Well, we have two methods of reducing suicide bomb runs currently being discussed. These consist of idea being floated by HTC, which uses a minimal survival time after bomb release, and the concept of perking heavy bombs.
Both have merit. However, I feel neither can best solve the problem without unwanted “side effects”, if you will.
Here’s my solution. It is more complex, requiring greater changes to the code. Nonetheless, it will end suicide runs and add a measure of realism not yet modeled.
First, in general terms, I will describe four major types of aerial bombs delivered by WWII aircraft.
A) High explosive: These bombs had a relatively thin casing and greater weight of explosive. The primary cause of damage was blast effect, with shrapnel being a secondary effect. These proved to be only nominally effective against ships and usually damage was confined to superficial against even moderately armored ships. However, near misses could also do substantial damage to unarmored merchant ships due to the hydraulic shock applied to the vessel’s hull. Military ships were generally designed to withstand the shock of near misses, although the mechanical shock often damaged shipboard electronics.
B) Semi-armor Piercing: Thicker casing than HE, delayed fusing and about 25% less explosive. The U.S. Navy used these bombs extensively in WWII. Their effect on armored ships was marginal, depending upon the thickness of armor encountered. However, they were highly effective against unarmored or lightly armored ships. Typically, these could penetrate through several decks before exploding.
C) Armor Piercing: Primarily designed and used against “hard” targets, such as concrete, steel reinforced concrete and rolled, steel armor plate. Very thick casing, delayed fusing and only about 50% of the explosive found in an equal weight HE bomb.
D) Fragmentation: Principally rely on shrapnel for damage. American field engineers later attached small parachutes to light weight versions and thus was invented the much feared “parafrag” bomb. Parachutes allowed aircraft to drop the bombs at tree top level, and still have time to clear the “destruction zone”. These bombs did tremendous damage to common structures and personnel. These would be a welcome addition to our currently available weapons. Parafrag bombs used both contact and ground proximity fusing, although I believe the latter was only available towards the end of the war, and only in limited numbers.
My recommended solutions:
1) Fusing altitude: Establish a minimum fusing altitude for bombs exceeding 250 pounds. Bombs released below 2,000 feet will not explode. This does not affect rockets as they use a contact fuse and are armed by launch G.
2) Effectiveness of bombs should be determined by the type of target. AP bombs have maximum effect against hard targets, HE against soft targets. For example, 8k of AP bombs will sink a CV, 16k of SAP, or 32k of HE would be required.
3) Perk HE, SAP and AP bombs of 500lbs and over.
4) HTC could substitute a 10 second “survival period” to gain destruction perks and/or prevent loss of bomb perks for number 1 above.
All of these will add up to the elimination of suicide attacks, and provide greater realism, and planning by individual pilots.
As a side note, as long as bombs are released above 2,000 feet or the pilot survives for 10 seconds beyond release, there would be no perk loss for having to dump ordnance when coming under attack by enemy aircraft.
Now convincing HTC that all of this is worth the extra work is another matter.
My regards,
Widewing
