88m Flak - How'd They Do It!?

[bustr]

And then I rotated around and tried it on the drones 7k away. I built an offline terrain to test these arguments.

There will be no aimbot type of aiming solution. You will still be constrained by your judgment of setting the fuse against the time to travel for a moving target. Azimuth out to 7k in most standard AH scenario of defending a base will not change much unless you are shooting above 45 degrees over head. It is kind of interesting we were given only a single 88 for flack duty when even the Germans used battery's because hitting moving aircraft with a single 88 was a fools bet. Though it takes care of the constant wish over the years for a more powerful air base defense against tanks.

Clear overlays or even a knotted string with a small weight require you to set your zoom to the same place every time. That takes care of only azimuth for range. You still have to have the touch for setting the fuse.

Then there is lead, no two fighters are going by at the same speed but, most bomber guys will either run balls to wall or follow the current wisdom on speed for calibration to perform pinpoint drops. In that case, a clear overlay big enough to have rings based on the 88mm time to travel to distance say in 1000yds increments combined with a speed index closing and leaving. Suddenly you are recreating the 88mm analog aiming director on a clear overlay.

There is a free pdf on the internet of the manual created by the ARMY for operating the 88. It has all the tables in the back of the manual along with illustrations for the analog director data face.

Is all of this devolving down to hoping some genius will simply post you a picture of what to draw on the overlay?

[8thJinx]

I know people are going to ask, so here is a shot of the card.

[DubiousKB]

thx jinx, i got the email. 

[bustr]

I was wondering what someone's variation on page 125 (Sterioscopic Director 36) and the ballistics tables in the back of the manual would end up looking like. The zoom to match diameter looks like the tip of your barrel just shows on the left side of the screen.

https://ia802705.us.archive.org/31/items/TmE9-369a/TmE9-369a.pdf

TME9-369A is the US ARMY manual for operating the 88.

[8thJinx]

There's one big caveat with my card.  It was developed off of my monitor, which is an LG E2242.  If you cut out the card from a printed sheet of paper along the rectangle, once you place the card on the screen (bottom edge resting on the bottom edge of the screen), the center of the reticle on the paper should line up with where the center dot shows up on an LG E2242 with the game running.  If it doesn't, then everything will have to be scaled.

   

[Kingpin]

KB, I just emailed you the range card. Contact me in game so I can explain it.

Hey, Jinx.  Do you mind emailing me this info as well?  I PM'd you my email.

<S>
Kingpin

[Randy1]

And that is why 8thJinx is so good in all of the things he does.   Pure dedication to the art of shoot making.

[8thJinx]

And that is why 8thJinx is so good in all of the things he does.   Pure dedication to the art of shoot making.

Shootegery.

[Kingpin]

That answers my question about how you addressed the zoom setting and elevation angle of the gun when putting an overlay together.  Nicely done.

Even WITH an overlay, it still requires practice to determine the azimuth lead required for the direction and speed of travel of the target, along with the timing required to adjust the range so your round will arrive when the target reaches that distance.

Also good of you to clarify that it is calibrated to your specific monitor and FOV settings, so this isn't a quick fix for most people.

Thanks for sharing info on the art of 88 "stootegery". 

<S>
Kingpin

[8thJinx]

I think you can scale everything off of the distance from the bottom of your screen to center of reticle in-game.  So if your distance is 6 inches, then the scaling is 6/5.3125=1.1294.  Then set your printer scaling to 1.1294, and it should print to your scale.  I think.

As for how it works, yes, you do need more than just an overlay. This overlay only gets you close. It only shows where the round will burst. You need practice and experience in figuring the flight path and lead.

On another note, I used the overlay on the tank island map.  Even though you can't see the corner airfields from the gun emplacements at the outermost vehicle fields, I was able to hit the runway and radar with AP rounds at 8,650 yards. I knew I was getting hits because you can see a sprite when a round hits a structure or vehicle, even at distance.  GYK or KrisKros (can't remember) was AFK on a hill in a jeep halfway to the base, so hopped in a gun and got some practice in.  I was able load the film and see what the sprites were from.  I was hitting the bomber hangar from almost 5 miles away.