Tracers.

[StokesAk]

ON.  They help me with hitting bombers as I tend to take harsh angles on them and open up from farther away. If I'm shooting at a fighter there are only two scenarios:

1:  the guy knows I'm there, so tracers won't matter

2: the guy doesn't know I'm there and will be dead before he knows what hit him, so tracers won't matter.

This is my favorite post.

[pluck]

I've seen several people here saying that tracers confuse them.
How?

Isn't it easier to see exactly where your bulletstream is going?

**This is not an insult, but a genuine question**

Guess I'm like a deer in headlights, I see flashy things and I just have to look.  With them off, I tend to focus more on what the plane in front of me is doing, and I take the shot when the time looks good.  With them on, sometimes (and just for me), I might waste time trying to walk them into a target, sometimes bleeding more E pulling lead than I normally would in certain situations as I focus more on the tracers. it's all personal preference.  I've found hit % doesn't really improve for me with them on or off, so it just becomes a bit of a distraction,  for me it doesn't produce better results.  Then again, there are times I wonder how I missed a certain shot. Though, tracers on might help me figure this out, the same is true for trying a different solution the next time I'm in that situation.  I don't really see either one as having a superior advantage, just what your used to.  

Even guys saying they don't really rely soley on their gunsights, still have flown enough to know where to fire, just from memory and doing it 150 bazillion times. If I'm pulling lead, and a bit of an angle, with rudder on and miss, I adjust a bit...same as someone with tracers.  More times than not, your not pulling enough lead...again, just my experience.

[mensa180]

On, because I suck.

[Lye-El]

On, because I suck.

Doesn't seem to help me either way. I guess I have reached my pinnacle and that seems to be rather low. 

[BnZs]

I turned them off recently, and also decided to shun zoom when shooting most of the time, and I think it has helped.

With tracers off, if you put your pipper in front of a crosser, he won't be able to see the stream and jink to avoid flying through it. And in dead six shots, the opponent will be damaged/dead before he knows to begin stick-stirring. 

The one case where I find its more trouble to figure the lead with tracers off than on are high-G tracking shots while turning. Here I find myself wasting a good bit of ammo getting it right sometimes.

About zoom: My experience shooting with it off vs. on has led me to suspect that your aim doesn't have to be quite as fine when shooting unzoomed vs. with zoom. I could be wrong here, but sometimes it seems that way.

[PFactorDave]

The one case where I find its more trouble to figure the lead with tracers off than on are high-G tracking shots while turning.

This brings up an interesting question.  These high-G tracking shots tend to be pretty low percentage shots.  Do you (or anyone) find that leaving the tracers off helps to discourage you from pulling hard to take these shots?  Perhaps forcing you to improve your position before shooting rather then yank hard and hose?  Or do you think that you are still attempting the high-G shots, but just don't have the tracers for reference anymore?

I've often thought about shutting the tracers off to try and improve my gunnery by not relying on them and maybe improve my flying by being a bit more patient and getting a better solution.  Has anyone had this experience?

[Yenny]

On

Because I like walkin my rounds, or at least a sensing round =)

[mechanic]

Currently on, but often turn them off for a few tours to mix things up a bit. Only reason for having them on is to help clearing squad mate's tails and to make films look better.

[MachFly]

On, just because they were used in real life

ON.  They help me with hitting bombers as I tend to take harsh angles on them and open up from farther away. If I'm shooting at a fighter there are only two scenarios:

1:  the guy knows I'm there, so tracers won't matter

2: the guy doesn't know I'm there and will be dead before he knows what hit him, so tracers won't matter.

that 2

[BnZs]

This brings up an interesting question.  These high-G tracking shots tend to be pretty low percentage shots. 

Especially with the view over the nose in some AH airplanes, in-plane tracking shots can be hit easily if you have the turn rate available for  enough lead.. But the lead is more variable and harder to calculate than any other kind of shot.

[Shuffler]

This brings up an interesting question.  These high-G tracking shots tend to be pretty low percentage shots.  Do you (or anyone) find that leaving the tracers off helps to discourage you from pulling hard to take these shots?  Perhaps forcing you to improve your position before shooting rather then yank hard and hose?  Or do you think that you are still attempting the high-G shots, but just don't have the tracers for reference anymore?

I've often thought about shutting the tracers off to try and improve my gunnery by not relying on them and maybe improve my flying by being a bit more patient and getting a better solution.  Has anyone had this experience?

As I said earlier I fly tracers off. You may be on to something on the high G shot. Folks who have them on and like to walk them onto target tend to shoot before being in position and pulling hard to walk the tracers on,use more ammo. When they depend on tracers they have no visual on a high G turn. No visual because the tracers are under the nose. When they are trained to use the visual it's akin to poking their eyes out. Again you may be on to something when you brought up folks jerking the stick to put the stream on the target. Jerking the stick can kill E very fast. In some planes it can cause a quick loss of control which would put you in a bad way. Without tracers one would tend to setup for the shot a bit better by smoothly pulling into a lead position before pulling the trigger insuring a better chance of hits.

[Steve]

This brings up an interesting question.  These high-G tracking shots tend to be pretty low percentage shots.  Do you (or anyone) find that leaving the tracers off helps to discourage you from pulling hard to take these shots? 

When they are trained to use the visual it's akin to poking their eyes out. Again you may be on to something when you brought up folks jerking the stick to put the stream on the target. Jerking the stick can kill E very fast.

I have tracers on and have no trouble hitting blacked out, high G shots. Well I guess it depends what you consider to be a High G shot.  Here's a couple of shot films from my two flights tonight. Routine flights for me really... shots are 7 to 9 gs. Each film is a minute or two long.

In this one I lost track of the f6f for a few secs after he goes by me:

http://www.mediafire.com/?cj0jmtzmywm


On this one, there is proof I cannot resist bombers. Also, the 110 had to die because he Ho'd Spad while Spad had a guy on his 6, we were at their base, and they had numbers in the area. The 110 must die!


http://www.mediafire.com/?mnzyn2lwt2q

[sirvlad]

OFF  nothing more deadly then wirb without tracers

[druski85]

OFF  nothing more deadly then wirb without tracers

Other people still see WW tracers.  Same with osti's.  Only the Gv'er has a disadvantage here. 

I tried them back on for a while the other night, and found my eyes glued to the tracers...at this point I need to leave em off I think  

[Traveler]

Look at all the WWII gun cam footage you can find and so far as I have seen they all have one thing in common, they all used tracers.  The pilots used the tracers to adjust their aimming point.