This practice was actually developed in WWII to allow aviators to come into the target area low and fast as to avoid deadly anti-aircraft fire. Fighters make poor dive-bombers, even our F4U. It can be done and done effectively, however, the time needed to properly line up a moving target, dive on that target, make corrections in the dive, and hope that some AA gunner don’t smack you in the face with some high explosive all add to bad things happening. Skip bombing allows for the pilot to go low and fast, line the target up for an easy side drop and escape fast.

The Set-up

First and foremost, you of course have to find the target. You will most likely know the targets general location and you will be following someone. Keep the eyes open, you may pick up something that the leader misses.

Once the target vessel has been located, you will need to get to a location so you can put your nose on the ships side. Patience here is key. If you force your run, you may wind up running diagonal to the target and this could cause you to miss, or worse hit the target with a glancing blow and not allowing the ordinance to detonate. The bomb, regardless of size, needs to impact the ships hull flush so the detonator pin will set off the ordinance. A note here about pre-flight options, ensure before you leave the deck that you set at least a three second delay on your bomb detonation. Nothing is worse than getting a good hit only to be caught in your own bombs explosion and being at the very least riddled badly by shrapnel to the worst case of the detonation ending your very short career.

The Run

Once you are in position, you will need to lose whatever altitude you have. You need to be low, the lower the better. For your first few runs, two hundred and fifty (250) feet will suffice. You will want the throttle fire walled WITHOUT setting War Emergency Power. Most 124 pilots use a high angle of attack to get down on the 250, or lower, feet in altitude.

Now, your down on the deck and should be traveling at a nice clip. When do you drop? Drop should take place between one hundred and fifty (150) to seventy five (75) yards from the target. This is going to sound, and believe me it is, kind of hairy, but ensure that you fly straight and level for at least a two (2) count. Why? To ensure that the ordinance has made a clean departure from your aircraft. If, you pull the nose up to soon, you will wind up lobbing the ordinance over the target. Why not just fly straight and level all the way through the run? If you have gotten to low, ship’s riggings and aircraft don’t play well together.

Egress

You dropped your ordinance, sank a ship, and managed to survive. What now? Get clear of the area. Most transports have escorts in the way of destroyers. Those have a nasty tendency to shoot at pilots attempting to bomb their charges. Your first priority after a run is to get clear of any AA fire in the area. Climb up to loiter altitude (usually set by the flight/division/squadron leader) and provide CAP for the rest of the squadron.

Tactics

One successful tactic that has been employed by 124 was taken from torpedo squadron doctrines. It’s called “The Hammer and Anvil Attack”. We use this mainly for escorts so we can divide the AA gunners attention so they can’t all fire at one target. This requires some set-up and good communication by the pilots involved.

Two (2) or more aircraft set-up to either side of the target vessel at more or less the same distance to target. On signal, both aircraft turn toward the target and make their runs from two sides. The same altitude and drop distances apply.  Remember to communicate with your wingman when attempting a Hammer and Anvil.  Nothing could be worse than you both making a run on the targets bow and pulling up after a successful delivery and staring into a Pratt&Whit 2800.  If you are, you're done.