Bombing Career Aiming Method

[Kott451]

I was thinking of starting an A-20 career and it occurred to me that the commands of the flight leader suggest the policy of dropping the bombs on the order of the flight lead's bombardier from a tight formation.  I know that the Americans did this but I've no notion whether other combatants did this.  I'm curious whether anyone in the career mode actually drops bombs on the order of the leader from a formation as opposed to using the bomb sight. 

[Ghost666]

Yes I do. It works well if you are in a good and tight formation, most of the time you will hit something. Now if I could just keep in formation.

[Na-zdorovie]

if you want to fly the A-20 i would suggest the Havocs over Kuban campaign, so much more fun than just following the lead  

[Surtur]

Am I the only one who struggles to stay in formation with AI flights? They seem to fly at perfectly consistent speeds, altitudes and heading, and it takes nearly all my focus to stay reasonably close to them.

[Na-zdorovie]

1, itl get better with practise

but try not when your closer to make sudden movements and or throttle responses, as your approaching then start to slow, you can on long flights hit the AP too

[AEthelraedUnraed]

3 hours ago, Surtur said:

Am I the only one who struggles to stay in formation with AI flights? They seem to fly at perfectly consistent speeds, altitudes and heading, and it takes nearly all my focus to stay reasonably close to them.

First of all, welcome to the forum!

 

Formation flying is pretty hard, so no, you're not the only one. The most important hint I can give you is to keep your plane trimmed. This is true for flying in general, but even more so for formation flying as there's no way to give accurate enough control inputs if you constantly have to apply pressure to the stick. When I'm formation flying, I use my trim as much as I use the stick. Your plane should stay in formation for a while if you let go of the stick. If not, adjust your trim.

 

Secondly, something I occasionally do myself, try to find the engine settings (manifold pressure, RPM etc.) that make you fly exactly as fast as the formation. Then after you accellerated or slowed down to correct your position within the formation, first accellerate/decellerate again until you fly at the same speed and then simply return to those settings to remain there. This tends to work pretty well, although you do have to remember that as your fuel and ammo is spent, you'll need slightly less power for the same speed.

Edited August 22, 2021 by AEthelraedUnraed

[Surtur]

Thank you for the advice both, it is appreciated. Guess I will keep at it and try and rely more on trimms!

[Noisemaker]

I just got 2 evening strikes in a row in my A20 campaign.  Those are the best, as the flight is spaced out, and you can choose your own approach for maximum effect, level or dive bombing.  Unfortunately far too rare.

[Kott451]

Also for Surter, don't forget to check the briefing details. The flight plan should indicate the airspeed the AI will fly at between the waypoints. It isn't always perfect but it should get you pretty close to what airspeed the AI is trying to fly at. I have no idea why it seems to vary whether it's true airspeed or there are variables going on, or I'm seeing things (I play on vr so very accurate reading of some gauges can be an issue).