Rise From Eight Hundred

Chapter 1398 The bombing begins (Part 2)

Captain Saburo Shindo, as an air commander who has high hopes from the aviation wing commander, will of course not attack with all his strength as soon as the prey appears.

The characteristics of the I-15 biplane were too obvious. The air commander of the Japanese navy, who was eager for revenge, did not take this backward old aircraft in his eyes. He only led an aviation squadron to break away from the bomber group and attack it.

  If the swooping Yi-15 aircraft group wants to kill the huge bomber group, it must break through the defense line laid by 12 Zero fighter jets in the air.

With many versus few, based on Captain Saburo Shinto's understanding of the Chinese Air Force pilots, the Chinese fighter groups will definitely rush over without hesitation. Then he and his subordinates will use the Zero fighter's maneuverability to far exceed the opponent's and kill the opponent one by one. in this airspace.

Who would have known that the aircraft fleets on both sides were still about 3,000 meters away. Seeing that in ten seconds they would be within range of each other, the Chinese aircraft fleet unexpectedly turned around.

In normal times, Shindo Saburo would definitely take protecting the bomber group as his own responsibility. As long as the Chinese fighter planes did not come, he would protect the bomber group from returning smoothly. However, the Japanese naval aviation captain who had experienced the Yiling air battle and the fierce artillery fire over the mountain city not long ago was now What he needs most is the blood of his enemies. Only these bright reds can extinguish the anger in his heart.

Through the rearview mirror in the cabin, you can see that the bomber group is accelerating away from the battlefield under the protection of 12 Zero fighters. After Saburo Shindo thought for a few seconds, he finally issued the pursuit order.

He believed that even if this was a Chinese trick to lure the enemy, the remaining 12 fighter jets would be able to hold on until he finished killing these old Chinese fighter jets and returned.

At an altitude of less than 3,000 meters, the Zero fighter's maximum speed exceeds 500 kilometers per hour, which is far beyond the reach of a biplane fighter with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

 Captain Shinto Saburo's tactical thinking is completely correct in a certain respect.

Based on the comparison of the combat effectiveness of the Japanese Zero fighter jets against the Chinese Iraqi series fighter jets after the war, it was a completely unilateral crushing. If it wanted to break through the defense line of 12 Zero fighter jets, China would have to mobilize at least 3 to 4 times the number of fighter jets.

  However, with 24 already dispatched, dispatching another 40 or so Iraqi series fighters is an almost impossible task for the current Chinese Air Force.

 Because the maximum range of the Yi series fighter jets is only 500 kilometers, it does not support the fighter jets distributed at airports across Sichuan Province to travel such a long distance to arrive here for air combat, and then fly back to their respective airports.

The start of the battlefield was just as Shinto Saburo expected. 5 minutes later, 12 menacing Zero fighter jets bit the Chinese aircraft group that was "escaping in embarrassment" in an area 28 kilometers away from where the Chinese fighter jets appeared. Seeing that speed could no longer escape the pursuit of the Japanese planes, the 24 Chinese fighter planes could only leave some of them to tangle with the Japanese planes. The other dozen fighter planes struggled to dive and change direction to gain a favorable position to fight the Japanese planes.

 Then, the Chinese people watching the battle on the ground saw an extremely tragic scene.

Whether it is turning radius, maneuvering speed or firepower, the plane with the blood-red sun on its tail is far above the plane with the blue sky and white sun flag.

The eight Chinese fighter planes left to block the enemy could not escape the pursuit of the Japanese planes, no matter whether they dived to escape or climbed desperately. Even a three-year-old child could see how cumbersome the biplanes were in front of the monoplanes.

In just 2 minutes, 8 Chinese fighter jets were either shot down or damaged and emitted billowing smoke. The fighter jets had to make an emergency landing in the farmland dragging smoke columns, but there was only a chance for 3 white flowers to bloom in the sky!

As for the only fighter plane that made an emergency landing, when the villagers rushed to the plane in an attempt to rescue the pilot at the risk of being swooped down by Japanese planes, they found that the windshield had long been shattered, the pilot had been shot in the chest, and his blood had long been Dyeing the entire cockpit blood red.

Before the villagers could lift him out of the cockpit, the young pilot breathed out the last breath of his life.

God knows what kind of perseverance he had. At the moment before his life was about to end, he not only smoothly controlled the damaged fighter plane to rush into a low altitude, but also parked the plane steadily in a rice field full of muddy water.

  No one knows how he accomplished this miracle, but the fighter plane, which was saved by the villagers using local materials and using muddy water and rice from the rice fields to extinguish the flames, was eventually transported back to Jiulongpo Airport.

Although this old and severely damaged fighter plane will never have the chance to take to the skies again because of the new fighter planes in service, it has been preserved in the Chinese Military Museum. The bullet holes on its fuselage have not been repaired, and the bullet holes in its cockpit have not been repaired. The bloodstains were also not cleaned.

An old antique from the 1930s, in an inconspicuous position in the China Military Museum, showing the glory of blood and sacrifice to all visitors!

 Sometimes, it is true that not only victory is glorious, but also failure and sacrifice.

 It was these outstanding young people in China who spent their lives to slow down the advance of the Japanese army and win a breathing space for the entire nation.

Just like this doomed battle, before they boarded the plane, they knew that they were just bait and consumables, and the risk was much greater than those of their comrades who were hovering at an altitude of nearly 7,000 meters looking for fighter planes.

Furthermore, as the commander, Zheng Shaoyu gave them the opportunity to withdraw. If there were not enough people willing to serve as cannon fodder, he would revise his tactics and fight the Japanese **** group and bomber group in a head-to-head manner.

 But these young people from elite families choose to face death!

 There is a choice on the battlefield called living toward death. Only by fighting hard can you have a chance to live. And they are called dying toward death, using their own lives to exchange for the chance of others living.

 In the end, as people in Bishan County were eagerly waiting for them, 24 Chinese fighter planes were defeated!

The battle damage ratio was an extremely frustrating 0 to 18! Less than 4 of the 18 Chinese fighter jets were able to make a successful forced landing. A full 14 fighter jets were shot down in the mountains and fields, but only the Chinese pilots who could parachute to survive were 7 people.

On the Japanese side, only two fighter planes had white smoke coming out of their tails, but judging from their attitude and speed in the air, they should have suffered only minor injuries.

If you just look at this battle, China is already a complete loser in this mountain city air defense battle. Not only the city was still bombed, but 18 fighter planes were shot down and injured.

But this is just the first wave in this air battle!

 The Japanese planes that had won the air battle were not hovering in the sky as usual and were waiting for opportunities to attack the Chinese fighters that had successfully landed on the ground. They were leaving at high speed.

To be more precise, they left at full speed, including the two Japanese fighter planes that were slightly damaged.

The roar of the 900-horsepower engines of the 11 Zero fighter jets could be clearly heard by the Chinese people on the ground more than 2,000 meters away. China was shrouded in great sorrow after witnessing the defeat of its own fleet. People don't understand, but the Japanese who had won a great victory for Mao left the battlefield as if their buttocks were on fire.

Captain Saburo Shindo was not as happy as he imagined after winning the victory. He didn't even bother to chase the last six remaining Chinese fighter planes, and his face was full of anger and fear.

 Because, 70 kilometers away from the battlefield where he was, the bomber group that was returning at high speed was ambushed by the Chinese aircraft group from high altitude.

We are not afraid of dozens of them, including all of the latest fighter jets. What really scares Shindo Saburo is that the Chinese were so forbearing and waited for a full 10 minutes before launching an attack.

 Don’t they know that the Yi series fighters are no match for the empire’s latest fighters? As a Japanese naval aviation captain who had fought against the Chinese Air Force over Yiling, he knew very well that his opponent knew very well that even if it was 24 versus 11, the Chinese Iraqi series fighters would have no chance.

But the Chinese still did it. Dozens of fighter planes followed the bomber group at an altitude of 7,000 meters, just waiting for him to lead the imperial fighter planes to shoot down 18 Chinese fighter planes, like golden eagles in the sky, waiting The best time to catch prey.

This tactic is really so cruel, so cruel that even the enemy Saburo Shindo was chilled all over!

 Because he knew what these ruthless enemies were waiting for, waiting for their comrades to waste their lives for 10 minutes, and waiting for the bomber group to get further and further away from the battlefield.

For humans, 70 kilometers is very far. Even for the toughest troops, it will take more than 15 hours to advance lightly. But for fighters, especially the Zero fighter with a top speed of more than 500 kilometers per hour, it is not needed at all. In 10 minutes, if you push the throttle lever all the way and turn on the afterburner, you may arrive there in seven or eight minutes.

 But, can 25 bombers and 12 escorting Zero fighters survive until he leads his team to arrive?

Saburo Shindo didn’t know the result, but he knew that if the Chinese sneak attack on the bomber formation was successful, not to mention that he only shot down 18, even if all 24 Chinese fighter planes were destroyed, the Imperial Navy would also suffer a huge defeat in this air battle.

"Everyone, return immediately! The bomber formation is being attacked by the Chinese. Everyone should return as quickly as possible without saving fuel!" Captain Saburo Shindo, who was trying his best to stay calm, said this on the wireless intercom and turned the throttle lever. Pushed to the bottom.

 Actually, the Chinese are not as calm as Saburo Shindo imagined.

The young Chinese pilots at an altitude of 6,800 meters covered by clouds are also suffering in their hearts.

The radio performance of the Mao Xiong people's I-15 fighter jets is really poor. In many cases, it cannot communicate with the ground at all, leading to errors. Even with the most advanced I-16 fighter jets assisted by the Mao Xiong people, the air signal is intermittent. Therefore, when Tang Dao and Zheng Shaoyu formulated the tactic of "flying a moth to the flame", the country immediately hired Mi maintenance pilots at the airport to upgrade the radio of the I-16. In fact, 10 sets of Wildcat fighters were The radio system is installed on the I-16. This is to facilitate the main fleet to communicate with them and to notify them at any time to leave the battlefield at a more appropriate time.

 The two Yi-series aircraft fleets responsible for executing "Moths to Flames" each have five Yi-16 aircraft.

Even if they are dozens of kilometers away, the main force can still receive the voice of the decoy aircraft group.

In the cockpits of young Chinese pilots, the most common thing is the rustling of electronic signals after entering the signal blind zone. There are occasional intermittent voices from comrades, but they are constant farewells.

“Meng Qing’s No. 16 aircraft caught fire. He tried to make a low-altitude emergency landing, but failed. No. 16 aircraft has crashed! It’s too low, there’s no chance to parachute!”

“Guang Zhong has parachuted, and the Japanese Japanese are still trying to shoot him with machine guns. I’m going to block him!”

 “I was shot and I no longer have the strength to climb out of the cockpit. Goodbye, brothers!”

"Most of our side has been lost in the battle. We can't survive anymore. Let the rest be left to our brothers!"

  . . . . . . . .

 The constant bad news has made the young Chinese pilots burst into tears at high altitudes where the engines roared.

“Captain, launch an attack! If you don’t launch an attack, Squadron Leader Wang and the others will be dead!” The young Chinese pilots kept asking Zheng Shaoyu, the supreme commander of the Bishan airspace, in agony.

"The distance is not enough yet, wait a little longer!" Zheng Shaoyu's order could not be shorter, his tone was as firm as before, and no one could hear his emotional changes.

But perhaps only the wingman pilot who was less than 20 meters away from him could see the resolute-faced major captain in the cockpit with tears shining on his face.

His brothers have already died under his orders, so what he must do now is not to let their deaths be in vain.

"Dive attack! Squadrons 17 and 18 attack the enemy bombers first, and the rest will join me to entangle and kill the escorting Japanese Zero aircraft!" It was not until a full 10 minutes later that Zheng Shaoyu, who had been staring at his watch, finally roared angrily. Issue an attack command.

 48 high-altitude Wildcat fighter jets roared down, swooping down to kill a group of Japanese bombers flying at an altitude of 3,200 meters 3,000 meters away.

The Japanese bomber fleet is entirely composed of the 97 heavy bomber series. Some are early models and some are later revised models, but the main differences are in anti-air weapons. The earliest KI-21 model only has 4 machine guns, and the revised KI in 1939 -21II has been increased to 6 thrusters, and the vertical tail has been enlarged. It can reach a speed of 430 kilometers per hour in full flight.

This was already considered a mid-level level among bombers at the time, and even flew faster than China's Iraqi series fighters. Faced with interceptions by Iraqi series fighters many times, the 97 Heavy Explosion was able to increase the throttle and fly away.

But this time their opponent was a Wildcat fighter with a top speed of 550 kilometers per hour. The distance of 3,000 meters, and the speed difference of more than 100 kilometers per hour, was only two or three minutes.

The 12 Zero fighters were already working very hard. While the bomber group was trying to continue escaping forward, they completed a turn in the air with a quarter of the opponent's strength and charged head-on towards the powerful opponent.

But how could the Chinese fleet, which had an absolute advantage in numbers, be stopped by 12 Zero fighters like this? About 20 Wildcat fighters, led by Zheng Shaoyu, strangled these 12 Zero fighters in the air, while the other 28 were resolute. to attack the Japanese bomber group.

97 Heavy Explosion was naturally unwilling to be captured, and its onboard machine gun fired desperately at the approaching Wildcat fighter jets.

However, the Wildcat fighter with a length of only 8.7 meters is as light as a falcon hitting a vulture compared to the 97 heavy bomber with a total length of more than 16 meters, constantly flying up and down to cut into the battlefield from the bomber's blind spot.

Describing Wildcat fighter jets as hawks describes their agility, but when it comes to lethality, the lethality of the Type 97 heavy bomber is not as great as that of the Wildcat fighter jet.

  One of the tactical purposes of the Wildcat fighter was to intercept opponent bombers, so all machine guns used were 12.7 mm heavy machine guns. Later revised models were even equipped with 20 mm machine guns and 23 mm cannons.

 The thick warhead can easily tear open the skin of the 97 heavy explosive machine and cause damage to the body!

In less than 5 minutes, 19 of the 25 Japanese bombers were shot down. Two Chinese Wildcat fighters were hit by heavy machine guns and crashed. Fortunately, the pilots were able to parachute successfully, and another 5 Wildcat fighters were injured. Two of them were ordered to return from low altitude because of billowing smoke.

Compared to the one-sided battlefield on Saburo Shinto's side, the Japanese bomber group actually broke the record of zero, and its performance can be rated as 30 points.

 But as more Wildcat fighters that destroy their own targets enter the battlefield, it is only a matter of time before the remaining six 97 heavy bombers are destroyed.

From the beginning, the 12 Zero fighter jets were still able to rely on their super maneuverability and the 20 Chinese fighter jets that were more numerous than themselves. However, as nearly 10 Wildcat fighter jets finished solving their opponents, they returned from more than 10 kilometers away. , the Japanese aircraft fell into complete passivity.

Because they were heartbroken and watched their comrades risking their lives to fight for a chance for themselves, many young Chinese pilots adopted the lose-lose tactic of "injuring the enemy by one thousand and destroying themselves by eight hundred", hoping that they would be hit by Japanese machine guns. Also use machine guns to leave a few holes for the Japanese aircraft.

You have large numbers and targeted tactics, but you still want to engage in such tactics. Who can withstand it?

What's even more terrible is that the Wildcat fighter's protection of the fuel tank and pilot cockpit is much better than that of the Zero fighter. At least six Wildcat fighter jets have dozens of bullet holes left on them, but they are still jumping up and down vigorously.

 As long as a Zero fighter receives more than a dozen rounds of 12.7 mm caliber bullets, almost none of them will emit smoke.

It is a good thing if the ancestral graves emit green smoke, but if you emit green smoke yourself, it will be burned down.

By the time Saburo Shindo rushed to the scene of the air battle, the air battle was basically over. There was black smoke from burning everywhere on the ground. You didn't need to look closely to know that it was the wreckage of the plane crash.

 There are still nearly 40 Chinese fighter planes painted with blue sky and white sun flags circling in the sky.

　　The Chinese fleet that won a great victory by shooting down all the bombers and killing 9 Zero fighters did not want to circle and demonstrate on their own results. They were waiting in this airspace for the return of the enemy planes that killed their comrades.

"kill!"

 Two identical orders were issued from the mouths of the two commanders in China and Japan.

Like two groups of bulls with red eyes, 37 Wildcat fighter jets and 11 Zero fighter jets clashed without hesitation.

 For the pilots of the two fleets, any words are enough to express their anger and sorrow, only the blood of the enemy can.

 The 11 Zero fighters that lost all their sanity finally had no chance to return.

In the sky, 32 Wildcat fighter jets circled their battlefield three times before flying to the most tragic and brilliant battlefield. They circled there for more than 10 minutes.

 Looking from the ground, it looks like a flock of geese that have lost their companions. Although there is no mournful cry, there is sadness.

 Finally, they raised their noses high and flew into the distance.

Those are our fighter planes, but are they late? The people on the ground with faces full of tears did not know the news of the victory.

 (End of this chapter)