Level Bombers what altitude do you use?

[Central Blue]

dtravel...

"Any one else mentally picturing a 100' strafe/skip bomb attack by a ... B-29?"

the wake from the prop wash would probably be quite effective against barges.

[SaintEx]

...from an allied point of view, but how does the game treat Betties? The Japanese didn't really have any four-engined bombers (aside from flying boats), and the Betty was really their heaviest bomber. I assume the game treats them as mediums from the point of view of best altitude, etc., but can anyone confirm that?

[SaintEx]

"Any one else mentally picturing a 100' strafe/skip bomb attack by a ... B-29?"

the wake from the prop wash would probably be quite effective against barges.

Hehe. It would take a hell of a pilot to hit anything that's even halfway wiggly. Speaking of low-altitude B-29's, though, they did pull off a number of low altitude incendiary raids over Japan with them. I never quite understood why they really came in that low - maybe the pure psychological effect of it all.

[mogami]

Hi Japan medium bombers against ground target (ground/port/airfield) 10k Against ships 6k If AA heavy I will climb to 16k versus ground targets

As Allies Meduim same as Japan. Heavy 15k (larger bomb loads allow higher alt to avoid AA) B-29 20k

Historical B-29 altitudes were result of Jet stream over Home Islands (went in lower to avoid)

[dtravel]

ORIGINAL: SaintEx

"Any one else mentally picturing a 100' strafe/skip bomb attack by a ... B-29?"

the wake from the prop wash would probably be quite effective against barges.

Hehe. It would take a hell of a pilot to hit anything that's even halfway wiggly. Speaking of low-altitude B-29's, though, they did pull off a number of low altitude incendiary raids over Japan with them. I never quite understood why they really came in that low - maybe the pure psychological effect of it all.

Well, its been <mumblety-mumble> years since it happened but when I was a kid at a friend's house we were in the backyard at the base of a hill when a PBY came over the hill and down the slope. He was probably at 100' or so but it sure seemed like about 10' to us! (PBY was dropping water/fire retardant on a brush fire elsewhere in the county.) I still remember that incident VERY vividly! [X(]

For the B-29s I was thinking more about the psychological impact (would you want to be a Japanese merchant marine sailor seeing one of those bearing down on you?) and the fan effect of large numbers of bombs skipping their way thru the convoy. [:D]

[Dereck]

ORIGINAL: SaintEx

"Any one else mentally picturing a 100' strafe/skip bomb attack by a ... B-29?"

the wake from the prop wash would probably be quite effective against barges.

Hehe. It would take a hell of a pilot to hit anything that's even halfway wiggly. Speaking of low-altitude B-29's, though, they did pull off a number of low altitude incendiary raids over Japan with them. I never quite understood why they really came in that low - maybe the pure psychological effect of it all.

The B-29s stopped using high altitude bombing in favor of the low altitude incendiary bombing because of the discovery of the then-unknown jet stream over Japan which basically made bombing at high altitudes nearly impossible.

It was decided by Curtis LeMay when he took over that in order to destroy the factories incendiary bomb raids would be used which, since most Japanese buildings were made of wood would burn and in burning also burn up the factories.

[SaintEx]

The B-29s stopped using high altitude bombing in favor of the low altitude incendiary bombing because of the discovery of the then-unknown jet stream over Japan which basically made bombing at high altitudes nearly impossible.

It was decided by Curtis LeMay when he took over that in order to destroy the factories incendiary bomb raids would be used which, since most Japanese buildings were made of wood would burn and in burning also burn up the factories.

Well, yes and no about altitude. It's true that the discovery of the jet stream changed the way they went about things, but I'm referring to the very low altitude night raids of March, '45. You don't need to fly at 500 feet to avoid the jet stream. Anyway, I went and looked it up. According to LeMay: "Japan was poorly equipped for a low altitude night attack." It would seem as well that by reducing the altitude to which the planes were to climb, and by removing everything but the tail gun, they could increase bomb load substantially. Interesting.

[SpitfireIX]

ORIGINAL: dtravel

Any one else mentally picturing a 100' strafe/skip bomb attack by a ... B-29? [:D]

Actually, B-17s were used for skip-bombing attacks starting fairly early in the war.

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