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DBS -> Tips on Allied night bombing (9/24/2009 8:07:46 PM)
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Culled together from a thread in the general area: I will try to edit into this top post cut and pastes from various people, to save having to trawl through longer threads. Some may appear contradictory - eg TechSgt and I differ on the utility of the Mosquito pathfinders. Take your pick - we are probably both right [:D]
First up, a splendid overall strategy from KayBayRay for use vs AI:
I organize my strikes into 4 phases. Seduction, Distraction & Disruption, Strike, and finally Withdraw. I will describe the basic strategy of each phase and will follow up with some screenies of actual missions to describe better what and how.
Seduction Phase: Mission Time 00:00 minutes
This is my Strike Opener. Stream in ECM AC with accompanying Night Fighters to cover and interdict Luftwaffe Night Interceptors. In this phase I draw LW assets away from the region of the nights target cities. This group of AC also include Night Fighters that maintain a CAP over Airfields either suspected to or confirmed to operate NJG AC. I also include ECM AC to shut down Radar in the vicinity of my strike. I want to get all of these assets in place before my strike force moves in. I also want to draw up the maximum Luftwaffe assets at this early point of my strike that I can and seduce them away from the strike.
Distraction & Disruption Phase: Mission Time + 15:00 to 30:00 minutes
In this phase all my ECM birds to distract NJG AC are in place in regions of a proximity of the strike area to pull assets from the strike region to the ECM AC and keep them pinned there. I also attach Night Fighters to the locations of these ECM AC to interdict the NJG interceptors as they attempt to engage my ECM Distraction AC. I also station ECM birds over every single Radar site that has any Radar coverage of the Target Region or the path into it taken by my Strike Force. At this time I also have Night Fighters capping NJG Airfields. I maintain an overlap of these AC over the airfields so that I don’t lose my interdiction capability at these airfields during any portion of the strike. This also allows me to capitalize on an increased odds ratio when individual Luftwaffe AC RTB against my orbiting Night Fighters.
Strike Phase: Mission Time + 30:00 to 45:00 minutes
In this phase I path my Bombers to their target cities. I select cities that are in the same region but have significant separation between other target cities. Typically 4-6 target cities are selected for a strike with a approximately a total strike force of 100 AC allocated to each target city. I don’t want my strike to be confused and water down the strike. I have used the Mossy Pathfinders as recommended by many in the past but my results show that… no offense guys but they couldn’t hit a bull elephant in a volkswagon beetle with a hockey stick. They tend to soak off their attacks in small groups some hitting the target and some hitting Aunties Garden. My best results have been from using straight up Line Squadrons with higher Experience and Morale. Perhaps just the unit selection I am using for the Mossy’s but that is what I have found. During this phase my Night Fighters start to get kills as many of the NJG AC are either low on fuel or damaged and must RTB.
Withdraw Phase: Mission Time + 60:00 to 75:00 minutes
In this phase I try to collapse my overall strike and concentrate them into a major withdraw stream. To facilitate this phase I must carefully orchestrate the flight paths of the Stike Groups to and from their individual target city such that they have completed their strikes and return to the main stream path of withdraw in the general formation I want them to exit the region in. I maintain my cap over NJG airfields with my Night Fighters during this phase as this is where I generally yield most of my kills of NJG AC.
Typical results from this strategy net me <5 AC lost and >25 enemy AC destroyed with the target cities taking 30-50% Urban Damage. As I run more strikes and learn more I will update my strategy. So this may not work as well later on in the war as it is at this time. But then once I can field decent long range escort AC I will be able to do more than hurl threats and bad language at the Reich with my Daylight formations and this may help the situation. We will see.
Additional points from others
Target Selection and using Pathfinders:
Use your pathfinders to lead the way and attack only undamaged cities or some high value industries inside cities. [Swift]
For major cities, zoom in and flick back and forth between normal target view and urban view. Most factories sit on the edge or outside of the urban circles. But for the larger cities, some factories are inside the circle; classic example is Krupps at Essen. So if you are going for Essen, I will send 5 Group (given priority by me for upgrading to Lanc IIIs with H2S), with 105 or 109 Sqn providing Oboe marking, to attack Krupps. The Pathfinder Lancs will lead No1 Group against another factory in the circle, again with Oboe marking, whilst the Halifaxes of 4 and 6 Groups go for Essen railyard. As a result, you hopefully end up with three points of concentration within the circle, two of which happen to be generating both industrial and terror points. [DBS]
Always remember the range limitation of Oboe - 105 and 109 Sqns will provide great marking over the Ruhr, but will probably do more harm than good by scattering markers over out-of-range targets further east. [DBS]
At the start of the 43 campaign you have 139 Squadron flying Mossie BIVs but without Oboe. They are not going to be very accurate, but are a useful decoy force. So if the Main Force is visiting Essen tonight, send 139 off to Kiel or Wilhelmshaven on a Siren Tour. You will later get additional squadrons in the Light Night Striking Force which can be used in a similar manner. [DBS]
I generally don't use Mossie Pathfinders anymore. Instead, Mossies fly every night to Berlin, Hamburg, and/or Frankfurt at 33K alt. The AI will always chase these Squadrons. A Human won't, but as you enter the second half of '44 these unstoppable attacks are doing some real damage. [TechSgt]
Style of attack:
You effectively have two options for plotting attacks. One is the stream: plot a lead squadron, preferably one with H2S, and then add others to that raid. At one extreme, this could be the entire Main Force as a single massive stream. The advantage is that, against a large urban target, you tend to get a certain spread of bombing, historically known as "Creep Back" in BC, causing damage over a wider area and thus giving better terror points. The disadvantage is that you perhaps get a higher percentage falling in open areas to no effect. The second option is to plot each squadron as a separate raid, starting with the Pathfinders or H2S squadrons. This seems to produce a greater concentration of accuracy - great for industrial targets and small towns but less effective on large urban areas, where one small section simply suffers massive overkill. Personally I tend to use this method, but probably do so too much. [DBS]
Fly as high as possible. Send Mossie BIVs in at 24k; Lancs and Halibags at 20k; Wimpeys at 15k. Be careful with Stirlings - they haul a good load but are vulnerable to flak given their lack of altitude. There are plenty of targets you can still use them against until such time as you have enough Lancs to upgrade the squadrons - eg small industrial targets in the Low Countries, smaller western German towns such as Emden, Wesel, Rheine, etc. I often use them as a diversionary force - sent on a short haul to the north a little while before the Main Force bores in on the Ruhr. Ditto the odd squadrons of Wimpeys - as a house rule I always keep the Polish BC squadron in Wimpeys, since they struggled in real life to find sufficient crewmembers for the larger aircraft. [DBS]
My BC SOP (late '44): 4 raids per city, 3 raids consist of 1 lead & 3 followers per raid, attacking city center. 1 raid is the two highest experience Squadrons, attacking the city's most important industry. Timing is for all raids to approach on a different bearing, and TOT is the same. Note: By this time all units, except for a few 205 Group Squadrons are H2S. If you are certain there is no 37mm Flak, bombing at 6 - 7.5K works well. Be very certain about the flak! [TechSgt]
Use of Night Intruders:
Either hover near/above enemy NF bases with single A/C missions or use them as stream as diversion - "Window" makes each single a/c look like a bomber box. [Swift]
"The best defence against German Night Fighters... inexperienced German Night Fighter Pilots!" My highest scoring pilots are Moss NF XIII pilots. [TechSgt]
Use of RCM support:
You "only" have Wellington and Mosquito ECM/RCM - for the Axis side each single ECM/RCM A/C looks like a whole bomber box (and has also a cruising speed like a bomber box) - use this for minimizing your losses. [Swift]
as mentioned above by Swift, the only "RCM" aircraft available at the start of the 1943 Full Campaign are actually not true RCM aircraft but Elint ferrets - Wellingtons and Mosquitos. So they do not jam radars. But, thanks to Window dispensers they do appear as a full squadron and so can lure nightfighters away from the Main Force. They may even get lucky and pick up elint data that will help advance RCM development. [DBS]
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