Preferred aiming points on bombers / weak points

[Avimimus]

Hello,

 

I'm working on the best ways to take down bombers:

 

Rifle-calibre bullets:

- Ju-88A4 Outboard fuel tank (just outside of the engine)

- He-111 Oblique shot to the upper-engine. Otherwise target the outboard fuel tank (Note: The horizontal stabiliser and the flap hit-boxes will protect the inboard and inboard/outboard fuel-tanks respectively - so the flaps often have to be shot off before the attack is effective - I think this might actually be a bug).

- B-25 Inboard fuel-tank

- Pe-2 Engine (ideally upper engine or slightly oblique)

- A-20 Engine

 

Cannon rounds (20mm-30mm high explosive):

- Aim anywhere

 

High power AP rounds (23mm-37mm armour piercing):

- German bombers when approached from the rear, aim for the fuselage's upper-left quarter... the AP ammunition will penetrate the hull and hit the pilot.

Edited March 9, 2022 by Avimimus

[Panzerlang]

I aim for the plane, no chance of picking parts of it.

[Asgar]

1 hour ago, Hetzer-JG51 said:

I aim for the plane, no chance of picking parts of it.

Always aim for the pilots tight toe in an headon, then he can’t use the rudder to counter the torque

 

in all seriousness, head on I go for the cockpit or an engine.

 

from behind I try to attack either from high or low and got for the engines as well. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Asgar

[40plus]

Pilot

[oc2209]

1 hour ago, Avimimus said:

Hello,

 

I'm working on the best ways to take down bombers:

 

Cannon rounds (20mm-30mm high explosive):

- Aim anywhere

 

 

Eh, this isn't especially true. You really have to aim no matter what caliber of weapon you're using, or you have a very good chance for outcomes like this:

 

Spoiler

 

 

The He-111 effortlessly eats 37mm HE.

 

I don't understand why the AI decided to bail after I lit the wing tank on fire with 12.7mm; it quickly extinguished.

 

In general terms, I would say the best place to aim on a bomber is the wing roots. If you miss left or right, you have a chance of hitting an engine or the pilot. Regardless of the bomber type, fuel is always stored there, so that's the largest and easiest target.

 

Secondary target would be the tail, but only if you have 30mm cannons, firing HE shells.

 

Of course the engine and cockpit are ideal, but I'm operating from the assumption that you don't always have an ideal approach and time to aim carefully. Wing roots and tails are easy to target in high-speed passes, while engines and cockpits are not.

[Knarley-Bob]

On biplanes.....meat or metal

WWII birds,  the same ....pilots or engine(s).

[oc2209]

Something else I've learned about setting wing tanks on fire, is that they light up much easier if there's already a fuel leak.

 

What's difficult is hitting the tank hard enough in one pass (especially with a lightly armed fighter like a Yak), which sometimes necessitates two passes:

 

Spoiler

 

 

[oc2209]

Even the P-51B's quad .50s can light up a wing root's fuel tank in a single pass:

 

Spoiler

 

 

I fired a little over 300 rounds.

[Avimimus]

I've found that the wing-mounted guns on American fighters are good for hitting bomber pilots because it is easier to get a shot that enters part-way up the fuselage and thus retains enough energy to penetrate the armoured back of the seat and hit the pilot.

 

However with rifle-calibre weapons aiming for the pilot only works if one is firing from an angle where there is only glass in the way - it isn't possible to go through the seats. So aiming for the pilot is much less effective than aiming at fuel tanks or engines.

 

In earlier versions of the game I used to fly under a Ju-52 in the I-16, pull up hard and fire through the cockpit floor successfully - however, I have doubts now that ball and AP ammunition are less effective - especially as it seems the wicker seats and fabric of WWI two-seaters are able to successfully protect the pilot from the upward firing Lewis (that is definitely worth looking into).

Edited March 9, 2022 by Avimimus

[Giggles]

wing between engine and fueselage  

 

then the engines themselves. 

 

 

It does necessitate SHOOTING quickly and normally its best to match the speed.

[oc2209]

Here's a lesson on the virtues of aiming.

 

I'm in a 109 with a 30mm. I purposely picked German bombers as targets just to mix things up. It gets boring shooting at the same Allied planes with the same vulnerabilities. The He-111 in particular seems tougher than most bombers in the sim. With the huge wing area and relatively large fuselage for HE shell impacts to 'get lost in', it feels like a closer analogue to American heavy bombers than even the B-25.

 

Also tried one fight against a Ju-88 just for the hell of it.

 

Preamble aside, here's two examples of firing a 30mm cannon without careful aiming:

 

Spoiler

 

 

Ju-88:

 

Spoiler

 

 

I included the part where I had to belly in after the prop strike, just to show that ditching isn't a death sentence (with any logical consistency, anyway).

 

And finally, here's what happens when you make the proper approach and aim:

 

Spoiler

 

 

I slowed the recording to 1/4 to better observe the 30mm impact location. Without slowing it down to 1/32, I'm guessing the fatal hit was in the port wing root. In any case, that's where I was aiming.

 

I was also careful to come in from above, and not from dead astern. It makes aiming much easier, since the shells are 'falling' into the target from above. The same principle applies even with flatter-shooting AP rounds.

Edited March 10, 2022 by oc2209

[percydanvers]

2 hours ago, oc2209 said:

Here's a lesson on the virtues of aiming.

 

I'm in a 109 with a 30mm. I purposely picked German bombers as targets just to mix things up. It gets boring shooting at the same Allied planes with the same vulnerabilities. The He-111 in particular seems tougher than most bombers in the sim. With the huge wing area and relatively large fuselage for HE shell impacts to 'get lost in', it feels like a closer analogue to American heavy bombers than even the B-25.

 

Also tried one fight against a Ju-88 just for the hell of it.

 

Preamble aside, here's two examples of firing a 30mm cannon without careful aiming:

 

  Hide contents

 

 

Ju-88:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

I included the part where I had to belly in after the prop strike, just to show that ditching isn't a death sentence (with any logical consistency, anyway).

 

And finally, here's what happens when you make the proper approach and aim:

 

  Hide contents

 

 

I slowed the recording to 1/4 to better observe the 30mm impact location. Without slowing it down to 1/32, I'm guessing the fatal hit was in the port wing root. In any case, that's where I was aiming.

 

I was also careful to come in from above, and not from dead astern. It makes aiming much easier, since the shells are 'falling' into the target from above. The same principle applies even with flatter-shooting AP rounds.

 

I don't think there will ever be anything more satisfying than just detonating a bomber with a well placed 30mm

[ST_Catchov]

There is I think.

[oc2209]

5 hours ago, percydanvers said:

 

I don't think there will ever be anything more satisfying than just detonating a bomber with a well placed 30mm

 

That particular explosion was nice because of the gigantic, twirling debris it made.

 

B-25s tend to detonate too easily for it to be much of a challenge.

 

3 hours ago, ST_Catchov said:

There is I think.

 

If you're talking about sex, meh.

 

If we could somehow mix sex and pyrotechnic effects, okay, maybe.

[percydanvers]

11 hours ago, ST_Catchov said:

There is I think.

 

I'm a guy who spends multiple hours per day flight simming. I don't exactly get a lot of that ?