Content Type: Gaming Guides
Dominating the air is vital to winning the war on land in Hearts of Iron IV. Air superiority and close air support provide numerous direct benefits to troops on the ground, while strategic bombers can cripple enemy industry. By Blood Alone drastically reshaped the old air meta with the addition of the plane designer, introducing more complexity than ever to air combat.
Best Air vs Air Plane Design
The absolute best option for aerial combat in Hearts of Iron IV are heavy fighters. While agility and speed are supposed to give major bonuses in combat, it is not enough to beat the huge air attack and defense values heavy fighters have. Although you can produce about 3.2 light fighters for the price of 1 heavy fighter, heavies still reign supreme when outnumbered
In a battle with 640 improved small fighters versus 200 improved heavy fighters, the heavy fighters absolutely wiped the floor with the small fighters. As seen below, over the course of a year 77 heavy fighters were lost while 477 light fighters were lost.

Without further ado, here are the best heavy fighter designs on basic, improved, and advanced airframes.
Best Basic Heavy Fighter

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Basic Medium Airframe |
Weapons | 2 2x Cannon I, 2 4x Heavy Machine Gun |
Engine | 4x Engine II |
Special Features | Armor Plates, Self Sealing Fuel Tanks |
Best Improved Heavy Fighter

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Improved Medium Airframe |
Weapons | 4 2x Cannon I |
Engine | 4x Engine III |
Special Features | Self Sealing Fuel Tanks, 4x Armor Plates |
Best Advanced Heavy Fighter

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Advanced Medium Airframe |
Weapons | 5 2x Cannon II |
Engine | 4x Engine IV |
Special Features | Self Sealing Fuel Tanks, 4x Armor Plates |
Best Air Superiority Plane Design
If you just need planes to improve your air superiority in a region, you’ll want to use normal planes. While heavy fighters have a higher multiplier for air superiority of 1.25, normal fighters are substantially cheaper while having a multiplier of 1. This means you get substantially more air superiority per production cost by using small fighters.
Note – The drop tanks on these designs are entirely optional and can be removed/replaced depending on your preferences.
Best Basic Air Superiority Plane Design

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Basic Small Airframe |
Weapons | 2 4x Heavy Machine Gun |
Engine | 1x Engine II |
Special Features | Drop Tank, Self Sealing Fuel Tanks |
Best Improved Air Superiority Plane Design

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Improved Small Airframe |
Weapons | 3 4x Heavy Machine Gun |
Engine | 1x Engine III |
Special Features | Drop Tank, Armor Plates, Self Sealing Fuel Tank |
Best Advanced Air Superiority Plane Design

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Advanced Small Airframe |
Weapons | 3 4x Heavy Machine Gun |
Engine | 1x Engine IV |
Special Features | Drop Tank, Armor Plates, Self Sealing Fuel Tank |
Best CAS Plane Design
Close Air Support is vital to ensure your invasion plans on the ground proceed as planned. CAS planes are vulnerable to interception by fighters, so be sure to defend them when they are deployed on missions. That said, each of the designs below have defensive turrets to increase their effectiveness, but if you are adequately protecting them these can be removed.
Best Basic Close Air Support Plane Design

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Basic Small Airframe |
Weapons | 2 Small Bomb Bay |
Engine | 1x Engine II |
Special Features | Light MG Defense Turret 2x |
Best Improved Close Air Support Plane Design

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Improved Small Airframe |
Weapons | 2 Small Bomb Bay, Anti-Tank Cannon I |
Engine | 1x Engine III |
Special Features | Heavy MG Defense Turret 2x |
Best Advanced Close Air Support Plane Design

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Advanced Small Airframe |
Weapons | 2 Small Bomb Bay, 2 Anti-Tank Cannon I |
Engine | 1x Engine IV |
Special Features | Heavy MG Defense Turret 2x |
Best Strategic Bomber Plane Design
Strategic bombers are designed to devastate your opponents infrastructure, but they require protection from fighters to succeed.
Best Basic Strategic Bomber Plane Design

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Basic Large Airframe |
Weapons | Large Bomb Bay |
Engine | 4x Engine II |
Special Features | Self Sealing Fuel Tanks, Radio Navigation I, Bomb Sights I |
Best Improved Strategic Bomber Plane Design

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Improved Large Airframe |
Weapons | 2 Large Bomb Bay |
Engine | 4x Engine III |
Special Features | Self Sealing Fuel Tanks, Radio Navigation I, Bomb Sights I, Armor Plates |
Best Advanced Strategic Bomber Plane Design

Part Type | Part |
Airframe | Advanced Large Airframe |
Weapons | 2 Large Bomb Bay |
Engine | 4x Engine IV |
Special Features | Self Sealing Fuel Tanks, Radio Navigation II, Air-Ground Radar II, Bomb Sights I, 2 Armor Plates |
Keep in mind that these designs can still be modified to suit your individual needs, like adding more range or reducing fuel costs. These plane designs should help you control the skies from the beginning of your campaign to the end.