The Blenhiem bomber's armament

[Tavingon]

http://users.cyberone.com.au/clardo/blenheim_armament.html

A truly riveting must read.. includes full bomb site workings!
http://users.cyberone.com.au/clardo/CSBS_use02.jpg
And also the turrets..
http://users.cyberone.com.au/clardo/Blenheim_IV_Turret_Charger_Cameron7202.jpg

[Skoshi Tiger]

Thank you!

[Megahurt]

I cant get the bombsight on the B to work at all. Anybody explain this?

[ATAG_Dutch]

I cant get the bombsight on the B to work at all. Anybody explain this?

Hello mate.

See Jimbop's guide here;

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=28667&page=4

There are still some peculiar things going on with bombing though, such as IAS needing to be entered not TAS, and altitude adjustments being necessary.

Altogether, we've found that for all the effort needed for relatively poor results, it's far easier to go out at low level and shallow dive bomb.

As it happens, this is what the Blenheims did for real! :grin:

P.S. Nice link Tav, cheers! :)

[Megahurt]

It really sucks you cant take advantage of the french half of the map to design some good bombing missions. Even a flyable mosquito or wellington or lancaster would be good. How could they make the game without a working allied bomber. Pisses me off.

[Tavingon]

It really sucks you cant take advantage of the french half of the map to design some good bombing missions. Even a flyable mosquito or wellington or lancaster would be good. How could they make the game without a working allied bomber. Pisses me off.

If wellington were flyable it would be fantastic fun.. the blenhiem is too weak, the gunner needs dual VGOs at least!

[Squiz]

The Blenheim is a fantastic aircraft to fly once its idiosyncrasies have been mastered. This takes time and patience. Hopefully, the next patch will bring the performance of the aircraft and its systems closer to the actual flight manual.

In the meantime, the aircraft is perfectly flyable and can be used in the low and high level bombing roles. You will need to take careful note of posts by blackdog kt, ATAG knuckles, jimbop and ATAG Dutch.

In addition to the excellent information already provided to fly this aircraft successfully in this simulator, I would like to make some additional points.

High Level Bombing

The groundspeed (TAS, assuming wind does not yet have an effect on the aircraft) must be set manually on the ground speed scale (red scale) on the bomb sight with the increase/decrease velocity control. DO NOT USE the HUD readings as they are completely inaccurate and work in the opposite sense to the real scale. ie increasing the HUD reading decreases the groundspeed.

If you want to see the natural bomb dispersion from a single press of the bomb button, select "Next Bomb Distributor Mode" (right hand switches in bombardier's position) which indicates "Bombs - Selected Mode - Salvo" in the HUD. Selecting the left hand switches reverts to single bomb release mode.

Adjusting the pilot's altimeter to QNH (the height above sea level) by setting the elevation of the departure airfield. This will also correct the bombardier's altimeter. (I landed a Tiger moth on the beach, set the altimeter to 0 and then flew to each airfield on the east coast to determine their elevations).

Allow for the target height above sea level when setting the sight altitude on the bomb sight.

Take a long straight run at the target selecting easy navigation points to assist in tracking. During this run set the pilot's DG to 0 (this repeats in the bombardier's position), trim the aircraft as accurately as you can with the skid (side slip) needle centred. If everything is stable it should only require slight touches on the rudder to centre the target between the parallel lines of the bomb sight when you are in the bombardier's position. Better still, find a dedicated bombardier, however, I am not sure yet how he releases the bombs. The little yellow button works for me, but what about him?

Other Observations

The mixture control does not work. There is no change in exhaust colour or cylinder head temperatures at any height when the mixture is moved from one position to the other.

Although in CoD there are variable positions for the pitch control, in reality there is only fine and coarse positions, so for simplicity, only use those two positions. Although the coarse position produces abnormally low RPM compared to real life, it does produce the required thrust and it is very useful as low temperature engine and oil limitations appear not to apply.

I have flown the Blenheim up to 15,000 ft (about the maximum height in the sim) and by reducing the throttle to cruise at about 150 mph with gills full open, achieved 15 deg oil and 155 deg cylinder head temperatures without detriment to the engine. Any attempt to come out of coarse pitch at these temperatures causes engine to detonation followed by rapid engine failure. So before changing to fine pitch it is necessary to increase the CHT to 200 deg (oil temp will follow to 40 deg) by closing the gills and increasing power. Watch CHT like a hawk when gills are closed and adjust as necessary to remain below 240 deg. I have noted that engines that have been operating between 240 and 250 deg have randomly suffered damage later in the flight when things are well within limits.

I have never achieved a boost of 9 psi even with full fuel and Boost Cut-Out selected on. The limit seems to be 5 psi.

Synchronising the compass and the DG becomes a Sisyphean task because of abnormally high drift gyro rates. In the current VFR conditions I find it easier to look at the compass when straight and level, check the north needle and determine my heading (albeit to the nearest 10 -15 degrees) by using the fore and aft tram lines on the compass rose. Then the DG can be used for an easy reference relative bearing by setting 0 when steady on a track.

The ground temperature is 15 deg C. Before engine start, oil and CH temperatures should reflect this, any discrepancy being instrument error. I think this is carried forward to the higher temperatures where you will see differences in temperatures even though engines have the same RPM.

Yep, the single rear gun is ineffective against German fighters, but that's how it was during BoB. However, a live gunner is invaluable for advising the pilot where bandits are in his six o'clock and when to begin evasion manoeuvres. It allows some additional combat time before your Blenheim is finally shot down. Fighter top cover is the only effective way to assist bombers as it was in BoB. Plus selecting a safe route to the target and patience in flying a circuitous route as well as setting up a long bombing run from a safe direction.

Sorry about the ramble, but I think nearly everything on the Blenheim has been covered now. What a fantastic aeroplane to master and fly. As I said before, all it requires is time and patience.

Squiz

[ATAG_knuckles]

Squiz: Very well done mate ! everything posted is bang on!!

Should be printed out for those that are interested in this aircraft. I have had many hours of fun flying it

Even more fun flying with others that understand the quirks of this plane.

Bomb Aimers Position: you questioned how to drop bombs ? I have made a profile for my Saitek X-52 for this position that includes all bombsight adjustment: open Bomb doors and drop bombs. All the pilot needs to do is fly straight/constant speed

Turret: also a profile for this which can be great fun riding in the back and taking shots at the Jerry's

For anyone thats interested in this aircraft: if you see me on comms: give me a yell and we can go to a "help" channel and personally work out the buggs

Knuckles

[JG53Frankyboy]

a very interesting link !
these SBCs would be a 'nice to have' in game :) but i guess it will never appear from official side.

the RAF haveto liefe with the Blenheim as sole attacker, 1C will not modell any more BoB scenario stuff.anyway, every bomber in game is easy meat if he meets a fighter, so................ :D

[ATAG_Dutch]

Better still, find a dedicated bombardier, however, I am not sure yet how he releases the bombs. The little yellow button works for me, but what about him?

Excellent post Squiz. :grin:

Knuckles and I tried a multicrew setup the other night with me in the bomb-aimer's chair and Ribbs in the Gunner's.

We bombed from 10,000ft as I recall, or thereabouts. Unfortunately with no result (don't tell Knuckles, but I think I forgot to arm the bombs before dropping :oops:). Also, I'd forgotten to make any allowance at all for the target's height above sea level - something to add to the list!

Altogether, our general conclusion was as my post above, i.e. go out in three Blenheims at low level for quicker and more accurate results, but I'd still like to have a few multi-crew sorties high level bombing, simply because it adds another dimension to the fun we can have with the game.

So if you see me on the server, give me a shout if you'd like to try it out in any of the crew positions. Cheers! ;)

Edit: There are a few controls anomalies for multicrew come to light thanks to Frankyboy's post below - watch this space!

[JG53Frankyboy]

isnt it so that you cant/need to arm the british bombs.....they have no electrical fuzes like the german ones.

interesting that your bombrelease shortcut did work. last time i checked it ( some time ago i assume) i had to hit the yellow buttons when i switched to bombardier station ( was alone in plane), the shortcut only worked in pilotposition.

[ATAG_Dutch]

isnt it so that you cant/need to arm the british bombs.....they have no electrical fuzes like the german ones.

interesting that your bombrelease shortcut did work. last time i checked it ( some time ago i assume) i had to hit the yellow buttons when i switched to bombardier station ( was alone in plane), the shortcut only worked in pilotposition.

I've always armed bombs as a matter of course, as otherwise, why do we have an 'ever ready' option in loadout? Were pins physically removed to arm bombs in flight?

Just checked the joystick shortcut issue offline. The bomb bay doors needed to be opened from the pilot's position using the joystick shortcut, wouldn't work from bomb-aimer position, but the bombs could be dropped by the joystick shortcut from the bomb-aimer's seat.

Needs to be checked online for differences, because of course when we were online, I have no proof that the bombs were dropped at all!

[Blackdog_kt]

What it was like:
When riding in the bombardier's position the bomb release was regarded the same as a "non-pilot seat weapon system" and mapped to mouse initially, just like the guns in the turrets. This confused all of us and it was undocumented, so we were clicking on the actual buttons in the virtual cockpit to drop bombs.
When riding in the pilot's seat, the bomb release trigger set in the options worked normally.

How it works now:
Due to popular demand, since a couple of patches back the control scheme has been changed. Now it works the same way it used to work in IL2: pressing your bomb release key will drop bombs no matter if you are in the pilot's or bombardier's seat.

Just make sure you have the bomb bay doors open and also (mentioned before) that you can actually open the doors in case of mutli-crewing a plane online. All this might seem strange, but i like the way the intricacies of certain systems are modeled: if the lever to open the bay doors was on the pilot's console, the bombardier wouldn't be able to open them himself but would tell the pilot to do it.

In that sense, if i'm solo flying a bomber all controls are available to me. However, if i'm flying with a human crew online, each one has the controls available to his position.

Sure, all this does need to be documented at some point and corrected in some cases (the doors in the Blenheim were spring-loaded and opened under the weight of the bombs once they were released) but in the meantime i'm having fun decoding everything :-P

[ATAG_Dutch]

Heh. Just tried it online with just me in the 'plane and it's the same as offline.

The bomb bay doors have to be opened from the pilot's seat with joystick shortcut, but bombs can be dropped from bomb-aimer's seat using joystick shortcut.

Now I just need someone to hop in my 'plane in either seat to check with multi-crew!

[JG53Frankyboy]

the "toggle bombdoors" command works only for the pilot.But it seems only as long you were not in the bombardier position ?!?!?
the command "open bombdoor" and "close bombdoor" works for pilot AND bombardier.

the best is , ALWAYS use the "open" and "close" command......anyway, lets hope in a far future we will need this command in the Blenheim not anymore. Because the real bombdoors were automaticly opened by the bomb's weight :)

and thx for the hint about the "release bomb" shortcut blackdog. I didnt was aware of that change in one of the patches (or forgott it because of the low flying time).
Now have to test if it also works for the german bombers.

[ATAG_Dutch]

the "toggle bombdoors" command works only for the pilot.But it seems only as long you were not in the bombardier position ?!?!?
the command "open bombdoor" and "close bombdoor" works for pilot AND bombardier.

the best is , ALWAYS use the "open" and "close" command......anyway, lets hope in a far future we will need this command in the Blenheim not anymore. Because the real bombdoors were automaticly opened by the bomb's weight :)

and thx for the hint about the "release bomb" shortcut blackdog. I didnt was aware of that change in one of the patches (or forgott it because of the low flying time).
Now have to test if it also works for the german bombers.

Now my brain is hurting. :( (not really!).