Lining Up Bombers To Target

[The Fugitive]

I will side with Lusche. You DO NOT have to hold a spot while holding down the "Y" key (or which ever key you use to calibrate) The longer you hold it down, the more accurate the drop.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Gulp
Hmmmm, so after hitting "U", do you need to move your bombsight to be looking forward or can you just hit "Y".  

After you have calibrated, can you move the bomb site and still be calibrated?

If you are bombing a 2K elevation base, does your bombsight need to be looking at something 2K above sea level or can you calibrate over water and still be on.

Looks like I've been doing it the old way, which works great (too accurate really).

You only need to hit Y.  You can calibrate anytime, anywhere, as long as YOUR speed & altitude is stable.

[Tigger29]

1> Line up for target (I recommend at least 20 miles out)

2> Open bay doors, then stabilize your speed

3> Press F6 (bombsight mode)

4> Pull up clipboard, then open E6B

5> Press U to enter calibration mode

6> Hold down Y for at least 5 seconds (I recommend 15-20 seconds if you have the time)

7> Make sure your calibrated speed is the same as your E6B ground speed,  if not then recalibrate

8> Press U again to EXIT calibration mode (VERY IMPORTANT)

9> Use AILERON controls (stick left/right) to make light turns while in bombsight mode

10> Drop bombs when crosshairs is on target!

NOTE:  You should keep E6B up during the whole process.  If your speed changes, use the throttle controls while in bombsight mode to adjust your planes speed to match your calibrated speed.  If your speed varies greatly, or if you make a hard turning maneuver, you'll need to calibrate again.

If time is short, I've found it's faster to do a quick 5 second calibration, and then adjust the throttle to match E6B with calibrated speed, however keep in mind your calibration won't be perfect, but usually close enough to nail the target.

Also.. again make sure you EXIT calibration mode (U) before dropping your bombs.  The crosshairs in calibration mode point straight down and will cause you to miss your target, however once out of calibration mode they will point forward a bit (calibrated distance based on speed) and will then be lined up.  I'm sure we've all made this mistake at least once or twice!

Oh yeah.. one more thing.. in the AR234, make sure you select bombs, NOT RATO's (even if depleted these will still show on the ammo display.. you have to manually change it to bombs).  That makes for a funny mistake!

Hope this helps!

[BaldEagl]

Originally posted by The Fugitive
The longer you hold it down, the more accurate the drop.

This isn't nessesarily true.  The only way to assure accuracy is to match calibrated speed to true airspeed as indicated in E6B.

I fly primarily AR234's and calibrate for about 10 seconds (one one thousand, two one thousand...).  I usually have to calibrate several times to hit my drop speed.  Lengthening or shortning that time as much as five seconds (50%) makes no difference in calibrated accuracy.  The calibrated speeds can vary + or - by up to 8 mph although I found flying Lancs one day it was a little easier.

[bj229r]

Also--on most heavy bombers, when ya jump in nose gun you are point straight 12:00 relative to plane, and this can be used to line plane up WAAAAaaayy out

[Rich46yo]

Originally posted by bj229r
Also--on most heavy bombers, when ya jump in nose gun you are point straight 12:00 relative to plane, and this can be used to line plane up WAAAAaaayy out

                        I have found that if the nose gun isn't lined up right, and you can tell by watching the airplane thingy on the map thingy while jumping from cockpit/front sight views, then you can line it up by either centering the front gun on somthing in the front gun position and using rear view, or the simple act of going into cockpit, and then front gun, will automatically center it for you.

                     The important thing is to stay in front gun/F-3 view when going into target, keeping an eye out for fighters using direction tabs in F-3, and making slight direction changes with rudders while in front sight/F-3.

                   Every bit as important as hitting your target is actually having an airplane to fly home in. Ive been surprised by hearing fighter guns while in bombsight and gotten bombers smoked when I could have sworn nothing was around me.

                 Over time I have mapped almost every command I use on my throttle and joystick.

               And yeah, Ive done that in AR-234s:lol  I guess everyone does, and its just precious when it happens. I did it once accidentalywhen I was on final landing. Now I make a mental note to switch to bombs whenever I get the airframe to 300 mph.