An odd question from an old, cartoon bomber pilot.

[SlipKnt]

This is a very good tactical problem to solve.  There are reasons to go for the lead plane first.  But there are only two reasons for this.

1.  If the bomber is nearing target, they likely have calibration or near calibration.  By taking out the lead bomber first near drop you throw off calibration.  This is a tactic G3-MF uses heavily during FSO.  We preach and teach it.

2.  If you are attacking from either of the front quarters from above you do your slashing attack on the lead and the drone on the opposite side from your attack vector.  A possible shot on 2 for 1 pass...


Otherwise...   ...always attack drones first. 

[Bizman]

I seem to aim for the lead bomber first and unfortunately for me from its 6. Mainly it's because I usually fly a relatively slow fighter so no matter how I try to attack from the side they always pass me by. As I know myself having some troubles remembering the commands for changing planes I assume my target may suffer from the same so killing the leader just might cause disorder in the rest of the troika.

[mthrockmor]

I go for the left drone. Once that is dead the right drone will slowly move over to the left. As that is happening the convergence is messed up again, just for a brief moment. Only gives you a slight advantage, but hey, it helps.

boo

[Becinhu]

I go for drones first unless coming in from a high perch where you can kill the lead and the drone that moves to lead in one pass. On final bomb run of course hit lead.

I love when cons approach dead six, makes it much easier. I even slow down for a dead six pursuer.


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[nickel5]

I would attack a bomber formation from their low 6 flying under then pulling vertical in front of lead bomber and firing back through the canopy killing pilot instantly!
==<--O--O-->==

[Vulcan]

Drones used to warp. There were some players that seemed to warp excessively.

Some bomber pile-its are also slow to bail, kill the lead plane while he is gunning and sometimes you'll take down the whole lot because they forget to bail.

[Shuffler]

I only go for the lead if he is lined up and about to drop. This is to disrupt his targeting. I will otherwise situate myself in a high 10 or 2 position and roll in. This allows me to shoot the drone on my side and continue through to shoot the lead.

Once I pass the buffs, sometimes over and sometimes under, I can continue my built up E into a climb in advance of any buffs left for my next setup.

Note... if I am ever straight out on your 6, it will be because you are so close to dropping that I did not have time to position correctly. I then accept that I may die and try to take as many of your bombers with me. I know that If I am heavily damaged that I can more than likely make base and land.

SAPP drivers are used to landing aircraft that only slightly resemble the P-38 they took off in. 

[palef]

Ever since Sean Astin was Twoflower in "The Colour of Magic" I've made a point of climbing slowly from dead 6 on any B17 formation in the hope I can kill the ball gunner first.

[Vulcan]

What's so bad about killing buffs from dead 6? I do it all the time...

[Scca]

I hate to give away my secrets, but what the heck.

I have a high level of success against bombers, they are my favorite target.  I never attack from dead 6 if I can help it. 

The target point varies by model.  B-24's light on fire easily hitting a wing root.  Just a few in the right place, and they are on fire.  As soon as I see that, I peal off and set up for the next run.  For all the others I aim at the outer wing tip. Blow it off, and they start spiraling away which spoils their defense and this allows me to egress easily while they either bail or ride the lead down.  If I see a wingtip go, I try to get a ping on each of the other two bombers as I leave so I get credit when they explode once out of range of the falling lead because for some reason they decided to ride the lead down to the ground.   

[Rich46yo]

Yeah taking out the lead bomber totally messes up the bomb run which is why, unless Im flying in a formation, I'll often just sit in the rear gun with no intention of dropping and wait for the attacker to make a fatal mistake and think Im in the bomb view over the target.

This has led to some interesting confrontations over the years. Some fighter pilots are pretty cute and anticipate a "pretty cute" move like that and dont attack when they are supposed to think Im in the bomb view. Another cute trick I have is to kill speed, or at least slow down, so the enemy finds himself a lot closer if he's not paying attention and creeps into my kill zone. Another is to rudder your drones around which makes them bullet catchers for your #1 bomber and can make an enemy focus on several bombers instead of just one.

Another is to jump into a drone and fight from it instead of the lead bomber. Mostly a trail fighter is a pain when your trying to take out a CV. I'd bet CVs would last much, much longer if a single player would just fly CAP over it.

[Scca]

Yeah taking out the lead bomber totally messes up the bomb run which is why, unless Im flying in a formation, I'll often just sit in the rear gun with no intention of dropping and wait for the attacker to make a fatal mistake and think Im in the bomb view over the target.

This has led to some interesting confrontations over the years. Some fighter pilots are pretty cute and anticipate a "pretty cute" move like that and dont attack when they are supposed to think Im in the bomb view. Another cute trick I have is to kill speed, or at least slow down, so the enemy finds himself a lot closer if he's not paying attention and creeps into my kill zone. Another is to rudder your drones around which makes them bullet catchers for your #1 bomber and can make an enemy focus on several bombers instead of just one.

Another is to jump into a drone and fight from it instead of the lead bomber. Mostly a trail fighter is a pain when your trying to take out a CV. I'd bet CVs would last much, much longer if a single player would just fly CAP over it.

Also, that moment when you realize he has a gunner....

[Becinhu]

My favorite surprise is to put my bombers in auto climb when a fighter is approaching. That poor soul who thinks he is out of a firing window against a b26 only to get a face full of 50s when he starts to pull up under the bombers.

I had an engagement last week against four fighters that approached staggered behind my 26s. P51 flew in dead six, got vaporized. Spit16 tried to come underneath and lost a wing when he thought I couldn't shoot at him. 190 took an oil hit first pass and disengaged. My last contestant was a 410 who decided after seeing the first three fail that he would go find something that didn't bite back (good thing he didn't know I had less than 150 rounds left in the tail gun lol).


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[Vulcan]

Also, that moment when you realize he has a gunner....

and that moment he realizes are just outside of that gunners range and cannot touch you.

or he realizes you have two rear/up/down firing 50 cals (well .51 cals).

 

[Krusty]

I have to admit: Now that I think back, Vulcan has hit it on the nail. NOW I have more options, I can pick and choose my attack based on the circumstances. Before? Drones warped so badly that you could never be sure when you got to that "fire the guns" moment they'd even be there or would have jumped up, down, back, fore, or any combination thereof. Hitting the lead was the only way to actively track and lead a target, so at that time, you always aimed for the lead.

Not a social decision, but a limitation of the gameplay. Since then? Some of that's ingrained in the brain and some of it is concious choice. But that's definitely where it came from for me and many others.