Am I overworking these guys a bit?

[JanSako]

One of my Port Moresby groups flying LR CAP. I really needed those troop & supply convoys covered.

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[RangerJoe]

I would suggest overloading that unit with more good pilots and then putting those tired ones on Group Reserve to have some I & I with some nurses for therapeutic reasons!

[dcpollay]

I'm surprised any of them are still alive. What do the planes look like?

[Leandros]

What's the meaning of the red colors?

Fred

[JanSako]

I'm surprised any of them are still alive. What do the planes look like?

They only have 8 ops losses & a few writeoffs since the start of the war (its June '42). Really rugged beastie, the P-39.
Planes are 'fine', as in 20 of are still in flyable condition, 3 or 4 being fixed & I just gave them an extra 3-4 as a reserve. I have a ton of Air support & Port Moresby was size 4 (just got upped to 5) so that helped I am sure. And that the support units are in top shape too, swimming in supplies etc.

[JanSako]

What's the meaning of the red colors?

Fred

If you mean the orange in the XP column, that means the stat has increased at some point during the last month. Green means it has increased in the last turn.

[BBfanboy]

Would be interested in seeing the squadron page to check morale, KIAs, etc. In LCUs fatigue in the 80s+ means the troops don't do much work (like fort building) nor march far. Morale is usually in the toilet by then.

[JanSako]

I sent the turn already, will post when I get it back. I kept them on 20% CAP today, not flying to high to take it easy. Morale was in the 50's still so good enough to shoot down search Betties.

[Chris21wen]

Short answer. Yes
Long answer. Reducing the cap to 20% won't prevent them flying if a raid is spotted. The other 80% can still scramble. You need to rest all or some each turn, preferable by getting them out of PM. Leaving any percentage resting in PM puts them on the ground and vulnerable to air attacks. If you really have no choice but to leave them active in PM pick something like 30% rest, 20% CAP and chance you arm.

[JanSako]

Short answer. Yes
Long answer. Reducing the cap to 20% won't prevent them flying if a raid is spotted. The other 80% can still scramble. You need to rest all or some each turn, preferable by getting them out of PM. Leaving any percentage resting in PM puts them on the ground and vulnerable to air attacks. If you really have no choice but to leave them active in PM pick something like 30% rest, 20% CAP and chance you arm.

It really wasn't a serious question
I do not have very many skilled squadrons yet & I need to take advantage of Kido being in the DEI so I had them fly harder than usual. I lost a few transport ships cause he is flying Betties from Rabaul with 60+ strong Zero escorts so I needed everyone on the wings to support a Milne Bay invasion. That way the afternoon strike comes with 40 Zeroes & there is usually not one on the next day.

I use a mix of P-38 on high CAP, Aussie P-40's on 10-12k and a couple of squadrons of P-39's on 8 - 10k or even 5k cause a few times he tried to get sneaky.

[RangerJoe]

Even if you can replace a few pilots while sending others to Reserve would help. It is not so much the "experienced" unit but the pilots which you can rotate in and out if you need to.

[Yaab]

Why don't they crash constantly on landings?

[JanSako]

A day of rest at 20% CAP does wonders, essentially Fatigue was halved:

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No rest for tomorrow, unfortunately, since another supply convoy is arriving & it was spotted today by IJN patrol boats.

Someone asked for OPS losses/Writeoffs:

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They are not bad, considering this one one of the first fighter units given frontline combat duty (Many of the starting groups from PI & elsewhere have now been withdrawn). Port Moresby is obviously a point of contact with the Japanese. (June '42)

Airframe fatigue, just for completeness:

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PM has a lot more extra Air support squads than it needs right now because the airfields are still being built, there are also 2 MAG (Marin Air Group) Air HQ's.

He has a train of landing barges/luggers/sampans (this is Bottlenecks) ferrying supplies down the East Coast of PNG which are being culled by sub (cannons) and the occasional Dive bomber on NAV search from Port Moresby. Escorted naval bombing runs have proven to be less than ideal. Zero is a very dangerous opponent when my P-39's have to stick close to the Banshees.
On the other hand, when Zeros have to stick close to their escorted bombers...

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My planes are flying LRCAP over Bona-Bona (my base just W of Milne Bay), covering supply runs and troop transports. There is a unit of Aussie Warhawks in place, but the Airbase is only size one yet.

Swapping super-fatigued pilots for fresh ones from the pool is a great tactic, when one does have trained pilots in the pool I have exactly one XP 70 fighter pilot not in an active frontline squadron right now.

[Yaab]

So fatigue penalties for fighters are rather lenient.

Also, one (almost) free day halving the fatigue is an excellent result.

[BBfanboy]

I would say the rest day came just in time, with morale only being 54 after the rest - likely a lot lower before that. In addition, the KIA losses (6) for Ops/Write Off (6+7) should be concerning if your pools of pilots and planes are not good. At any rate, your squadron has done remarkably well but the Japanese can also increase pressure. Lets hope you can get some help there before that happens!

[RangerJoe]

Right now, defensively you do not need 70 experience for your fighter pilots. For defensive purposes, even 50+ is adequate if their skills are high enough. So if you overfill that air unit with 50+ experienced pilots with 60-70 A2A and defensive skills flying 0 range CAP, you can get those pilots more experience while resting your highly fatigued pilots using Group Reserve. Just put the CAP high enough for a good bounce on the escorting fighters. Also, you need some stand down time to get those air frames repaired - you can also overfill with aircraft if you have the spares.

As far as covering for supply runs to that base, get APDs and AVD which are fast enough and use fast transport TFs to bring in small amounts of supplies. Be careful not to set up a pattern so the enemy does not anticipate when that TF shows up. Also, put in a defensive minefield in case the enemy does send in a Surface Combat Task Force or a Bombardment Task Force to visit.

[JanSako]

I would say the rest day came just in time, with morale only being 54 after the rest - likely a lot lower before that. In addition, the KIA losses (6) for Ops/Write Off (6+7) should be concerning if your pools of pilots and planes are not good. At any rate, your squadron has done remarkably well but the Japanese can also increase pressure. Lets hope you can get some help there before that happens!

Those OPS/Writeoffs are a total for the war right? 17 planes lost 'outside' combat vs 16 in direct combat in 6 months for 34 enemy kills is not bad I would say. You always crash some just when flying from base to base & during normal course of operations.
I will check a few other squadrons flying CAP in quieter sectors.

Overall it 'feels' Allied planes are way more resilient to overuse than Japanese ones. Certainly IJN bombers crash & burn if you just look at them sideways...

[Yaab]

Fighter pilots can gain exp fast by flying CAP missions. Exp is used, among other things, to check if a pilot damages his aircraft on landing.

[JanSako]

Yep, that is why I only fly 'real' combat missions with 70 XP 70 AIR pilots whenever I can help it. So they can have fatigue 90 & not die on the next flight

Shooting down Zeros while half asleep behind the stick

"Combat training" for me means putting them on a 100% CAP @ 5k and 0 range over a friendly, very large airfield where no enemy planes ever go. Pilots with 70 AIR and 70 DEF get to do that for a few weeks to get their XP up to 70.

Even IJA can do it, IJN not so much.