Level Bombing: Tests and results with 1.08.18956

[Kaiser]

Thank you! I will definitely pass this amendment Russian-speaking community.
PS
http://www.sukhoi.ru/forum/showthrea...=1#post1878299

[aus3620]

Originally Posted by PissyChrissy

... what does the R22 mode actually do? ...

Auto-pilot course adjust the aircraft using the aileron, R22 uses the rudder - use this when on level bombing run.

Note Robtek's comment about speed. I find if you accelerate to 310-20kmh then apply R22 you can get a reasonable result - less than 1m/s sink rate.

Also take into consideration your loadout - fuel and bombs. Heavier load - more sink rate. Which is a big issue considering under-performance of aircraft (see Robtek's recent comment).

Suggest you also checkout the JU88 Tutorial thread at the ATAG forum.

Above comments (re speed 310-20) for JU88.

[skouras]

Originally Posted by aus3620

Auto-pilot course adjust the aircraft using the aileron, R22 uses the rudder - use this when on level bombing run.

Note Robtek's comment about speed. I find if you accelerate to 310-20kmh then apply R22 you can get a reasonable result - less than 1m/s sink rate.

Also take into consideration your loadout - fuel and bombs. Heavier load - more sink rate. Which is a big issue considering under-performance of aircraft (see Robtek's recent comment).

Suggest you also checkout the JU88 Tutorial thread at the ATAG forum.

what about 111
it has low speed compare to ju-88

[Kaiser]

Originally Posted by skouras

what about 111
it has low speed compare to ju-88

But, He111 better glider, than a Ju 88.

[Blackdog_kt]

Ju88 needs at least 320-330km/h IAS before you engage R22. The He-111 can do fine with 300-310km/h IAS.

Originally Posted by PissyChrissy

So, just to be clear, what does the R22 mode actually do? Does it simply level the wings at whatever heading you happen to be flying along? Or dos it direct you to a course you set into the course setter?

If the former, does it allow you to make slight heading corrections?

Before now, i've been using the non-R22 course autopilot to try to do level bombing, using corrections in the course setter to shift course onto target. But the course setter is to coarse, and you can't make fine adjustments, meaning you're wobbling bak and forth as you approach the target...

R22 is a level attitude (not altitude) hold autopilot. That doesn't mean level flight, it means wings and fuselage at a 0 degree angle with the horizon. If you are high, at low power or heavy, the plane doesn't have enough "oomph" to stay level and keeps descending slightly.
The purpose of it all is to ensure that the bombsight is level with the ground below.

As for the rest, it functions like the course autopilot: which way to turn is governed by the difference between what your gyrocompass and your selected heading indicator display.

The difference is that in course mode the turns are banking and made with ailerons, while in R22 they are wings level turns and made with rudder.
This allows you to make slight adjustments when nearing the target. Slight means slight though, over-correct and the drag from making a rudder-turn with opposite aileron (to keep the wings level) results in big drops in airspeed and altitude which take a while to stabilize ---> it can ruin your bomb run if you try to turn more than 5-10 degrees at a time.

As for how accurate it is, i have mapped the AP left/right commands to my < and > keys. Whenever i want to adjust, i just tap ONCE or twice and let it settle. The trick is to be familiar with the area you are bombing and settle into it from quite a few kms out. Doing heavy last minute adjustments will mess up the stability of your bomber and the accuracy of your run.

Originally Posted by mcler002

I downloaded the manual, very interesting but it doesnt tell you how to calculate the bomb angel by yourself...

... suggestions?

You don't have to do it yourself. The reason the guide on M4T lists this method is that in Il2:1946 most people were using the bombsight table application that gave you the angle and this allowed them to drop parts of their bombload over spread out targets. People would dial in their IAS and altitude and the application would display TAS and bomb release angle. Then, you just set the sight at that angle and press your stick key when a target passed under the cross, then pressed again when the next target appeared under the crosshairs, etc.

This worked well in Il2:1946 but it is all backwards and not how it was usually done in the real world(apart from very low level runs with predetermined settings, eg B-25s in the pacific with parafrags).

It is also unnecessary in CoD. With the extra settings we have, we can choose exactly which bombs we will drop and from which bomb bay. So, if you are fast enough you can disengage automation, place the crosshairs on a new part of the target, reengage it and select a different set of bombs to drop. It is more work, but it's also highly unrealistic even if you achieve it.

The whole "multiple targets in one run" philosophy was because in Il2 we didn't have suitable area effect targets and too few people bombed (apart from special online events). We had to place units on the target as "hit counters", which then gave rise to another problem: low altitude fighter-bombers and dive bombers found it too easy to destroy them if they were clustered together because of their better accuracy or rockets. So, mission designers had to spread out the static units and level bomber pilots had to resort to manual bomb release with the predetermined bomb release angle method.

With CoD we have ports, cities, airfields and some new scripting commands that can simulate area bombing. So, instead of trying to hit 4 tanks bunched up here and 4 tanks bunched up there along the road, we can simply be historical and aim at targets the size of a few adjacent building blocks.

So, the way to do it now is enter TAS and altitude above ground into the sight and engage automation. Then, watch through scope. If a point on the ground is moving down on your screen faster than the crosshairs increase TAS, if the crosshairs moves faster than the target then decrease TAS.
Once both move down at the same rate you'll see that the crosshairs stays on a specific piece of ground. Adjust the sight up/down to correct your aim, if during your adjustments your crosshairs went off the target.

Then, repeat the same for any drift due to wind, asymmetric thrust or incorrect trim. We already took care of up/down motion (speed calibration), so if an arbitrary point on the ground is moving to the right of the crosshairs, adjust the sight to the right as well (in the direction of the drift, not opposite of it) and observe if the new ground feature under the crosshairs remains stationary. Repeat as necessary until whatever is under the crosshairs is not moving relative to the crosshairs.

The idea is that since the drift is to the right, we want the sight to show our impact point. Moving it right an equal amount spoils our aim but shows us where the bombs will fall. Then we can use the autopilot to turn and place it on the target again.
The process is similar for left drift, always adjust the sight INTO the drift, not against it.

Once all is set up, you just arm your bombs, open the bays and wait. Just remember to take a peek at your instruments every 30 seconds or so and correct for the altitude drop due to the R22 mode.