bomber gun convergence

[Bear69]

I was looking around and was wonde5ring the reason why bomber convergence is set at 500.....  seems awful sclose to me...  you wait to 500 to shoot you wont have a bomber left.  is there or was ther ever a plan to make it possible to change the convergence in bomber guns?

[68ZooM]

Never really noticed that, but ive never had a problem popping fighters at 1000-800 out, once you figure out the lead on your shots, bombers can be very deadly.

[USCH]

if you just fire your primary gun when they are not at 500 you don't waist ammo.. i only fire all guns at 600 or less... if they are 600 to 1000 i fire primary only (usually just 1 or 2 guns depending on aircraft) saves ammo for you.

[Blooz]

It's not too close. The bullet streams cross at 500 and at 1000 are no farther apart than the cowling of a radial engined aircraft.

You can check this using the .target command

Go offline or to the TA and type .target 1000 into the text box. Look north and you'll see the target at 1000yds. Shoot it then type in .target 100 That'll bring the target up into your face so you can see the holes up close. Type .target 000 to clear the target or make the target disappear.

[Tarstar]

I generally use only a single gun as well, firing short bursts until I've got the lead right.. If they're coming in straight though you can get devastating hits with all guns at 1000 out.. Even with a deflection shot firing all guns will put more lead in the air.. The biggest key is to use short burst and make them count..
 

[Lusche]

It's not too close. The bullet streams cross at 500 and at 1000 are no farther apart than the cowling of a radial engined aircraft.

You can check this using the .target command

And if you do that you will notice that at 1000yds the streams are much farther apart "than the cowling of a radial engined aircraft."


The center ring is 20ft across, each ring adds 10ft of radius.
(picture by fuzeman)

Due to basic geometry, at 1000yds your streams are spaced exactly the same distance as your drones are.

[kilz]

i think in the EARLY stages of AH2 you use to be able to chanve convergence on bombers but not any more

[MadHatter]

The other thing to realize is the convergence of the fighters coming in. I may be wrong, but most everyone I talked to has their convergence set at 400 or less, 300 being the average. That allows your bomber to have a little more reach on the fighters. Personally I use "wake up shots" (short bursts) at 1k,800, and 600, once they hit 400 I unload on them.

[SWrokit]

if you just fire your primary gun when they are not at 500 you don't waist ammo.. i only fire all guns at 600 or less... if they are 600 to 1000 i fire primary only (usually just 1 or 2 guns depending on aircraft) saves ammo for you.

 

Absolutely great advise and good gunning tech.  Primary trigger assigned to "Fire Primary Weapon", only the gun you're in fires a straight and true burst.  Effective range 1K, or 1000.  Not much damage though with only 1 gun firing, aim for engine (kill the oil), and/or aim for the canopy (pilot wound).  Regardless, get a few pings on the AC, it's soft by the time it comes into range of "All Guns".  Secondary trigger assigned to "Fire All Guns".  Once in range sencondary trigger is used to activate use of all bomber guns.  And as stated, use short bursts.

<S>
Rokit

[Lusche]

The other thing to realize is the convergence of the fighters coming in. I may be wrong, but most everyone I talked to has their convergence set at 400 or less, 300 being the average. That allows your bomber to have a little more reach on the fighters.

Not really.

The guns of a fighter are grouped much closer together than the 3 planes of a bomber formation are. For example, the P-51's gun batteries are about 20 feet from each other. If the pony pilot has convergence at D400, the spread will be 20ft at D800. Compare that to a B-24 wingspan if about 110 feet.
On the other hand, the distance between the three "hit areas" of a B-24 formation is about 70 feet each. Compare that to a P-51 wingspan of 37 feet.
The fighter can fly between those groups. The bomber can not.

I have all my convergence set to D350, but then I fly American fighters like the 47, F4U or Pony, I open fire at D1000, often having shred a bomber wing by reaching D800.

[gyrene81]

And yet few people have any trouble blowing fighters out of the air from bomber guns at 800+

And if you do that you will notice that at 1000yds the streams are much farther apart "than the cowling of a radial engined aircraft."

(Image removed from quote.)
The center ring is 20ft across, each ring adds 10ft of radius.
(picture by fuzeman)

Due to basic geometry, at 1000yds your streams are spaced exactly the same distance as your drones are.

[Lusche]

And yet few people have any trouble blowing fighters out of the air from bomber guns at 800+

Only because most fighters attack from dead 6.
I'm a lousy buff gunner, but I maintain a 2-1 k/d in the B17 just for this very reason. Once I see a fighter preparing for any attack but the slow dead 6 approach, I know I'm dead.
But even those pilots that have learned to use ACM and not to HO enemy fighters are often going into moron mode when encountering buffs...

[SWrokit]

And yet few people have any trouble blowing fighters out of the air from bomber guns at 800+

At 1000, I'll use primary gun to determine lead; between 800 - 600 I use "All Guns" & sweep from wing tip to wing tip (generally scoring a kill); between 0 - 600 I bring all guns to bear.  Time and practise, 800 isn't all that difficult of a shot.  Bombers aren't that hard to take down as long as you use the proper tactics.  Those tactics do not include attacking from the bomber's six postion, where is some cases you're facing up to 12 - .50 cals at one time.  From that position ya just know one of them is going to have your "Golden BB"  .

<S>
Rokit

[thndregg]

My brother's gunsight works really well for level-six shots. The hash mark below center represents round drop at 1K.

[SWrokit]

Nice Thndregg 

<S>
Rokit