Welcome!

By the grace of god you've been selected to lead and manage a Lancaster Bomber Crew in His Majesty's Royal Air Force.

You will be responsible for these brave men and women as they go ahead and bomb Jerry right out of France, Belgium, and the rest of Europe. This is a dangerous job, make no mistake. You and your crew will need to be on top of your game as many dangers await you over mainland Europe. From enemy fighters, to AAA threats from the ground, the Krauts have plenty of ways to stop you... and possibly even kill you.

Fear not, for we at the Royal Air Force have compiled this guide of advanced tips and tricks on how to get you, your crew, and your plane back home in time for supper.

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This guide assumes that you are familiar with the basic mechanics of the game!

Update - April 2018
This guide is pretty outdated and does not account for many of the changes that came with the new DLC. While this does cover many of the essential basics, I'm sure there are more in-depth guides now available out there!

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There are three things that are ultimately demanded of you at all times when a part of a bomber crew:

1. Planning
   
2. Attention
   
3. Reaction

Or: P.A.R. for short!

A lack of concentration in any one of these elements will lead to you having to pick up the slack in the others!

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You may be thinking, "but I do enough planning already!", but are you really?

What do you think planning of a bomber crew is limited to? Assigning crew members to the right positions? Perhaps preparing for the worse with different upgrades?

Those are all correct answers; but what if you knew that there were other things you could do to better increase your chances of success, and thus your chances of survival?

Have you ever thought about letting time pass before you take off? There's some advantages to this. It is entirely feasible to wait on the runway for it to get bright out. Alternatively, you can go out at night so that you can navigate by stars (higher-level Navigator ability). If your target is far away, you can decide to take off in the early morning hours, and by the time you reach your target, it becomes clearly visible by the rising sun.

There's also custom waypoints. This is an ability that your Navigator will get when he/she reaches level 4. It allows you to make your own waypoints on the map when your navigator is stationed and selected.

There are a multitude of ways that this ability can be used to further increase your chances of survival. For one, you can make your own route to your objective. When used in conjunction with the Radio For Recon ability of your Radio Operator, you can plan a route to avoid all the anti-aircraft hazards and also learn where the optional photography objectives are.

Additionally, German aces are a problem for many bombers, but their danger can be drastically reduced if you bait them to attack you alone, away from any other threats. What's a single enemy fighter against a plane bristling with machine guns?

In conjunction with planning your route comes planning your fuel usage. By selecting your engineer when he/she is at their station, you can see how much fuel you have left. At an early level, they can introduce a lean fuel mixture. It is heavily recommended to use this whenever possible, especially on longer flights. This lean mixture reduces the amount of fuel consumed without dropping the speed of the plane. As long as your engineer is at their station, and there is no need to boost, this ability reduces the risk of running out of fuel. No fuel = no engine power; no engine power = falling.

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Remaining attentive is a key lesson for any soldier, but it is especially so for the aviator. One must always be on the lookout for threats, whether that be from above, below, or level with you. Thankfully, technology has advanced so that we are able to carry a basic radar inside our bombers.

As long as electricity is functional, and your radio operator is stationed correctly, your radio operator will give important prompts as to when there are within range and likely approaching you. This can happen before the radar blips even pop up - so trust your operator.

Your radar will appear in two ways:

The first way is through active green blips in the sky that you can instantly reference.

The second is through the radar display. This display is particularly useful when you are not looking in the direction of the radar contacts and also lasts slightly longer than the blips in the sky.

The display will not only give you a reference in direction as to where these enemy fighters are, but also their altitude in relation to you. An 'up' arrow above their radar blip indicates that they are higher than you, a 'down' arrow under their radar blip indicates they are below you. This is especially useful if you need to spot fighters quick but are too busy to look in their direction and get an idea for where they are.

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This is arguably the most vital element of being an effective bomber crew leader. When the flak hits, when the fighters come in, and you're on final approach to your target, it becomes apparent how important this is.

How you react is as important as how long it takes you to react. You can be the fastest micro-manager in all of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, but if you fail to make the right decisions, you can end up with a crashed plane all the same. This applies to the reverse scenario as well. You can make all the right decisions in the world, and still fail because they were not acted on fast enough.

What should be prioritize varies on a case-to-case basis, so there is no absolute solution to every scenario. There are, however, a few things that you can do to mitigate risk and allow you to focus on your mission.

Once your gunners reach a sufficient level, they will learn the Defensive ability. This can allow you some breathing room from enemy fighters. It uses quite a bit of ammo and will likely not kill any incoming fighters, however, it will keep those fighters at distance even if they aren't targeted. This allows some valuable time to make decisions.

On a similar note, once your Radio Operator reaches a sufficient level, he/she will receive one of the best abilities of your bombing career. This is ability is known as auto-tag and will quickly, and automatically, tag any threats for you as long as the Radio Operator is stationed with electricity functioning. It should be evident why this is deemed a saving grace for many crews. It allows you to focus on other tasks while not having to deal with spotting enemy fighters. Common uses for this include: The final approach of a bombing run, handling important repairs, and treating critically wounded members.

When zoomed out of your plane, you can hold [SHIFT] to bring up the interior of the plane. When done correctly, this can be much more efficient than simply scrolling to zoom in. It may take some getting used to for some Crew Leaders, but it will be worth it in the long run.

It is important to realize that the less amount of time that you need to be in an area of danger, the better your chances of survival. A crew and their leader should always strive to hit all their targets on the first run, or else they risk staying for a longer period of time and soaking more damage.

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Even swarms of Luftwaffe and the deadliest of German aces can be brought down by a bomber and a deadeye crew of gunners.

There are some ways to increase the kill rate of your gunners, and thus the efficiency of ammo, time, and your attention.

Focus is an early ability learned by gunners. It better increases their accuracy against enemy fighters for a short period of time. This is best used when the enemy fighters begin their attack run on your bomber. It ensures that the fighters will be on a straight path, are close enough for accurate fire, and will still be in danger if they choose to evade.

This best use of Focus is altered slightly when it comes to enemy BF-110s and their Schräge Musik, (German Heavy Fighter). These 'night fighters' first appear in the early war at the end of the first critical mission. They come with deadly rear upward-facing autocannons that allow them to get under or above your aircraft, and unleash critical damage on your bomber and crew. Even the best armor cannot stop sustained auto-cannon fire from a Schräge Musik. It is important that you invest in a ventral cannon so that you are not vulnerable when one of these deadly aircraft decide to get under you. Due to the dangerous nature of the BF-110s and Schräge Musiks, it is recommended that bomber crews eliminate this before it injures your crew. As such, one should assign your mid-gunner to the appropriate dorsal or ventral turret - dependent on if the BF-110 is above you - and pop Focus immediately while they are in an exposed position.

As your gunners get more experience they will receive three different ammunition types:

• Incendiary
  
• Armour Piercing (AP)
  
• High-Explosive (HE)

Incendiary Ammo is effective against all types of enemy aircraft, at least much more than normal ammunition. Using this ammo temporarily increases your damage, and also does not deplete your normal ammunition count. Because of it not using your normal ammunition count, it allows several options to use effectively. For one, you can use it in conjunction with Focus to clear the skies of enemy aircraft as they approach. In addition, you can also use it and temporarily gain ammo if your normal ammo count has run out. This can be a deciding factor to whether you end up with a dead crew or a live one.

AP Ammo functions similarly as incendiary ammo in that it does not deplete your normal ammunition, however it is most effective against the heavy BF-110s and will likely over penetrate the normal fighters.

HE Ammo again does not deplete your normal ammo, but is best effective when groups of enemy fighters are initially approaching your aircraft. The explosive nature of this ammo will cause anyone around the impact to suffer damage as well, creating a slight 'area-of-effect' damage. It is up in the air whether activating Focus simultaneously benefits you or is a waste when using this ammo.

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Despite the swarms of Luftwaffe fighters and anti-aircraft guns, Sir Issac Newton remains one of the biggest threats to your crew.

If your engineer is on the wing of your aircraft, it is important that you do not pull any extreme aerial maneuvers. Doing so will likely result in said crew member meeting an untimely death on the ground below.

Extreme Aerial Maneuvers:

• Emergency Dive
  
• Corkscrew
  
• Not having a pilot!

Aerial Maneuvers

• Avoid Flak
  
• Climbing
  
• Diving

In addition, it is extremely important that your crew is stationed when you do any extreme maneuvers. Doing otherwise will likely immobilize, injure, and/or knock out anyone who is not stationed.

It is extremely important that you have someone piloting the aircraft! This may seem obvious, but if the plane enters a steep dive and the pilot is K.O'd or otherwise pre-occupied, it will likely be impossible for anyone to reach him for revival. This is due to your crew members' inability to balance themselves and move when the dive angle is too steep. You could still be up in the air and realize the plane has no pilot, but it could already be too late to save the rest of your crew. As such, it is extremely recommended that you have a backup pilot or at least prioritize the revival of a pilot IMMEDIATELY.

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As a bomber crew lead myself, I personally will prefer to armor up my airframe and prioritize upgrades to armor and guns, over contingency plans like dinghy's, parachutes, homing pigeons, etc. Planning for failure is always good, but planning to fail is counter-intuitive in my mind.

My pilot, gunners, and bombardier are usually the most armored due to them usually never leaving their positions or going too far from them. I've kept my Navigator and Radio Operator with medium armor and are both specialized into being medics. I did this due to the Navigator not being essential all the time; if you have a general course locked in, you don't need specific directions until you get closer to your destination. The radio operator is much the same, especially if over Britain and critical treatment needs to be administered. My engineer is prioritized to be as fast as possible with a light flak vest. He acts as the engineer, ammo carrier for the nose gun, and an optional fourth gunner.

Depending on how you outfit your airframe and/or crew, your strategy will change. I personally have just found success with this and have only lost one crew member, (fell off the wing during an emergency dive - whoops), and emergency crash landed a single airframe in England.

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With the P.A.R. principles, some careful gunner discipline, and some sheer luck, you'll be able to get your crew back in time for tea and supper.

Remember:

• Planning
  
• Attention
  
• Reaction

Are the most important things here!

Hopefully this educational guide distributed by the Royal Air Force will help you in your future endeavors.

Good luck and happy flying, bomber crews!