Buccaneer Tactics

[crl848 9]

I've been experimenting with real life Buccaneer tactics. The Bucc is not well-suited to classic dive bombing as it's a bit sluggish in pitch and it can be difficult to pull out of the dive.

 

Real life Buccanner tactics were to bomb from low level, either laydown or an attack known as "bunt retard". No, that's not what the Nav said to the pilot when approaching a high-power electricity cable... It's a tactic used to get bombs on target and minimise exposure to the defences.

 

Here's my take on this, perfected after lots of attempts.

 

1. Approach the target fast & at low level (<200 ft and c.550 knots).

2. Set your switches: open bomb bay, select 4 1,000 pound retarded bombs, ripple interval 300ms, throttle 50%.

3. Check your line-up at c.5nms away by zooming the hud in. It is vitally important to be lined up correctly, as the Bucc's modelled sensitivity in roll makes last-minute corrections difficult.

4. Pull up between 3 and 2 nms from the target, when the distance-o-meter is right in between. Select about 30 degrees of pitch.

5. Start to bunt (push stock forward) at about 700-1000ft. You will go over the top at about 1,200-1,500 ft.

6. Stabilise in a shallow dive and set up a sight picture similar to dive bombing, with the lowest HUS marker below the target.

7. Pickle when the target crosses the lowest HUD marker.

8. Stabilise for a couple of secs to allow the bombs to drop, then pull up and off.

 

This technique should result in a shack, I've found it quite forgiving of errors except the line-up.

 

I hope someone finds this useful. Best of luck!

 

Some pics of the technique (in order):

 

Ingress.

 

Lineup check: target is the fuel tank to the left of the sight picture.

 

Corrected line-up.

 

Pull-up time.

 

Bunt.

 

About to pickle.

 

Shack!

[bwild 5]

Sweet, works as advertised!

 

Up to now I did level approaches with retarded bombs only.

 

1. aproach at 500ft and 550kts

2. line up target

3. ripple 4, interval 250ms, open bombbay

4. Release when target is below the speedbar in the HUD

5.

[+ravenclaw_007 7,633]

for all who like to know how the tactics are with the real Buccaneer´s this are some pages of the S2B weapons manual and they show how it was done (if you like to have a copy of the Manual just give me a PM)

 

the HUD funktion can unfortunately not be implimented in to the game because of limited ground objects targeting funktion , if we have in the future a better avionics for bombers available i may add this funktions

 

 

 

 

[crl848 9]

Thanks Ravenclaw. You've clearly done a lot of research and it shows in the quality of the model. I should add that I've been waiting years for this addon (I think my first CA post was about the Buccaneer after I moved here from SimHq). It's been well worth the wait, thanks.

 

The bunt retard attack is a version of the MDSL attack in your 5th pic, developed so that the aircraft did not have to approach at 2,000 feet. I'm not sure if it was an RAF development - Graham Pitchfork's book "The Buccaneers", which was written by aircrew, implies that it was worked up by students on the RAF Buccaneer Attack Instructor course that apparently became the model for the Qualified Weapons Instructor course used throughout the RAF. Maybe using a Navy aircraft in my pics is anachronistic...

 

It would be great to be able to model stuff like toss bombing, maybe in the future, but frankly I don't care and I'm having a blast anyway.

 

@bwild, glad it works. IRL the laydown attack was made from 200ft I think, as a backup to the bunt retard method if the cloud base was below 1,200ft. I can't seem to get a foolproof bomb pattern at 200ft/500kts but practice practice practice I suppose.

[+Dave 2,322]

Blah blah blah.....conventional bomb,s conventional bombs ... use nukes then you don't have to get close.......

 

"I know your tactics, I have the advantage...."

 

Just kidding. Great stuff....

[crl848 9]

So true, that's when the toss bombing modes would come in handy...

 

Actually I read a quote, I think in the book I mentioned above, that come a shooting war in Germany the brass were loath to waste the Bucc on OCA, battlefield interdiction or, perish the though, CAS, when they should really have been held in reserve as Britain's only sensible tactical nuclear asset.

Edited October 7, 2011 by crl848

[column5 63]

Flying the Buccaneer by Peter Caygill is an excellent resource for those interested in this aircraft.

 

http://www.amazon.com/FLYING-BUCCANEER-Britains-Cold-Warrior/dp/1844156699/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318034249&sr=8-2

[bwild 5]

@bwild, glad it works. IRL the laydown attack was made from 200ft I think, as a backup to the bunt retard method if the cloud base was below 1,200ft. I can't seem to get a foolproof bomb pattern at 200ft/500kts but practice practice practice I suppose.

 

At 200ft I find it really difficult to get the timing right. At 500ft you have a bit more wiggle room, and AAA is still unable to track you. Still the bunt retard method is far more accurate.

[crl848 9]

Yeah me too. Back to the range

[bwild 5]

Found this an interesting read, it's from Flight International juli 1968. It backs up the findings in the sim. Complete article is available in their online archive.