I'm really lost on the air force factory I see lots of people with great gear but can't find any information..

I'm not certain how much gear you have, but basically you'll only have 6 slots on your plane. They are usually color graded. Gray being the common gear, followed by (uncommon) green, and then (rare) blue, and then (epic) purple, and (legendary) yellow as the best type of gear and the ratest one you can find. See to it that you do recycle the ones you do not need and comvert them to airforce coins. With these coins, you can purchase specific (legendary) yellow gears for 1800 airforce coins. Otherwise, use them to purchase enhance allows that are used to upgrade the gears. With your particular case, just see to it that you have available space in your airforce parts inventory. Advanced looking planes are usually unlocked once you teach a ceratin level in the game, otherwise, if a low level player uses such, it mist probably purchased through IAPs.

You can also purchase gears when the trade room is open. you can sell your low level or duplicate gear or a myriad of other items to get AMS points or just buy AMS points. There will be a lot of quality gear for sale in the trade room, as many commanders are switching to the newer gears. They have made it possible to earn some of the gears in different events. it takes time but is so very worth it. AF, officers, spray and technology are way more important than number or even tier of troops. I have hit many players with 10 million or more power than me and crushed them because of my Air Force, Officers, and Tech. Make sure you upgrade your airforce factory as much as you can. you will get better stuff to trade in / recycle.