Attacking Bomber Formations

Battle of Britain "Wings of Victory"
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Eastern18th
Airman Basic
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Joined: 24 Aug 2018, 10:49

Attacking Bomber Formations

Post by Eastern18th »

I’ve been having difficulties mastering attack runs on bomber formations. I’m torn between playing it safe by either diving or charging through formations at high speeds and squeezing off shots at each plane in succession as it passes by but only damaging the bombers, or getting in close, setting up my shot with minimal deflection and letting a single bomber have it until it breaks up but in the process getting chopped up by the bombers’ gunners.

I’m interested in hearing what tactics other players have developed as well as historic solutions.

Also, in terms of game mechanics for the campaign, is it more profitable to damage as many bombers as possible or prioritze shooting down one or two?

filtonboy
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Joined: 29 Aug 2015, 05:15

Re: Attacking Bomber Formations

Post by filtonboy »

Hello Eastern 18th, welcome to the forum.

Historically the .303 browning machine guns fitted to both the Hurricane and Spitfire during the battle made it difficult to shoot down bombers.
The bullets were the same calibre as the Lee Enfield 303 infantry rifle and although there were four mounted in each wing, the relatively small size of the ammunition made it harder to shoot down larger aircraft.

There are accounts of German bombers making it back to France although they had many bullet holes in them.

As for tactics; one I used was to approach the rear of the formation from the side and concentrate on the one most at the rear and on the edge of the formation. I tried to concentrate fire on an engine in the hope that this would be damaged and either slow the aircraft down or peel off from the formation. Either way it would then lose the protection of the rest of the formation's firepower. Once isolated it was easier to make attacks without being hit by so many bullets.


f.b.

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PieceOfCake
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Joined: 19 Nov 2013, 20:31

Re: Attacking Bomber Formations

Post by PieceOfCake »

Dive in on them very fast and steep and aim for the engine. Once you pass them turn a bit right and pull on the stick to avoid their fire.
If you approach a bomber from behind the gunners have no problem hitting you.
Takes a bit of practice but it's more fun this way too.

knightfire_2001
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Joined: 16 Oct 2014, 02:24

Re: Attacking Bomber Formations

Post by knightfire_2001 »

I find hanging back about 400 yards from the bombers just out of the gunners range and where your bullets converge is especially effective. Just be careful not to be bounced from behind by a 109!

Out of interest is there any way to reduce the distance the your rounds converge in the Spit or Hurricane?
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Felizpe
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Joined: 01 Feb 2019, 18:52
Location: Brazil

Re: Attacking Bomber Formations

Post by Felizpe »

Hi Eastern18th, as I'm playing for the second time the full RAF campaign I also developed a strategy to shoot down alone whole formations with hundred of bombers without take a single hit but instead keeping a safe distance by yards like knightfire_2001 said I use the gunsight horizontal line as base cause I have no notion about yards... Of course that I'm using all realistic flight features like vulnerable to fire and max AI skills but the only unrealistic thing is that I have to reload my guns many times or else I can kill only about 2 bombers ;)

Well if you wanna try it, just take a safe distance from the bombers using as base the horizontal yellow lines of your gun sight, so never let the bomber wings touch the two yellow lines cause at this distance they will start shooting at you. But try to approach the closer as possible so you will have a better precision.

I will post here some images showing the safe distance where the bombers can't shoot at you, and also the dangerous distance when his wings touches the yellow horizontal lines of the gunsight and he starts shooting...

Safe Distance:

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Dangerous distance:

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I also recorded a video using this strategy and I shot down about 40 Dorniers alone, but during (14:00 min) I approached too much and let his wings touch the yellow horizontal lines of my gunsight so I got some hits... but that was good to show also the dangerous distance :)

LINK TO THE VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=350cgfXI53A
Last edited by Felizpe on 14 Mar 2019, 23:07, edited 5 times in total.
"Just wanna live enough to tell my grandson I was a BOB2 Ace"

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Felizpe
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Joined: 01 Feb 2019, 18:52
Location: Brazil

Re: Attacking Bomber Formations

Post by Felizpe »

knightfire_2001 wrote: 10 Mar 2019, 17:24 I find hanging back about 400 yards from the bombers just out of the gunners range and where your bullets converge is especially effective. Just be careful not to be bounced from behind by a 109!

Out of interest is there any way to reduce the distance the your rounds converge in the Spit or Hurricane?
knightfire_2001, yes it is possible! Just go to Options / Adv. / Game

And change "Gun Convergence (Yards)" value. By default it's 250
"Just wanna live enough to tell my grandson I was a BOB2 Ace"

knightfire_2001
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Re: Attacking Bomber Formations

Post by knightfire_2001 »

Thanks Felizpe, I’ll check it out. What do you set your convergence too?
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Felizpe
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Re: Attacking Bomber Formations

Post by Felizpe »

Hi knightfire_2001 you're wellcome, I use default 250 Gun Convergence (Yards). I know that for bombers it would be better to increase this distance but as I get used using 250 yards for fighters and bombers interception it's fine for me ;)
"Just wanna live enough to tell my grandson I was a BOB2 Ace"

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