Placing the Bell P39 Aircobra.

[Graham Boak]

Any weapon will be more accurate if applied close in (up to its limitations, anyway). However the way to become and remain experienced is to avoid the flak. I'm sure you are right about inexperienced pilots "shying away"; even without the flak, it is all a common enough experience, linked to a lack of practice in judging distance. Opening fire outside effective range was a normal novice reaction in aerial combat, I see no reason why air-to-ground should be any different.

However, despite Lallemand's comments, I don't believe any Typhoon delivered rockets in a dive that was actually vertical. (Other than perhaps very briefly, and that would not be conducive to good aiming.) This would have led to such an increase in speed that the aircraft would be unable to recover. It was not a specialised dive-bomber, fitted with air-brakes. Over-estimation of dive angles is another human "failing", that's one reason why it takes so long to train a good dive-bomber pilot.

It is also a bit difficult to reconcile his comments on low flying and vertical dives......

Rockets were introduced to reduce the vulnerability of the Hurricane, and by extension any fighter-bomber, not specifically the later Typhoon. They specifically replaced the 40mm gun because of the vulnerability of the attacking method and the inadequacies of the penetration. But I think we are going round in circles here.