Strategic Bombing

[scorryuk]

Been reading about the use of LBA to bomb the hell out of enemy on this forum. My problem is that any of my bombing attempts so far have seemed like a waste of resources. Are there unseen benefits to it that I`m just not getting. I`m playing as US in scen. 16 and it`s mid July. Have 3 squads of B-17s at PM (size9) and at Luganville. Have sent them on raids to bomb Rabaul and Lunga. Squadrons have good exp. and rotate them to keep fatigue. Also rotate targets from port to airfield. But never seems to make any dramatic results. Often there are no hits or casualities reported whilst half my bombers take damage. And even when there is, it`s just a couple of hits or a few dozen men killed. Have tries lowering attack altitude but no noteable change. Also tried having subs in harbour. (should probably make greater use of recon) But there never seems any purpose gained. And then I read about players pounding PM into ground. Oh and also quite often only half or less of assigned bombers take part despite large airfield and good support surplus. Can anyone out there enlighten me on this?

[Feinder]

With only 3 squardons, you don't have enough to keep both bases suppressed (esp Rabaul).

Concentrate on Lunga.

Kill the AF first, then the port.

B-17s can do a LOT of damage, but yes, it has to be a constant thing. Dropping a few bombs every day, doesn't really do any good. You have to stay at it, and keep the pressure up, or else he'll just quickly repair all the damage (depending on how many ENG units he has there).

3 B-17 squadrons, probably isn't enough to shut down Lunga by themselves. Do you have any of the other (0)1 bases to the southeast built up? It will make things much better for you, if you've built at least one of them up to a 4, so that you can use B-26s or B-25s also. If you don't have another AF to base the medium bombers from, you'll need to combine your B-17s with bombardment TFs.

If it's too "hot" to send your medium/heavy bombers alone, send in your bombardment TFs first to shoot the place up. You can do quite a bit of damage with your ships (maybe get his launch capacity down to 50%), and then send the bombers in.

The thing about shutting down and AF is once it's down, it's easier to keep it closed, but you have to stay on it. If you're not bombing it, shell it. And don't let it go three days without some kind of ordinance falling on it. While you're pouding the AF/port, you're also killing his supplies. And not only are you killing his supplies, that means he has to use more of them to repair the place. Keep hitting the AF with everythign you've got until you no longer see CAP. Then set some bombers to keep the AF flat, and then go after the port. Bombing the port, means it kills more supplies, gives him something else that needs repairing, and means he's going to need to send a convoy with supplies (which means targets for you, esp since they're going to take MUCH longer to unload because the port is all blasted).

-F-

[crsutton]

There are three uses for long range bombers.

1. Airfield attacks to knock out a base and enemy air capacity.

2. Port attacks to hit enemy ships anchored

3. ASW

I rarely use bombers for any other purpose.

Airfield attacks are self explanatory. You need to sit and wait for you bomber force to grow. The replacement rate for the B17 is low and many players squander this valuable asset early in the game in piecemeal attacks.

If it is a big base with lots of fighters and AA-you will take some losses initially. Go in high-say 14,000 feet and your AA losses will be less. If you have amassed enough bombers, eventually you will put enough hits on the base and the enemy fighters will not fly. Now you can start to lower your bombing altitudes as the base AA begins to degrade. Never fly heavies below 6,000 feet as that is the minimum effective height for the norden bombsight. If you got mediums in range it is nice to alternate low level attacks from the mediums with heavy pounding by the heavies.

Now we come to port attack. In many ways this is the most effective attack against bases. It not only denies enemy ships use of the port but port hits eat a lot of supply. Your ultimate goal is to deny and kill off enemy supply. Killing men is secondary because a base with no supply is a dead base and you will take it very easily if it is out of supply, no matter what the number of enemy troops. I rarely use bombers for ground attack, when I can be pounding supply by hitting the port.

ASW with heavies can be very effective due to their long range. If you have a major base being harried by subs, place a load of heavies there and set them all on ASW at 1,000 to 3,000 altitude. Place them on about 60% ASW so they remain fresh. You will be amazed how effective the heavies are against subs. I promise you that if you have an opponenet that liked to lurk off of your bases, this will break him of the habit PDQ.

[denisonh]

I use my Allied heavies for Naval Search until thier experiecnce is greater than 70.

With the longer missions, the higher experience seems to get better effects relative to target damage, and lowers the overall operational loss rate.

Naval Search or "Armed Recon" was a primary use for B-17s early in the war.

[Drex]

I would use my Liberators on Naval Search or ASW because they are so susceptible to morale loss - even after one mission. It takes so long to breing their morale up only to lose it it one mission that its better to keep them flying elsewhere.

[Maserati]

Speaking of Liberator morale, check out this posting for scans of the diary of a Liberator crewman in the South Pacific.

Pacific Fighters forum

Also note that a Really Good flight sim is being developed for the theater, see the rest of that site for details.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Drex

I would use my Liberators on Naval Search or ASW because they are so susceptible to morale loss - even after one mission. It takes so long to breing their morale up only to lose it it one mission that its better to keep them flying elsewhere.

I would use my Liberators on Naval Search or ASW because they are so susceptible to morale loss - even after one mission. It takes so long to breing their morale up only to lose it it one mission that its better to keep them flying elsewhere.

Yes, I have never really understood the quick morale loss for the liberator. It was really a fine bomber. If not as tough as the B17 but still a very tough plane compared to other bombers of the era. Great range, reliable and much better armed than the early B17s. Yet it is very difficult to keep their morale up.

Beaufighters are another that seem to bleed morale. I think that is more a game mechanic because I tend to use them at low level.

[scorryuk]

Thanks all. Good advice. Though still not sure how to guage how much damage I am doing. Do I have to get a port/airbase hit in combat report to be inflicting damage or is it posible to have a blank report but still have inflicted damage/loss to base??

[top]

ORIGINAL: scorryuk

Thanks all. Good advice. Though still not sure how to guage how much damage I am doing. Do I have to get a port/airbase hit in combat report to be inflicting damage or is it posible to have a blank report but still have inflicted damage/loss to base??

Send a recon flight every turn over the base that you are trying to take out.Place the censor on the enemy base during your planning stage.You will get a read out on air field and port damage plus assigned enemy fighter and bomber info.