how to shoot down planes with guns?

[mellow]

i can never do it :( like somtimes im close and im sure im getting lots of hits but its like it does nothing, but i can shoot them down with cannons easy

[putmer]

if its nose mounted mg's like the 109's, just hold the trigger down and aim as best as you can for the engine, pilot, and fuel tanks . if its wing mounted like the hurricanes or spits, same deal but try a gun convergence of around 120-200. that convergence on wing mounted guns is pretty damn effective

[Ushkyr]

surgeon is right - either you hit a particularly important part of a plane (pilot's head would be best:)) or the adversary goes down under weight of quite a few dozens of bullets stuck in the hull.
Spray and prey (c) :)

[mellow]

thnx guys, and um, like whats a cannon tho?

[Benito Gandhi]

Originally posted by a kind lol mellow:

thnx guys, and um, like whats a cannon tho?

like a big gun

[Indigenous 🌎]

An autocannon or automatic cannon is a large, fully automatic, rapid-fire projectile weapon that fires armour-piercing or explosive shells, as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. A Google quote.

Try various aircraft with cannons that you prefer, preferably ones that are more stable. The FW-190 has a habit of droppin a wing and spinnin but has great armament. P-38, some models of Spitfires, La-5, even the Il-2 has some bad-a** guns. Stuka G-2 for blowin crap up on the ground, ad infinitum. There's a tremendous variety to choose from in Il-2 1946, so with some experience you'll find the ones you prefer. :-)

[putmer]

Originally posted by a kind lol mellow:

thnx guys, and um, like whats a cannon tho?

20mm and above is about the standard for when people stop calling things machineguns and heavy machineguns. atleast from what i have seen people say. all though colored pencils post somes it up more accurate i imagine lol.

[The Cunning Fox (raZoleg)]

Aim just in front of the engine at a very close range. By close I mean - really close. less than 30 meters. Always lead the taget just in front of his propeller and you will hit the cockpit. Assume that firing anywhere else is a waste of bullets, unless you're figthing something like Mustang or anything with a british engine - those things go up in flames like 4th of July.

Fly for a longer time, (you have fuel, this isn't the 50's) but get that shot right. It all comes down to your power management, not so much the amount of guns you have. FW190 for example has a very good set of guns, but it's nothing against a nimble Yak. Those guns won't do you much if you can't put them on target, so practice flying with planes that have better engines than guns (like 109-F2).

Try not to fire directly behind the plane - tail absorbs a lot of stuff and the pilots have armor in their seats, fire from above if you can or in the radiator below. if going head to head - try to get more altitude, then dive on them.

For bombers - fly below, then accelerate and dive up aiming to go through their wing. Shoot just one engine, put everything you have there. Diving down on them works too, but a lot of bombers have good dorsal gunner.

[mellow]

thnx evryone :)

[mellow]

Originally posted by Colored Pencil:

An autocannon or automatic cannon is a large, fully automatic, rapid-fire projectile weapon that fires armour-piercing or explosive shells, as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. A Google quote.

Try various aircraft with cannons that you prefer, preferably ones that are more stable. The FW-190 has a habit of droppin a wing and spinnin but has great armament. P-38, some models of Spitfires, La-5, even the Il-2 has some bad-a** guns. Stuka G-2 for blowin crap up on the ground, ad infinitum. There's a tremendous variety to choose from in Il-2 1946, so with some experience you'll find the ones you prefer. :-)

lol i playd around with p38 today and a few shots set zero on fire
but i did pearl harbour mission, and there were lots of planes around, but when i do it on japanese in career mode just me and 2 other bombers were only ones, no enemies and no aa either, is it suposed to be like that?

[Elchkatze]

Originally posted by Ushkyr:

surgeon is right - either you hit a particularly important part of a plane (pilot's head would be best:)) or the adversary goes down under weight of quite a few dozens of bullets stuck in the hull.
Spray and prey (c) :)

Spray and prey, I agree with that. :^ )

[mellow]

Originally posted by sp00ky t0mat0:

Originally posted by Ushkyr:

surgeon is right - either you hit a particularly important part of a plane (pilot's head would be best:)) or the adversary goes down under weight of quite a few dozens of bullets stuck in the hull.
Spray and prey (c) :)

Spray and prey, I agree with that. :^ )

a few bullets can weigh the plane down enough tho??

i tried quick mission and i went as d3a1 vs sbd and i think i shot pilot, the plane just went straight to ground, but it took most of my ammo and like 15 minutes, i guess i need more practice.
what are other parts of plane to aim for?

[putmer]

Originally posted by a kind lol mellow:

Originally posted by sp00ky t0mat0:

Spray and prey, I agree with that. :^ )

a few bullets can weigh the plane down enough tho??

i tried quick mission and i went as d3a1 vs sbd and i think i shot pilot, the plane just went straight to ground, but it took most of my ammo and like 15 minutes, i guess i need more practice.
what are other parts of plane to aim for?

if i am not mistaken the d3a1 only has two 7.7's thats not alot of punch. and given the fact they are rather low velocity compared to the british 303's for example, it's no suprise it took a good portion of ammo. now you can aim the d3a1 at any part you want, but i say focus all ammo on the cockpit. for a few reasons 1# poor guns 2# if you hit the cockpit it's high chance of wounding or out right killing the pilot or gunner 3# if you miss the cockpit you are going to either hit near or on the wing roots and theirs a fair chance you may hit the engine or tail section by over leading or under leading your shots

[mellow]

Originally posted by sadisticsurgeon:

Originally posted by a kind lol mellow:

a few bullets can weigh the plane down enough tho??

i tried quick mission and i went as d3a1 vs sbd and i think i shot pilot, the plane just went straight to ground, but it took most of my ammo and like 15 minutes, i guess i need more practice.
what are other parts of plane to aim for?

if i am not mistaken the d3a1 only has two 7.7's thats not alot of punch. and given the fact they are rather low velocity compared to the british 303's for example, it's no suprise it took a good portion of ammo. now you can aim the d3a1 at any part you want, but i say focus all ammo on the cockpit. for a few reasons 1# poor guns 2# if you hit the cockpit it's high chance of wounding or out right killing the pilot or gunner 3# if you miss the cockpit you are going to either hit near or on the wing roots and theirs a fair chance you may hit the engine or tail section by over leading or under leading your shots

thnx
is there a way to order all planes to do somthing? im stuck on japan mission to bomb midway cause the fighters with me arnt doing anything but flying around and getting shot down and 2 sbds are shooting down all the bombers on my side.

like the fighters are following me, like circling around me but higher up, so mayb they are in my squad? i tried pressing some buttons but couldnt rly do anything

[putmer]

Originally posted by a kind lol mellow:

Originally posted by sadisticsurgeon:

if i am not mistaken the d3a1 only has two 7.7's thats not alot of punch. and given the fact they are rather low velocity compared to the british 303's for example, it's no suprise it took a good portion of ammo. now you can aim the d3a1 at any part you want, but i say focus all ammo on the cockpit. for a few reasons 1# poor guns 2# if you hit the cockpit it's high chance of wounding or out right killing the pilot or gunner 3# if you miss the cockpit you are going to either hit near or on the wing roots and theirs a fair chance you may hit the engine or tail section by over leading or under leading your shots

thnx
is there a way to order all planes to do somthing? im stuck on japan mission to bomb midway cause the fighters with me arnt doing anything but flying around and getting shot down and 2 sbds are shooting down all the bombers on my side.

like the fighters are following me, like circling around me but higher up, so mayb they are in my squad? i tried pressing some buttons but couldnt rly do anything

when you started the campaign did you make sure you where selected as the highest rank?(i think its on the left when you start setting up the campaign) because if not then you likley have no command over them. if you did select highest rank hit TAB and see how many numbers are lit up. lets say for example 1-2-3-are orange,these are how many you can possibly command(if you're leading) or call help from, (4-5-6-7 are greyed out) as you can only use these if their is enough people in your flight. http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Downloads&screen=7343 here is a picture/ list of the comm commands aswell, it should help a little to wright the important ones down on paper untill you remember them. :)
also their is mods on there aswell, if you're feeling adventurous

[mellow]

Originally posted by sadisticsurgeon:

Originally posted by a kind lol mellow:

thnx
is there a way to order all planes to do somthing? im stuck on japan mission to bomb midway cause the fighters with me arnt doing anything but flying around and getting shot down and 2 sbds are shooting down all the bombers on my side.

like the fighters are following me, like circling around me but higher up, so mayb they are in my squad? i tried pressing some buttons but couldnt rly do anything

when you started the campaign did you make sure you where selected as the highest rank?(i think its on the left when you start setting up the campaign) because if not then you likley have no command over them. if you did select highest rank hit TAB and see how many numbers are lit up. lets say for example 1-2-3-are orange,these are how many you can possibly command(if you're leading) or call help from, (4-5-6-7 are greyed out) as you can only use these if their is enough people in your flight. http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Downloads&screen=7343 here is a picture/ list of the comm commands aswell, it should help a little to wright the important ones down on paper untill you remember them. :)
also their is mods on there aswell, if you're feeling adventurous

ya i picked highest rank, i already moved a few planes around playing with it.

"(4-5-6-7 are greyed out) as you can only use these if their is enough people in your flight"

im confuse, so if i hav enough planes on my side it fills up the other numbers?
so if i dont hav too many, i can tell all of them what to do?

and some words are red, what does that mean?

and is there a way to select all the planes on my side?