo much fun to watch the ack huggers that keep trying to lure your countrymen into the ack, do that, and then find they're not safe there either:D . i generally am calibrating about 10 miles before i hit the dar ring though........try it..it's fun.

<>

john

[CAP1]

Originally posted by Bruv119
Hope I didnt put you off attacking Buffs the other day Yarbles.

Spits aren't the best buff killers and especially against B26's.

1)although i'll get flamed for this....i find the 38 fairly nice for this......nose mounted guns, point n click. but i also try to stay VERY fast so as to not let you hit that big butted bird :-D
 as for spits....i've had limited success with the 16, and the 9..nine isn't very potent though as cannons are low load, then it looks like i'm throwing spitballs at the buffs.

The first time you came at me was pretty silly I slowed up a touch and held fire until you were in my honey trap.   Many buff pilots start shooting their ammo off like madmen soon as you get near, I don't.

2)i do this too........and the funny thing is that most fighter pilots don't seem to notice that they're suddenly closing on you FAST now.....i've had a guy ram me because of this.....i also had a guy that i guess was going for the VERY quick kill......at 150 or so, he still hadn't fired.......and i couldn't make myself not shoot anymore......at that distance, one quick burst, and he lost a bunch of really important pieces.

Sometimes by not shooting the fighter pilot gets false hope thinking that he hasnt been seen.  I've done this before my self.

3)agreed.......

The second time I was playing with you I kept turning to try and get you to succumb to another rear six shot  but you didnt buy it.

4)i generally only see ju88 drivers do this......others seem to rely on speed, or the massive firepower

If I know the bomber guy isnt a noob you have to wait it out and grab, the more energy you have to play with the better.  It looked like you were trying to do this but you got within 800 on my waist gunner and I thought what the hell i'll let him have it.  That one was a peach of a shot if i do say so myself.

Best tips vary between what type of bombers you are attacking.  More E the better.  Over the top, slashing attacks, belly shots or front quarter are usually a start.

5)the slashing attacks seem to kill me the most regardless of what i'm flying(when bombing that is)

Good luck with it.

Bruv
~S~

[Rich46yo]

Rgr on the ack. I'll try that sometime. The real reason i avoid furballs and radar is because my interest in this game is to play it in historical context. I just had a real good day flying because I mostly avoided fighters, ack, radar, furballs, and utilized sound tactics just like a commander would have in 1944.

                        Simply put I got my bombs on target and made it home with all the bombers today, "while avoiding Lusche like tha plague.

                        Ive had a lot of technical issues with my stick and puter that have been a real pain in the rear. I'm using a HDTV as my monitor and the best video setting is one that reduces my game screen size and cuts out about 30% of my bombsight. I'm just trying to workaround the issues with sound tactics and learning from the more experienced sticks.

                      I appreciate the advice Cap. I too enjoy the JU-88.

Originally posted by CAP1
i see so many buff drivers fly through so many dar rings, i thought i was the only one that went around them. i agree with this, as, like i've said before, when bombing, it's all about surviving the mission..if it takes an extra 1/2 hour......then it's worth it.

 a decent...and somewhat entertaining way to practice your precision rich.......find a base where there might be a furball nearby.....obviously stay high....set your salvo to 1, and line up on runway heading(i like the ju88's for this as they carry 20 50kg eggs), and de-ack the field. it's soooo much fun to watch the ack huggers that keep trying to lure your countrymen into the ack, do that, and then find they're not safe there either:D . i generally am calibrating about 10 miles before i hit the dar ring though........try it..it's fun.

<>

john

[Rich46yo]

I have found the P-38 to be a bit of a problem. The only real way to defend against it is to outsmart him, or at least try to. The thing booms down on you like a monster in the hands of a good stick and Ive found constant turning and speed changes necessary to throw him off his groove and hopefully get him greedy and hang up, or over shoot. You cant fly straight against a 38 stick that knows what hes doing. I pretty much defend against it like I do a 110, tho I think the 38 is a little more dangerous. I just want to keep it away from me and I wont spare the ammo doing so. If I see my first trigger landing shots at LR I will lay in on the dbl trigger for sure.

                  There is one very dangerous tactic none of the fighter sticks have mentioned yet. I wont mention it, its all about patience, but its a real killer for someone with an hour free. Thanks to all for a great talk.

Originally posted by Damionte
I fly the P38 almost exclusively. This attack pattern works for me against bombers.

First off I get above and ahead of them. I learned a logn time ago not to try a tail chase, unless the tail gun is out of amo, or destroyed. The only time I attack from behind is if I have a significant hight advantage and a partner coming from a different direction who already has the gunners attention.

Anyway, I start on a line above and ahead of the bombers, off to one side or the other at an angle. I dive towards the bomber once I see the tracers i quickly dive under the bomber's top bottom line, then come up at them from underneath, going for the wing root. Then zoom back up once I've cleared the buff. I prefer to pull up before getting to the bomber, then barrel roll over the top of it.

The quick drop and under movement before my shot usually throws off the gunner. A top gunner will lose you as you drop below the bomber, a ball gunner won't even see you until it's too late. The door gunners also won't have time to react.

Since the bomber is takign hits with you below the gunners eye, he'll often switch to the ball turret from the top one, in the hopes of catching you as you go by. But as I said, I'm pulling up before crossing the bomber so that I'm back on top again.

Biggest threat to me is the nose gunner who can track me for most of the run. The closer rate though usually works in my favor as I am a smaller target.

[ePIC]

See Rule #10

[CAP1]

if you guys wanna know how to kill buffs, talk to fugitive........the dude has on two occasions taken my b24's down with such ease it is frightening.

[TheRapier]

What MtnMan and Snail said. I killed 9 of 12 bombers in a raid with a Pony the other night, then upped and killed the other two left (nag got one of them) basically following that technique. The pony isn't normally considered a bomber killer but it can do quite well. Admittedly their gunnery was lacking and I'll probably never succeed in that again .

The biggest thing it PATIENCE. You have to set up for bombers, not climb slowly up their 6 and wait to get shot. Get above and dive and slash down, firing accurately for the wingroots or cockpit. When you pull up, pull up forward of their flight path so you don't fall behind and have to make a 6 pass.

The one caveat is if the bombers are above 25k. Then it gets very hard, even if you have good technique. Your speed and climb advantage are not as great.