So, You Want To Be a Bomber Wing Lead?
FIRST AND FOREMOST...
... you have to be a good bomber. Don't worry I'll get to the good stuff soon enough. But, even if you are just looking for the leadership stuff, this is important as a list of what to expect from those following you. There is a lot of advice here to pass on to your wingmen and keep as a reference for yourself.Keeping in Formation
This is of the utmost importance to staying alive and helping keep everyone else alive. Here is a list of guidelines to accomplishing it. Read this list carefully as most things are not as you might think.|
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AI(Artificially Intelligent) Wingman
Most arenas allow the use of at least 1 robot wingman (up to 48 arena wide). To get them you must have a number of them defined under 'Setup', 'Flight'. When you go on the runway, they will circle the field and form up when you are in the air. You can send formation commands to them via channel 114. The command looks like this (no dots): F SHAPE Distance. The distance is in feet (uppercase text not needed). Valid shapes are shown in this image along with the resulting formation. For example, type 'F TRAIL 500' into channel 114 and your wingmen will form a trailing formation with 500 feet separation.
LEADING YOUR FLIGHT
The whole reason to writing this is to produce some good bomber leads out there. Nothing sours one's fun in a buff mission more then when the leader sucks. So what makes me qualified to write this? For over 5 years now I have led the bomber wing of my squad, the Haze. What finally pushed me to write this? After participating in ad-hoc bomber strikes under leads that had no clue, I became very frustrated at failures that didn't have to be. So, let's get started, soldier!Fuel Load
A common mistake I see leads making is assigning too much fuel. Having too much fuel makes it hard to get to your target alt quickly and generally stretches the flight longer than it needs to be. Use the table shown here to determine the proper load. Before you load up your B17 with 40% fuel, ask yourself if you are really going to be in the air for 1 hour and 39 minutes (40 x 2:44). Sure this will help protect you if your fuel tank takes a hit, but in general there are more things to worry about, and it won't buy you that much time.Burn Times per 1% Fuel (min:sec)
(These are rough values, take a little more if in doubt)
| Plane | Fuel Mult x1.0 | Fuel Mult x.75 |
|---|---|---|
| B17g | 2:44 | 2:03 |
| B24d | 2:17 | 1:42 |
| B24j | 2:19 | 1:44 |
| B25c | 0:47 | 0:35 |
| B25h | 0:47 | 0:35 |
| D3A1 | 5:03 | 3:47 |
| Ju52 | 1:11 | 0:53 |
| Ju87d | 0:38 | 0:28 |
| Ju87g | 0:38 | 0:28 |
| Ju88a | 1:46 | 1:19 |
| Mosq IV | 1:40 | 1:15 |
| SBD | 0:58 | 0:43 |
So how long of a flight should you plan? See the next section.
Planning Your Route
No surprises here, you want to be above your enemy whenever they are near. Avoiding the enemy is even better. Working the edges of the terrain and avoiding radar will help a lot. Obviously you want to gain alt over safe territory. In planning your flight consider these charts as a guide. Use them together to figure how high you will be after a certain distance. For the charts, I loaded enough fuel for a 65 minute flight, a typical bombload, and started them at 200 ft. with 95% throttle at a climbspeed of 150:Altitude vs Time (minutes)
Make mental adjustments to the charts depending on different fuel and bomb loads. Another thing you need to know is where on the map you will be and when. To remain simple, we will not discuss indicated air speed (IAS) vs. true ground speed. A good estimate can then be obtained with the proven equation: distance = rate * time. Speaking for rate, here are the top speeds achieved (not sustained) using the same loadouts as above, starting at the altitude indicated (no WEP).
Top Speeds at 3 Alts
Navigating
Next to your joystick should be at least 1 important tool for navigating: a see-through protractor. Using the proctactor and in-game map you can line up your turns exactly. For example, you may want to make a run on a large base with a heading of 060 to line up the targets. The protactor will tell you exactly when to turn to get on that heading over the target. A straight edge can be used for lining up on targets from the North, East, South, or West. When lining up on a target, you should aim for the upper left corner of the square marking the field. Most think it is centered, it is not.
Nothing gives your formation more confidence than seeing the target appear in their Nordons dead in their sights.
Leading The Formation
While leading the formation, your goal is to keep them posted on all information needed for them to stay in formation and complete their goal (and sometimes satisfy curiousity born out of bordom). You should tune a private text channel for these instructions to keep them separate from the rest of static out there. Let your flight know of your climbspeed, throttle, and heading. Always announce any change in throttle or climbspeed. Also announce turns ahead of time to give your formation time to prepare for it (don't forget to inform any escort as well). A lead should always be flying at less than 100% throttle to allow the formation to catch up if needed. However, try not to go below 90% as anything less may ruin your time table and put the formation in harm's way. I personally fly at 95% throttle most of the time leading my squad. Only if every member is in tight formation, and it is announced, can you go full throttle. Visually check the squad after each turn, as this is where most formations break up. To combat this, make slow turns whenever possible. Hard turns should be reserved for that last turn to line up on the target and for emergencies. Don't be afraid to bark orders, you are their leader and they expect that. Tell individuals to get into formation and remind them that being under the formation is better than behind. In style with the military, their lives are your responsibility.Choosing The Target And The Force
In figuring out what targets can be destroyed and how much of a force is needed, you need to understand TOT (Tons On Target). Of course you could close a field the old fashion way of destroying specific targets, but the needed targets vary as the game evolves, and they usually rebuild quickly anyway. TOT is the way to go. TOT means the base will close if a certain amount of a certain ordinance is dropped within a given radius of a target's center. This radius is unseen, but for sure includes all the physical structures of the target (and seems pretty forgiving around the edges in my experience). In dropping ord on a field, it is in your country's interest to hit AA positions. This will make it easier to cap and capture the field. Values on how much it takes to close a target changes during the RPS and is split into early and late war. To make our calculations, we need to get the numbers of the fields, by doing the dot command from the tower '.fields'. For example (concentrate on the bold numbers):1 FIELDF1 Purple Open 0/48000/24000
The first number is the amount of current damage to the field. The second number is the amount of damage to close it and the third number is the amount to make it reopen after closure. Rebuilding is always taking place, although at a slower pace if closed. Use the following charts to figure out how many planes you need for the job (these values may change without warning):Total Points Towards TOT Per Plane/Loadout
| B17-G | B24-D | B25-C |
|---|---|---|
| 24 x 100 lb 24000 16 x 250 lb *20800 12 x 500 lb *19800 2 x 2000 lb 8 x 100 lb *15200 6 x 1600 lb *12800 6 x 1000 lb *12000 |
20 x 100 lb *20000 8 x 1600 lb *18400 8 x 1000 lb *16000 12 x 250 lb *15600 4 x 2000 lb *10400 |
8 x 250lb 10400 6 x 500lb *9900 2 x 1000lb *4000 1 x 2000lb *2600 |
| G4M1 | Ju-88 |
|---|---|
| 12 x 50 kg (110 lb) *13200 4 x 250 kg (551 lb) *7000 1 x 800 kg (1763 lb) *2400 |
4 x 500 kg + 10 x 50 kg *19360 4 x 250 kg + 10 x 50 kg *18000 2 x 1000 kg (2204 lb) + 2 x 500 kg *9680 4 x 500 kg (1102 lb) *8360 4 x 250 kg *7000 |
As you can see there is a diminishing return on bomb sizes. While bigger bombs do more damage, they are not as efficient. Here are the number of points each bomb does individually:
| Allied Bomb Load ToT Damage Value |
|---|
| 100 lb *1000 250 lb *1300 500 lb *1650 1000 lb *2000 1600 lb *2300 2000 lb *2600 4000 lb *3000 |
| Axis Bomb Load ToT Damage Value |
| 50 kg (110 lb) *1100 100 kg (220 lb) *1200 250 kg (551 lb) *1750 500 kg (1102 lb) *2090 800 kg (1763 lb) *2400 1000 kg (2204 lb) *2750 2000 kg (4409 lb) *3200 |
Now, you can figure the requirement to close a target before you leave the ground. Of course you should consider bringing extra help in case you lose someone, and the more ord you put on it, the longer it stays closed. Ultimately, one can keep a base closed by continually putting ordinance on it.
Plane Considerations
When planning what ride you want to take, you have to make sure it is available in the RPS and know what it's up against. The RPS schedule can be found here. If you are flying Axis, there is no thought needed. But for the Allies, there are considerations to be made. Early in the war the choices are obvious: B25c, then B24d. When the B17g comes out, you have an option to consider. As shown above, the B24d is faster and climbs higher quicker, while carrying a bigger load. However, the B24d is also very brittle compared to the B17. If you have the time and the numbers, but know you will receive some attacks on the way, the B17g is a better choice. If you are a bombload short of making TOT or need to get high in a hurry, the B24d/j is way to go. You may also consider a medium bomber if the target is small enough. Medium bombers can get to the target quicker and get away quicker. The Mosquito is an excellent choice for these missions.Target Maps/Runs
Having common target maps of a field is not always possible when doing ad-hoc missions. However, if you run buff missions within an organization like a squad, or know in advance who will be in your formation, you should generate some maps. For my squad, every sqaud member is required to have a group of maps with each ack identified and a set of bomber runs drawn out. Then before target the runs are assigned to insure that every AA emplacement will be taken out along with radar. Make sure to label every AA and optionally the other structures. This is helpful for directing jabo attacks as well.Whether running an ad-hoc or planned mission, you should try to at least take out the ack and radar at the field. This will give the troops a better chance or survival. All field targets lie in the field's TOT radius. Because TOT requires bombs dropped close in time to each other, only 1 run should be planned. All or nothing.
Resources
These are all from MaxOverlays:Bomb Time Delay Calculator - use with my target layout maps
ETA Calculator
Metric/English Conversion
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