I know this is an ols post and I was hoping to find one dealing with this problem. I've had it happen quite a few times. Lots of ammo, no tubes turned off. It's happened to the AI as well a number of times. Unfortunately I haven't got any examples of this saved.
Any ideas why this happens in solitaire games?
I realize that they must be aware of the situation. The only work around that I have found is to disable the standoff weapon of the firing aircraft. Doing that prevents the "Phantom Artillery" shots. I found that there is a link between "standoff" shots and the problem with phantom artillery. Awesome game otherwise. Keep up the good work.