afterglow

Chapter 463 Ouyang Zhanghua; exposed! Stop flying!

Although it is unclear how many aircraft carriers the Americans sent, they only have five in total.

No matter how you put it, the naval battle force is seven ships versus five ships. The advantage lies with me!

The brisk atmosphere made Zhou Changfeng's anxiety more serious. He had never experienced this level of nervousness, not even when he had just traveled through time and was in a fierce battle environment like Demaji.

I don’t want to drink tea or eat, and I can’t sit still.

The Ziwei Zuoyuan has a luxurious catering supply that is no less than that of a battleship. However, facing the sumptuous dishes, Zhou has no appetite. The hot white rice tastes like chewing wax, and the fragrant pickled pork with pickled vegetables tastes like chicken ribs.

In order to give himself a good rest, he asked the military doctor for a tranquilizer pill and went to bed early.

This was a night that kept countless people on both sides awake at night.

It’s 5:05 local time, still an hour and a half before sunrise.

On the Ziwei Zuoyuan, the pilots who were ordered to perform reconnaissance missions were woken up from their sleep. They all looked bleary-eyed and walked outside the cabin while rubbing their eyes.

As for the rest of the pilots, they could get another hour of sleep.

After everyone washed up, they calmly went to the separate pilot restaurant to enjoy the special hotpot that is exclusively for carrier-based aircraft pilots.

Boil the pork skin into the soup for seasoning, remove the shrimp threads and fry until golden and crispy. Put the two into empty egg shells to cool. Stuff three shrimps into each half of the egg shell, a total of twelve, and serve with a small plate of minced garlic. , the name of this dish is "Golden Rooster Creeping Dawn".

There are also crispy fried spring rolls, emerald seabass, crystal grapes and other dishes and fruits.

Later, everyone came to the situation room to receive an operational briefing.

"...Fly six hundred kilometers along direction 85, then turn to direction 195, fly 100 kilometers, and finally return in a straight line. The total estimated distance is about 1,100 kilometers and the total duration is five and a half hours. The weather is very good. Yes, Mr. Yun, it is recommended to fly levelly at an altitude of 4,000 to 4,500 meters..."

A staff captain pointed at the small blackboard with a thin wooden stick and introduced the mission process to the two pilots and two rear seat gunners.

The Ziwei Zuoyuan will take off two reconnaissance Type 37 dive bombers this time to perform a search mission, and two more will take off three hours later, but the routes will be the same.

At 6:02 local time, half an hour before sunrise, the seven aircraft carriers of the second formation all turned on their floodlights.

The flight deck was instantly illuminated, like daylight, and the two aircraft that had been warmed up had slowly moved to the back of the deck.

"No problem, let's go."

"Okay."

With a crash, the hatch cover was closed.

The ground crew member raised his right hand and made several circles. The pilot in the cockpit raised his right hand and stretched out his five fingers to show that he was ready.

The ground crew guiding the takeoff waved a small flag to indicate permission to accelerate the takeoff.

Because this was not a combat operation, the aircraft carrier did not sail at high speed to facilitate the take-off of the carrier-based aircraft, and still maintained a cruising speed of 14 knots.

The two planes rushed out of the bow of the ship one after another, then slowly lifted up and flew towards the east, where the white fish belly was exposed, and soon disappeared into the night.

At the same time, the remaining aircraft carriers and light cruisers also launched reconnaissance aircraft and flew towards their respective search areas...

The most offensive means of aircraft carriers in this era was dive bombers, and torpedo planes were difficult to achieve the first hit due to their slow speed and low survivability.

Normally the dive bombers would hit the target heavily first, and then the torpedo planes would have a chance to deliver a heavy blow to destroy the target.

Therefore, it is okay for the torpedo aircraft to have inferior performance, but the performance of the dive bomber should be maximized at all costs.

The Type 37 carrier-based dive bomber was designed by Guangzhou Itan Aircraft Company. It is an all-metal aircraft with a low-wing conventional configuration.

The Type A in service today is equipped with a Crane 1050 fourteen-cylinder radial engine with a nominal power of 2000 horsepower, a maximum speed of 400km/h at an altitude of 250m, and a range of 1600km when mounted with a kg aerial bomb.

The biggest feature of the Sanqi Ship Bomb is its unique dive speed brake, which is different from the wing speed brakes used by other countries. The Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of War rejected this design and banned its use.

The Ordnance Agency believes that this will affect the aerodynamic shape of the aircraft, resulting in reduced controllability, increased drag and fuel consumption, and when damaged, it may cause wing turbulence and cause an uncontrolled crash.

So Itanium designed a speed brake located on both sides of the fuselage, one on the left and one on the left.

The U.S. aircraft carrier is equipped with a reconnaissance bomber squadron that performs reconnaissance missions. This squadron is also equipped with dive bombers and performs both reconnaissance and attack missions.

Moreover, they will also mount a 500-pound aerial bomb when conducting reconnaissance. After discovering the target, they will drop it if there is an opportunity, so it is actually combat reconnaissance.

Ming aircraft carriers also have a separate search fleet, but they are equipped with special reconnaissance aircraft-dive bombers that have removed the wing and nose machine guns and only retain the self-defense machine guns. The establishment of the search fleet is very small. If there is not enough, then the next best thing will be to make a temporary guest appearance by carrier-based bombers.

At the same time, they will naturally not mount aerial bombs when conducting reconnaissance, but will mount auxiliary fuel tanks to increase the range. This is actually a purer reconnaissance operation.

Historically, the Japanese, who were obsessed with offense, despised tactical reconnaissance in the early stages of the war. They regarded reconnaissance as a disguised defensive operation and were unwilling to spend too many resources on reconnaissance missions.

Many times, the IJN would only use a very small number of its aircraft for reconnaissance activities, and then reserve the rest for offensive use. Moreover, the IJN did not initially set up a dedicated reconnaissance unit. Reconnaissance tasks were usually handed over to seaplanes ejected from cruisers or to aircraft carrier-based aircraft as temporary guest appearances.

Half an hour later, it was dawn.

Those officers and soldiers who did not need to get up early were also preparing to enter their respective posts. The officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers' canteens were full of people, and there were whispers inside, but no one made a loud noise.

Because the canteen cannot accommodate all officers and soldiers, it is stipulated that meals must be finished within a quarter of an hour to make room for others.

"Did you sleep well last night, Zhou Daizhao?"

"Tsk, how should I put it, I'm still a little flustered."

"Hahahaha, I've always heard that Zhou Daizhao is calm and composed, why are you so nervous now?"

As far as Zhou Changfeng's feelings are concerned, Ouyang Zhanghua is a person full of personal charm.

There is a big difference between middle-aged men who have passed their forties and young people, but this is not obvious in Ouyang Zhanghua. Even though he is middle-aged and has become an official or a general, he still has a sense of youth.

He was born in a small businessman family in Suzhou Prefecture. His father was stingy and stingy, so although Ouyang Zhanghua's childhood life was well-fed and well-fed, it had nothing to do with luxury. He didn't like the intrigues and intrigues of merchants, and he also resented his father's preoccupation, so after graduating from Wenli Middle School, he applied for the Hangzhou Armed Forces Academy and began his career serving in the Ming Dynasty Navy.

Ouyang Zhanghua learned to fly airplanes in his free time when airplanes were just equipped and were still a new gadget. Since then, he has been a pioneer in the aviation department of the Ming Dynasty Navy. When the aircraft carrier was born, he firmly chose to explore this unknown and unknown path. An uncertain road ahead.

"Actually, naval battles are more of a 'gamble' than land battles. Once you make up your mind, it's a one-and-done deal. It depends on whether you can make up your mind at the right time."

"The current situation is in our favor. The enemy planes of Makin and Tarawa cannot pose a sufficient threat to our fleet. We must stay calm..."

Ouyang Zhanghua appeared calm and calm, neither impatient nor impatient. While responding to requests from all parties, he introduced the current situation to Mr. Zhou.

Intelligence shows that there are only four types of aircraft deployed by the US military in Makin Atoll and Tarawa Atoll: PBY, B-17, SB2U, and TBD. These aircraft have their own limitations and pose little threat to the Ming army fleet.

The only potential danger is being discovered by them, which would lead to an attack by an unknown US task force.

Zhou Changfeng pondered: "Well...are we going to bomb these two islands first?"

Ouyang Zhanghua nodded and said, "Yes, unless we have been exposed now, we have to kill them before they are discovered."

If they've all been discovered, there's no point in bombing anymore.

Ouyang Zhanghua was very optimistic about the current situation. He carefully reviewed the combat deployment and felt that there was no oversight. First, we have advantages in both quantity and quality.

Secondly, the enemy has not yet discovered its main fleet.

Finally, after bombing Makin and Tarawa, the threat of enemy land-based aviation can be eliminated, and after clearing the obstacles to the landing operation, we can wait and destroy the enemy fleet trying to counterattack.

At 2:17 local time on February 6, Ouyang Zhanghua, the commander-in-chief of the second formation, approved the attack order.

As the air strike order was issued, signal flags waved and signal lights flashed. Soon, announcements rang in the hangars of the other six aircraft carriers except the Rikyu.

Such a mounting command broadcast came from the hangar of the Ziwei Zuoyuan: "The auxiliary team is loading aerial bombs, Category A-2 type; the second lieutenant team is mounting aerial bombs, Category A-2 type, completed!"

"Move, move!"

"Go over in turn and come and help me!"

The hangar was busy and everyone was working hard.

The ground crew members pushed the car with two 100kg aerial anti-personnel bombs together and mounted aerial bombs on each aircraft performing the mission.

Torpedo bombers can also carry bombs, and they can carry more. Each Type 250 carrier-based torpedo aircraft can easily carry one 100kg aerial bomb and two kg aerial bombs.

The mounted aircraft cannot start the engine to warm up. Unlike the Tianshiyuan-class, Taiweiyuan-class, and Fomalhaut-class armored aircraft carriers, which use open hangars, the Ziweiyuan-class adopts a closed hangar design as an armored aircraft carrier. , does not support the warm-up and preheating operation in the hangar.

The two large elevators at the front and rear operate repeatedly, and can put down two carrier-based aircraft with folded wings at one time, thus lifting the aircraft one by one to the flight deck.

Preparations for the attack were being carried out in an orderly manner. Standing on the bridge, Zhou Changfeng was distracted for a few seconds while looking at the planes lined up on half the runway.

The scene of getting ready to go gave him a dream-like illusion.

The same goes for everyone else. The officers, soldiers and reporters accompanying the army were all excited.

Such a vibrant and dynamic situation makes people excited and makes them want to write poems and compose poems.

But at this moment, a roar that seemed to break the throat came from the platform next to the bridge.

"Enemy plane!!!"

In an instant, Zhou Changfeng felt as if his heart and lungs had stopped. It was as if an invisible hand had grasped his heart tightly, and then lifted it up with force.

"There are enemy planes! There are enemy planes!" the lookout post was still shouting.

"What are you shouting for?! Give me your bearings!" an officer scolded.

"Three o'clock, sight angle twelve degrees!"

Everyone looked around and saw that there was indeed a small black dot in the blue sky over there.

Zhou Changfeng, like several other officers, all picked up binoculars, and then saw the twin-engine, upper-monoplane, ship-shaped fuselage aircraft.

That's... Catalina!

"It's still flying towards us!"

"Didn't you see the patrol aircraft on alert?"

The Catalina, which took off from the Makin Atoll seaplane base, discovered the second formation and immediately sent back a telegram.

It then flew towards the Ming fleet for another four minutes and sent a second telegram before turning around and flying away in a hurry.

"Report! I heard a code being sent, it should be that plane."

The radio monitoring team of the Ziwei Zuoyuan intercepted these two communications in the frequency band commonly used by the US military.

Afterwards, they intercepted multiple communications from further distances, and the radio direction finder indicated that they probably came from the direction of Makin Atoll.

The bridge was solemn, except for a few people who complained softly.

Ouyang Zhanghua was still calm and calm, "Give me the order to terminate the radio silence, all ships to stop flying, recover the bombers to the hangar, and mount the Category A Type 1. A quarter of an hour later, the destroyers took off in rotation to be on alert."

The adjutant repeated the order loudly, "Commander-in-Chief orders, radio silence to be suspended, all ships..."

Category A Type 1 mount, this is an aerial bomb matching solution for ship attacks.

Five minutes later, a telegram was sent.

"Qi Ming has been noticed and has given up fishing."

Ouyang Zhanghua turned his head and smiled at Zhou Changfeng, and explained calmly: "It takes four hours to bomb the two islands, it takes more than an hour to assemble and return to the ground, and it takes more than two hours to reorganize the fleet. Now, Just don’t worry about (the two islands and reefs).”

The latter nodded to express understanding.

If the US task force is nearby, this eight hours is enough time for them to launch an attack.

Therefore, we cannot act rashly at the moment. We can only wait quietly for the reconnaissance plane dispatched before to successfully detect the nearby enemy fleet.

At the same time, take air defense measures to prepare for possible air strikes.

More than two hours later.

At 9:44 local time, a Type cruiser hovering over the fleet on alert discovered a group of US military aircraft flying from the east.

"It's flying so slowly. It looks like they're all torpedo planes."

"Let the left law enforcement team member stay, and the rest follow me to intercept them."

"Roger that!"

Four fighter jets belonging to the Taiwei Zuoyuan remained in the sky above the fleet, while the remaining twenty-odd fighter jets quickly formed four formations and pounced on the invading enemy from multiple directions.

从塔拉瓦基地起飞的机群包括13架TBD鱼雷机、10架SB2U辩护者俯冲轰炸机、6架F2A水牛战斗机。

After discovering the second formation, the Tarawa base immediately dispatched the strongest lineup that could be assembled at the moment, hoping to weaken the Ming Army's aircraft carrier formation as much as possible.

But this is destined to be like a moth flying into a flame.

"Lieutenant! Twelve o'clock!"

"They're swooping! They're coming for us!"

A dark blue-painted Type 37 ship-driven ship made the first victory. It dived and attacked from an altitude of 2,000 meters.

In just one encounter, a 12.8mm machine gun on the nose and two 7.36mm machine guns on the wing set a TBD torpedo aircraft on fire!

(End of this chapter)