Bomb arming vs altitude

[hubsonfire]

Originally posted by Wes14
I believe its in Arena options-->Flight mode flags->somewhere in there

Indeed it is. I had looked through the Arena Settings, but didn't realize there were separate menus for all of those. I was right clicking them, not double clicking. Oops.

Who needs math when you can watch the impact point move around in real time?

[Wes14]

Originally posted by hubsonfire
I was right clicking them, not double clicking. Oops.

Well no wonder

[NCLawman]

Actually,  (cue in british accent) "its a simple matter of weight ratio.  A 5-ounce bird could not carry a 1 pound coconut.  That's my point."  Plus you would have to know the "average air speed velocity of an unladen swallow."  


All joking aside.... there are a number of variables that have to be assumed in order to answer your question.  First off, as I post my non-math major answer we will have to assume that AH does NOT factor in air friction, and does NOT determine/factor terminal velocity.   We also have to assume you are talking about level bombing where you have no vertical(either up or down) speed.  But, if one assumes those factors then determining how far the bomb will travel is a matter of plugging in your altitude into a height-time formula to determine how low the bomb will remain in the air, then multiplying that time with your forward airspeed.

First you must determine how long it will take for the object (bomb) to drop from your altitude to reach the ground.  That is expressed as:
Height=1/2(acceleration)*time^2  (where acceleration =32.15ft/sec/sec)

for example if you were flying straight and level at 1000ft, it would take the bomb 7.88 seconds to reach the ground.  

Now assume you are traveling forward at 250mph.

Convert speed to feet/sec then mulitply that times the time the object(bomb) was in the air.  That will give the total forward distance travelled.  In this case a speed of 250mph equates to 366.67 ft/sec

So, the bomb is traveling at 366.67 ft/sec for a total of 7.88 secs.  That equates to 2889.36 feet.

In other words even though you are only 1000 feet up, the bomb still travelled almost 2900 feet before it hit the ground.  Plenty of time to arm.

You can play with the formulas to get an estimate of the bomb travel distances for each given speed.  So, yes, I assume also that you could be significantly lower than 1K and still have time to arm your bombs.

NOTE:  This of course does not reflect any downward angle.  This distance formula only works based on flat level bombing.  

ALSO Note:  I was not a math major. If I am wrong, please disregard and drag me out behind the barn and shoot me.

[jollyFE]

Solar, that just made my small brain hurt.  Thanks to everyone who has responed so far ( I feel very stupid...lol).

I have been screwing around in offline and have gotten the bombs to go off when released between 600-700 ft with my airspeed a little over 250ish.  I am still working the timing thing to become more accurate.

I will let you guys know.

[Ghastly]

Solar10's linked page solves a different problem - the assumption is a bomb release from level flight.   Solving for a divebombing drop - where you have both a forward and downward velocity, adds complexity.

[BlauK]

Now if only someone brought the yards into this discussion
It would be relevant at least when bombing the GVs, since the distance is shown in yards, right?

A bit over 300 yards, right? So if one drops while distance shows 400, it should still work?

[hubsonfire]

Yes, it should, although I'm not sure at what distance the icon distance changes from 400 to 200.

[BaldEagl]

The bomb will accelerate downward at 32'/sec/sec until it reaches termnal velocity which is primarily a function of mass and drag coefficiet (object shape and air viscosity) while it's forward momentum will remain relatively unchanged (slowed only slightly by drag).

To have a "chart", one would have to know the object weight, it's drag coeeficient, the air viscosity at varying levels from drop to target, it's initial forward and downward speeds and, I'm sure, a few other factors I've forgotten.

Suffice to say forward momentum lowers the effective drop altitude needed to arm the bomb.

[Solar10]

I remember reading somewhere that 190 pilots would fly at 500ft at about ~300mph at level flight and as the tank went out of sight under the nose they would drop their egg.  I tried this only once and I got a kill with it.

[Shuffler]

Originally posted by Solar10
I remember reading somewhere that 190 pilots would fly at 500ft at about ~300mph at level flight and as the tank went out of sight under the nose they would drop their egg.  I tried this only once and I got a kill with it.

That was done but like anything else... timing is of the essence.