Firing rockets question

[Honza]

Can an aircraft fire bullets or a second rocket load after the second movement of the fire sequence, which means during the fire step the rockets are meant to hit the target?

I'd guess it cannot because the special damage condition applies for the second fire phase also.
However i can't see a clear word in the rules.

My understanding is, that the pilot pressed "le button" and then he had no control over the rest of the procedure except from flying straight (actually diving in 45° angle) towards the target, as the rockets were launchig in a semi random manner. So i can't see why he couldn't spray the balloon with bullets also.

[Honza]

I asked Andrea himself and - you can fire bullets during the second fire phase. You will miss if you receive special damage during either of the two fire phases (this part actually is in the rulebook).

[Spoonfrog]

This was discussed 10 years ago!

https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...hlight=Rockets

[Honza]

I must have missed it.

[Flying Helmut]

I must have missed it.

You must have received Special Damage in either of the two fire phases!

[Honza]

You must have received Special Damage in either of the two fire phases!

[OldGuy59]

One of the things I consider in firing rockets, and the procedure seems to follow it, is that there is a sequence to launching rockets/missiles.

The requirement that the target remain in the firing arc of the launching plane is important. Initiating the launch and having the rockets start their burn happens in the first phase. The rockets develop momentum, come out of the tubes, and travel to the target on the second phase. It is necessary that the plane maintain a stable launch trajectory during this process, to ensure any hits. This is part of why special damage during either of the two phases will mess up the shot.

Firing machine guns during the second phase is possible, but if the pilot changes the aim point (IE: shoots at anything other than the rocket target), the rockets should miss. This would be because the pilot must change the attitude of the plane to aim the guns, thereby disturbing the attitude of the launch tubes.

Just my view of how the game should play vs real life.

[Honza]

That’s how i see it Mike.

By the way why did they launch the rockets in such big intervals (2s)? So the airplane won’t stall?

[Spoonfrog]

That’s how i see it Mike.

By the way why did they launch the rockets in such big intervals (2s)? So the airplane won’t stall?

I think this question was already answered...

Initiating the launch and having the rockets start their burn happens in the first phase. The rockets develop momentum, come out of the tubes, and travel to the target on the second phase. It is necessary that the plane maintain a stable launch trajectory during this process, to ensure any hits.

It was not that they chose this delay, it was inherent in the technology used at the time.

[OldGuy59]

Two seconds is not a long time, in rocket motors. Firing missiles now is not anything like shown in movies and TV.

For most short-range missiles, almost all the propelant is burned while the missile is on the rail. All that burning is to develop the energy to overcome the current inertial and get up to speed to accelerate to the target. Then, some small amount burns as the missle heads to the target.

The movie images of the missile burning fuel and maneuvering like crazy is all fiction. This is why a target, given any warning, and at the limit of the missile's range, can outmaneuver a missile.

Long-range, or multi-stage, missiles are different. But we are talking WWI.

[Spoonfrog]

From Wikipedia:

The Le Prieur rocket was essentially a cardboard tube filled with 200 grams of black powder with a wooden conical head attached (by doped paper or linen tape) and had a triangular knife blade inserted in a slot across its apex forming a spear point. A square-section wooden stick (usually pine) was taped to the fish with about 3.0 metres (9.8 feet) extending back from the base of the rocket and fitted snugly into a launch tube attached to the aircraft inter-plane struts...

Attacks were made in the direction of the length of the balloon and against the wind, the pilot taking aim via the plane's existing gun-sight. However, the ignition and discharge of each rocket did not occur immediately and a delay varied slightly from one rocket to another. Thus the pilot had to continue to hold the target in his gun-sight and the dive continued until the last rocket discharged.

It sounds like they were basically like the fireworks we have today ..

[Killer Moth]

Were planes capable of only firing half of their rockets, at a time, like the game allows them to? My understanding is that when a pilot flipped the ignition switch, it engaged all of the rockets; there was no alternative.

[Honza]

I'd say it is a good idea to install two independent circuits of sufficient destructive power in case one of them fails. But i am also curious.

[Honza]

I think this question was already answered....

Was it? Me no see.

[Killer Moth]

"The rockets were fired simultaneously by means of an electric contact switch" (Tucker, 2014, p. 952).

Tucker, S. (Ed.). (2014). World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. ABC-CLIO. https://www.google.com/books/edition...J?hl=en&gbpv=0.

[monse]

1- “To start the rocket sequence, the target must be in your front arc and within a ruler distance.”
> Is the range from the center of the plane base to the edge of the balloon base ?
> Can you place the ruler in front of the airplane to check if the range is correct and then announce the firing of the rockets ? (just as checking the range when firing with machine gun)

2- Shall we announce to the other players the firing of the rockets after the first straight / stall / dive maneuver ?

3- Is there in the files section a diagram of the rockets firing as the ones concerning the bombing sequence ?

https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/do...o=file&id=1285