chucksguides

Secret Documents #106: Mosquito Guide - Oboe

Added 2021-11-04 11:01:01 +0000 UTC

Hi folks!

"Oboe" is a blind bombing system that is pretty much one of the darkest, most mysterious feats of wizardry I've come across in a flight simulator. It's one of these systems that you often hear about but never really see how it works in practice.

Before someone says it... yes, Oboe was not used with our Fighter-Bomber variant of the Mosquito; it was used by the Bomber variants, which were equipped with the appropriate transponders. Still... wouldn't it be interesting to see a "what if" scenario? See it in action?

No?

Well, too bad... I just couldn't help myself.

The concept behind Oboe is that you have two stations: a "cat" and a "mouse". Both stations send radio signals to a transponder installed in the aircraft, which sends a response signal in return. Operators in these stations use a bit of math to determine the distance between the aircraft and their station based on the travel speed of the radio wave.

The role of the Cat station is to send morse code signals to the aircraft when the aircraft reaches a "Track" (arc that intersects the target, which is basically the path the aircraft will follow to drop its bombs). The codes change depending on where the aircraft is in relationship to the track. The Mouse station, on the other hand, will also track the aircraft distance from the station and determine when the aircraft should drop its bombs in order to hit the target. Incredibly, Oboe proved to be very, very precise... provided the fact that the pilot follows a very specific flight profile at a set altitude and airspeed.