Bomber Crew – Operation Zeus Guide

Just did the Operation Zeus, read plenty of opinions and here is my guide to it. It’s really tough and unforgiving, yet doable with some effort, practice and stubborn.

Preparations

• Pimp up your plane to the sky. You have to have best armour on all fuselage sections. Motors: outer standard mk.5, inner lightweights mk.3 to ensure optimal weight. Tail turred quad 0.50 belt fed, mid turrets quad .50 Mk.4, nose turred quad .303 with 1500 rounds belts. Radar Mk.6, hydraulics and electric system as good as weight allows. Don’t bother with pigeon and dinghy – they just taking precious kilograms, and you don’t want crash anyway. Don’t bother with parachutes as well – you wan’t to make it safe home, with all aboard. Instead, take 9 x medkits and 3 x extinguisher
• Crew. All have to be high level. Gunners have to use at least Focus + Incendiary, best if are 12 lvl. Navigator MUST HAVE ability to navigate by the stars. Radioman must be able to call in the Spits, good if he’s mechanic as well to fire up Boost when returning home. Best is when Radioman is a healer as secondary.
• All crew have to be fitted with heated boots and gloves, to stay high altitude. Gunners, bombardier and pilot heaviest possible flak vests and helms, mechanic medium armor, so navi and radio.
• Bonuses: Enemy damage down is minimum bonus, best would be along with Enemy armour down
• Aces: You have to get rid of all aces. Do it by completing easy missions with ace in the area. This mission is almost impossible to be done with enemy ace on your tail.

II. The mission – fly to the target area

• Right after the take off, set high alt. You will staty high alt whole mission.
• Use Lean+ twice in a row
• Fill up midship turrets and nose turrets with 3 pcs. belts
• Don’t bother with fighters yet. There will be one Me 262, easy kill with focus+incendiary. Now the mechanic should man upper mid turret

III. Over the targets

• When you pass optional photo target on your right, you are close to the target – call the spitfires now
• Bombardier to the aiming device, open doors, prepare two bomb.
• Now hell is opening the gates – beware, focus on the tasks. Use Auto Tag and use it everytime the cooldown goes down.
• Tag three starting enemy fighters from the ground and the target airfield next to them.
• Bomb the airfield. Not that easy from high altitude, but can be done. Have to be done.
• Bombardier to nose turret, navigate next waypoint
• Now is critical time – if you timed all right, Spits are helping much and soon will go home. Ensure mid turrets guys have ammo.
• If any engine is on fire, navigator is closest to engi station and has to click engine extinguisher and back to the map. You don’t have man the engi station, only click the extinguisher button. This is taking only few seconds and you need these engines. Meanwhile, your engineer is manning upper mid turret and has plenty shooting to do.
• Most important: key to the mission: When any Me 262 is going to line in your tail, select tail gunner and use Focus+Incendiary – should be killed before he fires rockets on you. Rinse and repeat with HE ammo, even if Focus is on cooldown. Don’t waste these ammo bonuses for different targets.
• Meanwhile you are over second airfield: again, bombardier to aiming station, bomb the airfield through the clouds, close bay doors, back to nose turret. Go for ammo if needed.
• When bombs away, navigator to mechanic station and use Boost immediately. Navigator has to stay this station when boost is working.

IV. Going home

1. Pilot can use Corkscrew and Avoid Flak. But do it only when Focus, Incendiary or HE are on cooldown.
2. Again – get rid of Me 262s aiming rockets on you. It’s the key, as they are doing most damage to our bomber.
3. Now it’s time to take breath. Navigator back to his map. Use radioman and medkits to heal all crewmen. If you pick up the medkit and click on wounded one, will be healed very fast. Now mechanic should repair motor if have to, then man his station and use Lean everytime possible.
4. Don’t be afraid if clouds block navigation, you should fly west or north or northwest. Even if there are clouds on high altitude, very soon you will see the stars, pick up correct waypoint and head home straight.
5. Last enemy effort – there should be squadron of Me 163s attacking you. Right when you see them on the radar, call Spits again. Again use Focus+Incendiary then HE then AP – it should be easy.
6. Tadaam! London ahead.