NAVIGATOR SCHOOL
It's the job of the navigator to direct your flight from the moment of take off to landing back at base(or any other airfield). Navigation is the skill of knowing where your bomber is geografically by means of either pilotaje or "dead reckoning". the skilled navigator will use a combination of these methods.
Pilotage
This is the method of working out the aircraft's position by visual reference to the ground. This recuires accuracy to to within 400 meters.The navigator performs this by referring constantly to groundspeeds and ETAs for points ahead, on the ground and onmaps and charts. as long as a Navigator can keep visual contact with the ground he can work out pinpoint positions and plot the exact track of the airplane.
Dead Reckoning
This is the basis of all other types of navigation and, essentially, is the way the Navigator works out the position of the aircraft at any given time by keeping track of the distance flown from the take off point or the last known position.DR can be sub-divided into:
DR using a series of known positions - the Navigator uses pilotage(see above) until the airplane goes into cloud and loses contact with the ground. Then he uses Dead Reckoning From the last pilotage point to determine the position of the airplane and the track and groundspeed being made. By working out track and distance from the last known point he can always tell his position and if the airplane comes out of cloud he'll be able to search for and pick up pilotage points quickly.
The Navigator's Map
~Select the Navigator position.
~Press key I to access Navigation instruments.
~Click on the map on the desk, or press the spacebar, to open the Map screen.
The map is similar to the Operations Room and Breefing Room maps and is controlled in a similar fashion
Map Controls
You can scroll around the map by using either the mouse and/or the keyboard.
Mouse Control:
~Move around the map by holding down the right mouse button and moving the mouse.
~Tilt and rotate the map by holding down the Shift key plus the right mouse button and moving the mouse.
Numeric keypad controls:
Use numeric keypad "Ins" and "Del" to rotate the map horizontally left and right.
Use numeric keypad 9 and 3 to rotate vertically (from 0% to 90% degrees).
//Знак “%” я применил вместо обозначения градусной меры - Кобальт.
Use numeric keypad 4 and 6 to move the map left and right.
Use numeric keypad 8 and 2 to move the map forward and backwards.
Use numeric keypad + and - to Zoom In/Out.
Fine-tune all the above map control movement by holding down CTRL as you press the keys.
The Map Icons
All 3D buildings shown on the map represent the targets currently available.
Blue broken line - prijected route.
Green Line - actual route.
Aircraft - your B-17 estimated position.
Aircraft Shadow - B-17 ground position.
Green bomb Icon - this can be used to designate any Opportunity Target for the mission. Click and drag to a bona fide target on the map and waypoints wil be set up.
Gold Pyramid - click and drag to adjust vertical heights of any Waypoint.
Red Arrow - click and drag to adjust a Waypoint horisontal position.
The Map Symbols
The map shows standard features such as:
Urban Areas
Lakes
Rivers
Forests
Minor and Major Roads
Railways
it is also marked with Allied fighter (white US star) and bomber (grey-out US star) Airbases, and Luftwaffe airbases(Blue fikked circle).
The following is important mission information:
Light Red Circles(or arcs) - areas of light flak concentrations.
Red Circles(or arcs) - areas of medium flak concentrations.
Dark red Circles(or arcs) - areas of hevy flak concentrations.
Factory Icon - Target location.
Blue Circles(or arcs) - areas that have strong enemy fighter concentrations.
The map also shows the shifting front line (thick red line) throughout the years of the campaign.
Re-setting Waypoints
Apart from the starting off airbase and the assigned targets you can adjust all other aspects of the waypoints, initial point anr rally point, including ground location and waypoint/bombing height. too;tips on the waypoint Brown Pyramid markers will indicate the altitude for that particular waypoint.NOTE: You must be in Manual mode to achieve these changes!
~To move a waypoint, simply slick on it, hold down the left mouse buttom and drag it to its new position.
~To de-select a target, click on the bomb icon and drag it up away frpm the ground until it disappears.
Navigation Realism
Navigation has three modes of realism in the simulation:Historical, Easy and Flawless. Flawless will fallow the route to and from the target without deviation but the other two models will enable "getting lost".The navigator must always be tracking the aircraft position. He can adjust waypoints to distinctive geografhical fetures (river mouths, islands, peninsulas etc) that leave no doubt about position.
~From take pff you must flip from Map View to external camera views. Look all ariund for features - rivers, main roads,, and cities.
~Take control from the AI (key M), click on the green aircraft on the map and drag it to its "correct" position. Press key M to return to AI control.
If you don't conctantly update your position on the map with visual reference you may get a message from your navigator that he is completly lost - this will be more difficult to sort out.
The Drift Meter
~Press key A to access the Navigator's Action view. here you will see the Drift Meter screen.
It's important that you can calculate the Wind Drift for the Bombardier, without this crucial information the bombs cannot be dropped precisely on the target.
~In the Action View you will be looking through the Drift Meter. Align the dial on the right(using mouse click and drag) so that a fixed ground point travels along of them.
~When this is fairly stable, read off the wind drift from the scale on the top.
~Use The drift scale reading as the initial wind drift to be input into the Norden Bombsight.(2 Freddie - читай - “ножками, ножками!" )
Про штурмана - всё.
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Чистого неба -
Кобальт.
[This message has been edited by kobalt (edited 31-01-2001).]