You guys think I am WRONG about sending locals on long range missions without auto-return for low fuel?

That is strictly a personal decision I make for the following reasons:

1) Locals are fast and can intercept bombers, scouts, and low-level fighters with good success.  T1s and T2s are slow and mostly ineffective against anything other scouts and low level fighters or bombers.  I've had T2s chase bombers from their launch to their target and back to their CV before they could shoot any of them down.  They're slow.

2) Locals, If used in small formations (2-3 planes), are very effective.

3) A GB1 game (NOT HA) is only 12-15 minutes long, that is just enough time to launch every fighter on a CV1 or CV2 without auto-return and still last the length of the game if managed properly. 

4) You can always return your planes to the CV if you are worried about losing too many of them.

5) Vision for the BBs is an absolutely critical element in victory, that means expending locals to scout for as long as they can.  That allows for BBs to hit their targets, for bombers to identify targets, and to intecept scouts while they are being launched.  A BB can't launch a scout when his ship is being fighter camped.  They need your help.

6) Ending the game with a dozen locals still on board your CV means you didn't deploy them and use them as effectively as possible.

You can have your opinion about auto-return...but it isn't WRONG to NOT to use Auto-return.  That's an option you can use if you want, or not.  I think CV players who auto-return their Locals are weak and ineffective in their duties to provide protection and coverage..but that's MY opinion.   While your locals were returning to their ship, I was loading fighters, by the time you could launch more planes, mine were halfway to their targets.

IF you want to discount everything I said because I also said you might consider using auto-return (a personal decision), then you can call me a hypocrit. I don't use auto-return for any of my planes because I believe scouting is an essential winning element to the gameplay.  It is a lot easier to just let them run out of gas and reload, then wait until they meander back to my CV so I can load more.  Time is of the essence.  Fighters ensure air superiority, not bombers and scouts.  Maintaining air superiority, even if it means a few planes dropping out of the sky is the cost of winning.  Using AUTO-RETURN means your effective radius of support is nothing more than the area around your local BBs, a very small area.  And since your Locals are now assigned to a small area and you return them for refueling, I will bring my Fighters to your side to engage them and control the area over your ships, while your BBs are crying for vision. 

Under no circumstances should Quenirland be putting together a CV guide until he has mastered at least two CV6s.

There is nothing wrong about ultradog's tactic. Locals are viable for cv1 and 2 to screen a variety of enemy planes. It just requires a lot of management so they are always doing work, but that is just good cv practice. Circling locals = wasting fuel. 

I personally would carry actual recons in addition because locals have limited sight range but it's preference and I'd respect a cv1 who let's his locals plunge into the ocean on the enemy line.

There is a margin for preference when seting up and playing carriers and although some may be less effective or determined by majority or personal preference, or is a viable topic for discussion. some may advocate t1 fighters over locals, some may advocate using auto return, while others just know when to return them manually. But saying things that are flat out false like fighters checking potential ability is no topic for debate.