The planes don’t have to return to UK exactly…
they only have to return to a friendly territory.
so, if they could reach a Russian territory, that’s a good solution as well.
or you can fly them to gibraltar for example (strategically this is a bad move most of the time)
so:
your planes can move 4 spaces:
you can move it:
1 space in combat move, engage combat and move it maximum 3 spaces to fly to safety in non combat move
2 spaces in combat move, engage combat and move it maximum 2 spaces to fly to safety in non combat move
3 spaces in combat move, engage combat and move it maximum 1 space to fly to safety in non combat move
4 spaces in combat move, engage combat and move it maximum 0 spaces to fly to safety in non combat move
the latter is ONLY possible when you attack a sea zone where a carrier will be present at the end of non combat move phase!
so, you can not do the latter for conquering a land territory!
what IS possible? when you conquer a new territory with some land units, you can reinforce the new territory with units that have not been in combat that round! so, if you have a spare plane that didn’t engage in any combat? THEN you can land it there to secure the territory if you want - since this move is a total non combat move!
