Bomber Gunners Technique

[JimmyD3]

Does anyone have any advice to share on good techniques for Gunners? How close do you let the bandit get before you start firing? What gunner position is the best for general protection of the bomber? I realize each bomber has a different layout. How many gunners are allowed on any aircraft, say the B17, 1 or 4 or what? If these are stupid questions let me know, I'm just trying to learn all I can.

[APDrone]

Does anyone have any advice to share on good techniques for Gunners? Practice Practice Practice

 How close do you let the bandit get before you start firing? Depends.. 1.5k if he's attacking you from the front, 1.0k from other angles.

What gunner position is the best for general protection of the bomber? Whichever is closest to the bad guy and gives you the clearest shot.
I realize each bomber has a different layout. How many gunners are allowed on any aircraft, say the B17, 1 or 4 or what? Pilot plus 1 additional gunner
 If these are stupid questions let me know, I'm just trying to learn all I can.

If you want to get a lot of gunnery practice, take your bombers into the target area at 10K or lower.

If you have 4 engine heavy.. and some fellow is desperately trying to catch you, chop the throttle and let him.  It shortens his pain.

Happy hunting!!

[JimmyD3]

Thanks Drone, all input is appreciated.

[Rolex]

1. You can't hit a plane beyond 1,200 yards. Your rounds disappear.

2. Your rounds from all planes in formation firing will converge at 500 yards away. That's a good distance to finish off the kill of any attacker. Some people start firing when an attacker is 1,000 yards away, others wait until 800 yards or so to open fire. Depends on how good you are.

3. You can open a practice target in the air in any arena. Type ".target 1000" without quotes in the text buffer and you'll see a target 1,000 yards away to the north. Don't forget the period at the beginning of the command.

You can set the target distance. For example, ".target 800" would be a target 800 yards out for you to practice. Type ".target 0" to close the target.

There is a section on bombers at the Trainer's site in my signature below.

[Trukk]

As noted above the biggest thing to understand is that the converging fire from your drones is locked in at 500 yards.  So if the bandit is at 400 yards, and you're firing all guns (ie your drones as well), the fire may look impressive but the drones are just shooting into empty air.  That is one reason having a gunner onboard can be helpful as you can put more guns on the target at all ranges.

[earl1937]

Does anyone have any advice to share on good techniques for Gunners? How close do you let the bandit get before you start firing? What gunner position is the best for general protection of the bomber? I realize each bomber has a different layout. How many gunners are allowed on any aircraft, say the B17, 1 or 4 or what? If these are stupid questions let me know, I'm just trying to learn all I can.

One thing to keep in mind, the conversion point for the 3 bomber element is 650 yards! Best thing to do is go into training arena, type in radio bar, TARGET 1,000 yds, then press enter . The "target" will always be in the northern quadrant in relation to your aircraft. Example, if you want to pratice with your tail guns, the aircraft must be pointed in a south direction. If you want to pratice with your nose guns, you must have the aircraft pointed north! First thing you will notice at 1,000yds, only the guns in the "mother" ship are hitting the target! The drone to your right is crossing the bullet stream from right to left and does NOT touch the target at all. Same thing with your left drone, except in reverse! To delete the target, type TARGET 0 and the target will disappear. Most game "sticks" have a 2 position firing trigger, first pull is primary and second pull, (all the way back on trigger), will fire all guns in all three bombers of the position you have selected. My pratice is to only fire the primary guns,(first position on trigger), at 1,000 yards and then pull all the way back for all guns to fire when the target aircraft is between 600 to 800 yds distance. To fire all guns at 1,000 yards is to waste your ammo in the drones and you might need that ammo later on during the flight. I would invite you to visit www.devildogssquadron.com and click on training tab. There are some points on bombers in general about defensive methods and also bomb aiming. Glad to see you new guys in the game and I like the game so much, I am willing to help anyone learn the basic's of this GREAT game! If you are playing the game as a "rook", I invite you to join the DD's on channel 171, we run bombers 90% of the time and we would be glad to help you anyway that we can.

[VonMessa]

Set your fire button to "fire all guns" so all of the available guns on your buffs fire at the same time (the ones that you are using at the time, anyhow).

[thndregg]

For those that must come in at the worst possible angle to attack me, my brother made a gunsight with a 1K mark below center. Enemy planes that come in and are 1K behind me usually get a rude surprise.

[Noir]

I wonder how often did the bombers kill their nmies 1K out in real life.

[captain1ma]

contact 999000 for gunnery tips. he has learned to turn tail guns on a b17 into lasers!!

[Slate]

  Lancasters are the weakest 4 engine heavy and the guns do not cover underneath the bomber. In the MA it's very difficult to survive to the target below 10k. It makes most fighters have to climb up to you if you have Alt. But you will have the Alt monkey who will be higher.
  It's hard to defend against a fighter diving at steep angles and manuvers don't always stop them from taking out your drones as they will attack them first. 
  

[Karnak]

You can jump to the drone under attack and gun from it instead to improve its chances of survival.

[R 105]

If the 50s on Allied bombers worked like the one's here in Aces High we would have never needed an escort fighter and never lost a plane. We would have shot down Germany s entire fighter force in a week. Ever notice the 50s on a Bomber in Aces High is like 20mm but the same 50cal on a fighter are like BBs or is it just me.

[shotgunneeley]

I'd rather defend against a fighter making slashing attacks rather than coming straight down my six. The reason being is that even though i would dispatch that fighter quickly, he/she is likely to take at least one of my drones because the fighter can get more guns on me from further out. Sure, i can get a few pings from 1k, but the fighter can beat on me with cannons from that distance.

Tail gun is probably my most used gun, followed by the ball turrett and top gun equally. Ill only use the waist guns to take a few pot shots at fighters off my wing.

I have my mouse set up for my guns, i find it much more stable of a platform for fine aiming down range. Ill fire small bursts with my primary gun to get the range. I try to only use the fire all feature when the fighter is between 450-550 yards away

[Zoney]

If I may humbly suggest, fly fighters also and go hunt buffs.  By attacking them you will gain insight and information that will help you be a better buff gunner.