Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: Scotty55OEFVet on May 18, 2011, 12:39:46 AM
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Ok, I know I have asked this in-game, but its a real pain sometimes to hear. I have no problem killing GVs with Bombs but when it comes down to firing rockets at a GV and killing/tracking/turreting it (aside from the softer ones i.e. M8, LVT, M3) I am downright awful. Can someone tell me the best way to attack Armor with Rockets to kill it. I know some of the sweet spots, but I can fire 10 rockets at a wirble and still not track or kill, etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
RedDEVIL
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Use the PB-1 (FW 190F-8), the only anti-armor rockets in game. A single direct hit will usually destroy any tank.
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Really? I must have been misinformed awhile back cuz someone told me those things were AP Rockets lol...knew that sounded funny lol. Ty very much, Ill give em a shot :salute
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Use the PB-1 (FW 190F-8), the only anti-armor rockets in game. A single direct hit will usually destroy any tank.
yep they smash the crap out of tanks, if you can hit with them
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the updated British rockets seem to do the work also, killed (boom) a flak and a M8 so far...
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Really? I must have been misinformed awhile back cuz someone told me those things were AP Rockets lol...knew that sounded funny lol. Ty very much, Ill give em a shot :salute
AP = armor piercing = Anti-armor
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As Looshy said, the Pb1 rockets found only on the 190F-8 are the only anti-armor rocket in the game and they do work wonders against tanks. A hit anywhere will usually destory the tank outright. The secret is to hit which isnt all that easy to do. My suggestion is to come in fast (250 TAS+) at a 30-45 degree angle of attack, and put the dot of the reticule right on the target and let loose a volley of 3-4 rockets. If you miss, observe your impact marks and adjust fire. Rockets have just as many variables as dropping bombs.
The British 3in/60lb RP-3 rockets are "SAP", meaning semi-armor piercing. The have the most destructive power of any air to ground rocket in the game and a bit more stout of a projectile as well. They seem to do a bit better vs armor than the US 4.5in and 5in rockets, as well as the Soviet RS-82 and RS-132 rockets which are all straight HE type rockets. You can get kills vs armor, but impact on the less armored areas (top/rear) at the right angle seem to be the norm. More often than not when using HE rockets vs armor you will take out a track, destroy the engine, or destroy the turret.
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I salvo 12 with f8 lmao!
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the updated British rockets seem to do the work also, killed (boom) a flak and a M8 so far...
Don't know it happened, luckiest shot of my AH career, but I killed a Tiger with rockets from a Typhoon while attacking a port. He was rolling off across the field towards the spawn, and I came down from dead vertical and fired 2 rockets and immediately got a kill message. I wasn't filming but only thing I can figure is one landed a direct hit on the top of the turret. Surprise the heck out of me, for sure.
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Use the PB-1 (FW 190F-8), the only anti-armor rockets in game. A single direct hit will usually destroy any tank.
I believe the RS rockets on the IL2 and I-16 are also meant for armor, no?
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I believe the RS rockets on the IL2 and I-16 are also meant for armor, no?
I don’t recall anyone saying they did not have them. Lusche just used an example.
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I practiced a lot in the 190F8 last night offline on the tank drones on various tanks. It seems the only tank invincible to those rockets are Tigers... I see my rockets bounce off it! T34/85 is the second hardest to shoot down.
For shooting accurately though is another matter. I try to come in level (Its easy augering the 190) at 300mph and shoot at around 600-400 only 2 rockets at a time (they alternate from each wings after 2 launches) and I use a graduated sight to tell me exactly where to point my nose ABOVE the target and slightly to the side. Sometimes it takes more than 1 rocket hit to kill it but usually one will do.
A graduated sight in \/ shape below the center pointer will do it.
With accurate shooting and no wirbles around, you can come up with 3-4 GV kills in one sortie (+ 1 bomb).
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I believe the RS rockets on the IL2 and I-16 are also meant for armor, no?
Nagatory. The RS series of rockets were stricltly HE, but they were used against armor with high hopes but were found to be highly inaccurate (less than %2 hit ratio) and not worth using except for an area effect weapon. There is a good website out there that covers the basics, but also lists some good resources. I'll see if I can dig it up.
The BRS series of rockets were designed for AP use, but I dont remember just how much they were actually used or the specifics of their performace.
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I practiced a lot in the 190F8 last night offline on the tank drones on various tanks. It seems the only tank invincible to those rockets are Tigers... I see my rockets bounce off it! T34/85 is the second hardest to shoot down.
For shooting accurately though is another matter. I try to come in level (Its easy augering the 190) at 300mph and shoot at around 600-400 only 2 rockets at a time (they alternate from each wings after 2 launches) and I use a graduated sight to tell me exactly where to point my nose ABOVE the target and slightly to the side. Sometimes it takes more than 1 rocket hit to kill it but usually one will do.
A graduated sight in \/ shape below the center pointer will do it.
With accurate shooting and no wirbles around, you can come up with 3-4 GV kills in one sortie (+ 1 bomb).
I cant argue with the way you do your rocket attack run vs gv's (what works for you may not work for others, etc), but mind you that if you come in with at least a 30 degree angle of attack, the trajectory is going to be flatter. Also, you should be able to hit anywhere on any tank and destroy it, the only exception being the frontal armor on a Tiger. The Pb1 can penetrate 90+mm of armor depending on the angle of impact (some say it deosnt matter but in AH it does, hence seeing some hits bounce off). Regarding the aiming thing.... the rockets fly stright out from the wings, that can be demonstrated in the TA, just watch the green cross hiar as you switched from wing to wing. The closer you can get to teh center of the tank coming in from the side the less chance you have of missing in the horizontal.
btw... the Germans achieved a %10 hit ratio firing the Pb1 at 200 yards against individual Soviet tanks. Against convoyes, the accuracy went up quite a bit, I could not find an exact % though.
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AP = armor piercing = Anti-armor
Hey Buddy, maybe I should have been more specific, was told they were AP=Anti-Personnel...lol, know AP is Armor Piercing. (Boy do I wish I would have typed that put last night lol)
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Don't know it happened, luckiest shot of my AH career, but I killed a Tiger with rockets from a Typhoon while attacking a port. He was rolling off across the field towards the spawn, and I came down from dead vertical and fired 2 rockets and immediately got a kill message. I wasn't filming but only thing I can figure is one landed a direct hit on the top of the turret. Surprise the heck out of me, for sure.
Lol, have a similar story, little different though. Tiger was rolling off a Vbase and I had dropped a 1k on him but landed little behind, then same thing again and little to the front, so I said what the hell...fired a 2 rocket Volley in my Jug and then Kill message! This was awhile ago and I assumed at the time the Tiger was already hurt from 2 near misses but I suppose I could have put one right in the TC hatch lol.
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Thank ypu all for the info on this subject. I appreciate it because now I am going to spend some time perfecting my angle of attack and smoking some Armor driving sissies lol. Was told that the US Rockets were equivelant to a 75mm HE Shell but that could be wrong too. Again though, thank you all for helpin me out on this subject...see ya all in the air!
RedDEVIL
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I'll adjust a sight I just made for it... Smooking loon's idea of using the TA crosshair will help me adjust the graduations according to speed and angle.
(http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n150/lepape/190F8SightLepape2.jpg)
So far, the preliminary sight works not to bad at close range.
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Anyway I can download that sight or would you have to mail it to me and then I put it in my Sights folder?
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Right click, save as? Choose BMP in the drop box?
EDIT: It's rather cluttered. I'm curious what the different marks are for. What is "8" and "4"? Why the dots, the vertical lines, and why the inverted "T" shape for the main crosshair? What's the significance of that all? I can guess some of it but it would be nice to hear the official breakdown.
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--I tested the sight in the TA with two volunteers and the sight works best for speeds around 275mph.
--The 3 horizontal lines are the starting references for level (10 degrees) attack, 45', and steep vertical attack (< 90') to start reading the dots from bottom to top.
--Each point in the V are in 200yards increments, thus the 8 and 4 marks mean 800 and 400yards to have a quick screen-to-brain process. However, these numbers use the lower horizontal line as reference (hence during a shallow angle attack). The points are closer at long range and farther appart at close range to aim each wing sides.
--The two vertical lines from 600 to 200 range is the sweet spot. Also, the small point pairs on it show the lateral displacement required for 1k shots both for 45' and 90' angle attacks (from bottom to top).
--The inverted T in the Center is for aiming guns obviously but the bottom is hidden to see the bullet stream for long range shots.
So for example the ennemy tank is at 800, you are level, and your left wing rockets are ready to fire: just aim the left point next to the 8 right on the tank and shoot.
I did this pretty fast and everything can easily be modified. I will post a picture practicual example shortly.
EDIT: Of course it is cluttered but its best used while zoomed on the tank. I never shoot tanks unzoomed so for those that dont zoom, use the larger horizontal lines and aim on the fly. Also, the 190F8 is not a really good dogfighter so the sight is best used for ground support.
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Note that 275mph speed is only accurate if you attack level. Going at steep angle you loose the sights precision because the target will come so fast you wont have time to wtch your speed let alone keep it steady.
Two film examples:
(800 yard shot) --> http://www.mediafire.com/file/krdza9curogna1c/190%20275%20mph%20800%20shot.ahf
(400 yard shot) --> http://www.mediafire.com/file/zb1x2oq7u8a725z/190%20275mph%20400%20shot.ahf
Pic example:
(http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n150/lepape/190F8-Sight-example.jpg)
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Very nice Lepape, I might to have to start getting some seat time in the F8... :aok
My problem with rockets, whether it is for hitting ground targets precisely or firing the German A2A rockets... is knowing which wing fires first, being as you have to aim a little to one side or the other depending on which wing you're firing from.....
Guess a little offline practice is in order for me as well.
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Very nice Lepape, I might to have to start getting some seat time in the F8... :aok
My problem with rockets, whether it is for hitting ground targets precisely or firing the German A2A rockets... is knowing which wing fires first, being as you have to aim a little to one side or the other depending on which wing you're firing from.....
Guess a little offline practice is in order for me as well.
Just remember 12, 8, 4... when your rocket number reaches these values, your left wing will fire the next two rockets. Practice offline on the drones and then have fun :)
For practice you can also use 1 rocket at a time to know if you shoot correctly.
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You have created a 100mil ring with a stadia ladder for bombs and rockets. The bottom of your 128x128 smears on the gunsight mask. You need to raise the bottom lines and dots about 2pixel to stop that. Doing this in 512x512 would have given you better resolution. Just remember to create a mil file with 256 in it. Your gaussien blur artifacts are streaked all over the mask when you full zoom the bitmap because it's in 128 format.
Why don't you unclutter it? Make a 100mil ring and small center dot. Then from the bottom up you seem to have the first three steps at 10mil then the last 2 at 5mil. The U.S. did the same thing with it's N-3B but, simply added a hash ladder with 5mil separations. The Revi was a 100mil ring with 7 - 16mil stadia marks on each axis. The bottom of the ring was your 800 mark, then 600, and 400 aproximently.
But, then making gunsights is one of this games rights of passage.
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Wow... the gunsight specialist has spoken and I just realized that I am a total gunsight noob!! :rolleyes: :rofl
Had to google search a lot to understand what you were talking about. I only spent 30min on this first ever gunsight... humm... pardon me, graticule, so i'm very happy to read what the :old: folks have to say.
Actually, after a google seach I found this tread: http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php?topic=312883.0
Very interesting...
I'll get right on it sir :salute
EDIT: Leaving the smearing on the two lines at the bottom was intentional as I thought it would help align myself on the target. But since it seems I'm in it for realism, I will correct this also.
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Is that better?
Same principle except it has stadia marks for two speeds.
(http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n150/lepape/190F8PB1Rockets.jpg)
Edit: Photobucket saves BMP files in JPG so I'll post a download link here and on the custom skins forum (If its approved by Bustr)
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Looks like something Hitech would put in the Claw...... :)
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Odd, when I save either of those sights to my AHII/sights folder as a .bmp, I can see the graphics just fine in the folder, but in AHII in preferences and in the cockpit, nothing is displayed. Adjusting alpha doesn't do anything...just a blank.
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There, that should take care of it http://www.mediafire.com/?udn1avch2wax22i
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A (mil) file with 128 in it fits this one nicely into the reflector plate. Moving your default FOV forward will make the bottom of the ladder usable. The 100mil/50mm Revi graticule circle projected about half the width of the reflector glass which would put the bottom of your screen just under the ATA gauge if you wanted to experiment with the FOV.
Very clean and nice curves.... Kinda reminds me of a reversed varmint, Zeiss Rapid-Z or a PFI Ballistic scope reticule. Makes you wonder how the Typhoon and Tempest pilots ever hit anything using only a MkIIL or Type I-MkIII single dot projector. Biggest problem the tiffy and tempest pilots had was not being able to clearly see the target through the old style ring and bar graticule due to it cluttering the FOV. Ultimatly the reason for the Beaumont modification single dot on the inside of the armored windscreen.
Beautiful graticule..... :aok
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On a historical note. The PB-1 had similar ballistics to the Mk108 30mm. The Fw190F8 pilots didn't need a special gunsight. The Revi16b's stadia marks for shooting the Mk108 at 600m and 400m worked without modifications. First 2 ticks down from center at about 18mil for each.
I re-tested that this evening offline with the dive bombing site enabled. T34 went boom from 400 with salvo set to 2. At 600 needed two passes. Speed didn't seem to matter and my angles started from about 3k alt about 5k yards away. Mostly it mattered firing at 600 or 400 on the marks.
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Why don't we have any other AP rockets? I know the allies used them.
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Is there a way to get sights without using Winzip? I dont have that program, as the trial period is over with.
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Been tryin everything to get the sights to the right criteria to put into AH Sights folder and nothing is working...can someone help me with this???
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Is there a way to get sights without using Winzip? I dont have that program, as the trial period is over with.
The trial is always over for most users with but you can still use it. Same as WinRar.
Been tryin everything to get the sights to the right criteria to put into AH Sights folder and nothing is working...can someone help me with this???
What right criteria? Do you mean location or file type?
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I think they have to be a 256 color bitmap file and square (maybe 128x128) Also, don't color all the way to the edges, leave the outermost pixels blank.
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Here is a quote from this tread (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,312883.0.html) if you missed it (Read below on how to make a gunsight):
Gunsight - The physical device you look through where the graticule is reflected on an angled plate of glass.
Graticule - The ring, dot, cross hairs , stadia marks projected onto the reflector plate through the paralax lens. You are calling this the gunsight.
Rings - 120mil, 100mil, 70mil, 60mil, 50mil and 30mil.
120mil - 100mph ring in british MkII gunsight(spitfire) or the distance at 90 degrees to your gunsight a target travels at 100mph in .254 sec, 200 yards away from you.
100mil - Standard ring used in german Revi graticule. 10m wingspan fills it at 100m. 30m wingspan fils it at 300m. Reflexsvisier manuals refer to it as a 50mm ring.
60mil - 30ft wingspan fills it at 200 yards. 400 yard 20-30 degree defelction shot placing edge of ring on con.
Center Dots - A dot 2-3mil dia, a cross 15-30mil, an (X) 15-30mil or an open space deliniated by lines ending 15-30mil short of center. SanGior-C Italian graticule's cross hair has a 25mil empty space in the center. SanGior-B had 3 dots, center and one on each side just inside of 50mil. British Barr&Stroud MkIII Beamont modification projected a single dot onto the windscreen of the Tempest with a 5 degree adjustment lowering it for rocket firing. It either had a reflector plate MkIIL that the dot moved on (Typhoon) or no reflector plate and the dot was moved up and down on the windscreen MKIII.
Lines(bars), Cross and Stadia marks(tick marks)(ladders) - British MkII ring and dot has virtical lines that extend away from the top and bottom of the 120mil ring while the horizontal bar has an adjustable opening in the center for standard wingspans at range. Most pictures show it set at 60mil for a 30ft wingspan at 200 yards. Most U.S. AAF graticule were ring and dot in reflector sights. Stadia bar ladders below the center dot were added to assist in shallow dive bombing and rocket firing. With the Mk8 the Navy and Marines went to a 100mil/50mil with full cross the virtical made up of stadia marks stacked at 5mil intervals and 45 degree lower angle bars While the AAF increased their ring dia to 70mil and any stadia additions.
Revi graticule originaly was a circle and cross design taken from the 455mm fixed iron ring sights with a smaller center ring 20-25mil dia. Early Revi2/3 graticule was a 100mil ring and cross with a 10-12mil space left, right and top of the center to judge size at distance. Eventualy stadia marks were added to assist in deflection hold over marks as seen with late Revi3 then C/12 and 16.
Japanese Navy and Army used an array of crosses, angles and stadia marks in complicated combinations. Most japanese gunsights were copies of Goertz, Oigee or Revi designes.
Russians, Finn and others used variations on rings and cross with stadia mark variations.
Gyroscopic Lead Compensation Sight - The MK14/GGS Gyro had two graticule both range adjustable from 60mil-120mil(800yd-200yd). One was star shaped with 6 diamonds and moved. The other was a fixed ring with a small cross for the dot. The ring could be blanked and the cross projected while the star graticule was active to show the amount of lead taking place.
Nice manual for it: http://www.lonesentry.com/blog/k-14-gunsight.html
More crapola than you wanted to know HuH? Pick a graticule that works for you. Practice offline until you see it in your sleep. Turn on the lead computing dive bombing sight offline and practice bombs and rockets till it comes out your ears. Get a Trainer and learn ACM. Go to the DA and let the muppets beat you up for a month. You will stop worrying about "Gunsights".....(Sight Picture and Repitition)
About the time you can hit anything you aim at with only a dot graticule is about the time all of this gunsight graticule info won't matter anymore. If you are simply a WW2 hardware buff, it's all on the Internet. In the game it just looks pretty while the center of it is where your guns will always shoot to based on what convergence you set your primary guns to.
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How to Make a Gunsight
1. 512x512 8-bit bitmap. It has to be filled black first. Draw your graticule on that. Keep a 5pixel border black at the edges.
2. What ever name you save it to (mysite.bmp) make a mil file with the number 256 in it (mysite.mil). Open a new text file type in 256 and save it as (mysite.mil.text). Then in file manager remove the (.txt) so it becomes (mysite.mil). Put both of these in your sites directory. Start up the game and it will be available from the gunsights menu.
3. In this format 2pixel=1mil. 200pixel diameter ring = 100mil diameter ring in the game.
4. Yellow shows up generaly the best under most conditions in the game. Try all the colors you want. Your eyes may respond to light blue better than orange.
5. Draw anything as long as it works for your eyes and makes sense to you as a sight picture. Or copy historical graticule from the Internet. Littel bit of gaussien blur smooths those ragged edges.
Many players experiment with adding visual aids for distance, lead compensation and rocket/bomb attacking. Knock yourself out. Feels good when you start landing kills with your own handy work. Just remember most of the hottest stick dead eyes in the game use a single dot for their graticule.
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Don't know it happened, luckiest shot of my AH career, but I killed a Tiger with rockets from a Typhoon while attacking a port. He was rolling off across the field towards the spawn, and I came down from dead vertical and fired 2 rockets and immediately got a kill message. I wasn't filming but only thing I can figure is one landed a direct hit on the top of the turret. Surprise the heck out of me, for sure.
lol I imagine the guy in the Tiger was a bit surprised as well.
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Well, after testing out rockets offline yesterday, both AP and HE, I found out that hitting the ground just before a Panther will kill it instantly. Havent tested this out with the Tiger though. Didn't seem to happen with other tanks.
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I wish they'd fix the rockets, honestly. They fire in your direction of travel, not the direction they're pointing. Though I did get a kill on a Panzer once when my tail was shot off in a TBM. Entered a slow horizontal flat spin and, just as he passed under me, let loose the rockets. Went straight down(lol) into his head and pop.
Is there a way to get sights without using Winzip? I dont have that program, as the trial period is over with.
Use 7zip.
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Well, after testing out rockets offline yesterday, both AP and HE, I found out that hitting the ground just before a Panther will kill it instantly. Havent tested this out with the Tiger though. Didn't seem to happen with other tanks.
I believe the damage model in offline play is considerably scaled to the player. So your mileage in-game is going to vary :uhoh
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I wish they'd fix the rockets, honestly. They fire in your direction of travel, not the direction they're pointing....
Rockets, like bombs but unlike projectiles like bullets and cannon shells, do indeed progress in the direction of travel
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I wish they'd fix the rockets, honestly. They fire in your direction of travel, not the direction they're pointing.
Like Mystery pointed out, that's what they're supposed to do.
The trick is to not hold any rudder to fine-tune your aim.
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Rockets, like bombs but unlike projectiles like bullets and cannon shells, do indeed progress in the direction of travel
Point your finger out in front, now walk ahead. If your finger were a peashooter, which way would the peas shoot? Now keep walking the same direction but point your finger to your side a wee bit. Will the peas shoot where you are walking or in the direction you are pointing (or somewhere in between)?
The rockets, bombs, and bullets from an aircraft are no different.
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Point your finger out in front, now walk ahead. If your finger were a peashooter, which way would the peas shoot? Now keep walking the same direction but point your finger to your side a wee bit. Will the peas shoot where you are walking or in the direction you are pointing (or somewhere in between)?
The rockets, bombs, and bullets from an aircraft are no different.
They are different actually.
Rockets have fins so the moment they let go of the rails, they'll "weather-vane" into the airstream, which makes them travel in the direction the plane is traveling (rather than in the direction it's pointing). Bullets don't have the fins, so they don't behave the same way.
Bombs also continue to travel in the direction the plane is traveling. They're not "launched", so the pea-shooter analogy doesn't work.
Kicking rudder will allow you to fire bullets off to the side of your line-of-travel, but it won't work for rockets or bombs.
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While that's true, rockets shouldn't be able to be fired straight up, down, or backwards either.
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While that's true, rockets shouldn't be able to be fired straight up, down, or backwards either.
Think ill try a tailslide and shoot rockets that way... see if they go behind me in the direction of travel...
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I didn't see anyone mention it but I fly the F6F-5 as my attack plane of choice and the rockets on the F6F will clean kill anything on a Panzer chassis with a salvo of 2 although I usually salvo 3 in case one misses. Angle of attack can be anything starting with horizontal and going up from there but you need to hit it from the rear and don't fire until you're close (6-800 or less).
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Think ill try a tailslide and shoot rockets that way... see if they go behind me in the direction of travel...
There's a method to it; spawn on a CV with a hooked plane. Put the hook down, then use the same throttle work normally used to back up on a carrier deck. With just the right amount, you'll be flung backwards off the deck at 100+MPH. If you release rockets during that time, they'll fly in a halfcircle/star forward, up, and backwards.
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There's a method to it; spawn on a CV with a hooked plane. Put the hook down, then use the same throttle work normally used to back up on a carrier deck. With just the right amount, you'll be flung backwards off the deck at 100+MPH. If you release rockets during that time, they'll fly in a halfcircle/star forward, up, and backwards.
:rofl Yeah! haven't thought of this one...
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They are different actually.
Rockets have fins so the moment they let go of the rails, they'll "weather-vane" into the airstream, which makes them travel in the direction the plane is traveling (rather than in the direction it's pointing). Bullets don't have the fins, so they don't behave the same way.
Bombs also continue to travel in the direction the plane is traveling. They're not "launched", so the pea-shooter analogy doesn't work.
Kicking rudder will allow you to fire bullets off to the side of your line-of-travel, but it won't work for rockets or bombs.
While you argument if valid, the physics are not pure as if the aircraft had no rudder imput what-so-ever. I just double checked in the TA and my memory served me correct: When you use hard rudder (at least in the Mossi) the green cross hair moves for both the rockets and bombs, with the rockets having far more of an variance than the bombs. I launched between 400-600 yards on the dive bomb targets in the TA.
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While you argument if valid, the physics are not pure as if the aircraft had no rudder imput what-so-ever. I just double checked in the TA and my memory served me correct: When you use hard rudder (at least in the Mossi) the green cross hair moves for both the rockets and bombs, with the rockets having far more of an variance than the bombs. I launched between 400-600 yards on the dive bomb targets in the TA.
It's been a long time since I've fired any rockets, so I can't argue specifics. I'd have to fire some to look into it further.
The green cross hair doesn't convince me though, as I've proven it doesn't always tell the truth. It's a good learning tool, for sure, but it's easy to "fool".
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Re: U.S. and British rocket effectiveness against armor
"It was estimated that the salvo of all eight rockets would result in a one-in-twenty chance of hitting a target the size of a Panzer tank".
"...However the RAF 2nd TAF was equipped with RP-equipped (RP=Rocket Projectile) Typhoons which were instrumental in preventing German tanks from reaching the front. Studies of the 2nd TAF's rocket equipped 124 squadron showed that it only destroyed 12 tanks in June [1944] using 3,700 rockets for an immense expenditure of 308 rockets per tank destroyed..."
"...The major disadvantage of the rocket in a ground support role was its sensitivity to pilot errors especially in the face of anti-aircraft fire. Incorrect airspeed or glide angle along with any errors in range or wind estimation could cause inaccuracies..."
Source: U.S. Aerial Armament in World War II The Ultimate Look Vol. 3: Air Launched Rockets, Mines, Torpedoes, Guided Missiles and Secret Weapons. William Wolf, Schiffer Military History, 2010
Does the U.S. 5" HVAR or British 60lb RP have enough armor penetration and destructive power to destroy tanks? Certainly. The problem is hitting the darn things.
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Re: U.S. and British rocket effectiveness against armor
"It was estimated that the salvo of all eight rockets would result in a one-in-twenty chance of hitting a target the size of a Panzer tank".
"...However the RAF 2nd TAF was equipped with RP-equipped (RP=Rocket Projectile) Typhoons which were instrumental in preventing German tanks from reaching the front. Studies of the 2nd TAF's rocket equipped 124 squadron showed that it only destroyed 12 tanks in June [1944] using 3,700 rockets for an immense expenditure of 308 rockets per tank destroyed..."
"...The major disadvantage of the rocket in a ground support role was its sensitivity to pilot errors especially in the face of anti-aircraft fire. Incorrect airspeed or glide angle along with any errors in range or wind estimation could cause inaccuracies..."
Source: U.S. Aerial Armament in World War II The Ultimate Look Vol. 3: Air Launched Rockets, Mines, Torpedoes, Guided Missiles and Secret Weapons. William Wolf, Schiffer Military History, 2010
Does the U.S. 5" HVAR or British 60lb RP have enough armor penetration and destructive power to destroy tanks? Certainly. The problem is hitting the darn things.
The British 60lb RP-3 SAP rockets certainly have a better chance. I can remember a single tank that I've destroyed using the US 5in rockets. Most of the time I track 'em, or destroy the engine or turret.