Gotha G.IV Cockpit and Bombsight

Gotha Revised Cockpit and Bomb sight

This cockpit is derived from a mod by Ravenclaw_007 10 May 2008 and from the FokkerDVII Cockpit by Third Wire. This mod is NOT intended to depict an authentic GIV cockpit, but to improve functionality (primarily adding back the compass) and the appearance. The bombsight is derived from one originally developed by Dfang in 2008 for the Staaken.

The Gotha bomb sight in this mod mimics a Goerz “telescope type” sight, one of several sights used by the Gothas.

There are no records I can find which depict the actual sight picture, so the cross hairs and reference marks are speculative. We do know the real sight was illuminated for night use; the mod attempts to depict that function. None of the sights used by the Gothas were especially effective (one was actually called a "non-precision" sight). Sights were only one reason bombing was less than accurate. The Gotha approach altitudes in England were usually at or above 3000 meters to avoid defending aircraft, balloon cables, and AAA. The real Gotha bombardier was the aircraft commander, operating in the forward observer station.

Installation- First back up everything. Then to install for and FE1 and FE2:

In The Objects/Aircraft/GothaGIV folder

GothaGIV_Cockpit.INI

GOTHA_sight.tga

GOTHA V24 HiRes_gunsight Full center 5 nums.tga

GOTHA V24 HiRes_gunsight Open center 5 nums.tga

DVII_DASH_AMMO.bmp

D_VII_FLOOR_FRONT_BACK_WALL.bmp

D_VII_LABLES.tga

In the FE or FE2/FLIGHT folder

VIEWLIST.INI

MISSIONCONTROL.INI

The Beta testers and I all used variations of the June 2009 FM by Peter01, who did some of the original FM work on this project back in 2008. The calibration of the sight relies on it, so it is strongly suggested. There are two versions of the sight. One has a open cross hair and the other has a full cross hair. The default (with the open cross hair) will install unless you substitute the other. To install the alternate, save GOTHA_sight.tga as GOTHA_sightBAK.tag, then copy the GOTHA V24 HiRes_gunsight Full center 5 nums.tga, and rename that copy GOTHA_sight.tga. That way you’ll still have a full set of the sights if you want to reverse the process. Keep all versions in the Objects/Aircraft/GothaGIV folder.

Operation- When the aircraft loads, the sight will appear at eye level. Hit the \ key [immediately below the BACKSPACE KEY] twice. The sight will drop to the floor. When approaching the target, engage the wing leveler or autopilot and hit the .DEL key, to go to invisible cockpit. Use the mouse and the NUM PAD + key to position the sight. In FE1, you can then use the \ key to select the bombs from the various choices in the loadout, if you have selected multiple weps in the load out screen. In FE2 the game will not display these choices, but the ordinance will be selected. Drop the weps in the usual manner with the ENTER key.

The default altitude for missions is set at 3000 meters, or approximately 10,000 feet, the most common approach altitude for attacks on London and the coastal areas. The sight is calibrated to operate at 110 kph for 3000 - 4000 meters, and 90 kph at 1000 meters. The calibration speeds are very important to accuracy. Targets should be attacked with a "stick" of several bombs some toggled a bit ahead, and some a bit behind the apparent aim point.

If you prefer a different approach altitude, you will find alternatives in the folder. Simply copy the one you want, delete the old file and then save the copy as missioncontrol.ini. Do not simply delete the MISSIONCONTROL.INI without using one of the enclosed files as other operational settings are also adjusted for the Gotha GIV in that file.

Known issues- the Gothas carried a very diverse load of stores. In configurations with heavy bombs loaded under the nose, the bomb sight may be temporarily blocked by the bomb on the forward port side. One way to deal with this is to manually toggle only that bomb at initial approach; another is to select a loadout that does not place a bomb in the forward port rack. The typical load for the attacks on England was 6 50kg bombs, so it is relatively easy to set up an authentic loadout which avoids the "bomb block" bug.

Thanks to Southside Bucky and OlPaint01 for exhaustive Beta testing. This was a challenging mod to develop and the comments and advice they provided was extremely helpful. Thanks also to the original developers whose work is incorporated here -- Dfang, Ravenclaw_007, Peter01 , and of course Capun and the team at the Skunk Works for the Gotha.

sinbad 20 April 2010