Jump to content

How does the M1 gunner's control actually work?


Rangoon

Recommended Posts

Can someone please link me to an article (I've searched but found nothing sufficient) or explain how the M1 gunner's control works? I'm curious in general, but also specifically curious when using a joystick to aim which is most authentic or comparable to the real thing regarding the Y axis.

So about the real thing: what exactly is being moved and in which direction to move in each axis? I see two handles which look like they can be tilted fore/aft, but not sure if this does both direction (rotation/heading/yaw/x-axis) and elevation (pitch/y-axis) or only one. And if only one, are there foot pedals for rotation?

As for elevation, does tilting forward raise the elevation (as in *increase* elevation)? Or tilting back (as in *leaning back* and bringing that plane to rotate upward)? Years ago, I began gaming with mouse and keyboard and I always used inverted y axis to aim first person shooters. I've been a flight simmer as long as I can remember, so that felt more natural. But somewhere along the way I switched. I use mouse forward to aim up now instead of down, and find no conflict switching between joystick for flying etc. and mouse for aiming.

In steel beasts, I use mouse in the same way, but am still not sure what feels best when using the joystick, which I typically do. So which is more authentic at least? Joystick forward moves the gun up? Or joystick back moves the gun up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The whole assembly twists L/R to traverse the turret L/R. The handles themselves pivot front and back to elevate or depress the gun. There are three switches (actually six, but they are three sets with identical duplicates on other hand side). The palm switched energize everything and allow all the other controls to work (and "dump" lead when you pop them off then on really fast). The thumb laser button lases. The trigger fires. Pretty simple actually, except for using the palm switches to dump the lead. Even tankers need time to get used to the way that works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...