Frustrated by level bombing. Please HELP!

[Megahurt]

Well, i went on ATAG and enjoyed a very engrossing tutorial from ATAG Keller. He piloted the plane while directing me as to the function of the bombadier station.

Its possible to operate but very difficult to master. Im sure that will make it very satisfying when a target is hit successfully.

Here's what i learned.

We used the He111 H2

Before Takeoff

Firstly, as pilot its nessary to set your Giro compass in tune with your magnetic compass before take off and ofcoarse recalibrate it periodically during flight.

Then switch to the bombadier and set the salvo to drop the desired number of bombs (dial and lights)and then set the distance you want the bombs to spread(black knob at bottom you cant see without track ir..do it by looking left then down then right without it) to zero to make the cluster pound the target with as many bombs as possible.

Next-- Decide your bombing altitude and *speed you want to be at when dropping the bombs and input them into the bombadier sight. Its important to be at that height and speed in order to set the automated bomb drop and have it hit the target.
Heres the tricky part. The game shows you indicated airspeed but requires true airspeed to be input into the bombsight. Better have your own conversion chart handy to adjust the speed input to consider your altitude (1.25 x IAS @15000 FT) because thinner air at high altitude offsets your indicated airspeed. God help you if you have a headwind or tailwind because there no way to determine what that is as i can figure. (radios dont work so no ground station to tell weather)

After takeoff

Find a key point that will give you a good line to the target and set your autopilot course heading after you are allready on that course. If you do it before your there your coarse will be incorrect when you finally get on it. The course mode 22 (leveller) would be perfect if it worked but it doesn't.
Get on your target coarse as best you can. Get the target in your sights with course autopilot on and reinput your calculated true airspeed and altitude if it needs adjustment. When you feel its right, set the automated bombsight in action and watch from the bottom gunner.

Simple.

Take into account that almost every instrument in the plane is bugged and requires much compensation by trial and error and buildings are no longer rendered above two thousand meters and flack will kill you below five thousand.

In short, its probably easier when your very profficient at flying the bomber and using the bombsight to do it all yourself, but as in reality, its a two man operation.

It can be done.


Add me on steam... We try it together.

Megahurt

[Marmusman]

Megahurt,

VERY GLAD to hear you had a good experience!!!

Keep up the training!!

Hope to see you in the skies one day!

[Megahurt]

As for it being a good experience....

This is by far the most beautifully renderred flight sim ive ever flown. I know there's a few bugs and it does have a very steep learning curve, but so far ive spent over 400 hours flying it and thats 50 bucks well spent.

Excellant fun and touring the countryside at dawn has never been better.

[Meusli]

Sounds good, I am learning the Blenheim at the moment which I feel has an easier bombsight system.

To help with the IAS to TAS conversion I found this app for android phones on the internet, very handy to do on the fly.

[jimbop]

'on the fly', very good! There is also a conversion table toward the back of the manual.

[IvanK]

Something to consider is Altimeter QNH setting. Given that the Sim default QNH is unbelievably low at around 995mb to 997mb (normal standards is 1013) this could result in significant altitude related errors unless you set the altimeter correctly before take off. Any error works out at around 30ft/10m per mb error.

The errors induced are 2 fold. Any altitude error will affect the TAS calculation (Minor) but will also affect the Bomb range (major) since you would be releasing from a false altitude though all your Bomb sight settings appear correct. A 10mb pressure setting error results in 300ft/100m release altitude error .... that will result in a HUGE bomb range error in Level Bombing

Solution is to Reset the altimeter on every flight. This can be done by setting the airfield elevation to its correct value before flight. This will then result in the correct QNH (Pressure setting) for the map. As you will see its always in the region of 995-997mb. PDF in the attached zip file has the exact airfield elevation for each airfield in CLOD taken from inside FMB

Also don't forget the Height setting is height above target not Altitude. So it needs to be:

SIGHT SETTING = ALTITUDE - TARGET ELEVATION

[Megahurt]

Absolutely Chromius, lets fly.

I have also noticed that after the plane is properly trimmed and on a flight path toward target with velocity and height set in the sight, you can switch to "course mode 22" (with gyro properly set) and steer the plane from the bombsight by tweeking the gyro - + untill you are dead on. Cross hairs over the target, bombs armed and doors open, the automated release works well with the salvo set to full and the interval set to zero.

Could this be any easier???

Fun Wow.

Megahurt.

[Chromius]

Yeah, that is exactly what I have been doing instead of using the thumb lever on the yoke, I use the dg in 1 degree increments, and just adjust the bombsight speed till its steady. I have not had many issues with drift yet, but am unsure how it is handled in the sim vs real life. I just move sight right or left till sideslip stabilizes then move sight back to center and use dg to swing back till its stable.

I am curious if in real life the rudder trim was locked out in course and r-22 mode and elevator trim in r-22 mode. They move but do nothing.

Testing out different fuel/ bomb loads now for little drop in R-22 and cruise climb gains. Also checking if the 4x 250 vs 2x 500 have different drag.

Oh yeah cant add you in steam, your name is there, but it says profile is not set up.

[Untamo]

S!

Interesting thread, and got many good hints.

One problem still bothers me:
How do you get the course autopilot to fly straight? .. I set the gyro to compass heading, set the course to same and engage autopilot. The plane starts to weave right and left. It goes in the right direction, but keeps banking from side to side in a sidewinder manner. I've tried to force the plane to go straight with the stick and also with minor changes in the AP heading and it works for a while, but then again it starts to bank.

Is there any way to calm it down?

Oh, and another thing:
What loads can the He-111 P2 (or H2, which one is better btw? ) handle well? I tried the 8x250kg load with 60% fuel and I couldn't get past 2km with 1.2 ATA and fine pitch. I kept the speed steady at 200km/h with elevator trim. The climbing just stopped on the 2km line. Too much load I guess

Ok, a third thing:
The R22 autopilot thingie... this should be the "level stabilizer" we had in old IL-2? .. Well it just sends my He-111 to a spiral. What am I doing wrong?
EDIT: Tested it one more time, this time it put me into a 10+ m/s dive. Elev. trim didn't seem to have any effect on it.

[Chromius]

Before engaging course mode or r-22 make sure plane is trimmed. For course if you are climbing you can adjust elevator as needed in course mode. But it is better to be trimmed for climb or level flight before engaging course mode. Elevator, Rudder, Elevator, Rudder, Aileron if needed last, then course mode.

If you use the course left or right you need to manually level out the turn on the desired course or it will go back and forth a bit, the course mode uses ailerons only to make turns.

R-22 mode is meant for level flight and uses the rudder only to make adjustments and is also set with the Directional gyro as the Course Mode is. You want to be trimmed for level cruise usually as fast a speed as possible because depending on your load of fuel/bombs you may sink, elevator trim is locked out. I do not know what speed the He-111 needs to stay level, on the Ju-88 it wants 335-350 to stay level depending on the weight.

As far as the He-111 loads I can not answer that as I have not spent much time in it.