Thank you Sport for these DCS A-4 tutorials! They're perfect for getting up to date and learning the plane! I also really like the 80s style intro, that's just pure gold
You do know there is a small knob called 'Tracking' that will fix that static roll on your old VHS tapes, also don't place the cassette near any large magnet or bombing range. Thanks for the great tutorials on the A-4. Need more practice in the landing pattern.
ah man, I remember testing that bombing computer. The devs JNelson and Plusnine were incredibly patient and willing to look at and fix any issues I stumbled across. I remember being so amazed at the capabilities of this old school CCRP-like bombing computer. Just enough assistance to be pinpoint accurate, while still requiring pilot skill for lateral accuracy.
I used the then "new" bombing computer only once when flying a new A4Mike. It was tricky to work and when using it it didn't get better hits than we got before when we used our eyeball and manual bombing. I think mine broke and, as I recall, we didn't bother to fix them. It had been a very long time ago, tho. Like 50 years.
I flew the A-4E in SE Asia. We never used a computer release system for standard iron bombs. There was one for special weapons that we seldom used and never in normal bombing missions. We bombed using the Mark One Mod O eyeball.
We who actually flew the Scooter loved the little bird! We got good hits too. It could take a real beating and still fly. I enjoyed bringing it aboard. It was a good little fighter too! Really fun to fly. We wanted them to put a burner on it, but they never did, of course. BTW, later models had a drag chute. You only used it once because you had to repack it yourself. The ground crews refused to do it. That thing was a beast to put back into its canister! They gave you a baseball bat to use to pound the chute back into the canister and it took a long time and a lot of cusing to get it done. We therefore, ignored it and just dropped the hook like we always did if we wanted to stop fast or were landing on a slick/wet runway....like at Naha.
Flying the Skyhawk was a real hotrod and we loved it. I used to call it a transonic Cessna 150. We had one radio and a ADF backup, one transponder and a nice auto gyro (the AJB3). It was a simple airplane. It had a ground avoidance radar that we seldom used. Might on a special night bombing mission, but we didn't have many of those. We used the A6 for stuff like that. That old Intruder was a good, but we thought very ugly airplane. We always said that if an A-6 ran out of bombs you could fly slowly over the enemy and ugly them to death! Terrible way to die.
great tutorial. can't stress how important is is not to be fighting wind, bad trim, or other instabilities in the dive after the roll-in. if you are using the AWRS, be sure you check the kneeboard for details on when the tone clears, it differs depending on drop mode!
Hmmm; trying to recall our preparations for a bombing run. Right after start up we'd check the gun sight to see if it was reading true. We'd put 240 mills in the gun sight drum and then peek over the nose to see where the pipper struck the nose cone. If it was off we'd put that many mills on or off our sight setting. We also switched on the Stabolization Augmentation...aka the StabAug. This fixed the Skyhawks tendancey to dutch roll in the run. We sat the weapons function switch to "Guns and Guided Missles Armed". We didn't turn on the weapons master switch on when we were in the run, or getting ready to shoot the cannons. Our weapons manual that we kept on our knee board helped us compute the gun sight setting. We added 5 mills for each wing tank (I think...it's been a long time!) Anyway the gunsight setting was usually something like 160 mils for 30 degree bombing. We'd usually fly to the target at something like 18,000'. We'd fly abeam the target and when abeam we'd roll 120 degrees and let the nose fall to a 30 degree dive, which looked almost straight down. We'd put the pipper at 6 o'clock on the target and let it run along the ground. We'd time it so that it reached the target at the same instant we hit the release altitude and we'd pickle the bomb button with our thumb. We'd get a tone in our headset and we could feel the bump when the bomb came off. We'd "pickle, pause and pull". We'd apply six 6's and grunt like mad or you'd black out. As it was you'd gray out and you'd roll port (left). Then you'd release the G and roll out going back the other way. Sometimes you'd jink to avoid being shot. We seldom made more than one run. You'd one run, pickle all and get out of Dodge!
Oh, gee I forgot a few things. You had to arm your bombs before you dropped them or they wouldn't go off. You never wanted to stare at the target, which was called "target fixation" or you might fly into it. You did not see your bomb hit. If you were shooting 2.75 rockets which you carried in 7 or 19 shot pods that you carried under your wings you'd not see them hit either. If you were really serious about putting the hurt on someone you fired 5" Zuni rockets which you carried in 4 rocket pods. They were much bigger than the little 2.75s. The Zuni's blasted all the way to the target and were really exciting to shoot. They got good hits too. Sometimes you'd carry four Zuni rocket pods (4@) and you'd shoot one rocket from each pod with one pull of the trigger. So jerk the trigger four times and you'd put a lot of hate and discontent out there! You could also shoot them all with one pull of the trigger, but I didn't think that was as much fun.
Thanks for the bit with the history lesson, I found it really hard to locate any accurate information about the A-4Es bombing computer. As a fairly bad and inexperienced sim pilot, I found the A-4s computer invaluable; it would allow me to deploy dumb bombs with a surprising level of accuracy, all without bombing tables or ultra acccurate/predictable flying. In fact, especially with stuff like MK-20s, the bombing was so easy I wondered if the computer was being gamey and overpowered. But it looks like its indeed a pretty sophisticated and complex system, with more features we didnt even get. For 1966 tech thats amazing. Im looking forward to a more complex implementation of a computer like this with the F-4 Phantom.
Great video, once again. I just love this era of aviation, a lot of new capabilities start to appear, but the technology is still simple and "crude" enough to understand how it works.
Thank you for this video, it helps so much! ! As a new A-4 pilot, i'm fighting with correct trimming of the aircraft on the bomb run. Usually it begins to slide on the left or right, so i compensate this with rudder trim. But this results in aircraft begins to roll slightly! When i compensate this roll with aileron trim, it gives much more roll effect, than you can expect from trimmer... And now is the time to pull up, and i got no time to aim correctly. Any advices about this? Your aircraft is pretty stable in dive run! Maybe there is some tricks with aircraft trimmers?
Predicting the trim necessary to overcome a disruption in coordinated flight comes with time. I've found that you want to start trimming BEFORE your aircraft is making heavy movements. I also find that unless I'm in a crazy crosswind, or dealing with an insanely imbalanced load, rudder trim is typically unnecessary. Trimming starts as a bit of a balancing act mini game, but eventually it'll be so second nature you won't notice you're doing it. Getting good at trimming the aircraft does wonders to help with landing and air refueling as well, so the skill isn't just an unfortunate necessity with aircraft lacking a fly-by-wire stability system, but instead a hugely beneficial skill to master across the board. This is one aspect of flight simulations that unfortunately gets glossed over by newer guys, and it's not stressed nearly enough how important a well trimmed airplane can be by the old folks.
I'm not an A-4 pilot, but I just popped in to see how it works. On your first drop I was actually saying out loud "meh, low-tech but sufficient I guess"...and 3...2....1....smoke marker pouring from perfectly between the milvans. My mouth fell open. Holy hell! That's some bullseye shit right there. Bravo, sir. (tips my hat)
I'm on mouse and keyboard and I can't pull up while holding the weapon release button but I've figured out how to loft / toss bombs with the bombing computer anyway. So what I do is I line up my sight with the target tap down arrow key (pull up) and when the crosshair meets the target I hold weapon release and the plane will keep drifting up, once weapons released, full throttle, get outta there.
I may have missed it, but, does the computer not operate properly above 1500? I ask because I recently discovered in the book Sherman Lead that the hard deck for ground attack in Vietnam was 4500AGL which was an achievable altitude for pop up attacks in the F4-C, according to the author.
Where can I learn more about the other bombing modes not present in the A4 community mod. Also, what bombing mode would the Argentinian A4's used when coming in low level against British ships in the Falklands?
The bomb modes for the A-4E can be found in the 1966 manual, however I don’t think it speaks about specific delivery tactics. As for the Argentinian A-4s, I think they used some manual Bombing and some very low-angle methods. Also, they were using A-4Bs which I’m sure had some differences to our -E model.
The manual has a guide for bombing with snake-eyes, which would be very low similar to the Argentine pilots. The manual says to set the Gunsite Elevation to 160, Fly at 400 feet, 400 knots. I found that you need to have the Weapon Function Selector Switch set to "Bombs & GM ARM". If you have it set to "CMPTR" they wont drop. I found it helpful to set the rad alt warning at 400 feet so the low alt warning goes off when you're at the correct altitude. Also, zoom out the view in cockpit so you can see the airspeed and alt gauges at the same time.
"Any roll or yaw inputs while pulling up" You know how hard it is to keep the A4 level? lmao... The thing just wants to roll. It was born to roll. It can roll so fast it knocks your ass out.
Great question. I believe it follows the same rules as FC3 aircraft, and make sure your engine is shut down, and canopy open when requesting refuel/rearm
is there ANY chance you putting up a LINK toy the Bombing range .MIZ you are useing? as I can not make them..and yours is great on the island easy to find/see :) Thanks !!
The radar is fixed straight ahead and when you press the pickle button, it locks onto whatever it is on the ground where the nose of the airplane is pointed at.
@@hueyfoo any of the slick Mk8x series and the Rockeyes are compatible with the bombing computer. I believe the custom An series of WWII bombs are good to go as well
For dcs references and manuals only. Not looking for irl info. Also i seriously doubt old a4 manuals are still itar after all these years. There are no military forces that still fly them!
