Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-73.220.89.40-20150318192417/@comment-26574811-20160119095839

Then your books must be problematic. Let's take a look:

Flight deck catapults were, albeit rarely in the beginning of the war in Pacific, used.

Early models of Zeroes (model 2x series, but not in 3x and 5x series) are foldable as well, so are Type 97 Torp bombers. Tenzan and Suisei are not AFAIK.

And either way, KC IGNORES the difference between foldable or non-foldable aircrafts, so the point of "giving Japs US aircrafts and they will be able to carry lots" is invalid, at least in KC.

In fact, KC even ignores the difference between early models and late models of aircraft. That's why Unryu carries significantly less aircrafts than Hiryu, while having the same hangar space in real life.

As for real life carriers...

Hiryu carries much fewer planes. No matter what excuse you'll make for her. For the very least, Yorktown's IJN equivilant should be Shoukaku, although Yorktown still carries more.

Also, we don't even know if American planes can operate on Japanese carriers. If we want an "IJN-compatible version" of the American planes, it probably won't be anywhere better. (Problems include deck strength, weight, and lots more. For example, TBD is 300kg, or around 11%, heavier than Type 97 when empty, if you try to land a TBD on a Japanese carrier, the wooden, single-layer deck may get damaged. The arresting gear may not be able to withstand as well.)

Hiryu (as well as other IJN carriers) uses closed hanger, so her aircrafts have to warm their engines on the deck, unless if you wanna get intoxicated by carbon monoxide. Which means she will never meet Enterprise's efficiency on preparing and sending planes into the sky, with or without catapults.