surviving a torpedo/dive bombing run on fleets

[matt72078]

What about making a plane that takes off with a torpedo or AP bomb more resistant to the 5" guns.  That way we can get the real ship killers like the Val's, SBD's, and Avengers out of the hangers and doing what they were meant to do. Right now 99% of the CV's are dying from BUFFs coming in at around 8 or 9K.  To me this the most gamey part of AH since in real life heavy bombers dropping on ships from altitude were not very successful.

[hotcoffe]

+1

[artik]

Surprisingly, working right it is quite feasible to sink a ship in TBM...

http://trainers.hitechcreations.com/torpedoes/torpedoes.htm

Once I read and followed this manual I was able to sink a ship from the first attempt in TBM without getting killed by an ack...
(I escaped the ack range quite fast)

I was killed 20 seconds later by a bunch of fighters who were CAPing around (I was flying without escort with a single TBM...)

But it seems to be quite feasible to use torpedos properly and quite safely. Now, why usually level bombers kill the CVs? Because they have enough load to do this in a single pass (and it is usually done in a suicide manner)

Once users would be ready to cooperate killing CVs using several planes is not that hard.

[hotcoffe]

Surprisingly, working right it is quite feasible to sink a ship in TBM...

http://trainers.hitechcreations.com/torpedoes/torpedoes.htm

Once I read and followed this manual I was able to sink a ship from the first attempt in TBM without getting killed by an ack...
(I escaped the ack range quite fast)

I was killed 20 seconds later by a bunch of fighters who were CAPing around (I was flying without escort with a single TBM...)

But it seems to be quite feasible to use torpedos properly and quite safely. Now, why usually level bombers kill the CVs? Because they have enough load to do this in a single pass (and it is usually done in a suicide manner)

Once users would be ready to cooperate killing CVs using several planes is not that hard.

very useful tutorial thanks for sharing.

[gyrene81]

What about making a plane that takes off with a torpedo or AP bomb more resistant to the 5" guns.  That way we can get the real ship killers like the Val's, SBD's, and Avengers out of the hangers and doing what they were meant to do. Right now 99% of the CV's are dying from BUFFs coming in at around 8 or 9K.  To me this the most gamey part of AH since in real life heavy bombers dropping on ships from altitude were not very successful.

so you want to be immune to flak guns while on a torpedo run in a plane. if that isn't asking for more gamey... did you do any historical research before posting this?

[Greebo]

How about if you load torpedoes on a plane it gets a reduced radius for base flashing? Close enough that you would have a reasonable chance of launching torps before someone manned the 5 inch guns. Wouldn't help against a CV camped offshore but would make it more worthwhile to go hunting them in mid-ocean.

[pembquist]

I'd be happy if you could just see where the torpedo went.

[Devonai]

Pembquist, I believe a "torpedo cam" has been proposed before.  If you get killed after dropping torps you can remain attached to one as an observer until it hits or reaches its maximum time limit.  I think that would be cool.

As for the 5" guns, as I've said before, in the hellish nightmare war that is AH, where everyone's an expert on everything, everywhere, shots that are technically possible but very difficult in real life are commonplace.  That is simply a factor of having hundreds of hours of practice on weapons systems, training that was never available in real life.  Dive bombers were much more successful in real life because 5" gunners (and their foreign equivalents) couldn't pull of the kind of consistent gunnery you see in the game.

[DubiousKB]

Great Manual, very informative and helpful.....    Pictures 

[Mongoose]

since in real life heavy bombers dropping on ships from altitude were not very successful.

That's because the ships would see the bombers coming and take evasive maneuvers.   I remember reading one story where the captain had a crewman laying on the deck with a pair of binoculars, to see when the bombers would release the bombs, so the ship could dodge.

[matt72078]

I've read the training link before, and it doesn't do you a lick of good if there is a guy in a 5" gun and he sees you coming.  When you look at pictures of these ships during the war they were covered with different types of anti-aircraft guns.  If the 5" guns were as dominant in real life as they are in the game then you wouldn't have seen all the extra 20mm and 40mm guns on the decks of these ships.  Just saying, killing a plane in the 5" guns once they get close seems way to easy.

[gyrene81]

I've read the training link before, and it doesn't do you a lick of good if there is a guy in a 5" gun and he sees you coming.  When you look at pictures of these ships during the war they were covered with different types of anti-aircraft guns.  If the 5" guns were as dominant in real life as they are in the game then you wouldn't have seen all the extra 20mm and 40mm guns on the decks of these ships.  Just saying, killing a plane in the 5" guns once they get close seems way to easy.

are you sure you want to compare real life with cartoon world? the flak in reality didn't wait til the enemy was up to 3000 feet alt to kick in, and there was a lot more of it than what is generated in cartoon world.

have you tried to shoot down a plane flying 50-100ft off the deck with a 5 inch ship gun? i've been popped more by 20-40mm than 5 inch. the reason it appears so easy in the cartoon world is because there is an easy mode aircraft targeting system that shows range to target in bright red letters. the ships are more vulnerable than they should be as it is.