How to release bombs in Ju-88

[Richie]

Hi everybody

When you just want to dive bomb with the Ju-88 how do you release the bombs after the bomb bays are open? I have my bomb release set up for a 110 and that works but the bombs don't drop from the Ju-88 went the bomb bays are open?

[Richie]

Ok good I found the bomb rack for dive bombing but still can't figure out the other thing

[TomcatViP]

Humm bail out and let the plane go with the bombs

[Blackdog_kt]

The 88 has a lot of bomb selection controls.

First you need to open the bomb bay doors and the toggle command won't work for this because they are manually operated. Like all manually operated controls in the sim (eg the 109's flaps), you need separate open/close commands and you must keep the relevant button pressed until the operation completes. You'll know when the bomb bay is open by looking at the hand-crank on the copilot's side of the cockpit walls, when it stops turning you can stop pressing the button (similar for closing them, just keep pressing the key you mapped until the crank stops moving).

After that you need to select the bombs. I don't exactly recall the name of the commands in the options, but i just mapped keys to all bomb related commands and then tried them out in flight to see what they do.

So, what you need to do in the 88 is to first select which bombs to drop (external, front bay, rear bay, all), then select the salvo size. Then you can arm them, input your bombsight data and have a go at it.

In the case of dive bombing, it's still beneficial to input bombsight data if you want a specific pattern. The delay between bombs is measured in meters and not time (eg, milliseconds). That means, in order to get the spacing you want, the bombsight needs to know your altitude and TAS so that it can calculate the release intervals. If you have wrong altitude or TAS the interval will also be wrong.

Initially, you can just set them to release all at once in salvo mode. After 2-3 trial runs you'll know what kind of altitude you usually release from and what kind of speed you have at that point (just pause and look at your instruments just before release during your test runs). In your subsequent runs, you can then use this data.

For example, let's say i want to hit a row of three hangars so i don't want to drop them all in a salvo. I have a lot of small 50kg bombs and two bigger ones, so i select all bomb bays and set salvo size to maximum. I know that when i drop, i'm usually 1km high and doing 500 km/h. The altitude is low enough that IAS/TAS conversions are negligible and i have a lot of bombs to make up for any inaccuracy (especially since i'm also at low altitude and the error will not affect the bomb trajectory for a long time), so i just set bombsight altitude to 1000 and bombsight speed to 500 before i even start diving.

Then i select a suitable spacing. I have lots of bombs to "walk" over those hangars, i don't want them to "walk" past them and go to waste, so i select a small spacing. Let's say 5m or less (if it's even possible to go lower than 5m, i can't really remember). Again, this spacing is not a time interval but the calculated space between impact points on the ground.

Finally, i can roll over into the dive. A couple of seconds before reaching my chosen release altitude i can make a last second airspeed correction (input the current value into the bombsight) and release.

Hope it helps

[Richie]

Thanks Blackdog I'll try it.

[xpto]

Hi all.
I'm having trouble using the autopilot in Ju 88A. I trim the airplane, adjust the directional gyro and desired heading (autopilot), turn the autopilot on and adjust autopilot left/right while on bombsight, level bombing. Then the airplane start to drift to some side. Is this normal or a bug as I heared?
Again, what's the autopilot mode 22? Thank you.

[ATAG_MajorBorris]

Originally Posted by xpto

Hi all.
I'm having trouble using the autopilot in Ju 88A. I trim the airplane, adjust the directional gyro and desired heading (autopilot), turn the autopilot on and adjust autopilot left/right while on bombsight, level bombing. Then the airplane start to drift to some side. Is this normal or a bug as I heared?
Again, what's the autopilot mode 22? Thank you.

R22 is the radio nav I think.

So the auto is going left or right? Thats good, normaly it dives, just adjust the course setter untill you are straight and then in 1-3 degree increments get on course.

Check with us on coms(ATAG) if you have a chance and we will try it out

[Blackdog_kt]

The Ju88 gyrocompass is bugged: you can calibrate it, but it doesn't move when you turn.

Since the autopilot works by comparing the gyrocompass to your desired heading, the fact that the gyro is bugged means the autopilot gets false data.

Let's say for example that you are flying a heading of 90 degrees. You calibrate you gyrocompass, set the desired heading to 90 (actualy, 90+9=99, that's another issue in all gyrocompasses, the alignment between gyro and desired heading is a bit off, don't know if this is a bug or realistic limitation of the system) and engage the autopilot.

So your 88 is now flying straight. You take a look through the bombsight and realize you need to turn 2 degrees left to align your target.

You press the relevant keys and adjust your desired heading 2 degrees less than the heading the gyrocompass reads. The AP starts turning left.

And this is where the problems start. The gyro keeps showing 90 degrees (it's stuck), so the autopilot will never level off because it doesn't know it has reached the desired heading of 88 degrees.

At best, it will do a full 360 degree turn and come to settle on the same initial heading, but due to the slow response of the AP system (that's realistic) it will not: the more offset between gyrocompass and desired heading, the more the airplane banks. The more the airplane banks the slower it comes back to level. That's why even the 111 which has a working gyrocompass tends to S-turn a bit when changing headings via autopilot.

In the 88, it will do a complete circle and overshoot even the initial heading, resulting in the same problem repeating itself. So, it keeps going in circles forever.

This is a bug that has been reported a lot of times, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it will be among the fixes included in the next patch.

[nadasero]

Originally Posted by xpto

Hi all.
I'm having trouble using the autopilot in Ju 88A. I trim the airplane, adjust the directional gyro and desired heading (autopilot), turn the autopilot on and adjust autopilot left/right while on bombsight, level bombing. Then the airplane start to drift to some side. Is this normal or a bug as I heared?
Again, what's the autopilot mode 22? Thank you.

Hi,

There is an autopilot mode 2. (I'm sure this is your question)

Mode 2 controls all three axis (including the trim). The artificial horizon is kept exactly centered, while the rudder keeps the intended course. This means you have no control over the elevator and the plane needs a specific speed to keep the altitude.

Because of the bug in the AP of the Ju88 you need the He111 to use this mode. The 111 needs about 300km/h for level flight. Mode 2 is ideal for level bombing with the bomb sight. The first step is to engage mode 2 and to use throttle until level flight is reached. Then you can change to the bomb position and enter the values. After this, the plane makes an very stable approach to the taget. You can change course with the AP and use the bombsight to drop the bombs.

[Blackdog_kt]

Let me get this straight:

Mode 1 (course autopilot): Only uses elevators to turn. Used to fly a selected heading by comparing the gyrocompass to the selected heading.

Mode 2 (R22): Controls all three axis and levels the artificial horizon, only turns using the rudder. It still needs a working gyrocompass.

Is this true?

Very interesting, since keeping the wings level will result in a smoother ride during the bomb run. If so, He111 here i come