Full realism Campaign Series using the GWX OneAlex Edition

[Tonci87]

Episode 86

Diplomacy sometimes has to be considered when deciding on attacking targets

Episode 87

The crew experiences a great range of emotions

[Tonci87]

Episode 88
I find a convoy, but these sailors are very alert and careful

[Hooston]

The game's starting to get a bit trickier isn't it. Very good choice in restricting the use of the external views when being hunted.

The CAM Hurricanes were for defence against FW200 Condors, not submarines. The mk1 Hurricanes used did not have suitable armament for use against uboats. There's a good article on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAM_ship. On some occasions the Hurricane could head for the nearest land base rather than ditch.
In my NYGM campaign the CAM ships have an infinite supply of bomb armed Hurricanes. You never see them launched but they do appear fairly regularly near the convoy. So your caution was actually justified in the game but not in real life! However you really should have chased the convoy rather than disengage, you would have probably been in position at night.

[Tonci87]

Maybe you are right that I should have chased the convoy, but sometimes the decision to disengage leads to another opportunity

Episode 89
Shortly after disengaging from the convoy, we spot smoke on the horizon

[Tonci87]

Episode 90
We encounter another convoy. Soon the night is full of flames

[Tonci87]

Episode 91
An unfulfilled opportunity leaves sadness behind

[Tonci87]

Episode 92
At long last, we depart on another patrol

[Hooston]

I thought you had lost interest just as the game was getting more difficult.
I used to work on jet fighters. Trying to attach instrumentation underneath a running Tornado or Eurofighter makes racing cars seem a bit meh!
No matter how quiet you are the nearest GWX escort tends to head directly for you as soon as the first torpedo explodes. Maybe it's a simple ~2km offset from the impact point? So there's not much point crawling away at 1 knot; you have to be out of ASDIC range by the time they arrive. I usually use ahead one third as a compromise. Once you had been detected on ASDIC your tactics were perfect.
I prefer NYGM as the escort hydrophones seem much less sensitive and they often have no clue where you are, so you can frequently creep away as you tried here.

[Tristand]

I wondered why airplanes didnt always drop their bombs on the first pass. Is that a bug?

Anyway, absolutely love this series, I am now not using the recognition manual and conducting historically accurate methods of determining speeds and directions of travel. Its added a new element to the game thats been missing before. And doing some guesstimating really adds to the realism a uboat commander faced!

[Hooston]

I understand that failing to drop on the first pass is a bug associated with a particular level of aircraft competence.
Of course there are many reasons why it could happen in real life. Before the invention of the Leigh light aircraft night attacks would involve a first pass dropping flares followed by a second attack pass.

[propbeanie]

The aircraft "AI" is not good. Even when set to Elite, they have issues with recovering from a dive. You get below Veteran, and they'll often crash after a bomb drop. The decision as to whether or not to drop a bomb depends upon the plane's approach angle to the sub's angle, and also whether they "saw" your boat, or if you might have been detected by radar. If detected by radar, but you dive in time, you will often see a single pass without a bomb drop, almost like they dropped a marker in the water (wouldn't that be nice to see??), and then they'll come back for a 2nd pass and drop, usually missing you. If they see your boat, you might get a strafing run first, then a bomb drop. It depends upon how the plane is loaded out, and if they have weapons available...

[Tonci87]

Episode 93
Sometimes you go in blind