ik Jagdgeschwader 77 posted 01-22-99 09:03 PM ET (US)        

Just thought i'd let you all know that -wulf- (wulfie) has ran up a incredible gunnery % this ToD. 53%!

wulf, how'd you do it man? I know the 190 is one of the more difficult ac in which to have a high gunnery %. Any philosophies to help us? Any mantras we can repeat to ourselves as we're about to fire?

Do you have that "special" knack for gunnery or do you get really, really close?

(though i dont know how to get really, really close in the 190, that's why i thought i had the guns!)

Tschüß

ik

"I fly close to my man, aim well, and then he falls down." -Oswald Boelcke

Red Ant posted 01-23-99 01:41 AM ET (US)            

From my experience fighting wulfie in the MA & the P&D arenas, the man has an INCREDIBLE shooting eye! In our duels the thing that stood out most for me was the fact that ANY shooting opportunity for wulfie resulted in vital parts falling off my airframe, or more often a bullet in the head. Neither of us gave each other any easy shots, but where i blew most of my fleeting difficult shooting opportunities, he made every fleeting 90degree deflection shot into a killing one!

Salute, wulfie!

Red Ant

WB: redant

CO, VVS Tres Equis =XXX=

funked posted 01-23-99 03:32 AM ET (US)            

Yeah he ripped my B-17 a new errr uhh exhaust pipe with a P-47 tonight. He startled me so much on his first pass that I spun the plane avoiding him! But on the second pass I was in the Norden, and he got it over with QUICKLY.

Funked Up

=925 CABS=

Olli posted 01-23-99 03:43 AM ET (US)            

WTG wulf!!

btw, thanks for your opinions about the "teamwork" of JG3 ;-)

-olli- I/JG3

ik Jagdgeschwader 77 posted 01-23-99 04:39 AM ET (US)            

hehe redant, actually i have had the same experience vs wulfie. When he shoots he kills. I guess it's that simple

Xbuk posted 01-23-99 04:48 AM ET (US)            

This is an amazing display of accuracy!

I can not compute this.

-X-buk -=BS=- BYA

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cauldron/2599/xbuk-top10.htm

Ram1 posted 01-24-99 08:33 AM ET (US)            

Just one question. Is this air-air gunnery only or does it include straffing of ground targets?

If its air-air only, then it is quite remarkable, wulf's ISP connect must be rock solid and the guys he shoots never bounce around.

Congrats wulf and maybe you could share a secret or two on how you keep that accuracy so high.

=raml=

Pjmy posted 01-24-99 09:50 AM ET (US)            

Gotta be some strafing going on there fer sure!

Pjmy

Yeager posted 01-24-99 01:27 PM ET (US)            

After a merciless butchering by -wulf-, which resulted in my losing a decent streak, I have decided to place -wulf- on *Yeagers Top ten most wanted list*!!!

Yeager *always* get his man!

Congrats -wulf-

I am now soliciting any and all pertinent

data on -wulf- for inclusion into the *Top ten most wanted data bank*...

Please forward all pertinent data to:

tallyhoe@gte.net

Thanks

Yeager

wulf posted 01-24-99 06:15 PM ET (US)            

Strafing does not count towards accuracy anymore in WB.

I had a great teacher when it comes to air to air gunnery - a real life fighter pilot who was a big gunnery stud in squadron competitions. As a result, I got some good 'theory' during my lessons.

Remember - if your aircraft is pulling few or no Gs when you make a high deflection shot, the only factor when it comes to landing hits is timing. Try to fly several seconds ahead of your opponent - so when the time comes to shoot your aircraft is not pulling many Gs and you only need minor corrections before you shoot.

Also, when practicing or making crazy high G high deflection shots in the MA, don't just hose away at first. They say it takes 21 successful repetitions for the brain to learn a reflex attached to a visual image. In other words, say you are making a shot at an enemy aircraft at your high 12, while you are at 200 KMH IAS and in a 90 degree climb. The enemy is at the top of a loop, range d4, speed 120 KMH IAS, at your high 12. If you put out a constant hose of fire, you will get hits. But you will never 'see' the exact lead that it took to score those hits. All the tracers you are throwing out along with all the other visual distractions will prevent this. So if you are *practicing* your high deflection gunnery/very tough shots, fire in short bursts. Fire, observe, adjust, fire. There are many many different speed/angle combinations to learn - so much that listing them makes no sense. If you want to improve your gunnery...fly in the MA, take the hard/crazy/tough shots, but remember to fire in short bursts then adjust. That way, you learn the 'look' of the lead/deflection you need to land hits on a tough shot.

I hope I'm making sense. This is much easier to describe in person.

If you do all this long enough, maybe someday you will become a =drex= (as far as shooting goes). 8)

His % may 'only be in the mid 20s' but he knows all the defelctions he could possibly come across, and when he pulls lead he really locks down on the trigger. The end result of this is that he usually doesn't have to make a second pass on an enemy. He's giving up 10% on his accuracy to make *sure* the target dies instantly. Sounds like an okay trade to me. 8)

Eagl was right on - gunnery % should be compared with kills/sortie and hits/kill (I count assists as 1/3 a kill when I track my own hits/kill...I usually hammer things pretty well on a gun pass). Also, aircraft type does matter...about 1/4 of those sorties on xbuk's chart were in a Bf 109F-4 - all nose guns packed tight together. This probably gives me 3-4 % points right away (the rest of the sorties were either Bf 109E-4 or Fw 190A-4 sorties).

If you are trying to improve your gunnery, only fire when you think/know almost all of your shells will hit. Once you can do this at any angle/speed at close ranges, then start increasing the range at which you fire. Spraying away may get the kill, and is a very very reasonable thing to do in a historical/realistic situation...like if you are flying a P-47C (lots of guns, plenty of ammunition) in Operation Pointblank. But if you practice hard and use some restraint (i.e. short bursts, observe between them

etc.) when you are in the Main Arena (the ultimate training ground), your 'spraying' will be far more lethal when it counts/when you need it to be.

------------------

Mike ('-wulf-', 2./JG 14)

Ram1 posted 01-24-99 07:14 PM ET (US)            

Wulf:

Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't realize strafing ground targets didn't count in gunnery % if you are in a fighter. I don't remember that being changed so thanks for the input and thanks for the tips.

53% is just phenomenal shooting.

=raml=

ik Jagdgeschwader 77 posted 01-24-99 08:41 PM ET (US)            

I knew strafing didnt count towards gunnery when i posted this. That's why i was so amazed! Those are good tips wulfie, thank you.

Tschüß

ik

"I fly close to my man, aim well, and then he falls down." -Oswald Boelcke

Inet posted 01-25-99 05:04 AM ET (US)            

congrats on the gunnery wulfie. Incredible performance.

One question, when in the a4 did you fire cannons only?

on the drex issue, have to add my 2 cents. I looked over his shoulder at the 2vs2 against vila/worr at last years con. Drex took a hard lead turn on vila, so hard that vila was out of his 12o view, pulled the trigger for a short burst and almost all bullets hit home.

So much for drex, he is evil...

Inet

II. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet"