Author Topic: Best place to aim at a bomber  (Read 847 times)

Offline 8thJinx

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Best place to aim at a bomber
« on: December 21, 2016, 08:07:27 AM »
Wing root?  Cockpit?  Wing?  Fuselage?  Thx
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Offline BowHTR

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2016, 08:10:49 AM »
Depends on the angle. If i'm going head on with them ill go for face shot. Any other angle, I go for an engine. Engine fire = Poof!
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Offline Zimme83

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2016, 08:49:20 AM »
Cockpit is the best area. A HO gives the bomber guy very little time to shoot back and if you hit it's an instant death.
Other than that its the wings, the root is easier to hit but the tip come off easier.
Just avoid the "death cone" (The area behind the bomber) and dont go within 800 for more than a few seconds. Also avoid shooting at the fuselage as it can absorb a lot of damage.

Finally: concentrate your fire to one area, if you are shooting all over the bomber the different parts can together absorb a ton of damage before they go down.
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Offline Wiley

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2016, 02:10:23 PM »
Depends on your gunnery capabilities, plane, and your setup.  If you're out front, HO into the cockpit.  This works with nearly any gun package, even deer rifles.  The rest of this post is assuming something with multiple cannons or many .50s.  It works ok with 6x50, but works much better with 8.  More guns are better guns when it comes to bomber hunting.

If you're above him and he still has at least one drone, I'm partial to coming in from straight above and raking a drone tip to tail, exiting in the direction the bomber is traveling.  You have the possibility of a cockpit shot, and something will likely come off.  It also gives him very little time to set up for gunnery on you.  If you're off a bit, you still have a chance to hit a wingroot.

On a good gunnery day starting from straight above him, I can make my first pass, execute a barrel roll to get above him again, hit his second drone, exit to the front, and do it again, and kill the final bomber.  What I have to watch out for is depending on setup and plane, the third pass I can be almost co-speed, and that puts me in gunnery range for too long.  If I believe his gunnery is good or great, I will often wait after the second pass to gain some E and set up well for the third pass.

Attacking from 3 or 9 is a possibility and allows you to possibly get a twofer, but if he's not distracted, he's got an easier shot on you.

In a 262 or something with many many cannons, a 3/9 attack across the rear can net you all three planes at once just by hosing down the entire formation on the way by.  However, if he isn't distracted he's got a pretty easy shot on you.

General rule of thumb, the easier a time you're having lining up your gunnery, the easier a time he is having lining you up.

Wiley.
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Offline Zoney

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2016, 05:50:14 PM »


General rule of thumb, the easier a time you're having lining up your gunnery, the easier a time he is having lining you up.

Wiley.

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Offline Ack-Ack

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2016, 06:15:48 PM »
It depends on the bomber.  For B-24s, it's easier to target the engines as those catch fire pretty easily with a single solid burst and allows you to down all three in one pass if you're gunnery is up to par.  All others, the wing root area is the best spot to aim for as you can also land hits to the cockpit.
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Offline Scca

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2016, 08:10:51 AM »
I attack each model differently. 

B-24 - Wingroot hits set it on fire quickly, so a quick burst, watch for fire, then leave fast.
B-26, Lancs - Aim for outer wing tips, they come off easy.  If you can take one off, the plane starts to roll spoiling their defense allowing you to reset
TuTu's - These are most difficult for me.  That high 20mm is deadly, and they are fast.  Haven't quite figured out this one, but I do know if you come in low on their 6, they have little coverage.  The top gun can't go low enough, and the lower ventricle guns, don't go high enough.  Big blind spot (till they hit autoclimb)

The rest are so rarely seen I have no opinion. 

I have pretty good success on bombers, if you want to hook up, I can share my approach...
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Offline Randy1

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2016, 12:29:37 PM »
With the OP's question in mind.  Do most use zoom when aiming for a specific spot on a bomber?

Offline Wiley

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2016, 12:34:07 PM »
If he's distracted and I'm coming in from a "bad" angle, things are steady enough I'll sometimes use zoom.  On slashing attacks, no I don't because I find it messes up my timing.

Wiley.
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Offline Scca

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2016, 01:01:53 PM »
With the OP's question in mind.  Do most use zoom when aiming for a specific spot on a bomber?
I don't. Most of the time I attack from high 6 so I'm shooting over the nose, so I can't even see the plane.
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Offline Vudu15

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #10 on: December 23, 2016, 10:15:46 PM »
wing roots are the best bet overall, followed by wingtips if you can hit em. If you have frontal then the pilot as that's a quick kill. the HE111 has a small window on the left hand side so on an attack run from the 8:30 to 7:30 angle you can sling any size rounds through this and get a pilot kill. Really comes down to stick time and your attack angle based on that decide on a tgt and bore in. Do it enough times and youll find a attack pattern that works best fro you.
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Offline caldera

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #11 on: December 24, 2016, 11:01:55 AM »
Lancs seem much more vulnerable to cockpit hits than B-17s.   :noid
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Offline Chris79

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #12 on: December 30, 2016, 10:55:40 AM »
Attack from the high 2/10. I prefer to be 2k in front and 2k off to the left or right, and attack obliquely toward the cockpit holding my fire until damn near point blank.


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Offline Zimme83

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #13 on: December 30, 2016, 03:24:53 PM »
The proper way to do it:
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Offline 8thJinx

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Re: Best place to aim at a bomber
« Reply #14 on: December 30, 2016, 06:44:57 PM »
So far, making a first pass at the lead drone cockpit for the quick kill, then aiming at the outer half of the wings at the last moment on the rest, seems to be working well.  I've started the attacks from high 10-11 and 1-2, then barrel roll out, up, and back into position for each successive run.  Gentlemen, thank you for the advice.   :salute
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B-24H Liberator SN 294837-T, "The Jinx", 848th BS, 490th BG, 8th AF, RAF Station Eye, delivered 1943.  Piloted by Lt. Thomas Keyes, named by by his crew, and adorned with bad luck symbols, the aircraft survived the entire war.