Plane movement rule question

[wisbill]

quote from rule book
“To determine range, count each space your air unit enters “after takeoff.” When moving over water
from a coastal territory or an island group, count the first sea zone entered as 1 space. When
flying to an island group, count the surrounding sea zone and the island group itself as 1 space
each. (An island is considered a territory within a sea zone; air units based on an island cannot
defend the surrounding sea zone.) When moving a fighter from a carrier, do not count the carrier’s
sea zone as the first space - your fighter is in that sea zone. To participate in combat, a fighter
must take off from its carrier before the carrier moves, otherwise it is cargo.”

my question:

i have a ftr in jap and us has taken okinawa and placed a bomber
this i what i belive i can do
ftr movemet
1 – sz 60 ;  2 – 58 attacking the bomber ;  3 – sz 60 4 – land on japan
but my friend said that is illegal and the moverment is counted as
1  – sz 60  ;  2 – sz 58  ;  3 – attacking okinawa ;  4 – sz 58  therefor it is out of range to land
where as my other friend i play with said it should be counter
1  – sz 60  ;  2 – sz 58  ;  3 – attacking okinawa ;  4 – sz 60  therefor it is out of range to land
so you can see my confusion as i am just a newbie haveing played only 3 times now

thanks for ya’s help
paul

[Patton+]

And the correct answer is ……
@wisbill:

but my friend said that is illegal and the moverment is counted as
1 – sz 60 ; 2 – sz 58 ; 3 – attacking okinawa ; 4 – sz 58 therefor it is out of range to land

[trihero]

Your friend is dead-on right. It takes a movement point to “take off” the island you start on, as well as a movement point to attack an the land portion of a seazone. It seems weird the first time you look at this rule, but that is the way it is. The US bomber can barely reach Japan, attack it, and go back, but the fighter cannot because it only has 4 movement points.

[wisbill]

thanks for you’re help
Paul