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It seems that my fighter pilots that are shot down over my carriers are reported as WIA more often then when they are shot down over an enemy city (MIA more often). This of course makes sense as ones shot down near the TF can be rescued easier then ones shot down over enemy held territory. Is there any way to set up plane guards to recover more of these pilots. Such as Tang off Turk, can I put subs or some other assets near / on locations being attacked to increase the probability of a rescue?

From various readings it seems the IJN used plane guards near Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec. But I find no references to similar efforts to recover their experienced pilots thereafter.

The US seems to have used them regularly from mid-war onwards. Don't find any references to plane guards being assigned to the early war carrier raids though.

If there is any difference in the rate of WIA/MIA between IJN/USN I would guess it is a function of the code rather than anything a player can do.

The difference you can see between Jap and Allied pilots do often come from higher armor and durability of allied planes (more will come back, smaller number of pilots killed in planes shot down, etc...).

But game has its own "plane guard" system - If combat took place over hex, where your assets are present, there is a higher chance of the pilot surviving and being rescued. I do believe it is based on "anything of my side in the hex (ship, base, troops)" = TRUE/FALSE

I believe I saw some pre-war pictures with plane guard destroyers hugging close to a US carrier doing ops.

The code pretty much implies plane guards. You can change that doctrine.

Bill

Most players do use subs this way when possible.

First, a note on terminology. A plane guard was a ship, usually a destroyer, that took station directly astern of each aircraft carrier during flight operations. Whenever a plane went in the water, the ship would run up and attempt to rescue the crew. A lifeguard was a submarine that was assigned to patrol near the target of a strike, in order to rescue downed airmen. Dumbo was the code-name for American air-sea rescue, which became more sophisticated, and more successful, as the war progressed.

I seem to recall reading that, in addition to the factors mentioned, Allied pilots simply have a higher probability of being rescued, as an abstraction of the Allies' far superior air-sea rescue capability.