P-38L Hanger and other Objects Attacks without aguering

[Randy1]

Its a P-38 Tour again for me. 

All too often when a red P-38 comes in for a base attack it will auger.  It is embarrassing.  I thought I would share my hanger attack method that eliminates the chance of an auger. 

I use the same method on the P-47D and Corsair albeit augering is less of an issue for the 47 and F4U1D.  Still, I need to be consistent between the planes since I go back and forth.

The attack angle is the first key.  Forty-five degrees or somewhat less but not more.  Judge the angle by the distance you are from the target and how high you are.  They should be roughly the same.  My best attack height is 9,000 above field elevation.

Second, throttle control and dive flaps.  Make it a habit to do two things before you push the nose over.  Pop the dive flap and pull the throttle back to idle.  The dive flaps are just insurance if you make your attack run starting at 8-to-9,000 feet or if you are at a steeper dive angle than you thought.

Third, a good rocket ladder gunsight ala Bustr's historical gunsight package.  I use the N9 Rocket ladder.  Use the ". "sitting in the small "v" for rockets.  For bombs use the very bottom of the rectile circle to the bottom of the glass.  Most of the time my bottom drop is closer to the bottom of the glass.

Because of the 45 degree attack angle you will fire rockets first then bombs on one pass.  As your gunsight centers on the hanger the rocket ladder will come up first with the bombing sight at the bottom.  That's fire rockets, bump,bump of secondary selector then drop bombs.   Sounds hard but with just a bit of practice it will seem perfectly natural.  Fire-bump-bump-fire.  Its just that quick.

Use salvo of 6 for hanger.  That is type / to pull up the radio then type .salvo then a SPC then 6.  This will leave you 4 rockets for other targets or a backup if you slightly missed on your first pass.

As Lusche says in gunnery post, get close then get closer before you punch the rockets.  In practice blow yourself up a couple of times to see how close is close.  You will be surprised how close that is.

Red guy or not, I hate to see a P-38 auger.

[Cremator]

When you say tour, do you change and stick with strictly that plane and for how long
? Just curious. Thanks for the 38 info as well.

[bozon]

Two more things to do before entering the dive. These are generally true for all planes, but in particular to the P-38 and Mosquito:

* Check your speed - If you are already doing 350+ mph, you will enter compression too quickly. If there is no immediate fighter threat, enter the dive by first pulling UP, wait for the speed to drop to the 220-250 mph range and then dive to attack (it usually comes out as a high wingover maneuver for me). Starting slower gives you more time to aim in the dive. It is good both for preventing compression/overspeed and lets you drop from a higher and safer altitude.

* Turn off combat trim - combat trim will trim you full nose down in a high speed dive, making recovery even more difficult! The P-38 in particular does not need trimming except the elevator. All you need to do is manual trim the elevator to some setting you are familiar and comfortable with (I use 1/5 to 1/4 of the way from the bottom of the trim indicator). After recovery from the dive you can turn combat trim back on if you like it.

[Randy1]

Bozon, a good thought on your reply on entry speed and combat trim.

  I use manual combat trim full time except when diving bombing with the P-38.  Probably because with the full load-out on the P-38, my level speed prior to attack is in that 250 MPH range and trimmed out for that speed which has too much up for dive speeds. 

I will give manual trim a go again on your recommendation.  I have noticed with combat trim on, correcting an error in the initial lineup is a little more difficult and easy to over compensate.  Manual trim also gives you the ability to full trim up if the speed gets too high. 

Lets keep those 38s out of the ground.

[WW1965]

I Don't Like The Ground..

It Gets In My Way .. A  L O T  !  !  !

Avoid the Ground..

It Is Not Your Friend..

<S>

Wrngway

[Traveler]

The perfect bomb run in the P38L is easy and if you like, come fly with the 113th Lucky Strikes a P38 Squad that has been flying as Knights for 14 years.  We train to attack from any altitude using any angle that is necessary to place bombs on target.  It's all about speed control and controlling the aircraft to make it do what you want it to.  We don't expect our pilots to always make a 45 degree approach, or only attack after attaining a magic altitude, in fact ,45 degrees is not really the best angle for putting bombs on target.  Most of us use a slightly steeper approach.  We use Salvo 5, that's putting 5 rockets on the hanger and 1 ton of bombs and the hanger comes down, if it doesn't a short burst of cannon will do the trick.   The 113th flies as a squad and after each of us hits our assigned hanger, we collective each but the remaining 5 rockets on the remaining Vehicle Hanger.   That allows just three of use to shut down fighter hangers and VH at a small airfield, something that we do on a regular basis.

[Randy1]

Good post Traveler. 

I use the 6th for insurance.  I figure the P-38 on average is good for two passes with minimal damage.  The third pass is at a much higher risk to loose an engine or worse.

[Rich46yo]

I always dive bomb with a 38 from 10 to 12k without auguring. I invert and start the dive right on top of the hangar, by that time slowing down to under 200 mph, "probably closer to 160 mph. Then I do two things, I turn off combat trim and turn on dive flaps. As Im coming down on the target I set trim as needed and during the entire dive my throttle is at "0". Most of the time I can release both bombs and rockets in the one dive but If I have to I just release bombs and return for a rocket attack to finish it.

Coming out of the dive go easy on the stick. When you have recovered and are on your way back up turn off dive flaps and go full throttle with WEP to get as much altitude back. For a rocket attack only I dont use dive flap, dont turn off combat trim, and just come in at a normal 45% angle watching my speed.

I realize most dont do it this way but it works for me and its very precise.

[BnZs]

Simpler way to avoid the augur on a dive-bombing mission:

Leave the bombs at home. Leave the poor defenseless toolsheds alone. 

[The Fugitive]

Simpler way to avoid the augur on a dive-bombing mission:

Leave the bombs at home. Leave the poor defenseless toolsheds alone. 

Attacking toolsheds creates fights. I wish there was something "extra" for those who choose to defend. That would create more fights.

[BnZs]

Attacking toolsheds creates fights. I wish there was something "extra" for those who choose to defend. That would create more fights.

Actually it is the thing that ENDS most fights. That is the express purpose of hangar banging. All you have to do to draw defenders is show up in red. Maybe attack town.

And defense is the more fun end of things as long as it isn't a vulch by horde and the hangars are up. Your food is being brought to you, no waiting, you can fly short range ultra-high performance planes, and rtb literally takes about a minute. Especially nice is defending against a CV. Alas some bomb tard always sinks it forthwith. Perk all bombs!

[The Fugitive]

Actually it is the thing that ENDS most fights. That is the express purpose of hangar banging. All you have to do to draw defenders is show up in red. Maybe attack town.

And defense is the more fun end of things as long as it isn't a vulch by horde and the hangars are up. Your food is being brought to you, no waiting, you can fly short range ultra-high performance planes, and rtb literally takes about a minute. Especially nice is defending against a CV. Alas some bomb tard always sinks it forthwith. Perk all bombs!

Too bad it does seem to ever happen this way in the game.

Only time I see hangers go down is when the horde shows up. As for defenders, they are few and far between. Most check from the tower and see someone just circling and don't bother to up. Same goes for dar poppers. Watch them hit dar and run like little girls from the tower. CV fight would be the best if you have someone driving it. DEFENDING your CV while attacking isn't very common and so those fights disappear. But note, in all those "fights" someone is dropping bombs trying to attack/take the base.

Bring on the toolshedders as long as they fight once they are lite.