Bomber limter Mechanic

[Tracerfi]

I would like to see a limiter added to the game for level bombers to prevent them from dropping bombs at impossibly steep angles as they do now

[Squire]

Agreed.

[Chalenge]

I hate to tell you this, but . . . I think the only bomber that your wish would effect is the He-111.

[Drane]

-1  Separating a bomb from an aircraft isn't just about gravity.

[Beefcake]

So is 5 degrees down angle now considered "impossibly steep"?

[Zimme83]

I think its more to prevent planes like the lanc to be used as a Stuka...

[Lusche]

"impossibly steep angle"


The thing is, in this game people call out for this when actually the bomber is doing just a shallow dive well within it's specifications. In some case bombers actually did use shallow dive bombing techinques.
The actual diving angle is very often overestimated a lot in the game. Do a 20° dive and about everybody will scream "lancstuka"

[bozon]

"impossibly steep angle"


The thing is, in this game people call out for this when actually the bomber is doing just a shallow dive well within it's specifications. In some case bombers actually did use shallow dive bombing techinques.
The actual diving angle is very often overestimated a lot in the game. Do a 20° dive and about everybody will scream "lancstuka"

That is true, yet I am not sure than even at 20 deg the bomb at the top of the front stack in a B17/24 will exit the bay without hitting anything on the way.

A bomber that is carying a single large bomb hangin right at the door is a different thing.

[Drane]

You can separate (drop) bombs from the bomb bay of an inverted aircraft as long as aircraft is "pulling" in the same direction as gravity with more force than gravity. Say you're pulling 2 to 3 G inverted and the bombs will only have 1 G when released. Plane descends (falls) faster than bombs until you're clear of the bombs. Demonstration film posted in films section.

So if I were diving steeply or straight down the lift of the wings would probably give enough force to separate the bombs from the aircraft. I personally would begin to pull on the stick then release bombs.

Whether or not the aircraft can recover from this before hitting the ground or breaking up is a separate matter.

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,383784.0.html

[Ack-Ack]

Here is a story of a B-17 crew dive bombing the Japanese after the Philippine invasion.

Dive bombing a B-17

[Krusty]

Here is a story of a B-17 crew dive bombing the Japanese after the Philippine invasion.

Dive bombing a B-17

Very interesting, but I can't help but notice they knew it was a near-suicide run and would irreparably damage the wings and frame of the craft. I also can't help but notice the dive was not the point of bomb release, but a rapid descent to a near-level dropping altitude at 2000 feet.

I think in terms of gameplay and what you can police, it's a tricky subject. I think there are some airframes that were much more limited to level bombing than other airframes. B17s had a wider bomb bay, for example, so what limit should be placed on them? 30 degrees? B-25s have a narrow and tall bomb bay, more stuff to "hit" on the bomb's way out. How should it be limited? 20 degrees? We don't have documentation on EVERY plane. It's problematic to the point of becoming arbitrary in how it's assigned to some planes. We also had so much weight and stress on a P-47 lugging wing bombs or DTs that they couldn't do anything more than bank and fly level without fear of damaging the airframe critically. We have no such problems in-game at the moment. So if you implement bomb restrictions and realistic (semi-realistic?) behaviors, what about all the other planes?


Ideally, it would have something coded in, but realistically it could be a very intense undertaking that would leave a LOT of people upset and angry about their new limitations. It's not an easy fix.