Torpedo Bombing Guide by Bruno

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Torpedo Bombing Guide by Bruno

Postby EURO_Snoopy on Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:07 am

Torpedo Bombing is a unique mix of courage and technical skill. Everybody has to find the first in himself. But as to the second one, it's (likely) a different story.

The proper deflection angle pilot has to set when aiming at a ship is a function of several parameters: aircraft speed, altitude, angle of attack, Torpedo specs and, of course, target speed and route with respect to the aircraft. Once the pilot has dropped the torpedo, the weapon describes a trajectory that can be divided into three main phases: the air phase, a transient underwater phase and, finally, a cruise phase at constant depth and speed. In the meanwhile, the target ship may continue its straight course or, more likely, it may react by changing its route according to two basic choices: close its distance from the incoming torpedo or move away from it.
The decisions about attack route, aiming point and shooting distance depend on many tactical considerations but, once these are defined, it is of paramount importance to master all the ballistic laws determining the success of a torpedo attack. In order to achieve such a capability, both theoretical and practical skills should be developed. Therefore, together with a tactical board approach, a pilot’s view scenario should be considered.

With these ideas in mind, I've developed Torpedo Master. This tool is an attempt to hopefully improve virtual pilot's skill in the art of torpedo bombing, by training both his brain and his eye.
I did this work some months ago in the perspective of the many potential torpedo bombers that could find their place in PF. At present, we have not as many torpedo bombers as we could desire, but if Torpedo Master could give some help in revamping the "torpedo fever" I would be glad about.

So, people, if you wish, you can download TM here:
http://www.airwarfare.com/guides/files/Tm.zip

The TM.zip contains the following files:
TM.xls
TM_Italiano.pdf
TM_English.pdf

TM.xls is the tool, whereas pdf files contain both general descriptions and help notes regarding TM.

In order to operate TM, you need Excel. If you don't have it, you can download an Excel viewer here:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/000/viewers.asp?FamilyID=4EB83149-91DA-4110-8595-4A960D3E1C7C&displaylang=EN

Coming back to TM, here is a short description about its structure and the way it should/could be operated.

Torpedo Master (TM in short) is made of the following four sheets:
Introduction
Tactical Board
Pilot's View
DB_Pers

Introduction:
It just contains the link to general instructions and the language selection (Italian/English) switch.

Tactical Board:
The purpose of the Tactical Board is to study the ballistic problems underlying an aircraft to ship torpedo attack. It allows the user to understand the relationships between aircraft, ship and torpedoes characteristics and the amount of deflection he has to consider for a successful attack, in “ideal” conditions. That is, the ship is a line and its route is straight. At the same time the Tactical Board allows to see what happens in more realistic conditions such as the actual ship shape and, even more important, ship countermeasures. This allows the user to understand and quantify the consequences of his decisions about aircraft speed, altitude, attack route, aiming point and torpedo specs, related to target specs and manoeuvring capability. All this stuff within an environment where it is easy to change parameters and look at graphs showing a “bird view” and a “torpedo path” scenario, where it is possible to look at what happens from the time the torpedo is dropped to the moment it hits or misses its target.

Pilot's View:

The purpose of the Pilot's View is to put the user into the torpedo bomber cockpit at the very instant he has to deliver the weapon. Once again, it is possible to change parameters and see how these changes affect deflection angle. But, differently from Tactical Board approach, all this stuff is translated into the way pilot perceives it “in action”. Therefore, Pilot’s View has the purpose to train the pilot’s eye whereas Tactical Board is aimed to train the pilot’s brain.

Both in Tactical Board and Pilot’s View, user can choose between two usage modes: “Calculate” and “Guess”. In “Calculate” mode, once the boundary conditions are defined (input parameters), Torpedo Master calculates the amount of deflection (output parameter) for a “perfect” shoot. In “Guess Mode”, the user has to define the deflection angle and Torpedo Master allows to see how different the guess is from the calculated deflection and, more importantly, it allows to see what the consequences of pilot’s guess on the final result are.

DB_Pers:
TM has a "built in" Torpedo Data Base containing most of WWII airborne torpedoes. Moreover, TM contains a ship list for target selection purposes. You can choose among a PT boat, a Submarine, a Cargo, a Destroyer, a Cruiser, a Battleship and Aircraft Carrier whose sizes steam from averaging, within each ship class, typical IIWW ship sizes.
Since these data bases could not be enough for the user,the DB_Pers allows Torpedo and Target data base customization. It is possible to add torpedoes and targets to those already coded into Torpedo Master. It is possible to define custom torpedoes by entering some basic parameters and it is possible to add, for each ship type, a custom target by entering, again, few basic ship parameters. Please note that for targets it is not possible to customize their names.

Operating Notes:
User can set each parameter by entering it into the related cell. For most of them, it is possible to adjust the value by means of a sliding bar with a cursor. It is possible to click on the arrows at the edges of the bar or to directly move the cursor by a select&drag mouse action.
A close look to the sheet layout reveals some red tips near some items. By placing the cursor on them, user can access to notes about the item. These notes should hopefully help the user to gain a better understanding of Torpedo Master usage.
A final note about Torpedo Master window size: Depending on screen resolution and worksheet size, it could be possible that a) all the stuff is too small for a clear vision or b) a part of the interesting stuff is out of the window. In order to adapt all the stuff to user needs, please consider that it is always possible to tell the worksheet which amount of zoom the user needs. Usually the popup menu is on top of the tool bar. Moreover, by selecting the area of interest, it is possible, with the same zoom function, to adapt the window to the area of interest.


Notes on Torpedo Ballistic Model in TM:
The "air phase" is modelled without taking into account air drag. In spite of this, the resulting velocities, trajectories and timings are still quite accurate (error in the 1% range). In fact, initial speed, dropping height and torpedo mass practical ranges allow the "no air drag" assumption to be valid.
The "transient underwater phase" model contains also some simplifying assumptions. By way of example, torpedo oscillations along the stabilizing trajectory aren't taken into account. In spite of them, the overall length and timing of such a phase is still in line with actual results. Even more important, if, once again, the torpedo delivery profile (aircraft angle of attack, speed and altitude) is within the prescribed range, errors stemming from simplifying the underwater stabilizing phase, have very little impact on the main results (depth, length and duration of the transient underwater phase) and their relative importance on the overall torpedo trajectory speed and timing will be absolutely negligible.
Please, take into account that TM will never tell you if you are delivering a given torpedo out of its delivery profile: Torpedoes in TM have an unlimited range. You can try to deliver them when your distance from the target is even hundreds of kilometers. Torpedoes in TM are able to be dropped from Everest like altitudes and at dive bombers angle of attack. So if the torpedo to water impact angle is too low or too high you will never observe "splashing" or "no return sinking" behaviours in TM.
Finally, something about target reactions: In the actual world, ship could change their speed while maintaining a straight path or could "zig-zag" in more than one way. In TM only constant ship speed are allowed and the only manoeuvre a ship can attempt is to change the route along a circular constant speed trajectory. Some seawolf will be angry about but, please, remember that TM is not a simulator with top class AI models. TM is just an attempt to help people to improve their GAMING skill.

That's all. Enjoy TM.....hopefully.

--------------------
bruno

Originally Posted on SimHQ Forums
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=127;t=003442[/url]
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EURO_Snoopy
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