Little late to the game, but congratulations to all of you who made the cut. I hope you guys are having a good time.
A few tips to ya newbies from a aircraft jockey(i've flown 'em all)
Lib bombs wreak havoc on bases. Its a good idea to send a lib or two to drop a bunch of cluster bombs all over the base before attempting any sort of attack(especially if you're hotdropping with a couple of galaxys, it'll have the antiair scrambling for cover). When you first take off, circle your base while gaining altitude. Don't do a bombing run at much less then maximum altitude(I typically allow 10 below the max so I can maneuver if needed without the autopilot taking over) ALSO, Never fly without a tail gunner, you're easy pickings without one. If you get an aircraft(especially a wasp) behind you, finish your current bombing run, then gain altitude quickly, all the while twisting and turning to give your gunner the best shot possible. They cant aim above your tail, so a skilled pilot can just stay above the gunners kill zone and pound the hell out of the bomber. Don't give him that easy 3 person kill.
Galaxy pilots, you guys play an important role in base attacks. You have an entire squad relying on you to get them in, don't let them down. A few squads dropping into the middle of a base can change the course of a siege. Your job is to get those guys in, you're expendable after that. If you can make it, fly back to base and find a place to land and repair. By this point, either the attack has succeeded and the base is being capped, or the entire squad you carried was massacred and are preparing to respawn. Either way, be ready to make another few go's. Also, never work alone. A single gal lumbering through the air is basically a giant SHOOT ME FOR LOTS OF KILLS sign for any form of anti air defense on the ground. Either work with another galaxy or two(this has the added benefit of several more squads attacking, upping the chances of a successful takeover), a couple libs (as I mentioned earlier, sends antiair scurrying for cover), or some mixed fighters(Wasps for fightin other aircraft, reavers for some surface strikes, and mossies for just pissin off everyone else). If this does nothing else, it gives the ground guys more things to shoot at, upping your chance at survival.
Wasps, I've had mixed experiences with. Definately anti air only, these guys are ABSOLUTELY USELESS for ground attacks. Small magazine capacity and little damage to anything but aircraft. The missles, I've never had any luck with at all except a single hit on a liberator that just annoyed the tail gunner. The most I've really used them for is quick transport, since they have a long afterburner. I imagine if you can get above an idiot galaxy pilot, you could do some serious damage.
Mossies wreak havoc on infantry with their chaingun(even though the thing has been nerfed an insane amount of time) and moderate damage on aircraft. They are your staple fighter craft and don't do much outside of that deal. A note though: The mosquito lives up to its name. In any major battle, there are a dozen of these, and they're all annoying.
Reavers are your standard multirole craft. A small cannon, and rockets. Slower then the mossie and has no A/B, but its armor is thicker. They can do any job quite well, and their rockets do well on light armor, while the gun can drop surprised infantry. Not much more to say about this,it's a fairly straightforward craft like the mossie.
The last two craft, the gal gunship and the stealth transport which name escapes me, I've had very little experience with them(I did say I flew them, I didn't say I had a huge amount of experience). The gunship can substitute for a liberator, as they provide a huge amount of fire support(I've been on the recieving end. Not fun). They are basically the puff the magic dragon of the PS world. And the stealth transport is good for small commando raids, little else. Has no onboard weapons at all.
Typed up more then I thought I would, but I hope it serves you well.
P.S., This is also my post asking to be thrown in the mix if anyone drops out for whatever reason.
