# TLDR Why: 

# I am a fighter/interceptor main, having played since 2014. I survived the first wave of these DMs with ease. You will too. Do some trial and error, use the mission editor and test flights, and see what works. Everyone deserves to have fun in this game. These poor folks have basically been unable to play their favorite aircraft for over 11 years now. Give it a chance, and play smart before taking to the forums to complain, doubly so if you plan on just sitting behind a B-17 until you get predictably sniped. Lastly, please read this post and it's recommendations in their entirety before offering criticism. The below notes are accumulated from my (and my friends) personal experiences all that time ago, compiled shortly before and after the initial DM nerfs. They are here to assist you, particularly if you are a newer player that never saw the previous DMs firsthand. 

# HOW-TO FOR FIGHTERS/INTERCEPTORS

Linked video for fellow fighters on historical tactics and recommended attack angles to successfully attack heavy bombers. When bombers used to be pretty tough before 2015, I had collected some old combat reports indicating most successful attack angles. Often, these reports were given to ground crew personnel as well so as to train for and anticipate common and severe damage that required repair during routine overhauls. 

# Below I will recommend attack angles on a score of 1 to 5. 

# 5 being most survivable and inflicting the most damage as a general rule, 1 being most ineffective and dangerous to you, the attacking aircraft.

**Profile/90 degrees to the side**

**Score: 3**

Notes: narrow profile, so many rounds will miss. Thickness of wings can block and protect engine nacelles from your fire. Still a decent attack angle due to low vulnerability to gunners.

**Directly ahead/0 degrees to the front**

**Score: 4**

Notes: all components very vulnerable, including cockpit. Only thing preventing a score of 5 is that manually aimed gunners can easily and accurate fire for a couple seconds before you peel away or fly past, making you slightly vulnerable.

**Directly above/below:**

**Score: 3.5**

Notes: Same difficulty for the bomber re gunners, but the profile of the bomber is much easier to hit. You must be careful to lead the target and discipline yourself in not pursuing by tailing the plane after your initial approach. Doing so puts you in easy reach of tail gunners.

**45 degree angle at nearly equal alt**

**Score: 4.5**

Notes: Approaching at a slightly different alt greatly complicates the bomber leading you with manual gunners. 45 degrees also makes the engines, cockpit, and control surfaces all easily subject to damage.

**30-45 degrees from above/below (head on)**

**Score: 4**

Notes: Less time for you to fire if diving, more time if climbing. Engines and control surfaces vulnerable, though vertical stabilizers are pretty shielded/narrow. A bomber pilot skilled in manual gunnery can still get you with a bit of practice, especially if you're climbing to meet them.

**45 degrees from behind**

**Score: 2.5**

Notes: Good for damaging fuel tanks, oil lines, and eliminating crew. With how the new DM appears, it might be less effective now. You must strictly use this as a brief opportunity to strafe and peel off. Failure to do so makes you an easy target for the tail gun. 

**Directly behind**

**Score: 1**

Notes: This is the worst angle to attack. You have more time to aim but you are an easy target, and the bomber still presents the second smallest profile to any attack besides the 90 degree side approach. Its engines are shielded by the rear of the wings and the pilots are clear on the other side of the airframe. Rounds might also be deflected from the angle of the wing's trailing edge, and Minegeschoss will often detonate too far behind most structural components to cause swift damage. 

# Recommended loadouts

I cut my teeth with the BF 109-G6 and FW 190-D13. As a general rule, if your German fighter has the option of equipping a 30mm in the nose gun, do it. If you have the option for pods, always go 20mm. These serve as a back up in case you encounter fighters or need to soften up a bomber on a few passes before going in for the kill. As a general rule, 7.7 and 7.92mm won't do much unless you target the cockpit. On current bombers this is already somewhat the case. 13mm MGs on German aircraft have quite poor punch and muzzle velocity, so don't count on them doing much either. 

If you're attacking with a Japanese aircraft, I cannot reiterate enough that you can't fight a sustained close quarters fight. You are made of gas, so don't be surprised when it goes up like a lighter. Your cannons are most effective against the crew, so going for the cockpit and the engines repetitively is your best bet.

If you're attacking with light MGs of any sort without any cannons, same goes for you. Engines and cockpit are best. Note that bombers like the B-17s get EFS though. So multiple hits are needed to light permanent fires unless you are lucky enough to get a fuel fire. Even then, the bomber cutting throttle and diving can occasionally put these out, but as they do this structural fatigue can end them too, so they still have to be careful.

I cannot give recommendations on the more mixed modern meta, as RB was much more strictly historically based at the time and so not all nations saw major 4 engines heavies on enemy teams often.

# Disclaimers:

These tactics are not guaranteed. Skill is the biggest variable here, both on your part as the attacker and the skill of the bomber player when operating the guns. There is also such a thing as blind luck, so if you die when trying one attack, it might have been a fluke. Anything's possible. This primitive guide merely serves as recommendations, not a guarantee. Lastly, bombers can maneuver. They often don't, likely due to being resigned to their fate, but that might change. Your fight might be tougher if your opponent can change/limit your avenues of attack by narrowing his profile, turning away, diving out of reach/into cloud cover, etc.

# Evasive Tips For Bombers

# [Old 666 and Active Maneuvers](https://youtu.be/6Im086TCu3I?si=8CN9u0_JeAs9408g)

You have controls. Use them to limit the angles by which enemy aircraft can approach or attack you. This did work on occasions where bombers were alone and forced to fly evasively. However, you can't just maneuver. The days of skill-less ai gunners are long gone. Once you present the smallest attack angle, you must fire your guns manually. As a general rule, 50 cals and above can get consistent hits out to .9km. Smaller guns as are on the early British bombers up through the first Lancaster see their effective range drop off to .75km at the far edge of hittable range due to large dispersion. Most of those shots will not land consistently until within .55km. 

Regardless of your defensive armament, you must always fire at attacking aircraft. While there is a small chance of shooting them down, your goal is merely to keep them at bay and drive them off. An orange engine, oil leak, coolant leak, missing aileron, or even just any hit at all can buy you precious time by forcing an attacker to peel off. 

You can use that time to dive away, run to friendlies, or get in one lat bomb drop. 

Just be warned: Don't hold down the trigger. As a general rule, fire in 3-4 second bursts so your guns don't overheat.  Once they do, they take forever to reload. 

# General Observations

These planes have gone through quite the ringer. I hope eventually they have occupy a better place in the game. That being said, I want to add a final note for my fellow interceptors/fighters: 

Yes, these bombers are much more tanky than their irl counterparts, regardless of what many fans of American heavy bombers would love to think. That being said, you are also much more accurate than irl pilots tasked with shooting these down. It only makes sense, in the interest of balance for the entirety of the available tech trees, that these larger aircraft be made tougher to compensate for the advantages that fighters have seen the fruits of for over a decade now.

Let's up for a more equal playing field in the next update, and good luck in the skies - whatever you tend to fly!

o7

How to shoot down Bombers