Flying the Il-2 in Expert Mode

[Cryptonomica]

S!

 

After spending time with each of the current aircraft, I've discovered that it's the Il-2 itself that I most enjoy flying.  I can consistently take off and land with this plane, and I enjoy the ground-attack role.

 

So far I've been flying in normal mode and using the bomb aiming reticle, but I would like to move on to expert mode and learn to fly the aircraft more realistically.

 

My question is - how would a real Il-2 pilot execute an attack on a ground target?  What altitude, what approach and, most importantly, how would they aim their bombs?

 

I have a reasonable grasp of how a Ju-87 pilot would execute a diving attack, but low-level bombing (I'm guessing this is the Il-2's role) is something else entirely.

 

Any tips, advice or pointing in the direction of resources to help me learn would be very much appreciated!

 

Crypto

[312_Tygr]

First of - IRL Il-2 would usually set up on a target, fire off missiles on the run-in, release bombs in a shallow dive and 400-500 meters from the target, from relatively low altitude (200-300m). Then, they would break and turn the full circuit and get on the target again using guns and rockets. They were very imprecise, basically you had to stay out of your own bombs blast radius, and was going into flak defended positions... so you rather relied on saturating the general area with weapons and hoping for the best...

 

In the game, though, due to the use of "delayed fusing" (which really was not used that much) the best way of bombing with Il-2 is to set up a minimum of 2 sec delay, and drop the bombs from extremely low altitude, directly on top of the target. If there's not much flak around, that is... I usually drop bombs when the target is about to pass under my gunsight, and I usually have a hit or a near miss. 

[Cryptonomica]

Thanks for the info!

 

I guess I will need to work on my rocketry as well as bombing!  I'm used to using around 1s delay on the bombs, so will try increasing the delay and dropping from very low altitude.

[Finkeren]

Well, when it comes to ground attack (and many other things) in BoS, there's something of a discrepancy between what's effective and what would be historically correct.

 

If we take the last thing first: During most of the GPW IL-2's conducted their attacks in much the same way: Approaching the target the attacking flight (usually between 6 - 16 planes) would form up line astern and attack one at a time with their heavy ordinance often releasing both rockets and bombs in the first pass. These attacks were notoriously inaccurate and seldom did damage to armoured targets and dug-in infantry. They would then form a circular path around the target area each taking turns to sweep in and strafe the target with their cannons (which was much more effective - dependent on the skill of the pilot) that way a more or less constant fire was kept on the target from changing directions which helped supress return fire and kept the formation spread out and less vulnerable to AAA. This approach meant, that the IL-2 never really 'lined up' on the target but rather turned onto it and just fired, when it came sideways into the sights. The attack angle was somewhat steeper than most of us would be comfortable with in BoS (around 15-30 degrees) and seldom involved more than 1-2 seconds of fire, delivered at 200-500m.

 

Now for what would be more effective in BoS. This is just my personal oppinion and not all might agree:

 

1. Forget about rockets. They're so (realistically) inaccurate, that it's not worth the drag they're causing.

 

2. Bombs can be useful against soft targets that don't require a direct hit to be effective, especially stationary ones like artillery, but since they require a steeper dive angle (and thus higher starting altitude and at least 500m line up to be precise, they leave you more exposed to ground fire. Therefore you should only bring them, if you're sure they'll be useful and you should drop them all on the first pass to minimize the number of times you have to expose yourself.

 

3. After the first pass stay as low as you posibly can and keep straight flying to a minimum to avoid ground fire as much as posible. Memorize the look of the target area and keep a general sense of direction at all times so you don't have to climb higher to locate the target.

 

4. Just like in real life your guns are your primary weapons and they're deadly as hell. The 23mm kills any soft target with a tap on the trigger and most armoured targets with 1 good pass (1.5 sec of fire) The 37mm should be used as a single shot weapon and don't try to get more than two shots in per pass (which is more than enough to kill any target.

 

5. When firing your cannons don't use a long line up on the target. Practice turning right into the target and give off a short burst and turn away again rather than going a straight line over the target. Fire at individual targets rather than for instance trying to get all the trucks in a collumn in a single pass.

 

6. Don't get greedy. As soon as the mission is complete/the target supressed, get the hell out of there, keeping an erratisk course on the way out.

 

Those are my recommendations.

[Cryptonomica]

Thanks Finkeren, another useful perspective!

 

I think I've already been making my strafing runs in roughly the manner you describe, and they do indeed get the job done.  I usually carry the 23mm cannons and 100kg bombs, and have previously been performing bombing runs followed by strafing runs to finish the job.  Will definitely start considering leaving the bombs behind except for specific targets.

 

Have learned the hard way to keep my time in the target area to a minimum, to reduce my exposure to AAA and enemy fighters

 

Regarding engine control - I have a checklist for takeoff and landing, but I'm a little fuzzy on what state my water radiator and mixture should be in during transit and combat.  Have so far been leaving the water radiator open (oil closed) and leaning the mixture up once I reach altitude and proceed towards the target area.

[312_Tygr]

Just a short note on the rockets - usually I have some success with the 132mm ones, firing 3-4 at a target from close range and usually one hits it...

 

As for the radiators - I keep both open all the time, full throttle and pitch on take off and in a dogfight, usually just within the "normal" range at all other times. Since the engine is supercharged, I keep the mixture on 100%, you may have marginally higher fuel consumption, but the cooling will be better, performance is the same. In any case, depends on how high are you flying, but I wouldn't fly higher than 2000m in a Sturmovik anyway.