Subject: Training Tip "Gunnery and Instinctive Shooting"

Newsgroups: warbirds.training

Guys,

In an effort to keep this section of the board active despite the fact that Outlook Express has once again decided NOT to let me read it <G>, I figured I'd post this info for you to peruse.. If you have any feedback whether pro or con please Email it to me as this is just a big blank newsgroup on my end :)

Gunnery:

A.) People with exceptional gunnery can take advantage of that ability to win fights they might normally lose. The ability to take advantage of that "One Mistake" is critical especially when flying an inferior plane.

1.) Gunnery is a skill...to be "Good" (being able to hit people at range and on severe deflection shots without needing to spray a fire hose of ammo at them) you need to practice. The goal is to teach your mind to visualize the proper lead and be able to put bullets where the bad guy is going, not where he is.

2.) It is critically important to be able to judge the relative motion of the enemy. If you are fairly stable it will greatly aid this determination. Practice judging an enemies movement and firing a 1 second burst with the goal of putting that "stick" of fire in a position where the bad guy will run into it. Think of deflection shooting more as trying to force a collision than trying to hit a moving object.

3.) Observe that standard evasive moves people make...how many times have you seen a Spit make a hard left break into either a climb or a dive? Judge whether he is going up or down and fire a short "ranging" burst toward the place he is going.. Don't let the "Fish Eye" view confuse you either. Often times a zeke or another tight turner will be turning at such a great rate that if he breaks into a max left turn at D10 and holds it you may need to fire to his RIGHT to catch him as he completes his turn in front of you.

4.) One of the toughest to judge is whether a plane in a turn that is coming towards you is still drifting outside his turn, has begun to move into his turn or is at that spot at the apex where he is not changing position in his lift vector at all. When in doubt, fire slightly inside his turn especially if he needs to continue his turn to get guns on you.

5.)Know your armament...some planes like the 109 have a relatively weak "Snap Shot" kill. Others like the Fw190A8 have a phenomenal "Snap Shot". In a 109 you need to be wary of going for a kill shot on a maneuvering target if it means your giving up to much angle. You may very well get some good hits, but it may not be enough to prevent him from continuing and turning the tables.. In the A8, you can often get away with taking the chance for the "Quick Kill" IF and only IF your gunnery is up to par.

B.) Leading the enemy.. 99% of All missed shots on a deflection pass are fired behind the target. One Luftwaffe pilot said "When I look back and see he has his guns "On" me, I am not worried as his rounds will pass behind me. When I see his guns pulling lead I know I am in trouble." Different guns have different velocities, try to use a consistent convergence and let your mind learn the proper lead. Changing settings often requires your mind to relearn the "Right" look you need to achieve success. It takes about 30 practice shots for your mind to instinctively "Know" when things look right.

1.) G Effects Whenever possible "Unload" your plane before firing. Its always better if at least one of your has no G effects to deal with. Try and remove as many variable from the equation and your mind will have a FAR easier calculation.

2.) Targeting When your in close an unobserved try and target "Weak" area's on the enemies plane. Wings and other control surfaces are good targets as is the pilot. Try to focus on one point and destroy it rather than damaging several places by spraying all over his plane.

3.) Range If you get into D3 unobserved keep going...if he isn't maneuvering yet, close until he fills your windscreen than fire everything. Don't rush the shot, tracers going by and a few MG pings are just warnings to him. Make sure when you knock on his door he's dead or crippled before he has a chance to react.

I'll post some more on this later.. for further info try checking out Worr's gunnery lecture on the Warbirds training pages... There are some great resources there..check it out then drop by the training arena and the guys who wrote it can give you the "personal" teaching to really fine tune what you read.

John "Jagr" Tasker

IMOL "Warbirds" Training Staff