Nate,
That is a perfectly good question. There are probably as many good answers, such as ImAdot just gave, as there are targets to hit. I have to go way back to my old squadee and mentor, TufDog
, to offer my answer. You see it was his attention to detail and patience that delivered the desired results.
1. Get to your desired altitude a good deal in advance of the drop:
1 and a half to 2 sectors is descent.
2. Once level at desired altitude, only make course corrections from the gunner or bombsight positions, preferrably gunner position.
3. Once near top speed for drop (can judge by looking at e6b climb rate = 0 ) open doors and allow the plane to settle (drop in speed)
4. Check for course corrections in front gunner position and make small adjustments using zoom to spot landmarks far enough ahead to adjust.
5. Calibrate your bombsight, I have the best luck holding "Y" key down for about 10 seconds (1001, 1002, 1003,...... 1010).
6. Check salvo and delay for your target is set properly (3 x 500 lb = 4500 lb total dropped with all drones delayed .05 - .07) enough for any hangar.
7.
When all is "Greened UP" (All bombsight list items in upper left corner are green), speed calibrated and current speed within 2 mph, calibrated and current altitude ~ the same, correct bombs selected, salvo and delay entered, and most important doors open.
Your crosshairs should be the exact drop point and line up directly over your target.8.
Small adjustments left or right can be made from the bombsight using "J" and "L" rudder keys. If you make too large adjustment with rudder keys, bombs will spread and possibly be off target. It is really important to get a good line using the front gunner sight a good distance prior to drop, thus only calling for a few taps on the rudder keys for fine adjustments.
*Turning from the gunner position maintains good calibrated settings, whereas holding rudder keys down for any time might toss several settings.Some folks will do the math and tell you that 2 x 500 lb is more than enough for a hangar, but I am telling you from experience 3 gets the job done and 2 most likely will not ( I will not consider that a bug, but rather a blast radius / damage calculation). So Nate, good luck have fun and bring plenty of reading material for your climbout. That will be the most boring and probably most important portion of your attack, because without the proper altitude, you will most likely will be too busy fighting off attackers to do any of what is stated above.
