How to use escorts in BOB

[cap87]

could you suggest me a proper use of escorts in bob? do you set your 109s in CE and 110 in HE? how many fighters groups do you assign for big size ride?
Im playing the 1940 full campaign and my losses are kind of high, about 2:1 and I`m not even attacking targets too far from the shore...How the heck do you achieve an air superiority of 12? all advises are welcome.

[Hard Sarge]

why would you want your lousy fighter, to be the High Cover ?

for me at least, I put the 110 on close escort, then try to stagger the 109s above them

just me (as a player) I like to try to keep the JGs togeather, so I try to put all parts of the JG on one raid

so, say a raid on Biggin Hill, I send a KG of 88s at 14-15 K (depends on other missions) if early raid, I put 2 Gruppen of 110s on close escort, then put say, the Gruppen of JG 51 at 4000 above it, with the Stab at 6000

if a busy day, I may save the Stabs and put all on the same raid, just to make it look like it has something helping out

but over all, it is still misdirection, you go head on into the defence, you going to get hurt

so saying, put 3-5 raids all into the same space, with a few minutes between them, stagger the Alt, this way they support each other, and do not get the defence all going after one raid

but you really got to get your feel for how you want to do it, from years of forums and posts, I tend to put my fighters higher then most do or like

(which basicly means, I use my bombers as bait)

remember, one raid every two hours, will tire out the defence, but it also, lets the defender put up everything they got, vs one raid

[cap87]

thanks for the tip Hard Sarge, I`ll try that out and let you know if there are any improvements.. One more question, do you you strafe very often enemy airfields? and what do u use for it?

[Hard Sarge]

which game

so saying, yes, I used them, but you also got to count on getting hurt, and when it works it is great, when it is not, it can really hurt

plus I tend to do it different then most (which I will let others figure out what works best for them)

a sweep by itself is worthless, but the timing is importent

it gets there too early and it gets nothing, it hangs around too late, the defending fighters will attack and chase

and like everything else, you can do everything right and get pounded

[cap87]

Could u guys let me know what you think of my results obtained so far im my bod 40 long campaign? I am honestly not too happy with outcome and I believe I have been to soft in thise first 8 turns... also, not sure for what weird reason I failed all my attacks to primary A/F.
Regarding night bombing I think I`m hitting hard but the terror is still 0. Well just tell me if u think I should start over..

[Hard Sarge]

looks a little peaceful

Terror, you going to need 10,000 points to get 1 point of terror, so in BoB it a major project to gain, so you don't really expect to gain lots and lots of Terror points

the Main Airfields you got to hit them, and hit them and hit them, they repair too, you hitting the Industry decent, but you got to hammer the RAF and the main Airfields

[wernerpruckner]

The start of BoB 40 is about reducing the RAF!!
The LW is well rested and on its peak - you need to use this as hard as possible!

[cap87]

I dont know what`s wrong with my bombers or perhaps with my self, but I`ve been trying to knock down a bunch of primary airports with several raids at an average altitude of 21000ft and the result was a mere 19% in just one of them, all the others are simply unscratched. This is going on for 3 in game days now. Have I been just real unlucky or what?

[Hard Sarge]

drop your alt down, those mediums don't have norten bombsites, and they don't have very large payloads

drop to 14-17 K

[cap87]

but didnt they have the lofte3d? I heard was as good as the norten..but might be wrong

[Hard Sarge]

well, to be honest, as top secert as the Norton was, and all the stuff they had to do to protect it, the Germans had the Norton, i think it was late 41, early 42

but they had it after BoB

besides, have you ever seen any of the film clips of the 111 dropping bombs ?, it was surprising that they hit as much as they did

but, believe me, drop down some

[sven6345789]

I tend to redeploy my fighters quickly; all Bf 109 go to Pas de Calais, all Bf 110 to Contentin. generally get about 3-4 raids out, with one staffel flying close escort and the others in 2000 feet intervalls above to about + 8000- + 10000. Even when only escorting with Bf 110, i still come out on top. i keep the Stukas at home first, might be useful later; lots of recon at primary and secondary airfields. Erprobungsgruppe 210 is for hitting airfields close by at an altitude of about 7000; it is above the Bofors flak, but still low enough to rake up some damage.
i keep my fliegerkorps together. Luftflotte 5 is emptied of units later on (they go into the understrength 1st Fliegerkorps).
I concentrate on attacking the primary airfields of No. 11 Group.

Question regarding the 1941 Campaign. How far into England do the Bf 109 with Droptank and the Fw 190 reach?

[kitridge]

ORIGINAL: sven6345789
Question regarding the 1941 Campaign. How far into England do the Bf 109 with Droptank and the Fw 190 reach?

Just from my personal experience, I've been strafed up at Wittering in 12 group and the 109's/Italian fighters had enough juice left to stay on station and pounce a landing squadron of Spits. They definitely have the longer legs this time around.

[kitridge]

As to the original question, I use the delay option more than layering at higher altitudes to protect my bombers. I like to put my 110's on close escort with 0 delay, have some 109's meet the formation at the english coast, again over the target, and again halfway home. These 109's tend to always be at 3000 feet above the raid the reasoning being that if the Hurricanes are coming to bounce bombers, they tend to be 1-2000 feet above the stream. I don't want my 109's having to move very far to get a few kills.

The delay seems to be the killer for me... The Brit fighters turn blue really quickly especially after a long day of flying and head for home; that's when I get most of my kills. Like Sven, I stick with 11 group within the range of my fighters and focus on slowly grinding down the RAF with persistent airfield raids and superior pilots/planes.

[cap87]

How about now? is it going any better? I managed to open a corridor free of radar right in the middle Uk but honestly I am not sure how to get advantage of the situation. I mean, I tried to send a couple of stukas groups they both got nailed even though there were no fighter patrols or radar coverage. Plus all my other bombers they still suck at bombing primary airfields and I always set them to a average alt of 15000ft.
Last issue... I lose way too many fighters... the loss ratio is often around 2:1, sometime 1:1 but so far it`s never been to my advantage. Any other advises? tnks

[anarchyintheuk]

Scattershooting:

Try heavy recon of the targets for a couple of days prior to the attacks and just after the attacks.

If your planes aren't effective at 15k, lower them to 12k. Just make sure you route them away from flak concentrations on the way to the targets.

What has the weather been like over the targets during the raids?

Are you picking experienced lead bombers?

Even w/ radar out, there are still ground observers informing FC of raids.

Keep experimenting w/ how you arrange your escort, especially your high cover units. Have the best experienced/equipped units in the best position.