Survived my first mission!

[Ogmund 0]

Pilot Claude Desaix of SOP39 completed a bombing mission in his Sopwith 1.5 Strutter, scoring two hits on the enemy airfield and returning to base with no damage.

It was great! OFF has a steep learning curve but I'm delighted by the level of immersion available.

 

Questions and observations:

1) Just before we reached the target my squadron seems to have veered off to engage enemy fighters. I thought that would be madness so I proceeded to the target alone. As far as I can tell I was the only plane to actually bomb the target. Is that typical? Should I have followed my flight leader into the dogfight instead?

 

2) Is there a preferred method for aiming with bombs? I just set the TAC for 1 mile and released when it looked like I was right over the triangle. It worked but I'm wondering if that is the best method. It doesn't seem very realistic.

 

3) I wasn't given the next waypoint until five minutes after bombing the target. Why the delay? Was it waiting for my flight leader to get to the target or something?

 

4) I finished the mission by landing at my airfield. That was probably the most dangerous moment for me. When I made my first pass over the airfield I was told my mission was complete. Is a landing even necessary, as far as the campaign is concerned?

 

I'm so happy I survived my first mission that I'm afraid to start my second :-)

[Olham 164]

Hey, Ogmund, welcome here!

Congrats for hitting the field and for making it back!

Yes, it takes quite some time to learn it all, but it will grow on you, as you grow with it.

 

1) I have never done bombing raids, but in war there is often a decision to make, like whether to

follow the leader or try to fullfill the order. I think, you made a decision.

2) If your craft doesn't have a target view, you can only learn it by doing, I suppose.

3) Did you try to press "W" for "next waypoint" ? It should appear then.

4) The landing is not necessary. If you are far enough into your own terrain, you might as well

press "escape", to find yourself at the claim form or the next briefing. But landing is of course

nicer for the immersion - if you find the time.

 

And your feelings about making the next flight is exactly what each real bomber pilot must have felt, too.

Absolutely normal - isn't that deep immersion?

[+Polovski 460]

Welcome!

 

Make sure you were not the leader, (see labels if on, if there is no flight leader you are..)

If so you need to target some ground objects for the guys to attack. Use awareness radar (shift+t) press T to scroll through types, tab to target. Then press A. 2 guys should peel off and make a line up (may go quite a way out first and come back and attack). If you are not leader, the leader may choose to attack elsewhere, or go further out to line up on this or another target, or attack enemy fighters.

 

If you are leader, shift+w next waypoint, once you have done (sometimes you can't for a while). See FAQ for a keyboard chart or look in your cfsww1 over flanders fields\mb folder for PDFs

[Duce Lewis 3]

Good show Ogmund!

 

You'll find that some missions have Loiter Waypoints

Strike, Recee Missions come to mind

As Pol said, Shift+W will advance you to the next Waypoint

Control+W backs up one Waypoint

 

Happy Hunting,

[RAF_Louvert 101]

Well done, Ogmund! And the Strutter was an excellent first mission choice. Very sturdy, stable, and quite capable of handling itself in a fight when push comes to shove. Bombing is tricky, and in WW1 it was far more art than science. I tend to lower the nose a bit to get a line on the target, then level off and lean over to port in order to watch for the drop point, which in my opinion is anybody's educated and/or lucky guess.

 

Enjoy OFF Sir. I've no doubt you will. :yes:

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

[Canvas Wings 1]

Congrats, Ogmund! Getting back alive is the name of the game! It's' a rush, isn't it?

 

I'm so happy I survived my first mission that I'm afraid to start my second :-)

 

Just wait til one of your pilots draws close to the legendary 17hour mark. You'll be downright terrified.

[77Scout 3]

Ogmund, yes bombing by using the TAC is obviously totally unrealistic. The decision to do so just depends on whether you are trying to simulate the real experience or just wanting to play an arcade style game. Same goes for landing or not landing. Don't even get me started on use of labels, TAC, warping etc (grin).

 

Anyway, if you bomb without cheats, be prepared to miss a lot...it is pretty hard (for me anyway). I have to either drop from real low altitude, or do a dive-bomb style drop. I don't think either of these is probably accurate to how it was done in real life either, but is less guilty than using the TAC. I am interested to hear more about how others bomb realistically and manage to hit their target.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

I have to either drop from real low altitude, or do a dive-bomb style drop. I don't think either of these is probably accurate to how it was done in real life either.

 

Actually Scout, they are both very accurate. Up until the fall of 1917 bomb sights, at least in the British air services, were crude and unreliable at best. Starting with the Lever Sight before the war and then on to the Bourdillon CFS Sight, (1915), and the Scarff Equal Distant Sight, (1916), all were little more than gun sights. Even the Wimperis Low Height Drift Sight of 1917, which could measure velocity and direction of wind, and as the name implies was meant for low level bombing, still required stopwatch settings of bomb runs. It wasn't until late 1917 that the Wimperis Course Setting Sight did away with that and gave bombers the ability to attack accurately, on the level or in a dive, and at any angle.

 

This is one item I would really like to see added to OFF at some point in the future; a rudimentary bomb sight for us two-seater types.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

[Check Six 2]

I'm very proud to announce that I have a 100% bombing record. I have been on four bombing missions for the RNAS early on in the conflict, also all in the Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter (I agree she is a sturdy and reliable aircraft, though the engine keeps "missing" all the time... gives me the willies if I'm over the "other side" of the lines).

 

In all of these missions, I have been elected Flight Leader (ie I am a lower rank - Flight Sub-Lieutenant but ordered to lead the Flight despite choosing "Lead by rank" in the Workshop). My method...I load up with 12 bombs (25 pounders if I remember correctly) and dive down when I reach the target until I can see a line of huts, or if the target is a rail station, a rail line with an engine and cars full of munitions). I align myself along this line of attack, dive for speed, pull up at about 100 feet, level off. At this point I press "A" to order my wingmen to attack my target. You WILL be getting a bit of ground fire, but I haven't been shot down attacking in this way YET.

 

Then I fine tune my line with small rudder corrections, wait until I'm passing the first target along this line (knowing that my bombs will fling forwards of my aircraft, if I have passed the first truck or hut, my bombs will fall on the next few), then I rapidly hit "Enter" several times (or whatever button you have mapped to your joystick for "drop ordnance"). You should be able to do 6 consecutive drops in about 1-2 seconds if you have good enough reflexes, and this has so far resulted in me getting all my bombs onto valid targets.

 

I haven't actually watched their fall via the F9 bomb view, too scared I'll plough into the ground.

 

Immediately after I drop my payload, I drop down to treetop height to give the defending gunners less of a target to shoot at (and anyway, they should be concentrating their fire on the other flight members who are performing their runs). About a mile from the target, I turn as rapidly as I can, re-align myself on the target line, then come in low for a strafing run. Immediately I begin firing in my strafing run, I re-hit "A" to order my wingmen to continue to attack.

 

At the end of my strafing run, I stay low until about a mile out, then begin a climb and turn back towards (but NOT over the target), then switch to target view to see if I can see if my Flight members have completed their attacks and to see if the target is sufficiently damaged/destroyed.

 

At this point, I recall my Flight Members with "R", Select SHIFT + W for next waypoint (making certain that it does send you to another waypoint, not back over the target [horrors!]). I press "R" once more to make certain they heard, then check if they have joined me. If I am satisfied all is well, I warp home.

 

Oh, also...I know that in some flight sims, you can end your mission once in friendly territory, or when you are over the aerodrome, but I choose to ALWAYS land. Taking off in an aircraft is relatively easy (usually...these WW1 birds with the rotary engines aren't so simple), flying straight and level is easy. Combat is difficult to say the least, but landing is also difficult. For this reason I choose to land. I like the dangerous aspect of the landings. Sure, I have survived combat only to find I'm damaged more than I thought, and have little or no control over the craft, especially low down and especially in dead-stick landings, and some of my pilots have sadly died in this manner. But for realism, I think you really should land her.

[+Polovski 460]

Strutter has dive brakes.. so I'd say they did dive sometimes :)

 

Shift+D

 

 

DFW has a crude bomb sight F7 I think (watch default may clash with TrackIR).

 

 

For 2 seaters remember to use Shift+f8 for rear gunner as F8 again may clash with TIR default keys).

[RAF_Louvert 101]

Steve Drew, your dive bombing routine sounds much like mine, and I do make use of the dive brakes Pol mentioned when flying the Strutter. The accuracy of this method is surprisingly good. However, there are ocassions where diving down and bombing at low level is not advisable due to EA capping the target below, or extremely heavy ground fire. I have read quite a bit over the years and until the last year of the War high level bombing was very unreliable, but done none-the-less out of necessity. If you haven't done so, you should try your hand at hitting the mark from about 5,000' up. It is very challenging, and when you do drop an egg onto a hanger or RR depot or such, it is a VERY rewarding feeling. As I mentioned earlier, I uploaded a new bombing mission last night to our downloads section here, and it will require just such high altitude bombing if you want to maximize your chances of survival. Give it a try.

 

 

Cheers!

 

Lou