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With many restarts under my belt already, I decided to re-base my fighters at airbases along "suspected" flight routes of Allied Bombers. I gave them their own depots, switched around some HQs. No real clue if any of this helped or not, but I did not assign them any ADs for AS.

I read somewhere that the fighters will defend their own space and wanted to test this out. To my surprise the results have been better than my own meddling with ADs. Through 15 turns an average 433 Allied Aircraft are being destroyed per turn. My air losses minus Italian aircraft losses brings the ratio to 2.3:1 of Allied/German destroyed aircraft.

I've come to the realization that I cannot stop the Allied air onslaught, so now i'm just curious how long my fighter force can hold up going toe-to-toe.

Until the mainland invasions happen and lines are drawn, I'm not sure of the worth in losses. Gonna see what my german bombers can do when the allies are attacking my defensive lines! Then I will of course use ADs

You can use your fighters, and your flak to create a layer of defense that the deep bombers have to penetrate. Imo the best use of your Luftflotte Reich is to not assign them AD's, just let them intercept bombers and try to create a line of defense in the air so to speak, and plug the holes with flak when you can. Your right, you can't win, but you can cost the bombers excessive casualties (which means axis VP's). If your opponent uses planned paths to go around flak concentrations, that's where I put the fighters. They either fly thru it, or they fly further out to sea and have less planes and escorts if they avoid it. I haven't played the axis side much, but this is what I've been trying.

Yes, meklore61 is right, no need for any missions for Reich air defense. In fact the only time I ever assign any air mission to Germans besides GS is after a fat Allied invasion in the Med that doesn't have much fighter cover. All those German bombers finally earn their keep and can inflict thousands of casualties with bomb unit and interdiction missions the first turn or two after an invasion. Sometimes I do night bombing. They don't inflict much damage but at least most of them come home.

Flak is hardly mentioned by many but you will find it brings down more planes than air to air as the number of German flak units soar.

ORIGINAL: GrauWolf80
No real clue if any of this helped or not, but I did not assign them any ADs for AS.

I have to admit I’ve been pretty lazy with air power when playing WitE due to how well letting automation handle things turned out in that game and I brought those bad habits into my first playing as the axis in WitW. I haven’t paid very close attention at all to my air game and I’ve allowed it to hurt me in game, as the allies eventually cleared away my air defenses in southern Italy by turn 11 and made an almost unopposed landing near Taranto losing very few transport ships in the process.

I think the axis side is going to have to pay very close attention to the air war in WitW if they want to make a good showing of it in game. Memorizing your air OOB and air frame capabilities is going to be a huge part of the game for the axis I think. Things like setting up layered fighter defenses and constantly rotating formations to keep numbers up near the front lines to allow rear area bomber bases to not be shattered early in game by airbase strikes will be vital to keeping enough air power alive to keep allied naval landings costly. I’m embarrassed to say it, but when I saw the landings go in I actually thought to myself, “Gee I wonder if I have bombers that can cover that area in range?”

The axis air defense is going to be something that I foresee players studying in game for years to come and will require a shift of focus on my part from the land game that includes as much if not more effort goes into the air game from now on. No more relying on just the automation to handle things.

Jim