Quick Question about Amphibious Assaults

I’ve been considering doing a G2 sealion attack in my next Global game, the 1942 Larry Harris setup. I want to purchase a single transport, 3 strategic bombers and a tactical bomber on my first turn as Germany. If Britain moves their battleship into SZ-110, then I can simply use my small navy and overwhelming airforce to destroy his small navy, and I believe that I can split my air force intelligently enough that no matter whether he scrambles the 2 british fighters and 1 french fighter in London or not, I should be able to win both battles.

However, if Britain doesn’t move or build any ships into SZ-110 on his first turn, then my navy will have a clear shot at London (since the sea zone will be clear) and I won’t have to conduct sea combat. However, I only have a cruiser and 2 subs defending the transports, and if he decides to scramble the 3 fighters (the rules say fighters can be scrambled even if no friendly sea units are present) then my navy will certainly be crushed and the attack will fail.

My question is, can I preempt this move by bringing in a few fighters to the sea zone along with my navy, which will be able to participate in combat in the event he scrambles? The rules don’t seem to say anything about it, and I’m 60% sure I can’t do that anyways, but I thought I’d ask much more experienced players than myself just to be sure

@witt @Krieghund Thank you guys for the help! To answer your question about Britain, it is entirely possible that he will place land units in London to defend the assault. That’s why I was hoping air units would be able to defend my transports, I didn’t want to spend my money on expensive naval units that will only be used in a sealion attack, and air units are versatile enough that if they survive the assault (or if I deem it too risky) they can be turned around and used on the eastern front against Russia.

My main purpose of this attack is not necessarily to win with Germany in this game, just to test out some new ideas. I played 1 game of G42 before, and Germany lost against Russia fighting almost entirely alone. They just don’t seem to have very many troops to start out the game with, and Russia on their first turn is able to push Germany almost entirely out of their territory. To me, so far, it seem this setup of the game is actually won or lost in the Pacific. However, as the Hilltop Pillbox once said, “That’s why we roll the dice!”