Do you feel that 40mm AA guns are too accurate?

[jokash]

These things are like radar guided.Ok if you go straight during an attack run, but they will happily hit you going perpendicular to them flying fast which kinda feels a bit too much.If anyone has played AA guns on Tank Crew,you know that hitting a plane that isn't flying straight towards you or at small angle is very hard.Dont get me started on that AA gun on that freighter,that thing is laser accurate.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

1 hour ago, jokash said:

These things are like radar guided.Ok if you go straight during an attack run, but they will happily hit you going perpendicular to them flying fast which kinda feels a bit too much.If anyone has played AA guns on Tank Crew,you know that hitting a plane that isn't flying straight towards you or at small angle is very hard.Dont get me started on that AA gun on that freighter,that thing is laser accurate.

It all depends on what skill level they're set in the mission file. If they're set to low, I do not think they're unrealistically accurate at all.

[Charon]

That has been my perception, yes. See FM 44-2 "Employment of Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons" for concrete numbers. Page 14:

Quote

Maximum hitting range is the longest range at which tracers can be interpreted. Experience has shown that the maximum hitting ranges of the various weapons using on-carriage fire control [n.b. they mean not director-controlled], are within the following limits [...] 37mm and 40mm guns: 1500 to 1800 yards.

Effective hitting range is defined as the range at within which the weapons can execute effective fire and hits can be expected. [...] 37mm or 40mm guns -- on carriage control -- 1000 to 1200 yards. 

I haven't systematically tested flak range, but I believe it is quite a bit larger. Certainly I know from experience to respect light flak up to altitudes of about 3.5km. Mike Crosley I seem to recall mentioning in his book some altitude at which they considered themselves safe from light flak, and it was less than what I consider necessary in game. I can't find the passage at the moment, however.

In my own missions, I often reduce the radius of the attack area command, to match the FM 44-2 ranges. Most mission generators seem to use a 5000m radius for their flak, from what I've seen.

AA is also able to track a target through obstacles, such as hills and trees, which limits your ability to sneak up on a target as was done historically. 

[Stonehouse]

From this reference

 

7215ft is about 2200m and 13775 ft is about 4200m for German 20mm and 37mm respectively. However, the game uses theoretical rate of fire not practical. This could be partially to offset that AA - particularly light AA - is usually not deployed in realistic numbers in missions or perhaps the data is hard to come by for some guns - I don't know. Often practical fire rate was much lower than theoretical.

Nearly always the lowest size unit AAA was deployed at in real life was by battery as this was how the logistics and support/transport sections were setup. Each battery had its own transport and logistic sections plus a searchlight section.

A typical German light AA battery was 12 20mm guns plus support elements. The guns were usually deployed in groups of 3 in a triangular arrangement with each gun about 75-150yds apart or 68-137m apart. Each group of guns was allocated a searchlight.

A typical medium AA battery was 9 37mm guns plus support elements. Again, deployed in groups of 3 with a searchlight per group.

A heavy German AA battery was 4-6 (late war) 88mm or 105mm guns (late war, rear areas of strategic importance) plus 2 20mm guns for close in protection. 

Something like a German airfield mid war would have been given something like 1 or 2 heavy batteries plus at least 1 light battery. Later in the war there would have been more light batteries but probably at least 2 heavy batteries as well. A lot depended on what aircraft flew out of the base and how important it was. Me262 bases were notorious for 1 or more battalion size deployments of AA - a battalion being 12-18 heavy guns or 27-36 light guns depending on calibre.

Allied heavy AA batteries were predominately 4 heavy guns while light AA was usually 12-18 40mm guns depending on whether it was post or pre-invasion and nationality. Post invasion batteries for the UK were smaller to assist mobility and UK batteries also shifted from Bren guns to .50s for close in protection. US light batteries were typically 8 40mm plus 4 quad .50s and 8 single 50s.

An Allied airfield in the continent would have been allocated at least 1 light AA battery.

I could easily be wrong, but I don't recall ever seeing a mission with real life AA density nor placement.

In my AAA mod I altered fire rate to be practical where I had reliable information plus altered effective ranges where I have reliable information. Sometimes this meant the effective range did increase. Additionally, light AA AI in the stock game uses the MG bot which is quite fast to respond to targets and has low error for initial bursts and the error converges quickly. I've assigned all light non MG AAA their own custom bot to allow me to assign a different set up for these guns.    

Edited April 3 by Stonehouse