Alright, there seems to be a lot of arguing going on here. So let me just type some things out and see if it helps...
1) Your one and only job as a CV is "Air Superiority".
Now, what is "Air Superiority"? It is the control of aircraft and vision of both your team and the enemy. HOW you achieve Air Superiority is up to you. There are 3 currently popular ways to do it. They are as a Fighter Whore, Bomber Whore, or Stable CV.
Fighter Whore: Player who mainly has fighters as their planes. Can carry other types but usually does not, and main focus is on shooting down enemy planes to maintain Air Superiority. As a CV5, ECV, PCV, or CV6 (all of which from here on I will call Top Tier), the loadout is going to be a minimum of 6 Fighter Pilots with 2 others, usually Dive Bombers or Torpedo Bombers. Some players choose to use 8 FPs and nothing else.
Bomber Whore: Player who mainly has bombers as their planes. Their main focus is on bombing the enemy CVs to secure Air Superiority. They also can and will bomb BBs as the oppurtunity appears. A Top Tier BWCV will have a minimum loadout of 6 Bombers of choice with either 2 scouts or 2 Fighters for finding and escorting bombers.
Stable CV: Player who has an even mix of planes. They have no main focus and tend to change what they are sending up in reaction to the layout of the battle. Top Tier CVs will usually carry 4 FP, 3 Bombers, and 1 Scout, or 4 FP and 4 Bombers.
All 3 styles of CV have their own advantages and disadvantages. My only suggestion would to be not to carry 8 of the same pilot in a GB. Note that I said in a GB. When it comes to HA or WaW it is totally different. If you are playing in those, then your loadouts will be radically different from any guide ever posted...... In a GB if you carry 8 of one pilot you can easily find yourself rendered useless. Wether it be because you are getting fighter camped or because there are no enemy planes. So, always try to carry a secondary pilot type as it will allow you flexibilty.
Now, before I go further, allow me state the only hard and fast rule about CVS:
NO CV can utilize more than 8 pilots in the support slots. It does not matter what tier CV you are in. Top Tier CVs have more than 8 support slots, and if you put in more than pilots, only the 8 pilots loaded in the front (going from left to right) will be used.
Now, down to tactics.... Let the arguments Begin!
As a FWCV you want to pick a hemisphere and control every plane that attempts to enter it. If you head north, you are shooting down EVERY SINGLE enemy plane that attempts to get anywhere near your ships. If you can't shoot them down, you are dragging them off. Your planes will be stationed beyond your teams BB combat line. You are going to want to station your fighters over the enemy ships, micro managing them to keep them away from AA fire. Be careful to avoid tunnel vision however.
As a BWCV you should be scouting out and bombing the enemy CVs as fast as possible. As soon as you have them eliminated in your area (North or South) then switch over to bombing BBs and other targets of oppurtunity.
When choosing a target to bomb (except for CVs) try to pick one already weakened as you will most not be able to solo bomb a high level BB with one wave. What I find myself doing is looking for a BB that has already been hit and is trying to run away and repair. I will send in my DB's and finish him off.
That is enough for now. Time to stop this wall of text.
