Over the shoulder possible?

[RodBorza]

It works...well, sort of.

 

Description:

A-10 with 50% fuel, two Mk-84's to double as tactical nukes and one rocket launcher to balance the Litening pod on the other wing.

The first loop I was able to release the bomb close to the apex, but was not able to finish the loop right. The second one, the release was good and the loop was a little better executed.

 

Tactic:

Getting in at 3000-5000 feet and doing a loop over the target area. Tried to make the altitude lower, but it becomes very, very dangerous on the way down. A-10 loop radius is way big.

 

Release:

For what i undestood from the drawing and description on the cited Wikipedia article, weapon release would be close to the apex of the loop.

 

Impressions:

CCIP mode allows you to release. My tentative is very crude. Maybe with a little more practice it can be done more accurately.

 

Results:

Not so good. No accuracy over the target at all. Also, the plane will lose a lot of the energy. I'm coming in at 340 kts with engine at 100%. But once the climb starts the aircraft will lose a LOT of energy. I believe that the afterburner on jets allow for a climb without losing much speed, thus energy.

The bombs will climb, but they will also lose energy very fast. The result is that the bomb will be tossed forward and will not execute a loop, falling away from the target. The bombs will rise with whatever energy they have, will execute a parabolic trajectory and will fall. It will be in an erractic trajectory, though.

 

All in all, kudos to ED, for making the modeling of ballistcs in this game very impressive.

OverTheSoulder-Mk84.trk

[Aries]

Tried this one with a group of 5 BMP3s on the Dragon's weapons training X airfield near the sea... First tried with CCRP (wouldn't let me release) then in the second loop went for CCIP ripple pairs and released all 4 MK-84s... I was coming in at 375kts and started the loop when the CCIP reticle was on target, releasing just past zero distance to waypoint (on HUD) when my angle counter passed 90 degrees... The last MK-84 in the ripple chopped 3 BMPs. Then I thought, let's land on the X and asses the damage... forgetting the two remaining units were hostile and angry for the peculiar deaths of their comrades... What folowed is a dramatic GAU-8 crossfire run on the bastards at 135kts with gear, brakes & flaps out... which I luckily survived... :joystick:

 

So, with time and training one could gain the required skill to hit a target with this method, using ripple release or cluster weapons... :smartass:

 

One thing in the replay that bothers me is, why tha hell did the first two MK-84 release together and the second and third went as it was single ripple??? :dunno:

 

Anyway, the track is attached...

Aries_Over_The_Shoulder.trk

[cichlidfan]

Can't look at the track right now but did you have the third and fourth bombs on pylons 5 and 7? If so that is probably why. You can't drop pairs from those stations due to their proximity to each other.

[SmokeyTheLung]

One of the reasons that this form of bombing was/is used (based on

my very limited understanding) is to be able to stay at low level and deliver weapons without fragging yourself.

It works in the a10 in the sense that you can start your delivery as low as you can fly, and you'll have plenty of time to do a half roll and get out of there.

I'm assuming that the technique was developed for a threat environment that required low level flying, that being said I'm hard pressed to find a situation where I can't get the job done better with some mk 82 airs.

It's a fairly fun for of bombing to play around with though :D

[Avilator]

*** the USAF did train for this kind of stunt with F-100's**,***

 

 

** = if I'm not mistaken. :music_whistling:

 

They certainly did it with F-100s. They even did it with B-47s!!:shocking: