bombing without bombsight

[monkeylove]

I am about to be new player.  I have been practicing offline to get feel for a few planes.  I did FA many years ago even then was mostly luck if i were to hit anything with a bomb.  Any tips on on how I could get it right. 

[Ghosth]

NOE bombing with a bombsight is easy. Pop into the TA, up your fav plane, level about 200 - 250 AGL, wait till your speed stabilises, note where the green X is on the plane. Training Arena has a training aid that shows bomb impact point as a green X ahead and below of your plane.

Example, B25H, (no bombsight) get speed up to about 250, at about 250 AGL and the green X should be in the gunsight base.

You can then use that as an aim point when attacking fleet, town buildings etc.

The faster you are, the lower you can be and still have the bombs arm. But if your below 200 AGL you might want to pull up just a touch after drop so you don't blow your own tail off.

[monkeylove]

sorry ghosth.  I should have been more specific in my question.

Bombing without bombsights in a fighter/attack plane.  dive bombing vs. low angle.  Speeds, angles and what not.
So far i am drawn to the P-38 as a prefence.  thank you.

[Jayhawk]

sorry ghosth.  I should have been more specific in my question.

Bombing without bombsights in a fighter/attack plane.  dive bombing vs. low angle.  Speeds, angles and what not.
So far i am drawn to the P-38 as a prefence.  thank you.

You can use a similar method to learn, the TA should offer the green X to determine where you bombs will land.  You can play around with different planes, different altitudes, and different speeds.  Obviously if you google dive bombing you will find lots of pictures to give different ideas.  I will usually come in at 7-14k to make a run if I know my target, I like using the P-38 at 2-3k for attacking GV's.  People can tell you what they do, but you'll learn the best if you just get a feel for it yourself.  Take your P-38 into the TA and play with different speeds and angles you find out where that X will be.  Try to stick to one or two planes to get comfortable with first, then expand.

[ImADot]

A couple of techniques I use:

Low-level shallow dive bombing
 - get close to target (almost on top of it) at ~2,000' and stabilze the dive at 30-40 degrees
 - when target hits the part of my plane (usually the gunsight frame) I drop the bombs; usually at around d800 for a GV

Mid-level dive bombing
 - get directly over target at ~7-15k
 - pull straight up and cut throttle
 - let plane get close to stall and roll over nose-down
 - make small adjustments to aim on the way down
 - drop bombs and pull out before compressing/augering

I don't spend much time dropping bombs anymore, so I know I'm a bit rusty at it and these may not be the best techniques but they worked good enough for a turn-fighter like me.  

It's all about picking a plane and practice, practice, practice...until you know the sight picture for proper setup and how everything should line up when it's time to drop the egg.

[Jayhawk]

Mid-level dive bombing
 - get directly over target at ~7-15k
 - pull straight up and cut throttle
 - let plane get close to stall and roll over nose-down

Interesting method, I've never done it that way.  If I'm 10k+ I'll usually start a shallow dive 10-15 miles out to get my speed up, then cut it before I go into a steep (but not 90 degree, usually 70ish) dive.  You do have to watch your speed so you don't auger but usually aim for the bottom of my gun sight glass.

[Ghosth]

Jabo or fighter bombing is very similar actually.

Use the bombing range fields in the TA, 20 -23.
Use the NE spawn point, that will give you an airstart.
Engine off, gear down, in the air, falling. So start engine, pull up gear, throttle up and then pull up.
How high the airstart is depends on which field.

The rest of it is a matter of removing the variables.
Always try to attack from the same alt the first pass.
Always try to attack at about the same angle, be it 45 degrees or 80.
Always try to release at about the same alt.

Use the bomb impact point green X to show you where to hold.
Repeat until you have the correct sight picture in your head.

[Nemisis]

Note: I did this at full speed, so any tips I give are useless if you slow down  .

Ju-88: the bombs will fall somewhere inside the area covered by the largest pannel of glass on your left when in the forward down view. Its more toward the bottom at low alts, and about at the frame when you're up at alts of 15-20k. Due to the inaccurate nature of bombing through guess work (and thats all you can do without the bombsight), I always carry the lighter bombs and salvo them off in strings of 4 at least, depending on the bombs carried. With the '88, I salvo 7 of them off in a string with a rather short delay (0.12 -  0.17 depending on the target and my alt).


B-25's, A20's, Boston III: In a shallow dive at low level, drop your bombs as they pass under your nose.

[bozon]

I recommend diving at less than 90 degrees - more like 60. Seeing the horizon in the front or front up view helps to make sure your wings are parallel to the horizon, though you can also use the artificial horizon in the cockpit (at 90 deg you will not see neither). Too steep angle also means that you accelerate faster and have to pull out sooner, so you have less time to aim and will blow more energy in the pullout.

A second trick is to put the plane in 0-G (look at the G meter in the cockpit, but you will soon get the feel for it without looking). You are now in (close to) free-fall and following a trajectory very similar to what the bomb would have made if you released it. Start at some 45 deg or so and the diving angle will gradually increase. After a second or two, the future impact point on the ground will be very intuitive and clear to you.