Joint =AVG= RCAF_FB RAF209 Bomber Practice
Posted: 23 Jun 2009 19:21
So, going off of Under's suggestion for a beginners practice for bombing, it seems like we should try to start off crawling before we try to start running. I'm thinking that a weekly practice or something of that nature would be a good idea. What days of the week and times work for RCAF_FB and RAF209? =AVG= flies Forgotten Skies on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays from 9ish EST till 11ish. We also have a group practice every week on Wednesday from 9 EST till whenever. Please post times in EST.
Here is one of my PMs sent to RCAF_FB_Under regarding practice:
If we go off this first suggestion, that would be fine. This probably should be our first practice to make sure everyone has a good grounding and no one gets let behind confused. I'd also like a tentative list of pilots fairly certain that they want and will try their hardest to make these practices so we have a feel for how many to expect. =AVG= is willing to provide its Regular or WoW TS or whatever is needed to get this running.I think we are going to do a couple of things after talking to dougalachi.
First we should have a class on how to actually make a bomb run from start to finish. The class will be basic. It would go over keys needed, how the sight works, how BS2 works and inputs needed to make a successful run.
The other thing we would really like to do is a full scale formation bomb run. I'm talking about flying tight .1-.15 away from each other and having a lead bomber with different groups. Dropping bombs together to completely decimate a target. I would hope we could get about 15+ people to do it. It would be better with opposing fighters and escorts. No refly and just roll with it. I think finding pilots to fly cover and pilots for an attack role would be easy to come by. This, even though it sounds fun would take a lot of formation flying practice.
Of course, this joint operation would need approval from both commands.
Here is one of my PMs sent to RCAF_FB_Under regarding practice:
We already read that manual and are using Bombsight Table 2, which is packaged with the manual. Currently we are working on our own =AVG= manual for bombing, which will outline our specific requirements and training regimen. I also have the ability to bomb from high altitude, using both the bomb-sight automation and the BT2 program. Python is having to do a bit of catchup, since he has been gone for a while. We were doing level bombing in the N Africa campaign for WoW a couple of months ago. I've also been working on formation landings the past few practices with some of the =AVG= pilots.
The thing that interests me in doing this practice is being able to have more than 5 bombers together, not that we are in need of information to tell us how to bomb. Rather, I feel like the =AVG= 11th Bomb Squadron just needs time for practicing the skills/fundamentals we have read. I am looking forward to the practice due to the hopefully high number of pilots that will be available to be called upon. Formation work is what I'd like to focus on, since we usually have the lead aircraft(s) doing the bomb calculations while everyone else flies off of him. Accurate bomb-sighting can be done in singleplayer or solo in a dogfight server. I haven't been able to get a large(more than 5) and coherent formation together yet, or to face the challenges associated with such a sizable amount of bombers (formation takeoff, form-up, ascent, bomb drop, egress, descent, formation landing). How many pilots do you have that regularly fly bombers in formation and know how to use the bomb-sights from high alt?