Delta 6's Flight School: Bomber Tactics

Bomber Tactics:
What to do and how to plan a bomber operation

"When we made the I.P. I could of sworn I saw a carpet of flak. All those angry little black puffs of smoke; hell I bet I could of walked back home on 'em!"
Bomber pilot after a strike on Berlin

The basics

    The first time you climb into a bomber cockpit it seems too big to actually fly. I thought I'd walked into a basement the first time I flew one, and I haven't gotten any better at it. I mainly stick to fighters, but I do know a thing or two about bombers and their tactics. I have to; after all, how else am I going to find those big flying targets in my Yak.
    The first thing to do is to pick a target. If you're in a squadron you'll be assigned to hit a target. Once the target has been assigned the squadron commander will come up with a flight plan. This includes: ordinance loads, fuel loads, courses, throttle settings, cruising speeds, and the location of the I.P. The initials I.P. stand for Initial Point, which is the last turn the bombers make before the bomb run. You can Click Here to view an image of a map with bomb routes and hazard classifications on it. It opens up in a pop-up window using javascript. If you don't or can't use javascript just Click Here to view the image in your browser. If you want to save the image and run it past your C.O. you can. Just make sure it doesn't get posted on another site. The catch in making a flight plan is knowing where the enemy is. Sometimes a helpful pilot (or gullible squadmate) will run recon for you. But don't always count on recon support for making plans; sometimes it's just not available.
    Once the target has been assigned, the flight plan made, and everything checks out it's time to fly. The actual strike can be done using as few as 1 bomber or as many as 20. The current settings with most servers will limit the number of visible planes to 32. If you use 32 bombers you'll never see any enemy aircraft ! So I suggest you use no more than 20. The first section of the flight is nothing but climb-out. This is done in friendly airspace and can take a while [up to 30 minutes].
    Once you've reached, and completed, the first turn you'll continue to climb to your target altitude. This is where the gunners should test-fire their guns, and the pilots should run last minute checks. The rest of the flight to your target will be long and somewhat boring. But beware; anywhere along the cruising route you can be attacked by enemy fighters. The choice position for attack is from one of two angles. Head-on, which offers the greatest chance of blowing off a wing, shooting up engines, even killing the pilot. Or slashing, coming in from the 10 or 2 o'clock position at a 45 degree bank and tearing the whole bomber's length up with cannon fire.
    After you've run the gauntlet of enemy aircraft it's time to "walk on the flak" over the target. Typically the enemy aircraft will mount a large attack just after you've completed the I.P. turn because they know you have to hold it steady. Gunners should fire only when they have a sure-fire shot and know they'll hit the target. If enemy aircraft are still roaming the area when you receive the call "Target in sight" you're in trouble. Having a gunner aboard is a definite help, especially when the time comes to calibrate your sight. If you don't have a gunner and the enemy aircraft aren't letting up their attack; you're probably screwed.
    Due to your need to keep the aircraft dead level, and the gunners need to fire at enemy aircraft, you might not make it out. All this activity makes people confused, especially your crew. So don't let them panic; tell them to turn their radios over to one frequency where they can tell each other where enemy aircraft are inbound from. Keep talking to your group leader and find out all the information you need to hit your assigned target.
    Here is where some enemy aircraft will leave. You're so close to the target that you'll be taking flak fire any minute, and enemy aircraft have to clear the way or get hit by friendly flak. Some of them will remain above you, out of gunnery range, to pick off another bomber to two if they get the chance. If you have escort aircraft that made it over the target with you they'll break off now. So from here on you're on your own.
    Over the target you can only wait. If you're pulling a historical mission you can't use the "laser-guided bombs", you have to drop holding perfectly still. Thanks to a new and much-needed addition to Aces High, you can now fly a three ship formation. And that requires holding a perfect course to hit the target. This is where things get interesting; you have to drop at the same time the flight leader does. The staggering of the aircraft in formation will see that targets are either damaged or blown to smithereens. After you drop your bombs you have to wait for them to hit and get confirmation of target destruction.
    Once you have completed the bomb run the flight leader will commence a turn onto the egress route. This route has been picked either because the enemy has no fields in the area or there is a lack of high altitude interceptors. At least that's how the smart commanders do it. On the map pic above, I routed the bombers south to avoid known flak sites after they hit the target. This keeps them safe from flak and away from very hostile areas. I also tried to keep them away from enemy airfields to aid in avoiding interceptors. I did what I thought was best for them; the only way to find out if my plan works would be to run the actual bombing mission. Just like you have to do once you've got your plan.
    Here are the basics for planning a bomber mission:

You must give the bombers enough time to at least get half-way to their target altitude before they make their first turn towards the target. If you don't they'll still be climbing when they hit the I.P., and that makes them vulnerable to mid-altitude aircraft.

Egress routes must be thought out carefully. If you just pick a route you might send them over a flak site, or too close to an enemy field. This will result in unreal casualties. During the war, if any operational bomber unit suffered more than 10% casualties on a single mission they were re-assigned or temporarily deemed unavailable for mission assignments.

Time over target [T.O.T.] must be taken into account in order to calculate the number of acceptable losses for the group. Time over target is this; the time between an aircraft entering enemy airspace to the time they reach the assigned target is the T.O.T. If this is too long the bombers will be slaughtered, but if it's too quick they won't have time to acquire and hit the target. Also plan for enemy flak and fighter units to get into the mess.

Enemy aircraft can be found roaming the most probable locations for bombers to enter. If any aircraft are found near the bomb route have them cleared by the escort fighters. It'll make your day a LOT more pleasant.

Escorts must be in sufficient force to deal with enemy aircraft. Figure two escort fighter per box formation [four bombers]. If done right you'll have enough fighters to sweep ahead of the bomber stream and still have a dozen or so fighters to protect the bombers.

    Escorts make your life much easier. P-51Ds can escort you straight to the target and back, not to mention they make life hell for enemy fighters. While P-51s are long ranging they are a bit vulnerable; they use liquid-cooled engines. The reason liquid-cooled engines are dangerous is due to the relative ease in which you can knock one out with just a few hits. Radial engines are notorious for taking hideous amounts of damage and still running, albeit a bit rougher than normal.
    If you've picked another unit to provide escort you should send their C.O. a copy of your plans and route. Smart C.O.s will ask another fighter unit for escorts, or they will form another squadron just to provide bomber escorts. Planning escort missions is easy if you already have a copy of the bomber plan. About the only thing you have to do different from the bombers' plan is to take-off from another field.
    You have to take-off from another field because the bombers take up a LOT of ramp space. Not to mention the last thing you want to do is get in the way of other bomber operations staged from that field. As if that weren't enough, bombers cruise at two thirds the speed of a fighter. Which can result in fighters getting to the target before your bombers do! That's why you have fighter fields and bomber fields seperate.
    If I've managed to get you confused here's the way things should go:

Fighters should lift off 20 minutes behind the bombers. This allows the bombers to get roughly around 15,000 feet. Since fighters climb faster, and have higher top speeds than the bombers, this allows the fighters to get into position just after the bombers hit their target altitude.

Once the fighter escorts are in position have them take up normal formation and look for any enemy aircraft. You should also send a pair of escorts ahead to scout the area in front of the bomber stream. If they encounter any enemy aircraft send 1/3 rd of your available fighters to help.

Once the bombers hit the I.P. have all aircraft break off to avoid flak fire. Granted flak isn't all that accurate but if you get hit, you're toast.

You should have your fighters fly a parallel route to the bomb run. If the bombers hit any enemy aircraft after the bomb run you are in a position to intervene. This also keeps you clear of most flak fire.

On the egress route have one group of fighters take up a scouting position around 2 miles ahead of the bomber stream. You will do this for several reasons. First off the enemy knows what you hit and will know where to intercept you. Second your scouts can spot any enemy aircraft well ahead of the bombers and have time to send a warning.

    Now you know roughly how to create, manage, and execute a bomber strike using escort fighters. Nothing works perfectly the first time, especially when it's just on paper and has never been attempted. Work it out in your head, then on paper, then on a map using time tables. Once you've got most of it planned out double check your time tables, ordinance loads, fuel loads, and aircraft types.
    The only thing remaining to be done is picking the aircraft. If you know what you're targets' defenses are, the distance to the target, and what type of enemy aircraft are roaming around you can choose the bomber type. All this info is needed before you can choose the aircraft type to use. If the target has heavy fighter and flak units around pick B-17s or B-24s for their durability and long range.
    On the other hand, if you know this raid will take the enemy completely by surprise use a shorter range bomber that travels at a higher speed. B-25s work for just about any target you need to hit fast and hard. Now if you require the services of a very fast bomber use a fighter equipped with rockets and/or bombs. Fighter-bombers use a lot more fuel, travel slightly slower, and maneuver terribly when fully loaded. Granted after they use most of their ordinance most of their maneuverability comes back, but until that time they're vulnerable.

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