Rameusb5's Bombsight Guide

The first thing to remember about the DB-7/He111 Bombsight is that it really only helps when the bomber is multi-crewed. If you are single-crewing your bomber, I highly suggest you make every attempt to not move the bombsight while you are in position 2. If you move the sight, you could be mislead and miss your target. If you aren't sure if your bombsight has remained centered during your flight, you can make sure by checking the indicators on the sight just before you drop.

OK, so if you're multi-crewing the bomber, the first thing you should do is set the bombsight's speed and altitude to match that of your aircraft. This is done from the Bombardier (position #2).

The best way to do this is to press "~" so that you can see what your bombsights settings are, and then to hit [numpad 0] to view the bombardier's instrument panel (which is the view shown above). Then, use [PgUp], [PgDwn], [Home] and [End] keys to adjust the bombsight settings to match the bomber's current altitude and speed. There are a few things to note when setting these:

1. These need to be set when the aircraft is as close to the target as possible. The aircraft's speed and alt may change before you reach the target, and it's important they're accurate once you're dropping your bombs.
2. The Altitude of the Target itself should be subtracted from your aircraft's altitude when setting the bombsight's ALT. For example, if your plane is at 3000m, but your target is 500m above sea lever, then you should set your bombsite to 2500m.
3. Always use TAS, rather than IAS, when setting your bombsight. The IAS (Indicated Air Speed) will be different at different altitudes, even if your TAS is the same. This is one reason why you want to set the bombsight as close to the target as possible. If you set your bombsight speed when your plane is at 1000m, but the plane then climbs to 3000m over the target, your speed settings for the bombsight will be wrong.

OK, now that the bombsight's settings are correct, the bombardier can now use the bombsight to acquire the target. Basically, he can "aim" the sight in front of the aircraft to find the target, and then indicate to the pilot it's bearing to the aircraft.

In the above picture, the bombardier has acquired the target in the distance by panning the bombsight forward and to the right. By doing this, he has moved the bombsight off center, which is apparent by looking at the bombsight indicator needles (by looking down, which is default [numpad 2]).

This information is also communicated to the pilot via an indicator in the cockpit, shown below:

This indicator tells the pilot that he is off target, and needs to turn the plane to correct course. As the plane turns towards the target, the bombardier should keep the bombsight centered over the target, so that once the plane is aiming in the correct direction, the bombsight will be centered and the pilot will know to straighten it out:

At this time, the bombsight will be centered laterally, but will still probably be aimed too far forward, and must be centered again so that the bombardier will know the proper moment to release the bombs. To center the bombsight, look down at it (default [numpad 2]), and move the joystick until the indicators look like this:

Now, not only will the plane fly over the target, but the bombardier will know the correct time to drop the bombs (Note that in the DB-7, you must remember to open the bomb bay doors first!).

Note that for these types of bombsights, it is critical that the plane remain as level as possible over the target. No sudden changes to the aircraft's speed, pitch, yaw, or altitude should be made, or the bombsight will not be pointing in the correct direction. Note that British Bomber sights have a leveling mechanism which allows for movement in the Yaw or Pitch directions. However, since these will certainly affect the aircraft's speed and altitude, care must be taken not to use too much pitch or yaw over the target.

One of the reasons this can be difficult for the bombardier is because it is tricky to set the bombsight back to the "default" position once the pilot has made the necessary corrections. This is because, currently, the joystick controls for the bombsight are not set to use absolute values. For example, right now, centering the joystick simply means that the bombsight remains fixed to wherever it is currently pointing. I feel that if it were set to behave such that when the joystick is centered, the bombsight would move back to it's "default" position, it would be much easier to use. In particular, joysticks with trim knobs could be used to control the bombsight in a very realistic manner.

Please send all feedback to: tarrif@hotmail.com  Thanks!