Harbors and air bases - why needed?

[MrLongleg]

Just bought the game and read the manual. Then I loaded the Russia 41 scenario and wondered why air units can sit in hexes that are no air bases. So why do you need an airbase at all? Same question for harbors. I could not find anything in the manual except that I can destroy them or build them.

Thanks for any help.

[Veldor]

Harbors allow ships to be refueled and offer a more direct supply route. This is especially usefull when invading an island such as in many random scenarios. Even though Aircraft can be initially built in whatever space the HQ is in they can only move around via airbases and towns. So as you advance or need to reposition them airbases become very useful. You can also build airbases away from roads and towns to make them a bit safer from counter-attacks.

[seille]

planes outside airfield hexes are useless like some big boxes of plane parts.
I also had accidently moved a plane subformation into a ground formation outside
of a airfield. It is useless. It can´t attack and it can´t intercept.