Rise From Eight Hundred

Chapter 382: The Steel Helmets of Jiangnan (Part 1)

The ground anti-aircraft firepower, which has been killing like crazy, will not let their enemies go.

In the field of vision, any Japanese who is still alive is a blasphemy to the souls of the comrades who have died in the battle.

Dense bullets continue to be fired into the sky, and the explosions of high-explosive bombs fired at an altitude of 1,500 to 2,000 meters make people's scalps numb.

The six Japanese fighter planes that have climbed to an altitude of 1,500 meters continue to pull up madly.

At an altitude of 700 meters, the two Japanese planes that witnessed their commander quietly going to death were also crazy.

Perhaps, they knew that they had little chance to pull up to an altitude of more than 1,000 meters. The anti-aircraft guns that suddenly rose on the ground were as high as 2,000 meters, and one minute was enough to tear them into pieces; or, they found it difficult to accept that their commander died in the battle while they had to flee with their tails between their legs.

In extreme grief and self-blame, the two Japanese planes made a choice that made the Chinese soldiers on the ground excited.

Two Japanese planes leveled off, roared and dived, dropping bombs, and then, under the fearless head-on attack of the ground fire net, one was shot down, and the other was hit by 8 anti-aircraft guns and 10 heavy machine guns and hit the fuel tank, exploding in the air.

That was really the most dazzling fireworks in this wilderness, whether in the eyes of the Chinese or the Japanese.

The Chinese, great!

The Japanese, great grief!

However, the emotions a few minutes ago were miraculously reversed at this moment.

What a wonderful fate!

However, whether in the sky or on the ground, everyone knew that the performance of the four fighters was just the prelude to the decisive battle.

The real decisive battle has not yet arrived.

The 10 Chinese fighters that rushed to the scene at full speed had to face 8 Japanese aircraft formations that had already risen to high altitude and formed a battle formation, as well as 6 Japanese aircraft that were pulling up and turning.

10 Hawk IIIs versus 14 Type 96 fighters, who will win is still unknown.

Even a calm man like Tang Dao couldn't help sweating on his palms at this moment.

On the ground battlefield, no matter how critical it was, he could give it a try, but he was really powerless for the altitude above a thousand meters.

Relying on sacrifice and unbearable silence, he had done his best to ambush and shoot down four Japanese planes at low altitude.

He could only hope that the Chinese Air Force that came to kill him had the strength that was not inferior to the Chinese Air Force in the early days of the Battle of Shanghai, otherwise the outcome of this air battle would inevitably be not optimistic.

If the Japanese army had a second wave of fighter planes arriving, this air battle caused by the retreating army from Songjiang might end with a painful defeat for China.

According to historical data, the remaining aircraft of the Chinese Air Force at this time would never exceed 90. If 10 more were lost here, it would almost be a catastrophe.

Not only the number of aircraft, but also the loss of experienced pilots was unbearable.

Pilots are not soldiers. They were farmers yesterday, but today they are soldiers carrying guns on the battlefield. Even if only one in ten survives, China, with a large enough population base, can bear it.

Pilots need a smart mind and a strong body. Receiving a high degree of education is just their starting point, and their training cycle is as long as a year or even several years.

All Chinese pilots who can wear flight helmets and hold the rudder are the pride of this era.

And Tang Dao knows that even this group of pride, the last elite of the Chinese Air Force, is about to be exhausted.

In the three-month Battle of Songhu, more than 90 outstanding Chinese pilots and their fighter planes fell into the air of Songhu forever.

But this is just the beginning of the sorrow of the Chinese Air Force.

Japan has a complete industrial structure and a strong training foundation. The more planes it fights, the stronger the pilots who have experienced air combat are. All Chinese planes are purchased from abroad, and one less plane is needed.

Every time the Chinese pilots who have experienced the bitter battle of Songhu take off, they often have to fight 10 or even 20 planes of the opponent.

This has doomed the young men of the Chinese Air Force, no matter how brave and skilled they are, they will have only one ending in the end: martyrdom.

Liu Cuigang, one of the ‘Four Great King Kongs’ of the Chinese Air Force, known as the Red Warrior, led three fighter planes to rush to Shanxi half a month ago. The weather was bad and visibility was extremely low. Friendly planes had to return halfway, but he still rushed to help alone, and ended up crashing into the Kuixing Tower in Gaoping County, Shanxi.

The plane did not explode or catch fire, but just hung quietly on the building, hanging on the ancient city building with hundreds of years of history.

His ancestors witnessed the bravery of this descendant, with their heads hanging down, their hands still firmly holding the rudder of the plane.

The other two who shone in the Songhu air battle, the ‘Northeast Flying Eagle’ and the ‘Steel Helmet of the Jiangnan Land’, will also die in the coming January.

The last remaining Li Guidan, who was promoted from a flight squadron leader to a squadron leader, will also shed blood in the sky in March.

Looking through the roster of the Chinese Air Force at that time: Gao Zhihang, Le Yiqin, Liu Cuigang, Li Guidan, Shen Chonghai, Chen Huaimin... The names of those elite pilots who carved their names in the sky of Chinese history are all accompanied by a cruel fact: almost none of them lived past 1938, and almost none of them lived past the age of 30.

Can they create a miracle at this moment?

Tang Dao was unsure.

And at an altitude of 2,500 meters, in the cabin of the 10 "leading geese" that were speeding in a goose-shaped formation, the young pilot's eyes flashed with determination, and he only said four words in the intercom: "Follow me to kill the enemy!"

Stepping hard on the accelerator, the Hawk III, which had already reached 400 kilometers per hour, increased its speed again. The designed maximum speed of 430 kilometers per hour shot the fighter plane under the young pilot like a sharp arrow towards the 8 Japanese aircraft formations at almost the same altitude.

One fighter plane was 50 meters behind him on the left and 100 meters behind. The other two fighter planes were about 300 meters behind him on the left. Following him, they increased their fighter planes to full speed and rushed towards the Japanese aircraft formation several kilometers away.

The other six fighter planes dived directly downward. Their target was obviously the other six Japanese fighter planes that had just risen to an altitude of 1,600 meters.

The tactical intention was extremely obvious. Although it was six against six, the Hawk III rushing down from an altitude of 2,500 meters obviously had the advantage in speed. It was also high above. Not to mention the Type 96 carrier-based bomber with heavy bombs, even the Type 96 carrier-based fighter plane with a higher speed would not be a match for the Hawk III fighter plane.

However, the premise is that the four fighters he led can contain the eight Japanese fighters that are already on high alert at the same altitude, six of which are Type 96 carrier fighters with superior performance to Hawk III.

This is a tactic borrowed from Tian Ji's horse racing, where the upper four against the lower four, and the middle four against the upper four, but the battlefield is not a racecourse. Once the four Chinese fighters in the middle fail, the six Chinese fighters waiting to rush to the altitude of 1,600 below will be in calamity.

This may not be simply called gambling. What kind of confidence does this have?

Tang Dao's hand clenched quietly, and the hearts of the Chinese soldiers who stopped shooting on the ground were even more in their throats.

Everyone was looking up at the sky, expecting their air force to bring them joy.

The hearts of the Chinese soldiers were hanging, and the hearts of the Japanese were also hanging.

At an altitude of 2,500 meters, only they, as opponents, could feel the enemy's strong killing intent and clearly see the shadows of the Chinese fighters charging towards them.

The Chinese fighter plane with eight red stars on its tail looked a bit fancy, but as pilots, they all knew what those paints meant.

That meant that this pilot had shot down eight opponents, and that was the symbol of an ace pilot. No one would lie about this, and it was the same all over the world. Unless the air force of that country had given up the honor of being an air eagle.

The Japanese naval aviation pilots were right. The Chinese fighter plane in front of them, which was the arrowhead of the formation, would still shoot down two enemy planes in the last battle of the Nanjing Defense War in the next month. In the end, the fighter plane was hit and caught fire and died in the battle.

Le Yiqing, who was praised by the whole of China as the "steel helmet of the Jiangnan land", one of the greatest pilots of this era in China, came to fight!

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