Bomber Escort Missions

[hames123]

Yet another query about the career. In it, I have had many bomber escort missions in my VVS playthroughs. However, there are never many 109s and I have not seen a single bomber going down. My question is, was interception of bomber formations common on the Eastern Front, and thus should there be more opposition(I mean, we might run into some patrols on the way in, but surely there should be a much larger group of fighters waiting for us on the way out?). 

 

Also, the AI seems to somehow miss the bombers even from very close range. I mean, maybe a novice AI would fire from further and miss, but more experienced pilots would close in and fire at close range until the target is destroyed(at least, that seems to be the Modus Operandi of most aces in WW2, from every nation). And even then, the amount of misses seems excessive. I saw an ME 109 flying right into the formation of PE-2s and firing a 10 second burst, which completely missed. What gives? It was nearly touching the tail fin of the Woviet bomber at the end, and while air combat is very stressful I doubt even the newest of pilots can miss at that range.

 

Also, the Soviet fighters intercepting the bombers never seem to have the 37mm gun that was supposed to be a bomber buster. Was it very rare? 

Edited May 2, 2018 by hames123

[RedKestrel]

3 hours ago, hames123 said:

Yet another query about the career. In it, I have had many bomber escort missions in my VVS playthroughs. However, there are never many 109s and I have not seen a single bomber going down. My question is, was interception of bomber formations common on the Eastern Front, and thus should there be more opposition(I mean, we might run into some patrols on the way in, but surely there should be a much larger group of fighters waiting for us on the way out?). 

 

Also, the AI seems to somehow miss the bombers even from very close range. I mean, maybe a novice AI would fire from further and miss, but more experienced pilots would close in and fire at close range until the target is destroyed(at least, that seems to be the Modus Operandi of most aces in WW2, from every nation). And even then, the amount of misses seems excessive. I saw an ME 109 flying right into the formation of PE-2s and firing a 10 second burst, which completely missed. What gives? It was nearly touching the tail fin of the Woviet bomber at the end, and while air combat is very stressful I doubt even the newest of pilots can miss at that range.

 

Also, the Soviet fighters intercepting the bombers never seem to have the 37mm gun that was supposed to be a bomber buster. Was it very rare? 

As far as the 37mm is concerned, i believe it was very rare on the LaGG-3, and only introduced in certain timeframes so in career mode it may not appear until later. The first planes to really carry it in any numbers would have been the Yak-9T which was designed with it in mind, or the P-39.