yeh illutrious have gun space for HH If u like . Also if u don't like then put ur sailor in gunslot u still have 1 more free slot then get a support for ur CV

The Illustrious allows you to get more experience since you're closer to the ships level. Make sure you use the gun spaces to your advantage whether or not you load them with gunners or not. Happy hunting with the Illustrious bro.

more planes
more slots overall (stick support crew in gun slots for training) or just gunners.
more hitpoints
better engines
can fit guns
more xp

lustrious is a good cv. far better than couragious. dont skip it. also buying each cv is an important part in your cv driver evolution. call it an investment if you will, eventauly your cv's will be costing you as much as 5 mill credits. so if you spend the money on each cv you know you have 3 mill creds sitting there waiting for when your able to get your next cv.

you can also put more bulge on your lusty too. great for cv battles.

Also put gunners on your cv in the gun slots and put on HH. i find it very valueable, subs and small ships.
But the biggest thing is so you can level up gunners 20 to 30 levels above your BB, BO so your guns shoot tighter.
makes the BB grind so much more enjoyable.

if you're on a CV pilot grind, then illustrious will be the best.

note, you have eight slots there.. eight pilots.. get the picture?

I stick reps on the gun slots. the gun space is terrible unless you have PHH. but without sonar there's no real point in having HH, anyways you're bound to have a leeching DD around you to take care of the bugger.
And if an SS does reach you, hopefully you can bulge it out and scream out "SS" and then it will run out of air and be mercilessly murdered by your BB's when it does surface. Happily rep away afterwards. (note this is in an ideal world where people listen to CV's)

Illustrious is a great ship, good plane space and enough pilot slots. sometimes when i'm bored i'll move from the Ark Royal to the Illy for some farming because you can mount a fair number of T3 ftrs and some T2 bombers. if you know how to roll you should have plenty of planes to last a game.

I levelled my pilots on my gunslots so i never put any guns on. The gunspace is horrible anyway.
As another person said though, on my Ark royal (7 support slots and 2 r slots) I put double 6" guns on my front slots with a gunner, levelling him up at the same time.

the real nick name for the illustrious is the lusty. thats what all the sailors in the uk navy call her.. HMS lusty, ;)

if you haven't already, put a medic on board. it'll give you plenty of savings in terms of not losing anywhere near the sailors you lose when your planes get shot down.