i can't hit a blimp with the heavy flak guns.

[Zie Chuckinator]

ok. i can't shoot anything for crap with that thing. any suggestions? would i use the regular AA or the AP? how many hits does it take to kill a plane?

also, my flak gunners are really terrible shots. i shot two planes with the double 2 cm in like 30 seconds. but they shoot clip after clip, after clip of ammo and i don't see any fires on any of the planes. my watch officer isn't flak qualified, but two of my petty officers are and there are only two flak gun stations on my IXB, the heavy 3.7 cm and the double 2 cm.

ty in advance.

[Gammel]

You´re in good company. Most of the german subs inn ww2 did not shot down a single plane. :P

But seriously, do you use the vanilla game or RUB mod?
I remember i made the AA tutorial with the 3.7 and an unmodded game.
It was pretty easy for me, but it was only against these ww1 planes lol.
I never hit those 2 fighters at the end of the tutorial btw.

With RUB mod installed it´s nearly impossible to take down a plane with the uboats AA defence, just as it was in reality.
For me the AA guns are a kind of last hope weapon, i ´ve never used them in my campaign.
It´s an u-boot and not a "Flugkörperzerstörer" (german word for something like AA defence cruiser)

[Zie Chuckinator]

im using the regular game with the 1.4 (b? got it off gamespot) patch. nothing else.

[Gammel]

Have you tried the AA Naval academy mission?
Those swordfish planes should go down after just one or to hits when you´re on vanilla 1.4.
Like i sayed i never succeed taking down those fighters in that mission.
But if the swordfishs are easy to kill in your game everything should to be alright with your 3.7.
I´m no good flak gunner at all cause i don´t fight planes.
Instead i try to diving away, so i have not much tips for you.
But i think the 3.7 is best used on big slow targets like bombers (fishingboats ), the 20mm are better at used at fighters.
Please excuse my english!
Edit:
try not to use the magnifigation when you´re manning the guns for yourself. I found it´s harder to aim as without.

[Maximus3070]

Mate your english is better than mine and i come from London :rotfl:

[SmokinTep]

I hardly ever try and take out any aircraft. Last time I tried, it wiped out my flak gun crew.

My watch officer is also qualified as a flak gunner and deck gunner. This is optimal because as soon as a surface or air target is spotted, I have the option of attacking it without juggling crew too much. Having both a flak qualified officer and gunners makes for impressive reload times and quick target aquisition.

I have a dedicated petty officer crew for each weapon type, 4 flakkers and 3 gunners. I command a Type IXC with two dual 20mm's and one dual 37mm. I plan to try the Quad 20mm weapon at some point, but I like to use the Dual 37mm for surface actions as its handy vs. coastal and small merchants as well as tugs, trawlers, and fishing boats.

Overall, my flak gunners are about 75%+ effective vs fighters, and 95% effective vs bombers, including PBY's and B-25's. All gunners have at least 1500 experience points and all medals but the Wound Badge.

Most often, I set for "engage at long distance" and "target any aircraft". When I get swarmed by a squadron or more at a time (yes, its 1943 and it happens all the time) I set to "engage closing targets", then designate targets of opportunity as I see them.

I see aircraft as easy meat and they have to count towards the overall mission score. Thats everything I know about aircraft.

I dont normally let my gun crew engage targets as they are basically inept at anything beyond 2000 yards. Since almost all convoy craft sport some sort of deck gun, or guns, by 1943 I usually park my boat at 4000+ yards, select a juicy target, verify range, jump to the deck gun and pick it off manually.

I can copy/paste my flak gunner/deck gunner crewmen's stats here if anyone wants them. Its easy to add them to your roster. Really easy if you try it with a new career.

[oRGy]

125 aircraft shot down by 97 individual U-boats for the loss of 31 U-boats either sunk during the attack or due to being located by other forces shortly afterwards and sunk.
One source says that RAF Coastal Command (U-boat hunters) lost 700 aircraft (badly damaged, shot down and paid off - not all to U-boats of course) and sank 220 U-boats during the war. I've been unable to verify the RAF losses but the U-boat figure is about right it seems. These figures show the immense effort put out by the British to hunt down the U-boats and almost all the aircraft successes took place in 1942 and later.

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

[VilniusNastaviick]

My very first time playing. I was playing the AA training mission.

One of the Swordfish went kamikaze and crashed into my conning tower.

[Zie Chuckinator]

i shoot down two aircraft 2day! with dual 2cm guns. the moral i learned, try and shoot them when they're coming to strafe u. they run into the bullets and pow!

no success with the 3.7 cm though...

[ENtek-IO]

Apropos blimps, by reading the official wardiary entrys i noticed that U -boats encountered tons of blimps and zepelines,..they were obviously used as spotters alot.
I assume that they mainly operated in coastal areas and not to far out, but i could be mistaken as i didnt check the patrol grids even when they were mentiond ,as they use some odd acronyms, i wasnt able to figure them out yet.But they were so frequently mentioned in reports that i think they should show up in a sim even only as ambient object.
In game they could spawn planes after spotting a boat . If we only had a mesh for one.. sigh.

[von Murrin]

Originally Posted by ENtek-IO

But they were so frequently emntioned in reports that i think they should show up in a sim even only as ambinet object.
In game they could spawn planes after spotting a boat . If we only had a mesh for one.. sigh.

That's precisely what they did, though they worked more as a latent threat of support than actual spotting. Speed made a big difference, thus most U-boats submerged before being seen by dirigible crews.

The only known (by me) deliberate attack on a submarine by an airship happened in the Caribbean in 1943. The airship came roaring in at the blinding speed of about 40mph and was promptly shot down.

[Fishmachine]

If you have the IXB type sub I also presume, that you have the C/30 3,7cm heavy flak. It is slowly firing weapon, especially if you compare it with the C/30 2cm Flakzwilling. You also need to have at least one skilled flakgunner manning the cannon, because the reloading times are much faster, but even then you can shoot just a few shots at a plane attacking you. But a well placed shot can cripple any of the early war planes.
It's quite hard if not impossible to hit a hurricane with it, but it can be quite deadly against Sunderlands. When they do an attack run, they are flying straight at you and you can hit them quite easily. Also the AA ammo explodes and do some damage even if you don't hit the plane.
When the M42 comes into action, it's quite a different story - you can aim with them just as with a light flak, pointing tracers at a plane.

The different story is, that you can use 3,7cm AP ammo to sink smaller ships. It's quite useful when you meet a lone coastal merchant, which surely isn't worth a torpedo. Or have that last T3 left sitting after a convoy run and are out of any other ammo... Especially with IX's low cannon ammo storage.
That's why I go directly from turm IX/I to IX/III, to not to lose heavy flak

[Strikor]

I've come to believe that the 3.7 CM guns are bugged when manually fired. I noticed that when my crew fired it the flak would explode near the target, however when I fired manually it would never detonate.

If you really want to slaughter aircraft just for the fun of it, get a VIIC/4 conning tower and mount 3 dual M42s on them. Unstoppable to all but B24s.

[Zie Chuckinator]

i just bagged another plane. this time with the 3.7 cm. yes they do explode. im not sure if it is proximity (like the american shells) or timing but they do explode. i got one in like right under the belly of the hurricane from about 1000 meters away. i nailed another with the dual 2 cm.

my new strategy is to use the dual 2cm when they're strafing and a little afterwards, then use the 3.7 cm once they're at about medium range away from me. if i find out how to paste images, then ill show u my last patrol report (like 5 or 6 hurricanes downed )