I think the bug bear with the calibrated gun sight is the need to maintain air speed. As we do not have separate pilot and bomb aimer then we ask our bomb aimer to do two jobs (aim and control air speed) that he would not have done.
A good point, Tilt.
But frankly, settling speed and locking height, is no big deal. Compared to the complicated and sensitive gadgets the real bombardiers needed to use, the AH "Norden" is a really dumbed down, simple-to-use system. The accuracy of good calibrating is really, child's play.
As you pointed out, the settling of stable speed and course, is what makes the difference. When people miss the drop, I can bet it's 99 times out of 100 that the changing speed was the problem, and not the calibration process.
But let's sit down and think about it.
The calibration itself is already very easy. The only crucial part which makes the difference between competent bombers and incompetant ones in AH, is his
judgement.
1. A good bomber pilot
plans his course well. He seeks to gain ideal altitude, judged by his own
experience - so it offers the best compromise between safety and accuracy.
2. A good bomber pilot, with his well planned course,
prepares for the drop way before reaching target. He goes into a steady
bombrun which lasts for 5~6 miles. He keeps his speed still, and he also keeps his plane movement to the minimum, only changing course very slightly and slowly when he deems it is absolutely neccessary, in order to hit the target.
3. A good bomber pilot, with his well planned course, who entered a good bomb run,
rarely even meets any enemies while the bomb drop. He contantly
asks questions about enemy activity over target. He changes course and altitude, bombrun length, and all the critical things that needs to be adjusted
BEFORE he is ready to drop bombs. If he has good friends, he
asks for escort.
4. A good bomber pilot, with his well planned course, who entered a good bomb run, who dropped bombs successfully on target, heads out of trouble immediately, and lands successfully.
...
Now,
WHY! do people think bombing is too hard? That's because they do none of the four conditions described above.
1.
They plan miserable courses. They have no patience. All they do is get up and head straight towards enemy field, CV, etc. During their obvious bomber sortie, they either
misjudge the safe alt needed, or
misjudge the accuracy they can expect, or do both.
2. Since they either
planned the wrong course, or don't have a planned course at all, naturally, they run into enemy fighters swarming upon them every corner. He gets real busy in the gunners position, and for his own safety's sake, flies at full speed. When the time draws near that they must go into bomb run, they find that
they can't steady the plane's speed or course, and have to do hasty calibration.
3. Since he never bothered to ask about enemy activity, even when the calibration is finished,
he is harassed by enemy fighters again and again. He may get damaged, may wiggle the plane, or at least someting happens to him that ruins his already-flimsy calibration.
4. And with the miserable drop that misses, he swears and cusses about how the calibration system sucks, and soon gets blown apart by vengeful enemies, and thinks to himself "gee, what a waste of time. Who made this stupid system anyway?"..
Not for once thinking about what he did wrong.
...
Frankly, the point-and-click bombsight they ask they want back, is on demand from most usually people who rarely have any experience in any type of bombers.
What they want is something, anything, that can
save them the trouble of doing all the critical things needed to do, which is what really makes the difference between a lousy buff pilot and a good buff pilot - and they still expect good accuracy despite it all!!.
Simply put, they want to wiggle around at 25k, outmaneuver fighters that are running out of breath at super high alts, shoot them all down, and then turn on a dime, point, click, and earn bomber scores, too.
Since all the wiggling around will ruin calibration, they want the calibration process dumbed down even more, so they don't need any critical bomb runs, but can settle down, calibrate, and just instantly fiddle with the throttle lever so the speed momentarily matches the initial speed at calibration. Or, they want to do away with it completely.
It never, ever occurs to them that they can't have their cake and eat it too(or was this backwards?). If they want to do bombing, then they have to plan, ask questions, keep the situation in mind, prepare for the drop.
The gunner positions, for a good buff pilot, is nothing more than a desperate emergency measure - if fighters are swarming around, no matter how accurate a gunner he is, he is going down. At least, if he wants to really succeed in the primary goal of bombing something, unless he is one of 'em kamikaze dweebs, his ideal should be to never for once, jump to the gunners position at all - instead of expecting to shoot down everything and still succeed in bombing without a proper bomb run.
..
I'm sorry to say this, but the dumb-down changes in calibration they want, is a lazy man's excuse. Some features suggested, like the auto drop according to calibration, could be implemented to help take care of unnecessary risks(which is also, more realistic system resembling the Nordens) - but anything else that suggests to make the bombing more easier, is a plain fluke.
