White Lighting #16 Alert

[_AH_DarkWolf]

For the next White Lightning mission we're going to be doing a formation bomb drop from altitude. We'll have P-38 Droop Snoots leading us and doing the aiming. So all you level bomber skilled pilots might want to start practicing and everyone should try and get some formation work in. Details of the op are still being worked out, details will be posted here as they come in.

DW

[_AH_Autorotate]

i was reading about this just the other day. they were put to good use when german air power was weakened.
they were faster than the light bombers, their payload was just as much, and could fight back better if need be!

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Ok, I've been debating how to configure the squadron for this. Larger formations will probobly be harder for us to form up into, smaller formations require more level bomber skilled people and not everyone can do it. I think the later will be the best option. So that means we need to make sure we have a level bomber skilled pilot available for each flight.

BBQ and SKAT have made every mission and I'm pretty certain can level bomb, so that should be A and D taken care of.

C Flight I'm not 100% on, I know Bear is a big bomberhead but he's not made much of the campaign. Olds and Jack can level bomb too right?

I'm really not sure about B Flight, can any of the B-bodies level bomb?

I'm thinking me and Hogan will just tack on to whatever flight has the least numbers, but I could fill a level bombing slot if need be.

DW

[_AH_Olds]

I'll have to work on the level bombing. Tried some with the Droop Snoot tonight...need some work. I noticed that there is no key for bombsight automation anymore. Is that correct?

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Hmm, I never used automation. I see a key for Toggle Bombsight Mode (Auto), is that is?

DW

[_AH_Autorotate]

did somebody call my name?

a quick google for "level bombing in HSFX guide" yields lots of information.

[_AH_Olds]

Yes, that's it. It does work...you just have to have everything where it should be. Now if I can just figure that out...

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Here is some preliminary info :

These are the main waypoints (I cut off about a grid and half to the left, but that's just right near the base), the target will be industry in northern Bitburg.



It will be an airstart at 12,000 feet and the bombing will be at no less than 12,000. You could go higher if you wish but 12,000 puts us at the tops of the scattered cloulds in the area. Any lower and you'll be flying through them A Flight style.

Bombs will use an instant fuze with the maximum delay possible which is .24 seconds. Why use a delay on an instant fuze? Because if you use a 0.0 delay the bombs will detonate the moment they hit the roofs of the factory buildings. It is more desirable for the bombs to hit the roof/walls and penetrate, exploding inside the buildings and doing more damage to what's inside.

Recon photos of the target area and the approach will be posted here in the coming days.

DW

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~ DW
     I may have missed a briefing somewhere but are we bombing from 12000' with P-38s?

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

Cool huhh?,

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_P-38_droop_snoot.html

S!

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Yuppers TD. Each flight will have one Droop Snoot 38 that will be piloted by a level bombing skilled pilot. The rest of the flight will be flying the regular gun nosed model of 38 we've been using, they will form up on the droop snoot and drop bombs together on his command.

DW

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~ DW
                       Copy that.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Ok, here are the remaining briefing materials:

SKAT was wondering about timing on the bomb run.  At 80% throttle and 90% pitch with radiator 4 the run between waypoints 1 and 2 is about 6 minutes. From the IP (WP 2) to the target is another 5 minutes. That is for the lead droop snoot, the other flights will be following so will have more time between WPs 1 and 2.

The approach to Bitburg is as follows, the target is the northern industrial district and thus will be to the left on the approach.



This is the city of Bitburg as a whole.



Click on the photos to make them bigger, or right click on the following links and choose "Open in new window" to see them full size in their own windows.

http://imageshack.us/a/img825/7028/approachi.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img607/3928/recon.png

The target is fairly large but of course the first flights in will have greater chance of hitting stuff. That being said all that is left is to assign the order in which the flights will slot in. I'll leave that one and any specific aiming points up to Mission Commander Col. Hogan. HQ Flight will slot in with whatever flights are short.

DW

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Oh, and if any flight is short a level bomber I'm available!



DW

[_AH_Archie]

Oh my owwn


LOL

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

It's "Yohmm" silly

S!

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~ DW:
      I am practicing my Droopie-Snootie bombing but can you tell me the alt.(above sea level) of the city we will be bombing. I need that to correctly set up my sight.

[_AH_Autorotate]

topographical maps show bitburg to be 994 ft MSL.
i've heard the game sets different atmospheric pressures depending on the map...
so i doubt over eastern germany in the game it's a lovely 59 degrees with 29.92 inches on the barometer.

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

That looks like me last night.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

The city is a little hilly so it varies, but the industrial area we are targeting is at approx. 448 feet.

DW

[_AH_Autorotate]

hmmm... close enough.

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~
    Well I don't know what to use for target ground elevation now.
Auto says 994 msl which is 'mean sea level' and I can't use that
DW  says  448 feet and I assume he means ASL which is 'above sea level'...and
Wikipedia gives the elev. as 1050 feet ASL...so I am going with 1050 feet.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

I got mine by parking a P-38 on the ground in the city, for that spot the speedbar said 448 which I assume is above sea level.

DW

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~
     AH...that is good enough for me....I'll use 450 ASL...thanks boss.

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~
     Just a note to any of you who are boneing up on high level bombing and need to get 'true air speed' from 'indecated air speed'. A rule of thumb is....aircraft air speed will increase 1 1/2% per. 1000 feet. Soooo
at 240 MPH  IAS at 12000 ft.  your TAS would be approx. 283 MPH.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

If you add the following line...

SpeedbarTAS=1

...at the end of your HUDconfig entries in the [Mods] section at the bottom of your conf.ini you can get it to display TAS. It basically adds 3 more speedbar options so you have :

MPH/Feet
KPH/Meters
KIAS/Meters
MPH TAS/Feet
KPH TAS/Meters
KIAS TAS/Meters

If you're not familiar with the HUDconfig mod it's something that comes in HSFX, it did'nt work in UP3 but we had it before that. You can add the following lines to the end of your conf.ini if they are not already there :

[Mods]
SpeedbarUnits=3
SpeedbarSpdKMH=1
SpeedbarSpdMPH=1
SpeedbarSpdKnots=1
SpeedbarAltMeters=1
SpeedbarAltFeet=1
HUDGauges=2
SpeedbarTAS=1

These setting allow you to tweak the speedbar.

SpeedbarUnits= Allows you to set which setting is displayed by default at mission start, 1 for KPH/Meters, 2 for KIAS/Meters and 3 for MPH/Feet (You can't have it default to TAS apparently) This saves you from having to adjust your speedbar at every mission start if you don't want KPH.

The next four entries let you specify how those things will be displayed in increments. For example by default the increment was 10, so your speed would show 100, 110, 120, 130 etc as you accelerated. With a setting of 1 it shows your exact speed, ie 100, 101, 102, 103 etc.

HUDGuages= I'm not sure what it does, could be something with wonder woman view.

SpeedbarTAS= As I said above setting it to 1 adds the extra 3 TAS options you can toggle through.

DW

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~ DW
     Good post and great information Boss but, if it's ok, I will just use the 1 1/2%. That configi and mods stuff scares me to death.