I have found that if you make your attacking aircraft Veteran or better and have them flying at @ 1000m, plus make sure they are armed with bombs, they will always attack the enemy. As long as they fly some where near the ship they can't resist!
You can always lower the ships experience to novice, this will make their flak not as effective.
I have learnt this though many hours of experimenting as well as asking questions in this helpful forum!
Hope this helps