[mars]

In the air combat over Guadalcanal, JNAF Zero pilots had to fly 5 hours before they could reach the target area, then after the combat, they would have to fly another 5-hour trip back, that means they could not stay in the area over their target much more than 15 minutes if they wanted to have enough fuel left to bring them back home. If their plane was damaged or they were wounded, then there was a high chance that they would have to ditch in a shark-infested ocean with little chance to survive, not because Japanese Navy did not care about their pilots, it was because Japanese Navy simply did not have enough resource to deploy enough ships or submarines along such a long route for rescue mission. Finally because of the intensity of the combat, even they survived, they would have to come back again and again, very quickly they would be physically and mentally exhausted, So of course, Americans enjoyed a huge home base advantage above Guadalcanal