Bomber Loads
Hi everyone!
I had been poking around the Flight of the Giants rule book and I was wondering if you guys had some kind of default number of bombs that yo use? Also, some average bomb weights in WWI would be useful; or if you can give the average real-life number of bombs carried.
Thanks,
Hunter
Last edited by Aero825; 02-12-2011 at 05:44.
There is some info on this thread: http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...2525-WWI-Bombs
The things I have read about the Capronis and 0/100 and 0/400 was that they tended to drop their entire load at once and get out of the archi as soon as was possible. I don't have any real knowledge on the German bombers.
The 0/400 carried about a ton (2000lbs) of bombs and 4-5 Vickers machine guns
The 0/100 (visually very similar to the 0/400, had less powerful engines) carried 3/4 ton of bombs (1750lbs) and 4 or 5 MG.
Both planes at times carried more or less fuel and machine guns in order to tote up more bombs.
The Caproni C2 carried less of a load (2 MG, dunno bomb tonnage, but I have read between 1000 and 1500lbs), and had horribly unreliable engines (especially the ones sold to the US, which were using different engines then the Italian flown planes).
I don't know much about the C1 or C3, though I would imagine the C1 carried a bit less then the C2, and the C3 carried about what the 0/100 carried.
Zach
Useful info, thanks. But what do you use?
It's hard to come up with a typical number, as bomb weights were massively variable - a full load might be two 500 pounders, eight 112 pounders, or an awful lot of 20s.... For a few German examples, loads carried by the "England squadron" included:
Zeppelin Staaken R.VI with a dozen or more 50kg, 2-3x 300kg, or 1x 1000 kg bomb - as the campaign developed the single one-tonner seems to have become the preferred load.
Gotha G IV with between 3 and 7x 50kg bomb.
12.5 kg fragmentation bombs were often carried by the Gothas too - these were often used to "get their eye in" before dropping the heavies - German bomb dropping was one or two at a time, often over several minutes - a single bomber could drop bombs over several miles. If I had to guess at a typical load I'd say 4x 12.5 and 4 or 5x 50.
Bear in mind that these were operating towards the limit of their range for the Gothas in particular - aircraft operating over the front could often carry more - typically 500kg for Gothas. (Oh and if you want to do the first ever bombing raid against England you need an FF29 seaplane and 4x 2kg bombs....)
(The above deliberately excludes incendiaries, which were dropped by the crate, being only 4.5 - 5kg for most types, and a single kilo for the highly effective elektron (magnesium alloy....) bomb- if the planned fire bombing raids of very late 1918 had gone ahead the Gothas would've been dropping 300 or more per sortie and the Staakens a thousand or so, which might not have been too pleasant....)
Hunter,Originally Posted by Aero825
To answer your question...we usually use any where from 2 to 4 bomb "loads"...the loads can be dropped as 1 load of 2 bombs or 2 loads of x number bombs. Keep in mind that at this scale (game wise thatis), you probably can only make 1 or 2 passes to drop your load before all heck breaks loose and you need to get back to base. So, for example, say your mission is to bomb a rail station (or factory or whatever). If you drop 2 loads of bombs on your 1st pass...maybe one of those 2 loads may be a dud!...on your 2nd pass (if your still alive) your 2nd load might be 100 percent effective. To destroy the target, the scenario might cal for a 50 percent success rate of 4 bombs (that would be 2 loads)...if you miss your target, but come close...say on target card but off from the red-dot...you need 75 percent of your bombs to successfully explode. To determine effectiveness of the bombs in each load, you can roll a die or pull a card or whatever is agreed upon up front...Hope that answers your question!
Hunter.
You really need to get hold of the book "First Blitz" if you can. It is nearly as informative as Dom, but also contains some pictures of the planes, plus a chart showing where each bomb dropped in and around London.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Where do you think my info came from Rob...?. Excellent book....
I had a vague idea that it might have done Dom.Where do you think my info came from Rob...?
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Which "First Blitz" lads, Neil Hanson or Andrew Hyde?? Mind you, I have neither so a trip to Amazon might be in order. However I will await your recommendation.
Neil Hanson, Bob.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Thank you Robs, Order has just been made.
I hope our good wing commader gets his commision from Amazon
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
Hunter, the Brequet 14 B2 w/300 hp Renault 12Fcx engine carried a 355kg bomb load of 32 115mm bombs or equivalent. meanwhile the Brequet 14 A2 recon w/310 hp Renault 12Fcy engine carried 4 120mm bombs. The French built Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 1B1 single seat bomber w/135hp Clerget 9Ba engine carried 150kg of bombs. The French built Caproni 5 were configured to carry 2 75kg and 9 25kg bombs. If you want any more info on French bombers let me know. John
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