Has course auto pilot taken the place of level stabilizer?

[stugumby]

For the US and German planes they now have stabilized bomb sights. Before it was align with target then apply level stabilizer, use rudder trim for small corrections left/right, input TAS and height and use bomb sight automation to drop bombs.
Now it appears for the German planes you need to align with target then use course ahead which places you in a stabilized mode, then apply course auto pilot, then use course left and right for minor corrections. Still have to apply TAS and altitude before using bomb sight automation.

For Russian planes its align with target, center/level bubble then apply level stabilizer, input TAS and altitude and set proper sight ahead angle and use rudder trim for minor left right corrections except for TB-3 which has no trim capability.

So it appears level stabilizer isnt needed for US and German planes since course auto pilot does the same basic function.

[Sita]

no... it's not equal functon ... it very close to each other ..and lives on same key by default binding ... but i really don't think that simplier Level stab is equal to course automate ... it's looks and work similar ... but if you will try it more closely you will find that course automate a little harder to use in level bombing ... better ant more accurate use old fashion way with level stab and trimmers for all plane wich has a timmers ...

just try to compare level bombing on some He111 or He177 with level stab and course automate .. for me more comfortable trimmers way course correction ... but may be its just a habbit ...

anyway .. course automate it's not a replace to level stab on DE and US plane .. it's only addition..

i hope some day get autopilot on Il4 Pe8 ... Li2 ... it must be almost same thing like course automate but may be with some changes ... G4M btw have same Autopilot device ... Copy of Sperry Autopilot ...

[Marabekm]

Think of it as a difficulty setting.

IE... Level Autopilot did not exist in real life. The bombardier and pilot had to work together to drop the bombs on target. Pilot had to fly the plane straight and level and bomb aimer directed him to the release point. So... prior to 4.13, the pilot and bomb aimer had to be the same person. Kind of hard to do both jobs. Enter level autopilot. This key basically takes over pilots job of flying plane straight and level, allowing player to concentrate on bomb aiming.


After 4.13 patch, bomb aimer and pilot can now be separate people. Norden bombsight and Lofte 7 bombsight had a basic auto pilot function available to the bombardier that allowed him to "fly" the plane whilst looking through the bombsight to make fine course adjustments to maintain the target. This is course autopilot. Japanese and Russian bombers still require coordination between pilot and bomb aimer. For the Russians, the bomber can use to arrows to point in the direction he wants pilot to turn plane. Japanese bombardier must verbally talk to pilot.

[Treetop64]

Originally Posted by stugumby

So it appears level stabilizer isnt needed for US and German planes since course auto pilot does the same basic function.

Both autopilot functions have their uses, at least for German bombers.

With the level stabilizer you can make extremely precise heading changes using the rudder trim, but it won't hold a consistent heading over long flights and the aircraft will slowly swing off course. However, the course autopilot will reliably keep you on a selected heading no matter how long you've been transiting (you still have to account for wind drift if you have wind turned on), but is nowhere as precise as using the rudder trim with the level stabilizer when aiming during the bomb run.

You can use the course autopilot during the bomb run with German bombers, but it's not ideal. I always switch to the stabilizer when approaching the target then switch back to the autopilot again once I've established my heading and altitude on the return leg.

[cstaunton92]

In reality, the German autopilots were mostly single-axis controlling. That is, the elevators and ailerons were always controlled manually. In-game only the Do335 and Ar234 should have 3-axis autopilots (AFAIK, of the German planes only).

It sounds as though the game one is a little oversensitive, as they were supposed to be usable by the bomb-aimer.