propbeanie,
Thank you for posting your map which shows everyone the specific location I referenced. It being approximately 500 - 600nm from Marcus Island, the closest land mass that indeed had a Japanese airfield during the entire war.
According to the Pacific War Online Encyclopedia:
"Marcus Island (
153.980E 24.295N) was occupied by the Japanese in 1899 to serve as a cable station and was later developed into a military base. It is a tiny triangular island of just 1 square mile (2.6 km2), of which a good fraction was taken up by the Japanese airfield."
The question remains, does the game portray a Japanese airfield on Marcus Island, or Wake Island that is slightly further away, from which land based aircraft could attack targets in the mid-Pacific? And, could these aircraft fly at least 1,200nm for the round-trip back to Marcus Island, note that the distance would be further from Wake Island to the area in the Pacific that you've highlighted for everyone to see?
However, the possibility still exists for a task force with carrier based or catapult ship based aircraft to have been the source?
Is there anyway to know for certain? Thank you.