1, Learn to use the F3 views in your gun positions. I often calibrate a long ways from target and then just fly the airplane in front gun/F3 view using my rudders. As long as you dont do anything to crazy, and stay at a set speed, you retain calibration.
2, On medium bombers with no belly gun learn to use alt/X to defeat belly attacks. Type .speed 140 into the plane and when a fighter attacks your belly hit alt/x. What it will do is put you in a tight,tight climb and put the con in your rear gunners sights much earlier. You will see him cause you are in rea gun/F3/view under, and your watching him come up. Also learn to roll the airplane with rudders when fireing ,AND, absolutely learn to use your waist guns.
3, Spend time in M16s on the ground. Put them in 1st gear and drive around shooting the 0.50s to learn the lead.
4, In a fight turn,turn,turn. Always strive to put the con in your 6. By doing this you often will stretch out an opponent into the horizontal.
5, Plan attack angles away from the conga line. Also study the target maps and always have printed out copies by you.
6, Always take more gas then you need in bombers. I never take less then 3/4ths. Targets change in-flight. They get hit by others or team-mates call for higher priority strikes. Or, you can get hit in the fuel tank. A lot of things can happen.
7, In KI-67s learn to roll it and get the top cannon into play. You will know when its in play because you will hear it shooting. But at many angles you have to roll it using your rudders, while your in another gun, to get it into play. I have a better then 2 kills to every death ratio in this bomber it is so lethal against fighters.
8, When against an uber-bomber killer and hes high over you, in stead of going into top gun view go into top gun/F3 and watch him. When he comes at you then switch to the top gun. This way you wont get as disorientated and will be able to keep better awareness around you.
9, With multiple cons coming at you your goal is to force them, or coax them, to get greedy and not act as a team. So turn fight using your rudders and try to keep them at unequal distances from you. Any heavy 4 cannon fighter will have to be dealt with first.
10, Your objective is to always try and turn a gunfight to the horizontal and not the vertical. The first tool to do that is speed and altitude. While I dont climb to fight avoiding altitude I do stay between 10,000' to 14,000'. The reasoning behind it is since a bomber has so much more gas and range you want to force a fighter con into a position where he has to decide between attacking at a poor angle or heading home. The other day I waited out a talented guy in a spit. He decided to eventually come into the 6 of B-26s and was dead before he got to 800k.
11, Treat enemy radars like a vampire does a cross.
12, Learn to play dumb. If your droning along and an enemy con happens upon you dont even move, just watch him. Often bomber sticks leave their desk during quiet times and the enemy knows it. Let him approach without you even twitching. Ease off your throttle to get him even closer. And then BAM!, let him have it.
13, Learn to "bounce your drones". When things go bad hitting your rudders hard can bounce your drones around confusing an enemy. Once the danger is past ease off your throttle, fly straight, and let your drones come back, all the time keeping an eye on the enemy.
14, Map your gun positions into your controller and practice going to them, and switching between them, while in-flight during quiet times. Ive mapped the airplanes and gun positions into the lower 7 switches of my X-52 and I can switch from gun to gun, plane to plane, without even thinking.
These are tips from my own style of play. I myself dont load 1/4th fuel in Lancs, jump into the conga line, and dive bomb from 3,000'. I fly them in close to historical fashion, " lower alts then historical".
My favorite bombers are the B-26, B-17, KI-67s, A-20, and AR-234s. Like I said if you see me in the TA I can walk you thru this stuff.
