What am I doing wrong?

[The Oncoming Storm]

I am trying the Arabian folly mission, you have a mixed SAG, a diesel sub, and a large soviet airbase. The airbase takes forever to launch planes, they queue up and stay there forever, only performing pre flight checks ON the runway. And by the time I have launched the first 6, the lead 3 planes have already used their fuel so RTB.
Also, engaging low flying bombers is nigh on impossible as they get knocked out by the US SAG with their a2a missiles hitting them (the lowest they can fly is 1k feet).
Where am I going wrong? Or are/were Soviet jets really this incompetent? Would appreciate any tips folk have in handling these Migs/TU's etc...

[Stix_09]

Not familiar with mission as its on the workshop.
however some general tips

1)Bombers with dumb bomb can level bomb from high altitude (but unsupported is not a good idea), they are slow so launch these first they also have lot of fuel and range).
(and faster planes can be catch up)
also dumb bombs are very hard to use against moving targets so against vessels u want guided weapons. so initially some stand off weapons are better 1st.

6 planes should be able to launch in 10-15 mins)
fighters have lower fuel launch last, (loiter reduces fuel consumption, vs say after burners will drain fuel in minutes)

2)use jammers if available
using 2) and flying low u can get very close to a fleets without getting sam'd to death.
3)coordinate attacks
4)u don't need to launch every plane in the airfield at once (in fact i would not even try that)
5)recon is vital (subs with planes / helos are very good for this if used properly)
6)if u have a feet of ships u need a large formation layered with your High Value units in the rear (35nm is good space from lead unit to back unit), your front units will be a missile sponge)

if u kill a high value asset like a 2x missile cruiser or carrier its often a mission kill and worth some plane losses even, their defensive capability will be damaged alot after this.
I would recommend also understanding how to defeat radar and use sonar and jamming in SP, And ESM (passive detection) are all very powerful in this sim and vital to tactics and strategy used.

[The Oncoming Storm]

I'm pretty proficient in the US side air forces, but the soviet side seems to be a different kettle of fish.