The Royal Navy was keen to acquire the Hurricane to help in the Battle of the Atlantic which, in early 1940, had a steep rise in shipping losses far from shore, in areas where land- based aircraft could not provide air cover for Allied convoys. This gave rise to the 'Hurricat', a converted Hurricane carried by CAM-ships. Hurricanes converted for such a role needed only the addition of catapult spools, and 50 Hurricane Mk I land-planes so modified and designated Sea Hurricane Mk IA.
Below the spools

A "CAM" ship was a stop gap solution to the threat from German FW 200 Condors attacking and shadowing allied convoys in the Atlantic by the British."CAM" was an acronym for "Catapult Aircraft Merchantman",between 1940 and 1941,35 ships were converted,the catapult allowing them to carry a full cargo.
The Hurricat were mounted on and launched from a catapult at the ship's bows, the Hurricane was flown off on what was usually a one-way flight: after providing defence for the convoy there was no where for the pilot to land, which meant he was obliged to bailout, or ditch his aircraft as near as possible to the convoy, hoping to be picked up. Not all CAM ship aircraft were FAA Hurricanes, the RAF converted and operated a few of its own Hurricanes. The provision of long-range drop-tanks beneath the wings, introduced in August 1941 after the CAM-ships had been provided with more powerful catapults for the higher gross weight.
The aircraft were manned by pilots from the specially formed Merchant Ship Fighter Unit based at RAF Speke near Liverpool.In the 2 years they were in service only 8 catapult launches were made,and six enemy aircraft were shot down for the loss of one RAF pilot.
All these pilots were volunteers,being strapped into an aircraft on a rocket sled,and then facing a heavily armed Condor,and then knowing that you would have to bail out or ditch into the icy cold waters of the North Atlantic,not knowing if you would be picked up.Pretty close to a Kamikaze mission.Very brave young men!















Regards Duggy

reading: - The Catafighters and Merchant Aircraft Carriers by Kenneth Poolman.
This details alot of the encounters you mention above.
Is there a CAM Ship available in IL2 now?

I apologise because this is from memory but Polyammador (not right name) produced a series of missions for a Hurricat but it was not actually mounted on the ship.

If you were mounted on the ship you could launch at the optimum moment.
The rockets that propelled the hurricane down the track could be seen by the bombers and they knew a launch had taken place
and would react accordingly.
Oldsalt

I am not sure, but welcome to the hangar, maybe someone else can help?