Actually it was the mission times that attracted me to heavy bombers in the first place. Theres something peaceful about droning along in cartoon air to me.
I was never a believer in light fuel loads. #1 hits to fuel tanks are common and #2 targets change while your in the air because AH is a fluid environment. Which means you might have to re target your strike package and you just might not have enough fuel if you started light. The few minutes you save from having 25% fuel just isn't worth it, tho in bombers like Lancs it might be a perfectly acceptable fuel package.
I would bomb from 10k to 15k. That will give you a reasonable chance to take out your target and it will also give you plenty of practice using your guns on incoming fighters. I used to go into the training arena all the time, upp bombers, and then invite fighters to come in to attack just to practice my gunnery. All that practice translates into muscle memory that can make you a very dangerous Buff gunner and/or anti-air GV gunner. I also used to fling myself at targets when the top Buff hunters were on-line forcing myself to grow while pitted against the best in Aces High.
Join a Buff squadron. The times I flew with my friends in the 484'th and 78'th helped me immensely. The Aces High bomber becomes a truly awesome weapon when its flown in 7 set boxes/formation.
Lastly setup your stick/controls for a strictly bomber profile. I have an X-52 and the lower switches on it controls what gun turret I'm in. My hands can dance around the different guns quicker then thought cause Ive done it so much. Also learn to use your F3 views while in gun positions. For instance going into the front gun, then going into F3, allows you to fly with your rudders and on your bomb run not only allows you to track fighters but the little incremental course changes dont louse up your bomb drop settings.
There are an awful lot of little tricks a wise old Buff driver can pull out his hat. Basically your trying to out think the guy coming at you and each bomber has little idiosyncrasies that you can either use against him, or he can use against you. What are some of my favorites?
1, Dont drop. Yeah when being trailed by a fighter while IB to a target hes going to try and time his slash to when your in the bomb view focused on target. A lot of times I wont even drop and just shoot the snot out of him when he comes in dumb.
2, Use Alt/X. When flying the fast mediums, "my specialty", I like to make up for the lack of a belly gun by typing .speed 135 for the auto-climb-speed setting. Now when a fighter is coming up your belly you can hit Alt/X, put your formation in almost vertical, and just allow him to fly right into your tail guns. Ive splashed many a fighter who had to be thinking how the heck I made that shot in a B-26 or KI-67.
3, Use your waist guns. Waist guns are very effective even if they are single barrel. When you run out of tail ammo, or your tail gunner is killed, using a combination of Alt/X and your waist guns can save you.
4, Join the plane of an experienced Buff stick and have your headphones and Mic working. But always ask first in comms before sending a join message. Everyone who flys Buffs have their own little tricks and learning them can get you up to speed quickly.
Anyway, Ive babbled far to much already so I'll stop. I still have a lot of enthusiasm for the bombers in this game. My first 8 mos in the game I flew nothing but. Good luck.
