DIVEBOMB

From Battleground Europe Wiki

Currently in works.

Please visit this site for now (NOTE: images are from an early version of game!).

HOW TO PROPERLY DIVEBOMB IN A HEINKEL He-111

contributed by Samalpar

PART 1.... Introduction.

It is very possible and even easy to divebomb in a Heinkel from a 45 degree max angle. Any steeper and your bombs won't drop. Keep that in mind and lets go to the first steps you need to learn how to do this.

(step 1)... KNOW EXACTLY WHERE YOUR HEINKELS NOSE IS.

The Heinkel 111 does not have a pilots crosshair like all other bombers do. Alot of people don't know exactly which way the plane is pointed so it makes it difficult for them to land their bombs accurately.

Well the Heinkel does have a inconspicuous cross hair that most people don't know about. Its called a "Kurszeiger" ("Course Pointer")

(step 2)... HOW TO DROP BOMBS FROM COCKPIT VIEW.

The secret to this is assigning your hotkeys properly....

It is sort of confusing but it will make sense as you see how things work.

In a heinkel, you cannot drop bombs while your flying in pilot view. You can only drop them when your in bombsight view... But we have a way around this.... A proper hotkey setup can allow you to drop bombs directly from pilot view.

Here is how I have my layout setup. I'll only write down the things I have changed.. Everything else is default.

Position 1 Primary keymap (numpad /) secondary keymap (1)

Position 2 Primary keymap (numpad *) secondary keymap (Joystick 1 button 2)

Turret traverse (no primary keymap) secondary keymap(left arrow, right arrow).

Turret elevate (no primary keymap) secondary keymap(down arrow, up arrow).

Use primary weapon joystick 1 button 1

Use secondary weapon joystick 1 button 2

Gunsight view Primary key map (numpad .) secondary keymap (numpad *)

Bombsight speed decreate page down

Bombsight speed increase page up

Bombsight alt decreate end

Bombsight alt increase home

Thats it.

You will notice that some hotkeys are assigned to more than one key.

Your use secondary weapon (which drops bombs) is the same as bombsight view (position 2). This is so that when your flying and you click on your joystick button 2, it will immediately switch to position 2 and drop a bomb.... I usualy spam about 3 bombs, then switch back to position 1 (by clicking my position 1 hotkey which is numpad *) and pull out of dive.

Its realy easy after you get the cadance of it down.

Now you just need to go out and practice... Practice lining up tanks or whatever under that little dash , diving in on them around a 30-45 degree angle ,drop and pull out.. It will take practice but once you get the hang of it you can start taking out 4 tanks a mission.

PART 2. FINDING TARGETS AND USING YOUR BOMBSIGHT AS OPTICS.

One thing I realy love about the heinkel is the bombsight. It can see things as soon as they are drawn into the game. With practice, you will be able to pick out tanks, atgs, and even infantry with the bombsight from pretty vast distance..

The 111 optics are by far the best optics in the game. Take advantage.

(step 1). GET YOUR BOMBSIGHT TO LOOK FORWARDS.

The first thing I do when I login and jump in a heinkel is hit numpad * (bombsight view) then I hold down the page up button and hit numpad / at the same time to go back into cockpit view. This basicaly puts IAS to 483 kph every time you jump in a heinkel. What this does is point the bombsight forward.

But the bombsight is still not pointing forward enough so the next step is to prett the up arrow (turret elevate) and point it up as much as you like. On a steep dive you want the bombsight to be pointing up more so that you can switch between position 1 and 2 (numpad / and numpad *) and see your target easily I do not reccomend moving the turret left or right as its a pain to recal.

You will notice that my hotkeys are set up so that numpad / and numpad * (position 1 and position 2) are set up right next to each other, and if you set up your hotkeys exactly as I did you will also notice that when I am in pilot view as soon as I hit numpad * (bombsight view) it will go directly to looking through the bombsight view... This way you can switch back and forth with ease as you search for your next victim, or lining up.

(step 2) FINDING TARGETS.

I generaly line myself up to where I think there may be tanks and fly in that direction, in auto pilot, while looking through the bombsight for tanks that may pop up. Bigger tanks are easy to see for obvious reasons. Tracers, smoke effects all make it even easier to find the poor saps. Even when they are in decent cover, you should be able to pick them up often.

Once you find the target, line them up and make your bombing run. I usualy start my Search & Destroy patrols at around 800 meters alt. This is a comfortable altitude that allows me to see further into the horizon than I could if I were at a higher alt. I would also note that it is much easier to go tank hunting on a DEFENSIVE objective rather than a AO. With the AO you generaly have too many AA around your targets to be as effective. With a DO, the AA are on your side and you just need to play it smart and not fly into their flak traps....

PART 3. KILLING HIGH VALUE TANKS

At lower tiers, this is where the Heinkel shines. While the entire german army and lw has problems with the heavier tanks like Matty and the CHar, you will tear through them like tin cans.

As you get better with your divebombing, you will notice that your accuracy will become better as well. At t0 you can kill any high value tank simply by being accurate.

Mattys are not indestructable. Nor are Chars. Drop 4 bombs at their location, circle around and if theyre not smoking or flamed, drop the other 4. I have a very high kill rate on mattys and chars with just 4 bombs. You don't even need a direct hit in many instances to see them go up in smoke.

So far this campaign, My he111 has 23 OF 74 heavy tank kills done by all of LW combined. 13 mattildas and 10 chars.

However at T3, you will need to be extremely accurate with shermans, and extremely lucky AND accurate with churchhills.... But thats ok becase our tanks are much better then and can handle these guys.

PART 4. REVERSE RAMMING EA ON YOUR 6.

This is a prelude to the next part of your lesson. By slowing down your heinkel using flaps, cutting throttle, and manuvering a little with roll, you can get many ea to ram into your 6. Of course it is all dependant on the experience of the pilot sitting in the other plane, but you would be surprised how many ea actualy ram you from the rear, destroy themselves and you keep on flying merrily along at 100 kmh.

PART 5. LAST DITCH EFFORT TO KILL EA ON YOUR 6.

NOTE: This should ONLY be attempted when there is NO other alternative. Always try and save your Heinkel, because as more of use start learning its power, there will be fewer to fly....

However.....

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I generaly try and avoid fighters in a heinkel and always try and get a RES (to save your plane)but there comes a time when your slow/crippled heinkel has absolutely no hope of returning home. Its times like this when you should start thinking about taking out the bast*rd who is behind you as well...

This takes practice, but so far this campaign I have 31 EA kills just by dropping my bombs at a low altitude with them directly on my tail, with a respectable .32 K/D ratio vs EA.

The key is to have them close on you quicker than they would like. I find that cuttin throttle and bringing down flaps while flying at a shallow angle towards the deck helps achieve this goal.

A hotkey should be made for position 4 that allows you to check your 6.

With practice and a inexperienced pilot on the other end you should be able to kill them at about a 50 percent rate. Infact, If your going to lose your Bomber without a doubt, and you are not a stat boy, then attempt to take down a EA with you if you can.

Its just a matter of practice... Having them closing on you at a decent rate and dropping the 250s at around 100m alt when the time is right and watching both of you get oblitirated into a bazzilion pieces.... Ofcourse this may be construed as suicide, and if it bothers your moral compass, kill them the good old fashioned way.. The MG's. There are a few very good mg'rs with very good K/d on fighters with the MG's... Reply With Quote

PART 6. THE REALY LAST "DITCH" EFFORT.

If you have been forced to ditch (yes pun) and have lost your plane with all your bombs intact, you can always get a MIA or a RES. Or you can keep on fighting to the last.

Usualy, if I have been forced to ditch on my way to the target, I jump to my top MG position and start firing at any ea I see. The idea is to get them to come and straff you. Once they do this, you can release all 8 bombs (latency will alow you to drop all 8 bombs while on the ground) right before they are over you... And if they are one of those wreckless pilots , then you have yourself a kill (and a death).

Again, if your morale compass is hindered in any way, please feel free to esc/res/mia.

PART 7. LEVEL BOMBING FROM LESS THAN 900 METERS ALT.

For those of you fans of level bombing you will notice that your AGL Alt will only alow you to input 900m or more. You can bypass this limitation by adding KPH to your IAS.

A rough estimate is 50kph added to IAS for every 200m taken off AGL alt.

So if you are level bombing a target at 700m, you would add 50kph to your speed. Generaly when level bombing and going fullspeed wep, you would be around 333kph, so add 50 to it and your IAS should read 388kph and your AGL alt should read 900m. This is especialy usefull when the target is very close to your airfield and you want to rinse and repeat as many times as possible in the quickest amount of time. Drop bombs, fly towards nearest FB and get a RES.

Back to Air force