Operating Mosquitoes would trade aircraft numbers for reach

Could Illustrious-class carriers carry enough Mosquitoes to make them worthwhile?

They could operate them, but the aircraft would consume substantial hangar space and require extra support; later, larger armored carriers would be more practical hosts.

Carrier Mosquito operations were feasible but costly in hangar capacity. The fleet could reduce embarked spares and rely more heavily on the repair carrier HMS Unicorn, while larger ships such as Indomitable, Implacable, or Indefatigable would be better hosts than the original Illustrious group. The answer exposes the support tradeoffs concealed by a simple deck-fit question.