What happens to the bomb after it is released? Does it follow the same dive angle onto the target, as the bombs aero dynamics are different from the bomber at some point it must surely change its path, is this taken into account when calculating the drop height?
Beitou,
Here is a short course in "aerial bombing". Forgive any glaring errors as I had this course in August of 1989. An aircraft with WW2 aiming technology (other than the Norden bomb sight) I believe used mostly an illuminated recticle with a center "dot" surrounded by several rings. The dot was a certain width, measured in "mils" but honestly don't remember the definition of a mil. Regardless, for a pilot to drop a bomb on a target his "butt" is required to fly over the target. What's meant by that is the aircraft must be flying a "course" that will take it over the target at the time the pickle button is pressed. Once the device leaves the aircraft it is effected by winds and will have a changing flight path on it's way down.
From the pilots prespective he will reach his roll in point, or perch, and start his dive. The preferred method is to roll in from a base (or roll in from a perpendicular heading to your target, I.E. it's in your 3 or 9 o'clock when you start), establish your aim point, which in reality is (from the pilots perspective) below the target. As the pilot / aircraft continues the target will march down your windscreen and hopefully at pickle altitude, on your dive angle, at your prescribed speed, with your aircraft completely in trim, you hit the pickle button with the target under your pipper (no wind). And, if miracle of miracles all that occurs your device will hit it's target (or at least with in it's lethal / effective) blast radius.
In reality there is always winds, and in combat someone will probably be shooting at you. In that case you as the pilot can do one of two things (aiming wise) and they are called mil crank or combat offset. Mil crank means you have some knowledge of the winds and will adjust your pipper to compensate for them. Combat offset (my preffered methond) means you or your flight leads briefs where they are going to aim for known winds, and if they don't audible something else you then correct off their bomb. That means if your lead says he is going to go pipper on at pickle, and his bomb hits at the targets 6 o'clock for 100 meters, then you compensate by putting your pipper at the targets 12 o'clock for 100 when you hit the pickle button.
Rules of thumb: If you are 1 degree shallow your miss will be greater than if you are 1 degree steep. If you are 1 knot slow your miss will be greater than if you are 1 knot fast. If you pickle 1 foot high your miss will be greater than if you pickled 1 foot low. The message to be gleaned from this is what we called tiger errors. Steep, fast, and press (going below pickle altitude) were MUCH better than the opposite. Also to be picked from this is that if you are a Stuka type aircraft, going straight down, it takes out a LOT of, or minimizes the errors in the equation!
To answer your questions, after release the "blivot" continues to impact, following a curve linear flight path (curved unless dropped from a 90 degree nose low attitude / perpendicular to the earth). The speed at pickle / release, the altitude, and if known the winds at all altitudes from pickle to impact, form part of the equation of it's flight and success. After you do it for awhile you learn what you historically drop (I dropped mostly short bombs or below the 3-9 line of the target A.K.A beginner bombs) and compensated for it. You also learn that steeper is better, never be slow at pickle, and press a little if you need to (tiger errors). It's fun to do (when no one is shooting at you) and usually the bet takes the better part of 20 minutes to brief (lots of quarters chaning hands in the debrief).
Cheers,
Biff