Edit Again (Corrected some of the speed numbers in the examples below using 1000' in the horizontal direction as the arming requirement)
As has been pointed out in previous posts, the bomb needs to travel 1000' before arming. This doesn't mean 1000 vertical feet, unless you are standing still. It is dependent on several factors: the angle, altitude (agl), and speed upon release of the bomb.
To take the simple case, and give some numbers for previously mentioned situations, I'll refer to two previous descriptions of bombing runs, making the assumption of level terrain and negligible or nonexistant drag modeling on bombs.
The first case is level bombing at 400'. In order to satisfy the 1000' arming distance requirement, all you need to be doing is flying at least 137mph.
In the second case, level bombing at 300', you will need to be traveling at least 158mph.
Both of these cases seem very easy to achieve, and I dont see any problem with why the 1000' restriction should be hindering you at all.
Now, the more interesting situation is the one in which you are diving in on your bombing run. I'll do some number crunching on various dive angle/speed combinations to find out what kind of minimum release altitudes are needed for various cases.
With this information, we might be able to make a better decision as to how much of a hinderance the 1000' arming requirement is, or isn't.
[ 10-17-2001: Message edited by: Pinner ]
[ 10-18-2001: Message edited by: Pinner ]
