The Rise of the Third Reich

For an aviation fleet commander, the most unfortunate thing in the world is probably that when a reconnaissance plane discovers an enemy aircraft carrier formation, there is no bomber or attack aircraft available!

This is what Jisaburo Ozawa is encountering now.

"Can American carrier-based aircraft catch us?" Ozawa Jizaburo asked as he walked to the chart.

Fleet Aviation Staff Mitsuo Fuchida had already measured the distance at this time. He reported: "It is about 900 kilometers. According to intelligence, the combat radius of the American SBD dive bomber is about 700 kilometers, and the combat radius of the TBF is similar to that of the SBD."

"What if we go to San Salvador after completing the attack?" Ozawa Jisaburo asked again.

"900 plus 400...1,300 kilometers, this seems to be enough." Mitsuo Fuchida quickly came to a conclusion.

The people on the bridge of the Akagi suddenly became nervous. The three large aircraft carriers...should be the legendary Essex class built by a dozen, right? There should be 270 aircraft on board the three aircraft carriers, and at least 200 aircraft can be dispatched to attack the First Mobile Fleet.

And now there are hundreds of P51s following the first attack wave, which is 370!

"It doesn't matter," Ozawa Jisaburo's "grandma's face" has returned to calm, "Isn't it just 370 enemy planes? How many available Zero fighters do we have now?"

"There are 132." Mizuo Fuchida replied, "There are also 26 Fw-190Ts. A total of 158 fighters can cover the fleet, which should be enough."

It should...if there are no P51, F4U and F6F, it will definitely be enough. But now, the situation is really hard to say.

"Release all carrier-based aircraft," Ozawa Jisaburo said, "and then set up an air defense formation. It is already past 4 p.m., and as long as we persist for two more hours, we should be able to win a big victory in the Panama battle."

There are two conditions for victory in this "Operation Mountain". One is to sink several U.S. aircraft carriers and weaken the strength of the U.S. Pacific Fleet; the other is to blow up the Panama Canal locks, delay the time for U.S. aircraft carriers to enter the Pacific, and prepare defenses for the Hawaiian Islands. Gain time.

Now the first mission has been completed. Although most of the three carriers sunk were Borg-class escort carriers, they are still better than nothing. The second goal should also be achieved. The 108 Tianshan attack aircraft led by Major Tomonagajo have already taken off (the second attack wave) and are now flying at ultra-low altitude, preparing to attack the Panama Canal.

From the perspective of a sneak attack on the Panama Canal, it is actually advantageous for the Americans to send 100 P51s from the Panama Canal Zone to follow back the first attack wave, which will weaken the canal's defense to some extent.

So Ozawa only needs to survive the critical 2 hours, and victory will be within reach!

However, these two hours are indeed very difficult for the Japanese. Because there are not only 3 US aircraft carriers in North San Juan Bay, but 5. In addition, about 550 nautical miles to the west of the Ozawa Fleet is the 16th Task Force commanded by Vice Admiral Spruance. This fleet also has three aircraft carriers.

Therefore, Ozawa Jisaburo and his men will face Shogun 456 carrier-based aircraft taking off from 8 US aircraft carriers, and 96 P51 fighter jets flying from the Panama Canal Zone.

When Ozawa Jisaburo learned that there was a U.S. fleet in North San Juan Bay in the Caribbean, the attack aircraft groups dispatched by the U.S. 3rd Fleet and the 16th Task Force had already taken off.

Among them, 60 F4U fighters, 36 F6F fighters, 90 SBD dive bombers and 90 TBF torpedo bombers took off from the 5 aircraft carriers of the 3rd Fleet, a total of 276 carrier-based aircraft, forming 2 attack waves.

From the three aircraft carriers of the 16th Task Force, 36 F4U fighters, 24 F6F fighters, 60 SBD dive bombers and 60 TBF torpedo bombers took off, a total of 180 carrier-based aircraft, which were also divided into 2 attack waves. .

If you include the 96 P51s, the Ozawa fleet will be attacked by 552 enemy aircraft!

However, these 552 enemy planes did not fly over Japan's First Mobile Fleet at the same time, otherwise Ozawa Jisaburo would not be able to cope with it even if he had three heads and six arms. Since it takes time for the aircraft carrier to release aircraft and formations, if a formation is too large, the aircraft that took off earlier will consume too much fuel while circling and waiting. Therefore, carrier-based aircraft attacks in this era are generally divided into two waves.

In addition, Halsey and Spruance did not order the carrier-based aircraft to take off at the same time. Because Halsey's 3rd Fleet arrived in North San Juan Bay earlier, while Spruance's 16th Task Force arrived in the attack position later.

Therefore, these 552 American aircraft arrived in 5 waves (the 96 P51s from Panama also arrived in one wave). Jisaburo Ozawa was quite lucky today. The first attack wave sent by Halsey arrived first - if the 96 P51s sent by Panama arrived first chasing the returning Japanese plane, there would be big trouble. .

"The target is at 8 o'clock, at an altitude of 6,000 meters, a fleet of US military aircraft!"

Hiro Nishizawa, who was tall and thin and looked too haggard to be a pilot, heard the voice of squadron leader Major Nakajima through his earphones. The ace pilot of the Tainan Wing was transferred to the aircraft carrier together with his former boss Sasai Chuichi, but was assigned to a different squadron.

During the battle on March 17, his fighter squadron stayed on the aircraft carrier Kaga and was responsible for direct cover.

At 5:12 p.m., the first batch of American planes flew over from the southeast.

"There are at least 100 planes! It looks like we can make a lot of gains today!"

"Yao Xi, the American devil is here to die. I shot down 2 enemy planes today!"

"Shoot them all down, and you can't put any one back!"

The relaxed and cheerful chatter of his comrades came from Nishizawa's earphones. Although the Germans repeatedly warned, many senior officials of the Japanese Navy also realized that with the emergence of new American fighter jets, the era of Zero dominating the skies over the Pacific was probably over. past.

But most Japanese naval aviation pilots do not know this information that damages morale - officer pilots with naval background can know more bad news, but soldiers and non-commissioned officer pilots are not aware of this.

They only know that they must avoid fighting with the new American aircraft at an altitude of more than 7,000 meters. At the same time, they cannot use dive tactics to escape the opponent's pursuit, and they must tremble as much as possible.

Nishizawa Hiroyuki also didn't know how powerful American aircraft were now, and he was happily planning to shoot down a few American aircraft just like everyone else, so that he could consolidate his ace status.

Amid cheers, Nishizawa Hiroyuki's squadron had collided with 12 F6F Hellcat fighter jets. A fierce fight ensued between the Zero 52 and the F6F Hellcat.

Nishizawa Hiroyuki also found an F6F and started to fight against each other. After a moment of confrontation at the same altitude 800-1000 meters apart, the two aircraft began to climb at a large angle at the same time, both wanting to occupy a favorable altitude and fire first.

But Nishizawa quickly discovered the problem. The F6F actually climbed faster than his Zero 52!

After confirming that he could not defeat his opponent by climbing speed, Nishizawa did not dare to continue to increase the altitude, because the Zero aircraft had never been an aircraft that could dominate at high altitudes. So Nishizawa Hiroyuki adopted the tactics of luring the enemy, giving up the promotion and choosing to dive away. The F6F was indeed fooled, and immediately stopped climbing and started a dive attack - "climb-dive-attack-break away" is the only way to fight the Fokker Zero on the European battlefield, and almost all British and American pilots know it. However, it is not easy to hit the Zero with a dive attack, because the Zero is very flexible, and British and American pilots with poor marksmanship will miss it.

Sure enough, Nishizawa Hiroki's Zero aircraft was not hit by the first round of F machine gun fire. Caesar took the opportunity to pull up the plane and change it to horizontal flight. Because it was biting Caesar's tail, the F6F was unwilling to give up. Also flying at a high level, Nishizawa knew that his opportunity had come. He performed a stunt of climbing and then flipping, immediately reversing the situation and biting the tail of the F6F in front of him.

"Haha, you're done!" Nishizawa Hiroyuki laughed and pulled the machine gun trigger and cannon button, firing 20mm artillery shells and 7.7mm machine gun bullets at the same time.

But at this moment, something unexpected happened to Nishizawa Hiroshi. The F6F in front quickly rolled to the right and slid down the turn just before the bullets and shells were about to hit it. He actually escaped from the muzzle and muzzle of Caesar's gun. After escaping, the F6F quickly pulled up again, as if it wanted to once again occupy a high-altitude position for a dive attack.

"It's really difficult!" Nishizawa, the ace, muttered. He finally knew that the Empire of Japan was in trouble!

The climbing, speed and dive performance of this new American aircraft exceed that of the Zero 52, and its maneuverability is not bad, not to mention its firepower and ruggedness. It seems that it is not an easy task to knock them down!

Nishizawa is anxious, and Ozawa, who is watching the battle on the Akagi, also finds that the future of the Japanese Empire is somewhat uncertain.

Because combat in the air is extremely difficult! The number of fighter jets dispatched by his side was clearly superior (Ozawa did not dispatch all the direct-covering fighter jets, but only dispatched 60 Zeros to fight against the US fighter jets, and also dispatched 26 Fw-190Ts to expel the fighters hiding at high altitudes. (SBD and TBF), but they were unable to achieve an overwhelming victory in the air battle. Instead, they fought an evenly matched battle. From time to time, Zero aircraft were turned into "turkeys" and fell from the sky!