F-86 Radar Gunsight automatic leading?

I have no evidence to confirm this, and it might just be all my hours of playing WWII games but I was under the impression that theradar gunsight has automatic target leading.

first let me say my gunsight is uncaged i have hostile aircraft velocity set to HI (and to low sometimes) as it usually is in dogfights. i have all my guns firing.

when i have radar lock on a target , say a mig. i feel as though when we are banking and fighting that I get more hits if I purposely lead about half a pipper more than what the pipper indicates. this makes me think that the pipper simply indicates where my bullets will go, with no automatic leading involved. Is this the case? if so then what is the purpose of radar locking in guns mode? just to aquire the wingspan and distance to target?

if thier is automatic leading, is it my imagination that its slightly off? or is it actually not 100% accurate?

Also on a side note, does anybody know if/how the gun camera works?

1) make sure to crank the manual target distance to minimum (or maximum? I don't remember - one of the extremes anyway) before engaging. Red light on the gunsight and distance scale will show if the ranging works or not. Also remember the radar has not only max, but also a min range limitation. That being said, You're right, the computed solution is indeed somewhat off in latest game versions.

2) camera works depending on its setting in special options tab for the airplane (always on/always off/only on in replay tracks).

1) make sure to crank the manual target distance to minimum (or maximum? I don't remember - one of the extremes anyway) before engaging. Red light on the gunsight and distance scale will show if the ranging works or not. Also remember the radar has not only max, but also a min range limitation. That being said, You're right, the computed solution is indeed somewhat off in latest game versions.

 

2) camera works depending on its setting in special options tab for the airplane (always on/always off/only on in replay tracks).

hmmm. i wonder if thats historical? or if its a game bug?

whats the deal aith the electrical caging? it doesnt work as well as mechanical, theirs still gyro drift when banking using electrical caging

Electric caging is for momentary use when trying to get into a firing position, it's meant to protect the gyros from damage but still be quicker to engage/disengage than the mechanical caging.

yea i think i see the electrical caging and how it works. when i uncage both mechanic and electrical while behind a mig thier is a radar drift to allow for lead compensation. So it does infact make an attempt to lead the target for you. but i am still feeling as though the lead angle is not correct. I have no idea if thats the case historically, if i still somehow have an improper setup, or if its the game not working true to history.

i almost feel as though an incorrect automatic lead is more of a henderance than anything else. Im going to try and do some dogfighting with the sight mechanically caged and see if I can get better results then what the sights computing for me.

i whatch these youtube videos of people in dcs flying the f-86 in dogfights and they seem to be getting remarkebly solid hits using the automatic lead compensator makes me think im doing something wrong.

also on a side note. (maby due to my accuracy) but it takes me often times a full compliment of ammunition to kill one mig. while these guys on youtube are getting them with like 2 short bursts. Is thier a way to adjust how much damage the hostiles take? or am I just an execptionaly bad shot?

With the years old tradition of every DCS update fixing some stuff and breaking some other at the same time, the radar + gunsight operation in F-86 went through numerous better/worse iterations during the module development. Youtube clips, recorded at various dates might reflect that.

And although now the Sabre is out of beta status, I'm sure the sight will change for better (or worse) again. Don't spend too much time bothering with it, as in general, gyro sights (with radar ranging or not) are good only for tracking targets moving at a steady turn rate - that doesn't happen often offline and almost never online (unless the targeted pilot is very inexperienced). So fixed sight plus closer firing distances will probably yield better results anyway.

About the sidenote - MiG suffers (like most of planes in DCS) from very simple, dare to say primitive damage modelling, as if the fuselage was made of concrete and wings made of paper. Experienced F-86 flyers know that and aim in the wing roots. Shooting at the fuselage rarely gives You a quick kill, unless it's a lucky pilot hit. Also, the guns in the DCS Sabre overheat very quickly, which breaks the their accuracy, muzzle velocity and range - something to keep in mind before shooting long bursts.

um sure your correct. it just bugs me.

let me ask, there is a serting to spawn aircraft at a condition value. defualt is 100% if i mess with that would combat be any closer to reality? or would it effect the entire flight model of the plane?

Haven't played with this setting, so You're free to experiment on Your own, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. Similar to other sims on the market, the AI planes in DCS use simplified flight model and routines and I don't think anything affects their flying ability all that much except for something serious, like a wing shot off :D.