Low Level Bombing Guide
*** Full Credit for this goes to ChiefTom; huge
debt of gratitude owed to him.
After the disparaging reality that infantry are invulnerable at altitudes higher than ~900m, Chief approached me with a tactic he had been working on for low-level high-speed bombing. I shared it with the Dambusters, tweaked it for a few different altitudes and we have been employing it with great success.
It requires a little more skill than using the sights from altitude but is, by far, the easiest to setup a formation assault of rookie pilots. The skill comes in the lead pilot getting the precision down to strike specific targets from FB's, individual units marked by ground troops, and ships!
Before I lay out the how-to there are some important factors:
1) Only works for DB-7s (movable sights).
2) At the point of release you must be running max throttle, WEP On. Speed = 440kph.
3) You must have a good approximation of the altitude of the target; exact as possible.
4) With #2 its important to fly at the correct altitude; reading the DB-7s Altimeter is a PITA.
Note: AGL is the reference Above Ground Level. Basic level bombing dictates that the altitude you fly is ASL (Above Sea Level) so we need to take into account the ASL of the town in question and subtract it from our flight altitude to get the distance between ground and the plane. For our purposes, if you want to use the 200m AGL setting you must fly at the town elevation PLUS 200m.
Ex: if town A has an Alt of 20m, you must fly at 220m (approximate for the DB's sights).
In all cases, you must get in the bombardier seat and physically move the sight forward (point the sight ahead of the plane so that when you look through it you are looking at the ground AHEAD of the aircraft). Do not forget this step.
200m AGL: Set sights to 3000m , set IAS to Max
300m AGL: Set sights to 4000m , set IAS to Max
500m AGL: Set sights to 5800m , set IAS to Max
700m AGL: Set sights to 6000m , set IAS to 411kph (do this on approach at max speed)
Again, this is his baby we're using and the reason that level bombing is fun again.
Many of you are probably wondering "why so many settings?"; think of it as tools in the toolbox. I, personally, would like to drop from nothing less than 2km but the varying altitudes give you that much more control on your approach and any unforeseen circumstances given the now-known 'vizlist' limitations.
It seems complicated gents, but practice with it and you will find that (especially in large formations) it is very accurate and a hell of a lot of fun. My next post will be a discussion of the pro's and con's of using this strategy.
After the disparaging reality that infantry are invulnerable at altitudes higher than ~900m, Chief approached me with a tactic he had been working on for low-level high-speed bombing. I shared it with the Dambusters, tweaked it for a few different altitudes and we have been employing it with great success.
It requires a little more skill than using the sights from altitude but is, by far, the easiest to setup a formation assault of rookie pilots. The skill comes in the lead pilot getting the precision down to strike specific targets from FB's, individual units marked by ground troops, and ships!
Before I lay out the how-to there are some important factors:
1) Only works for DB-7s (movable sights).
2) At the point of release you must be running max throttle, WEP On. Speed = 440kph.
3) You must have a good approximation of the altitude of the target; exact as possible.
4) With #2 its important to fly at the correct altitude; reading the DB-7s Altimeter is a PITA.
Note: AGL is the reference Above Ground Level. Basic level bombing dictates that the altitude you fly is ASL (Above Sea Level) so we need to take into account the ASL of the town in question and subtract it from our flight altitude to get the distance between ground and the plane. For our purposes, if you want to use the 200m AGL setting you must fly at the town elevation PLUS 200m.
Ex: if town A has an Alt of 20m, you must fly at 220m (approximate for the DB's sights).
In all cases, you must get in the bombardier seat and physically move the sight forward (point the sight ahead of the plane so that when you look through it you are looking at the ground AHEAD of the aircraft). Do not forget this step.
200m AGL: Set sights to 3000m , set IAS to Max
300m AGL: Set sights to 4000m , set IAS to Max
500m AGL: Set sights to 5800m , set IAS to Max
700m AGL: Set sights to 6000m , set IAS to 411kph (do this on approach at max speed)
Again, this is his baby we're using and the reason that level bombing is fun again.
Many of you are probably wondering "why so many settings?"; think of it as tools in the toolbox. I, personally, would like to drop from nothing less than 2km but the varying altitudes give you that much more control on your approach and any unforeseen circumstances given the now-known 'vizlist' limitations.
It seems complicated gents, but practice with it and you will find that (especially in large formations) it is very accurate and a hell of a lot of fun. My next post will be a discussion of the pro's and con's of using this strategy.