B 17 tail gun

[Bender]

Not sure if this has been discussed to death before, I did a search and didn't find anything.  Does anyone find that the B17 tail guns aim is a bit off?  I can get in a Lanc or B26 and swat fighter not too bad, but in a 17 I seem to be off.  Not sure if they are high or low but they seem off compared to other tail guns.

[bustr]

Go offline. Takeoff in your bomber and head in some direction on auto level over water so you don't hit a mountain. Hop in your rear guns and take advantage of the updated target command. Test all of your bombers to see if the B17 is off.

If your bomber is flying north, then 180 degrees is the heading you will need for your target.

.target range(yards) compass heading(0-359) azmuth(0-359)

Azmuth places the target in a virtical circle like a bike wheel relative to your aircraft based on points 0-359.

Bomber heading north, target level to your rear guns at 600 yards, south: .target 600 180

.target 600 180 (1 or 359) will raise or lower the target by 1 at 600 yards south of your aircraft.

You can place the target fixed all over the place relative to your gun position. So you can compair your gun position across bomber types.

[Butcher]

ask 999000 if they are off, or rather just fly within 1200 yards of his tail guns and find out.

[thndregg]

My latest sortie last night with a Rook 190 hanging 1.0 off my B17's six going "kaboom" says my aim is pretty good.  

[Daddkev]

  Try closing one eye. 

[999000]

Landed full set of B17's with 7 kills last night, tail gun good.

[Fonzy]

Landed full set of B17's with 7 kills last night, tail gun good.

Here is a pic of  "foot rub" gun position

[Butcher]

Sad thing about the B-17 is the lack of armor around the rear gunner position, I was rather shocked to read its armor basically only stopped 7.9mm rounds and nothing bigger.

Interestingly I seem to never kill rear gunners in aces high.

[kvuo75]

Sad thing about the B-17 is the lack of armor around the rear gunner position, I was rather shocked to read its armor basically only stopped 7.9mm rounds and nothing bigger.

Interestingly I seem to never kill rear gunners in aces high.

that's because you know better than to aim at the tail of a b17, if you want to kill it..

right?

and how would you know if you did, anyway?

[Butcher]

that's because you know better than to aim at the tail of a b17, if you want to kill it..

right?

and how would you know if you did, anyway?

While back I ran some tests for FSO/Scenarios and wanted to study different attacks on B-17s, amazingly I rolled up behind B-17s with a 190a8 with standard gun package only - and could not kill a rear gunner at 600-1000 out - different converg settings, different attack patterns etc.
Then I realized - buffs have damage points before they go down, same as fighters - simply look at CV ack - buffs fly through all day with few scratches, fighters? poof.

/I ended up never flying 190s, but 262s - I made 9 or 3 clock passes at very high speed and never was dinged once - never again to make a frontal or rear shot on a bomber - period.

[Lusche]

Interestingly I seem to never kill rear gunners in aces high.

"seem" is the keyword, you will not notice it as a fighter attacking a formation of bombers.
Everybody flying B-17s frequently will tell you that the tail gun can and will be taken out by enemy fire.

[Butcher]

"seem" is the keyword, you will not notice it as a fighter attacking a formation of bombers.
Everybody flying B-17s frequently will tell you that the tail gun can and will be taken out by enemy fire.

Seems is a keyword, but I did the testing in the customs arena with a squad mate to clarify just how easy it would be. Not so easy as real life persists, it seemed more "random" then actual.


doh said DA its custom arena