Bombing in the F5 is hard...

It sure makes one appreciate the modern computer assisted systems like CCIP etc. Never-the-less, still a lot of fun to bomb in the F-5E3.

Fun fact: in Vietnam, they never ran straight in. They used curved approaches, rolling out wings level at the last possible moment, pickling in the brief window that they had, before pulling out along a curve again. All to make the job harder for the guns on the ground. In that moment, they had to get everything close to right, eyeball the corrections, and pickle. Modern fighter jocks have it easy. :)

Yep, been there, done that in 1970 in the F-100.

http://theseverts.com/Phan%20Rang%20News%20207.pdf

Yep, been there, done that in 1970 in the F-100.

 

http://theseverts.com/Phan%20Rang%20News%20207.pdf

Wow. Surprised to find this. Kudos and thanks. :thumbup:

Yep, been there, done that in 1970 in the F-100.

 

http://theseverts.com/Phan%20Rang%20News%20207.pdf

WOW. How close you worked with the FAC's during your deployment, and can you describe how they used to operate?

WOW. How close you worked with the FAC's during your deployment, and can you describe how they used to operate?

I give a brief discussion of our interaction with the Forward Air Controllers (FAC) on page 11 in the Phan Rang article.

If a FAC was involved in our mission, we would be given a radio frequency (as part of our pre-flight briefing) on which to contact the FAC. We would usually switch over to this frequency about 50 miles from the target area and begin talking to the FAC to get visual cues (hills, rivers, etc.) to help us locate him and the target area. He would be looking up for us and we would be looking down for him.

Once we had made a successful rendezvous, he would give us some target info and confirm the ordinance that we were carrying. He would specify the order in which he wanted the ordinance dropped. Unless there were some obvious ground references for the target location, the FAC would usually fire a smoke rocket towards the target and then give us drop instructions relative to that smoke, e.g., "50 meters east of my smoke". If friendly ground troops were involved, they would usually pop smoke as well to identify their position.

Before rolling in, we would have to confirm that we had both the smoke and FAC in sight. He would then clear us in hot. At that point we would make sure the sight was uncaged with the correct mil depression dialed in, arm the appropriate wing pylon stations and call "In hot". The FAC would then say "Have you in sight, Cleared hot". After each ordinance impact, the FAC would radio an estimate of where we hit relative to the intended target, e.g., he might say "Blade 2, hit 20 meters south of leader's impact".

We always flew circular patterns around the target, keeping the FAC in sight at all times, although he was usually at a much lower altitude than we were. During our ordinance deliveries, we always flew the curvilinear approach, only rolling wings level for a second or two before hitting the pickle button. Then it was "jink right - jink left", etc. coming off the target. We never flew a straight line, especially during low-level drops like napalm and high-drag bombs.

http://theseverts.com/Phan%20Rang%20News%20207.pdf

Dang, and now I want DCS:The Hun to be a thing. :) ED has a Phantom planned, which will be great, too, but the F-100 was awesome, too, not to mention being (with modifications) the original Wild Weasel. DCS really needs more Vietnam-era birds.

Not specific to the F-5 in DCS but the concepts are the same. It's all about flying the correct airspeeds and dive angles. The bombing triangle is a must know. The bombing pattern and how to fly it is very important. https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/pubs/folder5/T45/P-1209.PDF

Last but no least Chucks Guide on the F-5 has some very good knowledge on how to drop good bombs! Because of course we never drop bad bombs! Check six!

-Wilcke