Crossing the bay of Biscay,can we call on the Luftwaffe to try and protect us ?
 

Having read the following article given to me by pappycain

http://www.usaaf.net/ww2/uboats/uboatspg4.htm

I learned a few important things from it,and never gave it a thought to actually call in Luftwaffe support to help me cross the bay.Is this possible in the game?.It would certainly improve morale a bit knowing that the LW are actually doing something useful and providing aerial support against Hurricanes,or whatever else is harrassing us above.So,if I was crossing the bay in the day and suddenly came under fighter attack,I could crank up the speed,fight back,while at the same time call in air support from JU88s,or MEs if they are in the game (I would bloody love to witness a battle like that).I would have to dive though against bombers (guns hardly affecting them at the moment),while quickly making a request for support.Can I quickly target a plane with the binoculars and 'mark' him like that?

Cheers.

No. Planes don't even fight other planes, even when given the chance. Only the gun turrets will fire at all, while the fighters simply swirl around and die.

That is a bit crap (not the game,just the aircraft element) if you ask me,you would have thought the Luftwaffe would at least fight back and protect their bloody U-Boats,I mean I am just 50km west of France on my new patrol and already had to face 2 Hurricanes.I quickly sent in a contact report and waited...nothing.I even tried to fight back for about 10 mins,even at close range,and it looks like the gunners are pissed up,they couldn't even hit their own lips!I mean,even as the planes bear down on me from bang astern the gunners don't even shoot back sometimes!,even on fire at will orders! man...what a nightmare!
I guess the only defence is to dive and pray you get under quick enough :nope::zzz:

What actually stops the gunners from firing back?,even from bang astern.I know they can't shoot at anything towards the front of the U-Boat due to obvious reasons,but to the sides and rear?...man,they just stand there and stare at the planes sometimes.Admittedly they are novice gunners at the moment,but at least fight back!! :damn: :stare:

The game simply wasn't made like that. The aircraft's purpose was to attack you and only you. The "Report Contacts" option only takes into account ships, not aircraft. If you were to spawn two fighters in the mission editor, they would circle around without doing anything. Simply put, they didn't bother program it because this game doesn't have much to do with Air-to-air combat.

Now, about your gunners, I've no idea. Mine always spam their bullets, whenever the aircraft are in range.

Unfortunately, the Luftwaffe was spread too thin to provide naval escort during much of the war. Herman Goring only grudgingly consented to give Doenitz a few JU-88s in 1942 for Atlantic duty. Not exactly the finest fighter plane. Most of Germany's planes at this point were committed to the struggle with the Soviet Union. Blame the Fuhrer's ambitions and the Eastern Front.

re. the inactive gunners, have you actually checked that you have "fire at will" checked under flack gun orders with your watch officer? I've actually had problems with that before, SH3 seems to like setting it to "hold fire" whenever I start a new patrol....

At the moment I choose "fire at will,fire at med.range (poor gunners),fire at fighters (no effect at all on bombers),fire at closing targets" (sometimes a plane can fly by and not see me,holding fire on them could maintain stealth for a while).

Its clear sometimes that there is a problem somewhere,as often the planes are in ideal shooting positions (bang astern sometimes),and the guns just won't open up,I need to manually order them with the binos when that happens :nope:

Well, controlling the East was the primary purpose for the war ....

Exactly. Hitler who never much understood or liked naval concerns, liked U-Boats to the extent that they were cheaper to produce than capital ships and could keep a lot of Allied naval and air assets off his back while he turned his main attention east. Other than the occasional bizarre request to send U-Boats to guard Norway or reinforce the Mediterranean he pretty gave Doenitz a free hand to run it his way. But not much in the way of aerial help. That was for "Drang nach osten."