Luftwaffe gunnery training

[ECV56_Guevara]

(D.(Luft) 5000/1 Ziel- und Schießregeln: Starre Bordwaffen, 1944)

We never get enought gunnery training material :grin: I found this, seems interesting:

http://www.allworldwars.com/Luftwaffe-Gunnery-Primer-D-Luft-5000-1.html

[Pursuivant]

Interesting information aimed at late war rookie Luftwaffe pilots.

For AI programming or mission building there are some interesting doctrinal points:

* SOP was to start shooting at 400 meters or less, or 800 meters for head-on attacks against heavy bombers. (This is a bit further than the ranges suggested for allied pilots.)

* This bit of information is extremely useful in describing actual combat behavior:

"According [to] experience, combat ranges are regularly underestimated. The distances indicated in after-action reports are always much smaller. For example, when a combat range of 50-100 m is indicated, in reality it may vary between 200 m and 400 m, as shown by analysis of combat films. Often errors in range estimation are even greater."

"During attacks on four-engine bomber formations many fighters have opened fire at 2500-3000 m."

Those facts go a long way to explain why in-game fighter attacks against heavy bombers are so much more effective than they were historically, and conversely why bomber gunners are so much more effective against fighters than they were historically!

* There's a lot of discussion on how to make a level attacks against various types of planes, including pursuit curve attacks from the rear quarter against 2- & 4-engined bombers and fighters. There's also detailed instructions on how to make a proper head-on level attack against a 4-engined bomber. There's very little info on how to make deflection attacks while climbing or diving. That makes since since attacking from level with the target simplifies the deflection calculations.

Arguably, that means that rookie Luftwaffe pilots were trained to make pursuit curve attacks which ended up attacking from 4-8 o'clock level, and 12 o'clock level attacks against heavy bomber which ended up with a hard diving break at 300 meters out.

* If possible, German pilots were trained to make repeated head-on attacks against heavy bombers.

"After the first pass, return to the direction of flight of the enemy formation; and pull ahead of it for another attack."

"Attack again and again! Until the enemy goes down!"