Flying formation / headings / bearings

[Phil]

Gents

Fairly new and enjoying myself very much:aok
Has for the tech guys, keep up the good work !!

M'not critisizing but a bit disapointed. Maybe more time with the game I will be able to see the following.

Here goes...

Years back when playin' AWIII, missions were flown with co-ordinates, heading/bearings and "rendez-vous" points. This way squads/wingmates would fly side-by-side until meeting with BUFFS at certain angel from another base.
We(escorts) would be flying together (side-side) without anyone going/wandering a couple km to the right:rofl
Same with BUFFS. Evry pilot would know to fly max speed/climd at 230degrees. This way the formation was staying together and pilots didn't fight to keep the group in a good defensive stance....

Few nights ago I participated in a SE. Everyone scrambled and crossed the channel. I had spits and Hurries going 3km to the right and others going under  and other basically goin the right way but scatered all over:cry

Now here's the touchy point I'm looking for. The tech boys have done a good job putting ARTWORK together to have the COCKPITS look realistic. I CAN'T barely read the compas bearings  43yrs and geetin' blind:eek: (even with TRACKIR and zooming in ! Got my nose smashed in the 19inch monitor  LOL !!!!!

I guess with time I will be creating some "missions" and will be trying to add co-ordinates to the escorts and buffs participating.
Would like to have my teamates fly togther side-by-side without having to struggle keeping in formation. When you look to your right, you can see  4-5 spits lined up and NOT black dots flyin' away:rofl
12 X B17's flying in a TIGHT formation is very intimidating to ANY fighters !! What a lovely sight !

Any tricks or tips. Is there missions being executed in AH like it used to be in AWIII ?  

Giving out orders with co-ordinates will make some pilots go nuts trying to read their craft compas. ( I mostly fly Spit9)

Any input anyone ??

Phil

[Soulyss]

Been a long time since I fiddled with the mission planner but here goes... I believe you can set waypoints per flight in the mission planner, but not a certain compass heading.  As far as flying formation it's about as precise as the guys attempting it.  That being said there are a couple tricks to flying close steady formation.  I do it by setting your plane on auto pilot @ a certain angle of climb (SHIFT +X) as opposed to auto-climb.  Get yourself close to the leaders angle and speed then make minor adjustments using your trim keys and throttle to stay there.  A good flight leader won't be climbing @ full throttle either, but just below it to make life easier for his wingmen.  Maintaining formation through a turn is pretty tricky.   I've had good results in the past using auto-angle and rudder input to make nice gentle formation turns in bombers though.  

For navigation most people use map coordinates instead of headings.  You typically see it as a 3 number set + altitude.  Example:  (10.12.3 20k) This corresponds to the sector and then grid point within the sector.  Look @  the map and you see the sector numbers easily enough.  Then if you imagine the keypad on your keyboard layed within one of those sectors you get your last reference point.  "7" is the most northwest corner of the sector "3" the most southeast, etc.  So to use my example 10.12.3 would be a rendevous in sector 10.12 as seen on the clipboad map and then keypad reference 3 or SE corner @ 20k.  

bit wordy but hope it helps.

[Murdr]

Hi Phil.  You'll find that you'll usually only see good formation flying in the big multi-frame scenerios.  Though its possible to see it in the arenas depending on what squadron is running the mission.

Hopefully you've been around long enough to discover saved head positions, but just in case....(you can shift your position in the cockpit with the arrow, and page up/down keys, and then hit F10 to save that head position for the direction you are looking).

Anyways, Id suggest saving a head position for look_fwd+down (KP_0+8 keys).  This will allow you to lean in for a better view of your instruments.  And if you still have problems seeing, you can also use the zoom (Z key) function).  

For power settings the leader usually calls out his manifold pressure setting (eg. "at 35MP, hdg 270").  Though in more casual situations, I will just call out "turning toward A34" and expect my wing to follow the turn.  

I also have to admit that much of the time when I call out the hdg it is more like reading a clock than actually counting ticks on the compass...In other words, you dont have to see the marks on the clock to know that the big hand pointing just past the 5 and the little between 8 & 9 to know that its 8:26.  It might take awhile for getting the feel of reading the compass that way though.

[FBplmmr]

I agree about the compass.. I would much rather have the compass marked in degrees not NSWE.. and have it marked every 45 degrees-- seems like every time im trying to tell someone what direction something is coming from im stuck dead between the quarter marks and cant tell where the hell I am facing.

and HT should give us rebates for larger monitors ..especially us old farts!