bomb loads

[sulup]

Why is it, that an airgroup whose planes have a bomb load of 0, is still able to drop bombs over a base???

For example the A5M, Ki-27, Ki-43's have a load of 0, yet I've seen battle reports of 70 Ki-43's flying over a base and dropping 17800lb of bombs...

Is this a bug or what??

[Rich Dionne]

Sulup,

The effect you're seeing is probably from aircraft cannons.

Aircraft cannons (machine guns) play a significant role in ground support missions. Fighter and Fighter Bomber cannons have an equivalent bomb factor equal to their cannon rating. Dive Bomber, Torpedo Bomber, and Tactical Bomber cannons have an equivalent bomb factor equal to ½ their cannon rating. Heavy Bomber cannons have no equivalent bomb factor.

For example, a Fighter cannon rating of 12 effectively drops an equivalent of 1200 lbs of bombs on the ground target; a Dive Bomber cannon rating of 12 effectively drops an equivalent of 600 lbs of bombs.

These factors are what I have observed for attacks against LCU's. I'm pretty sure the mechanism is very similar for attacks against bases.

Regards,

Rich