Dive or shoot?
 

planes, planes..., those pesky planes...

my policy has been to dive when encountering allied aircraft. However, recently i've stayed surfaced to see what luck I would have in bringing one down - suffice to say not much.

what are your thoughts? do you dive or shoot?

for those of you that have managed to bring one down, any tips? are you more successful using a crew member with flak quals or do you man the gun yourself?

when planes are brought down, are they counted as tonnage?(sp) If so, how much generally?

I take them on 90% of the time. Now, when I see 14 planes all lined up waiting to take their shot at me I tend to crash dive I will admit, but generally I figure that if they're going to fly the unfriendly skies around me, then I will undertake to teach them some manners.

S

I remember welcoming storms at first because "at least those planes can't fly in this weather". But then they came swarming (ok, maybe just one or two) during a full gale, and my men wouldn't man the guns :(

I have learn in air coverage area'a to say off surface during the day :D
and there is no guarantee even at night sometimes a lone plane with
spot you and attack :D Being a German U boat capt is risky :D

Lane :D

Sub skippers dive. Gamers shoot. It's different when you can die.

Very true.....But then why did the subs have AA guns?

British infiltrators installed them on the boats to fool unsuspecting U-boatmen into thinking they had a chance.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Did they also manufacture the magnetic pistol for the TIIs?

Now that you mention it, the Germans and Americans both had problems with magnetic pistols (and contact pistols, and torps running too deep), but I don't recall reading about any British problems along those lines...

I usually fight it out on the surface till early 1942. Both sides are about even. After that I dive, dive, and dive deeper. In 1942, the a/c start getting the better weapons and equipment, while all the Uboats get are better radar detectors. So I go with the flow, diving a soon as it gets anything. That and getting attacked by 19 Short Sunderlands in 1943 tend to cure you of fighting it out!

The attack was a beauty to watch on the external cam. 19 Sunderlands attacking me. Altogether 6 planes collided with each other. Of course I got no credit for those!

Still, once you get the single/twin auto 37mm in late 1943(?). It is nice to shoot down a tommie every now and then.

Be very wary once the B-24s come into play, the can lob a lot of bombs at you from outside your effective gun range.

Maybe this article can shed some light:

http://www.uboat.net/history/aircraft_losses.htm

Did you have any success? Did you man the Flak gun manually or have a Flak gunner do it?

I have better luck with the deck gun than my crew, and the crew does better than me on the AA gun...

That really annoys me when it happens to me. Who's to stop me from recording them as kills? Who'd know?

The pilots? Of course, who are they gonna tell?