The Ascender is an ultra short range fighter.  It has speed and firepower but is mostly a local defense fighter.   As an aside, the WW2 rocket powered  ME-163 Komet fighter was a point defense interceptor...and the Ascender is  the same thing.    High speed, short range and not all that effective.  I found the Ascender to be not very effective on a CV.

The Hellcat costs less, has more range, and you can help your team by supplying vision.
At the same time, if you have bombers, you can send your Hellcats with the bombers. The Hellcat doesn't have the speed or the firepower of the Ascender, but the Hellcat WILL do the job for you.

With skill and a little manuvering, you can engage enemy fighters with your fighters, (knowing that you are sacrificing your T2 fighters) and slip the bombers by to their targets.

I did this many times with my CV2 and sank more than a few enemy ships.  You just can't escort bombers with Ascenders.

You can do what you want, but I got real frustrated with constantly loosing the Ascenders  due to lack of fuel.   I got frustrated with loosing my T2 fighters to superior fighters too, BUT being able to escort bombers to target and getting hits was much more satisfying.

My experience says, go with the Hellcat and tough it out, but you can do what you like.

Thanks tulsa for the response.  I will definately try this tactic.  

i use US locals until lvl 75 n ill say...i manage to hog 2 FW PCVs n 1 B F cv....im using hero fps on belleau wood US ecv..fyi i won vs 3 cvs

Go for the Hellcats: You have much more range and they can eat t1 bombers and even t2 if you give them time.They can also go for scouts but you have to be prepared for enemy fighters because they will make you mad and you will lose your planes!