Good gunnery practice?

[Grim_Smiles]

I can fly fine in a Mustang but lack practice in the shooting department. When I finally started gunnery practice after learning to fly the plane, I wanted to try opponents that I didn't have to chase down so that I can just focus on hitting a somewhat maneuvering target. I usually setup a four ship of helicopters in a group and practiced diving in on them.

 

I'm just wondering if this is the best way to practice my gunnery, or is there a more effective way I could be going about this (targets, mission setups, etc.)? Been on a couple month hiatus on any serious DCS play thanks to a move and now that I'm getting set back up (and after I order another Track Clip:cry:) I'd like to start getting to work in the Mustang (and later the Dora when it comes out) and improving myself for when DCS WWII comes out.

[9.JG27 DavidRed]

well, i really think the best way to practice gunnery, is to just dogfight...the good thing about this beeing a sim is, that you have more lives than a cat, so no worries if you get shot down...i dont think that setting up missions especially designed for gunnery practice, like some plane directly on your 12 would do it....in dogfights thats rarely the case...so just dogfight...btw, you are welcome on the dow server!

[Nybble]

If you have a friend to play with, create a mission with two planes that air-start with gun ammo. I've done that a fair bit which get's your skills up quickly. If not create the same with AI but don't give them ammo and they'll try and evade

[Tucano_uy]

I haven't personally done it, but you can set friendly AI aircrafts flying low, and attack their shadows on the ground, or maybe even better over the sea. This way you'll be able to see where your shots land, short or long. I understand that it was a real life training technique in WWII, sometimes even shooting the own shadow.

[9.JG27 DavidRed]

hey thats an interesting practice...never thought or heard about that before!

[Tucano_uy]

Just a quick copy/paste from a google search:

 

"After struggling to acquire the skill of gunnery deflection, Caldwell developed a training technique, known as "shadow shooting", in which he fired at the shadow of his own aircraft on the desert surface.[1] This was later widely adopted by the Desert Air Force." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Caldwell

 

 

Sorry I couldn't find better references.

[9.JG27 DavidRed]

well good enough mate!

[Zabuzard]

Getting used with the gun: Spawn an unarmed enemy who's flying in a circly and set all reactions to off

 

Then you can make this more difficult step by step: Activate passive reactions of the unarmed enemy

 

Dont deactivate anything but let him unarmed (hell try to dogfight without weapons)

 

Finally give him some guns

 

Or just practice with a friend online :) Good luck

[Grim_Smiles]

Thanks for the advice guys, will definitely alter my gunnery practice! First time I've heard of the shadow practice Tucano, sounds like a good idea.

 

David, thanks for the invite I'll definitely have to stop by.

[fastfreddie]

Personally to practice some targeting I'd use the Mission Editor and set a FW190 on the lowest skill on the same path with me positioned behind it with a slight height and speed advantage. They don't seem to react until you get really close (less than 200m) so you get plenty of practice.

[leafer]

TooTall, are you using stock joystick with no extension? With the extra 5-6" travel added to my joystick, I am now able to ride the stall and maintain it. Before it was either too much or too little so basically I was chasing the stall in the Stang, and that alone took away some of the situation awareness from the fighting.

[Grim_Smiles]

TooTall, are you using stock joystick with no extension? With the extra 5-6" travel added to my joystick, I am now able to ride the stall and maintain it. Before it was either too much or too little so basically I was chasing the stall in the Stang, and that alone took away some of the situation awareness from the fighting.

 

I've been using the stock stick. I have thought about using an extension, but initially saw some that required messing with the wiring and wussed out at the thought of tampering with a $400 stick. I have seen that Simpit has a stick extension that just screws on without tampering with the stick itself, I'm thinking of either picking it up or seeing if there are any others out there that can just screw on.

[leafer]

Ahh, it is definitely not for the faint of hearts (or wussies :D) if your stick is the 400 dollars kind. If you can afford it then you should because flying itself is a whole new experience. I dare say you actually get a better feel for the performances from your aircraft.

 

Actually, in my last post, perhaps, I should have written chasing the performances or the sustained turn rate?

Edited April 29, 2014 by leafer

[Grim_Smiles]

Ahh, it is definitely not for the faint of hearts (or wussies :D) if your stick is the 400 dollars kind. If you can afford it then you should because flying itself is a whole new experience. I dare say you actually get a better feel for the performances from your aircraft.

 

I've definitely heard it is a new experience. I did play with my curves some time back and it has improved my flying in the Pony (and choppers) compared to my pre-curve time period, but I think the stick extension would be a good thing to add. Definitely planning on picking one up, and hopefully my chopper flying will improve along with the Pony flying.

[9.JG27 DavidRed]

well, i guess youre talking about the warthog then...just like leafer, i can only support the idea about an extension.its definitely a whole new feeling to it.no need for any curves at all.btw, you dont have to mess with the stick at all with such an extension.and you can easy go to a local metal store and ask them to build an extension for you.thats what i did.i saw someone producing warthog extensions from new zealand, and figured that the shipping alone would be more expensive than what i would pay here, not to mention the time it would take...so i went to a local store here with my stick.the boss of this company was surprised but also very interested about my wish...while enjoying a nice melange, i told him what i exactly want.this guy was really impressed by the warthog :)

well, three days later he called me again and told me that it was ready.all in all it took me three days and i paid 30euro for a nice alu-extension 15cm long, which i consider about perfect.then i bought a ps2 cable adabter on ebay..which was only 20cm long iirc.thats it.there is no messing around with the stick itself at all included.