Air
Air Movement
During the combat phase, you may move your aircraft to targets within range. However, your aircraft must have a legal landing place available.
Example: You have a dive bomber with a range of 6. A potential combat opportunity is four spaces away. You may move your aircraft into combat, but only if there is an available landing opportunity within two spaces.
Example: You have an aircraft carrier with three planes on board. Your planes begin their movement from the starting location of the aircraft carrier. You move your planes three spaces so that they can participate in combat in the Philippine sea zone. Your intention is to move your carrier two spaces toward the Philippines in your non-combat move. That will provide your planes a safe landing spot just one space away from combat.
After your aircraft have safely landed from their combat missions, they may make a second, non-combat flight on your turn. Example: the Soviet player flies a dive bomber two spaces west to take part in a back-and-forth battle. After the battle is over, the Soviet player flies that plane back to a territory owned by the Soviets since the start of his turn. Then in his noncombat move, he flies it four spaces to the east to another territory he owned since the start of his turn, in order to make it available for use against Japan.
Aircraft that do not participate in combat may fly and land once, then fly and land again. For example, an American aircraft in Hawaii may fly to the mainland United States on its first movement, land, then fly to Britain on its second movement.
Legal landing places for aircraft include your nation’s aircraft carriers (see above), as well as any territory which your nation has owned since the start of your turn. No team may land its aircraft on any of its allies’ aircraft carriers. However, the British and American players may use each other’s land territories to land aircraft.
If an aircraft is unable to reach a legal landing space, it is destroyed. If, on an enemy turn, your aircraft carrier is destroyed, all the aircraft on the carrier may move up to four spaces in search of a legal landing space. If they are unable to reach such a space, they are destroyed. Moving from a land zone to a sea zone, or vice versa, counts as moving one space.
Strategic Bombing Raids
Aircraft may elect to participate in strategic bombing raids against an enemy industrial complex. Strategic attacks from dive bombers deduct PUs from an enemy. Attacks from strategic bombers both deduct PUs from an enemy, and lower the value of the underlying territory.
If defending aircraft are present, the attacker adds up the total anti-air value of his aircraft, and rolls that number of dice. The attacker allocates hits among enemy aircraft.
The defender adds up the total anti-air value of his aircraft and industrial complex, and rolls that number of dice. The defender allocates hits among attacking enemy aircraft.
Both sides’ destroyed units are removed from play.
Attacking aircraft bomb using their strategic bombing values.
A given bombing raid cannot destroy more PUs than the value of the underlying territory. For example, if a territory’s underlying value is 10 PUs, a bombing raid against that territory cannot cause the player to lose more than 10 PUs in cash.
A bombing raid cannot cause the value of a territory to fall below 7 (for major complexes) or 3 (for minor complexes).
Definitions for Aircraft
Fighter
Dive bomber
Strategic bomber
