Altitude for Ground Attack Aircraft in Career

[CAFulcrum]

Hi, wondering what altitude is best to fly on approach to target in career mode when flying low level attack aircraft like the il2, hs129 or u2.  Is the 1km height usually assigned in career missions historical?  I thought the usual tactic for attack aircraft was to fly in low and only pop up at the last moment, but can see reasons why you might want to come in with a little alt (better initial attack speed or stance for dive bombing, ability to glide back in case of damage, not being 'heard' by ground units or shot by small arms fire).

 

What do most here do once they get squadron commander or start leading flights?

[busdriver]

I've not tried careers in any of those airplanes. I sometimes fly two-ship missions online in the IL-2, and typically fly about 100-200 meters AGL until we get within a few kilometers of the target area.  @Gambit21 has a very cool "infinitely re-playable" U-2 night mission in the Kuban that I've test flown a lot (perhaps 30 sorties). This mission is a whole lot of fun (if he's ever in a position to release it to the masses) fans of the U-2 will love it. I fly that at 100-200 meters as well.

 

One thing to remember as a VVS pilot is to set your bomb delay to 5 or 10 seconds for very low deliveries. It's not entirely realistic that you can drop a weapon that has a mechanical timer that relies on the fuze getting x number of revolutions from release to impact, then have that weapon detonate after 5 or 10 seconds but not after 1 second. IOW if the fuze's vanes spun enough times to arm a 10 second timer, then surely they spun enough times to arm the 1 second delay timer.  Having said that, in the U-2 you need those 5 seconds when "hauling ass" means 120 km/h. 

[356thFS_Melonfish]

"Hauling Ass" in a U-2 is the equivilant to speed walking ?

 

[DD_Arthur]

I would have thought flying at a thousand metres would be the perfect height to be observed and shot down by light and medium flak?

[=TBAS=Sshadow14]

There are some very detailed Guides out there with the Exact Math Done By a Great Bombing Pilot.. 

I Funnily enough only have example pic for the 110 from the Guide  i cant find the post.
Please Search the forum section under Guides. Or if someone knows.

[CAFulcrum]

8 hours ago, =TBAS=Sschatten14 said:

There are some very detailed Guides out there with the Exact Math Done By a Great Bombing Pilot.. 

I Funnily enough only have example pic for the 110 from the Guide  i cant find the post.
Please Search the forum section under Guides. Or if someone knows.

 

That's awesome but I'm talking more about the approach to target leg (before the IP) and going over front lines.

With the U2 it seems to take forever and seems kind of pointless, and it feels really dangerous if you get caught in the lights.  Seems easier to evade them flying low but I don't know if engine noise is a factor in detection.

 

11 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

I would have thought flying at a thousand metres would be the perfect height to be observed and shot down by light and medium flak?

 

In the HS129 career it seems like there's usually one or two that get shot down by flak when crossing the front.  But is small arms fire safer?  Haven't they added gunfire to the cities and forests along the front if you fly too low?  Or should it not be a factor for the armored HS129? 

Also (sorry for tangent) why does it always lose all of its fuel when getting a leak, are the tanks all connected?  Every time I get a fuel leak all three tanks seem to drain.

[40plus]

The sea dragons scripted campaign in the IL-2 always seems to want me to approach at 500m for what it's worth.

[ShamrockOneFive]

I know IL-2's flew at a variety of heights but 1000 meters and lower were typical. Some missions were flew at treetop height. The AM-38 engine isn't much use at medium altitude anyways.

[=TBAS=Sshadow14]

Keep in mind the higher you fly the Faster you fly. (TAS &/Or GS) 

Eg,
110 G2 @ 4K cruising @ 400kph @ 60% conti power is actually covering the ground at over 505KPH (excluding wind and earths rotation components) 

Edited August 16, 2019 by =TBAS=Sschatten14

[sevenless]

You should be either at treetop or out of range of Flak. Everything else in between is suicide.

[Bremspropeller]

The altitude assigned for ground attackers isn't realistic at all - be it actual attack airplanes or fighter-bombers.

The latter would realistically fly at 3-4km to keep out of the smaller and medium flak envelopes and to be able to dive away if attacked by fighters.

[unreasonable]

Some interesting nuggets from Air Ministry Tactical Paper nos.1 & 4, 1947, discussing the RAF's fighter and fighter bomber operations, in particular in 2 TAF.

 

1) They distinguished between

- Small flak - invisible to pilot, effective up to about 3,000 ft [would be AAMG and 20mm cannon fire with shells without time fuzes],

- Light flak, visible to pilot, effective upto about 6,000ft [presumably the 37mm cannon fire with altitude/time fuzed ammo]

- Heavy flak - effective upto any height.

 

2) The small and light flak tended to be most concentrated near the front line, so the patrols would cross above 5,000ft, usually closer to 10,000ft in a shallow dive. Once across the formation would go down to 5,000ft for transit to the target area.

 

3) Cloud base should not be lower than 5,000ft for bombing and 3,000ft for strafing.

 

4) Also mentioned is a "Ranger" patrol of six aircraft that would cross high as above and then go to ground level, flying around a circuit of enemy airfields looking to surprise enemy aircraft with low side attacks.

 

This document included in the Bloomsbury "Spitfire Pocket Manual" 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by unreasonable