mid air fueling

[active47]

How do we set up mid air fueling? Put a tanker on patrol does not seem to work.

[mfisher12]

Mid-air refueling is a technology in SRCW that must be researched from what I can tell.

Once you get it, you need to assign the short-ranged aircraft to ESCORT the refueling aircraft, then just send the refueling plane to the destination. That's how it worked in SR2020, and it's how I'm getting my small destroyer-escorts across the Pacific - just assign a carrier or other large ship to escort them. So while I haven't researched mid-air refueling yet, my assumption is that it still works the same way it used to.

Always assign the faster unit to escort the slower one or they'll outrun their partner.

Here's the weird irony: America has several wings of F80 fighters in Japan. They don't have the range to reach Japan from the US until I can do midair refueling. So basically I'm stuck with what I already have deployed in Japan for now, plus aircraft carrier squadrons. There should be some way to crate those fighters up on a big cargo ship and transport them by sea.

[Fistalis]

Also worth noting is only some aircraft are capable of being refueled in the air.

[mfisher12]

Also worth noting is only some aircraft are capable of being refueled in the air.

I hope in future patches they re-add the capability icons back to the pop-up panel. It's a pain having to click the blueprint icon to see the unit's cargo capacity (in tons), speed and CV short/long runway, mid-air refuel, etc capabilities. In SR2020 it was easy to tell which units were refuelable or carrier-capable just by hovering the mouse over the unit list panel.

[Anthropoid]

So if I set a tanker on a small patrol route out in a midway area. I can send aircraft beyond it to run missions, and then when they start to run out of fuel, send them back to "Escourt" the tanker, and they will top up?

I've read that, a post-takeoff topup procedure is often used to maximize aircraft range; evidently takeoff requires more relative power and consumes a lot of fuel, so once it is in the air, refilling the tank extends range substantially.

I'm doubting that this is represented in the game maths, but given how detailed and exquisite this engine is I thought I'd ask!

[Aragos]

Mid-air refueling is a technology in SRCW that must be researched from what I can tell.

Once you get it, you need to assign the short-ranged aircraft to ESCORT the refueling aircraft, then just send the refueling plane to the destination. That's how it worked in SR2020, and it's how I'm getting my small destroyer-escorts across the Pacific - just assign a carrier or other large ship to escort them. So while I haven't researched mid-air refueling yet, my assumption is that it still works the same way it used to.

Always assign the faster unit to escort the slower one or they'll outrun their partner.

Here's the weird irony: America has several wings of F80 fighters in Japan. They don't have the range to reach Japan from the US until I can do midair refueling. So basically I'm stuck with what I already have deployed in Japan for now, plus aircraft carrier squadrons. There should be some way to crate those fighters up on a big cargo ship and transport them by sea.

Easy, easy way to fix the Japan US planes issue. Change the orders.csv file to allow for planes to use the "load into" command. Then you send a carrier to a port in Japan, select your planes and order them to 'load into.' Fixed. You don't even have to re-cache the file to do it.

[Chesehead]

So if I set a tanker on a small patrol route out in a midway area. I can send aircraft beyond it to run missions, and then when they start to run out of fuel, send them back to "Escourt" the tanker, and they will top up?

I've read that, a post-takeoff topup procedure is often used to maximize aircraft range; evidently takeoff requires more relative power and consumes a lot of fuel, so once it is in the air, refilling the tank extends range substantially.

I'm doubting that this is represented in the game maths, but given how detailed and exquisite this engine is I thought I'd ask!

Not that I can see. The only way to change aircraft fuel consumption is to change their speed in the ROE section or during combat maybe?