New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

The machine gunner in the back seat, Hisaku Ozawa, fiddled with the machine gun in his hand in boredom.His ears were filled with the excited yelling of the pilot Sato Bachuan in the front seat: "Good job, another one was shot down...haha, another enemy plane is smoking." Ze was still nervous, but Sato said disapprovingly; "It's okay, those ghosts and animals are not capable of breaking through the interception of our escort force. We can just see a good show." After that, the development of things was almost the same as Sato expected. .The air battle was completely one-sided, with the Empire occupying an overwhelming advantage.It's a pity that the air battle was carried out in front of the bomber group, while Ozawa, who was a self-defense machine gunner, sat facing the rear.He had to turn his head as hard as he could, looking in the direction of the air battle.But it doesn't always look real.

"Oh, the view from the front seat is better." Ozawa sighed while twisting his sore neck. "Hey, what's there?" In his field of vision, a group of small black dots appeared.These small black dots rapidly become larger and larger. "Enemy attack!" Ozawa shouted loudly, while trying to turn the machine gun to the direction where the enemy appeared.

"This is Fox One, there is no enemy plane to intercept, attack! Attack!" Captain Hessel gave an order, and 14 fighter jets swooped down.

Due to the successful guidance of the radar, the angle at which the fox formation swooped down happened to be in the blind spot of the firepower of most Japanese bombers' self-defense machine guns.In addition, the previous air battle not only delayed the escort's zero battle, but even disturbed the attention of many bomber pilots.This unexpected blow caused several bombers to smoke.More bombers were also forced to drop their bombs early. The design style of Japan's bombers is almost the same as that of Zero War, flexible but not strong.In terms of turning alone, the hovering ability of the 99 warship is even better than that of the f4f, not to mention the bulky buffalo.However, like the Zero War, it is not strong enough. Compared with its thick-skinned and thick-skinned American counterparts, it is as nimble as a bird and as fragile as a bird.It only takes a dozen or even a few .50 bullets to kill it. The Japanese navy believes that flexibility is the best defense, as long as you can't hit, what difference does it make if you have armor or not?

But if you want to be flexible, you can't carry bombs.It's like you can't expect a football player to be able to dexterously swing past several defenders and shoot goals in a row while carrying a load equivalent to his body weight, even if he is Messi. The 99 Ship Explosion also cannot remain flexible with bombs on it.Now, under the attack of American fighter jets, in order to keep the plane, many bombers had to drop their bombs in advance.

Sato Bachuan also dropped the bomb.In the raid just now, Sato escaped the first attack by American fighter jets thanks to the reminder from the back seat.However, after the U.S. fighter jets swooped down, they immediately jumped up at a large angle, and launched another attack using the blind firepower of the bomber's belly.The attack this time was completely different from just now. The American planes swooped down just now, and their speed was very fast, and it was getting faster and faster.So when they are close to the target, the window time for shooting is very short.But this time the American planes are jumping, and as their altitude rises, their speed is also slowing down, so the shooting window will be much longer.This time, Sato was stared at again. In order to dodge, he had to drop the bomb.In this way, even if he flies over the target, he can't play much role.

After dropping the bomb, the bomber suddenly became much lighter, and with a slight sharp turn, it dodged the F2A Buffalo that came straight down.Now that the bomber was out of bombs, the buffalo gave up its attack, turned a corner, and stared at another bomber that hadn't dropped its bomb yet.

But just when this F2A was about to launch an attack again, a 99 Ship Explosion suddenly cut directly into its inner line, and fired at it.This 99 ship explosion is the one driven by Sato.The 99, which dropped its bombs, transformed into a nimble fighter almost immediately.It started to look like an old hen with wings, trying to protect other bombers.

After the second round of attacks, 5 more bombers were hit, but at the same time, at least 4 U.S. fighter jets were shot and injured and had to withdraw from the battle. The pilots of HNA Japan are all top pilots. (The best pilots in Japan are fighting on the front line, which is not the case for the US military. The best pilots will always be transferred to the rear to serve as instructors to train new pilots. This made the US military pilots face the Japanese military pilots in the early days of the war. At that time, they were often at a technical disadvantage. But as the war continued, when the old pilots on the front line of the Japanese army were exhausted, the skills of the new Japanese pilots who took over were often extremely inferior to those of the new American pilots.) Although they were attacked , although it was an unfair air battle between fighters and bombers, they still showed superior technical capabilities.In the second round of the battle, they actually played an amazing record close to 1:1.

Now that Zero Zhan, who realized that he had been fooled, was almost here, and if he continued to attack, he might end up annihilated.So the fox formation began to retreat actively. In these two rounds of attacks, they shot down at least 6 bombers, injured about 3 to 4, and forced at least 10 or more Japanese bombers to drop their bombs in advance.I only lost 4 planes.The task has been completed well.At least compared to previous air battles, this exchange ratio is nothing short of a miracle.If you don't see it again, just accept it. What are you waiting for?

Fearing that there might be other attackers, Zero Zhan dared not pursue them.Now, they obediently protected the bomber and continued to move towards the target.

When the Japanese bombers arrived at Midway, their number one target was Midway Airport.At this time, the Midway Island Airport was empty, all the planes had already taken off, and the only thing left was the empty runway.At the same time, they were greeted by intensive anti-aircraft artillery fire on the island.

Braving the artillery fire, the bombers launched a dive attack on the target. Although the bombers were constantly hit by the anti-aircraft artillery and exploded into a huge fireball in the air, they still accurately shot the heavy bombs with harsh whistling sounds. The ground smashed to the ground, and immediately, there was a violent explosion on the ground, and a huge column of smoke rose.The whole island trembled from the sound of the explosion.The bombing lasted nearly 20 minutes, and Ri himself blew up an oil depot and a sea hangar.However, the Japanese bombers' attempt to destroy the opponent's air force at Midway failed.The bombing targets they could find were empty airstrips and a few empty hangars.

After the attack, Captain Tomoyaga, the leader of the team, flew a plane to inspect the entire island.He saw that although Midway Island had become a sea of ​​flames, the airstrip on the island had not been completely destroyed.He believed that a second attack on Midway was necessary.But at this time, the first attack wave aircraft he led had run out of ammunition and fuel, so they had to return.

It was 7 a.m. Central Pacific Time.Captain Tomonaga sent a telegram to the Nagumo Fleet from the plane: "Assault fleet returns, it is necessary to attack again." His fleet was shot down by ground anti-aircraft fire during the bombing of Midway.Compared with the results obtained, such an attack is really not worth the candle.However, if the second batch of bombers is dispatched quickly enough, it should be able to catch the US military fleet that must land at the airport due to fuel consumption.

Just when Japan himself launched an attack on Midway Island, General Frye also received a telegram from the "Catalina" water reconnaissance plane on the Yorktown aircraft carrier that the Japanese aircraft carrier had been discovered.General Frye immediately planned to send bombers, but at this time, the 10 reconnaissance planes just sent were preparing to land on the ship, and they were almost out of fuel.At that time, the aircraft carrier had not yet invented the angled deck, and it was impossible to take off and land on the aircraft carrier at the same time.In order for these planes to land, the entire runway must be cleared.Therefore, the bombers had to wait for these aircraft to land before they could be lifted out of the hangar and ready to strike on the runway.And at this time, the aircraft carrier Yorktown was a little farther away from the Japanese aircraft carrier.If the bomber force were to take off directly at this time, due to range limitations, it would be difficult for many aircraft to return to the aircraft carrier after completing their missions.So at 6 o'clock, General Fletcher sent a telegram to General Spruance, ordering Task Force 16 to launch an air attack on the enemy fleet first, and Task Force 17 to follow.

But it was difficult for Spruance to launch an attack immediately. His position was only 15 nautical miles ahead of Frye's side.The problem of insufficient voyage also exists with him.So on the Enterprise aircraft carrier, the officers were called up urgently, and Ron was among them.

In the conference room, General Spruance's adjutant introduced the relevant situation to everyone:

"At 5:13, the reconnaissance plane spotted the Japanese bomber fleet. At 5:25, the reconnaissance plane spotted the Japanese fleet in area 12 and confirmed that there were 4 aircraft carriers in it. General Fletcher asked our fleet to report to the enemy immediately. The army launched an attack. At present, our fleet is far away from the enemy..."

"If we attacked now, how many planes would we miss?" General Spruance asked.

"Sir, if we take off now, probably more than half of the planes will not be able to fly back." The answer was Colonel Mitchell Browning, Chief of Staff.

"So how about turning them to Midway?"

"Sir, Midway has just been bombed and is about to accept its own plane to land. I don't think they can help us much."

"So if we want to get to the right distance, when can we send the plane?"

Several aviation staff officers quickly calculated, and one of them replied:

"General, it must be around 9 o'clock before our fleet can reach the appropriate distance."

"Ah, at 9 o'clock..." General Spruance pondered, "That means we still have to wait for about 3 hours. No, this is too dangerous. In 3 hours, the Japanese fleet can move at least 60 nautical miles, at that time, the bombers we send may not find anything. Moreover, Ri's own plane has a farther range than ours, and they must have sent a reconnaissance plane. During these 3 hours, they may find us at any time, Hit us."

"So when do you think we will send bombers?" the general asked suddenly.

After a buzzing discussion, the conference room gradually fell silent.

"General, I think we should send bombers around 7 o'clock." Colonel Mitchell Browning said, "Then when we reach the enemy's sky, the enemy ships should be recovering the attack group. This is when they are most vulnerable. "

"So how many planes should we send?"

"As a rule, we should divide the cluster into at least two batches, so that the first wave we will send out..."

General Spruance frowned, walked up and down the chart with his arms folded.

Ron looked at General Spruance. He knew that in history, Spruance, a general known for his prudence, had the greatest highlight in this battle when he dispatched almost all the bombers at once. Get out, no second wave, no reserves.It is precisely because of this desperate decision that it helped the US military win this decisive battle of disparity in strength.But at this time, General Spruance was still hesitating.After all, it is extremely risky to deal with it like this. Once it fails, the entire fleet will lose the ability to defend itself.Once this fleet is lost again, the US military will not have any combat fleet in the entire Pacific Ocean for quite a while.In this way, not only Midway will surely fall, but Pearl Harbor will also be threatened, and even the entire west coast will be threatened.Although Ron believes that even in the worst case, Japan himself will not be able to land on the west coast of the United States. The industrial superiority, will win in the end.But the road to victory will also become more bumpy.It's just that the old habit of being a small technician in a big company for many years made him not used to showing off in front of his superiors.

Maybe he noticed that Ron was staring at him, maybe because Ron can always surprise people in these days of drills, General Spruance said to him: "Young man, what do you think?"

Although he had already thought of a lot of plans in his mind, Ron was still a little nervous when asked.Looking into the general's piercing eyes, Ron actually felt a sense of panic when he faced a series of questioning questions from a famous professor who was notorious for speaking during his dissertation defense in college. (I learned later that the more severe the old gentleman kept asking, the more satisfied he was actually.)

"Well... General," Ron stood up slowly, reached out his hand, and helped his hat to stabilize his emotions.After all, this answer may affect the entire battle situation. "General, I think," Ron calmed down, raised his head, looked at General Spruance firmly, and replied, "I think we should put all the bombers up at once!"

"It's too risky!" someone said.

"If we fail, we will have no power to fight back!"

But General Spruance just smiled faintly and said, "Oh, the idea is very interesting, let's talk about it carefully!"

"General, the enemy's aircraft are obviously superior to ours in terms of number, performance, and training level. If conventional methods are adopted, under the interception of Japanese fighter jets, how many aircraft in the first wave can complete the attack?" Breakthrough? Even if the breakthrough is completed, how many can actually hit? Therefore, going in batches will only allow them to be continuously killed by Japanese fighter jets. It is difficult to wipe out the entire Japanese fleet in one fell swoop. On the contrary, once the Japanese keep them If the aircraft carrier launched a counterattack against us, can our two aircraft carriers withstand the Japanese counterattack? Even if we keep all the fighter jets, we will not be able to withstand the assault of four aircraft carriers! Yesterday's tactical exercise has been completed Prove it!"

Ron stopped and looked at everyone. The tension just now had disappeared without a trace, and now his face was full of determination, so much so that his eyes were a little provocative.

"Since we don't have enough defensive power, the only way is to wipe out all the enemy's aircraft carriers at once. When we arrived, the enemy should be recovering the aircraft. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! There will be fighter jets above the enemy , but it cannot be too many, but if we are well organized, then our planes will appear in the sky above the enemy ships at the same time. Can bite one of our planes, and we can still ensure a successful penetration of a batch of planes and give the enemy a fatal blow!"

"Well said!" General Spruance applauded, and the others followed suit.

"Then we have decided that we will send all the bombers and most of the fighters at once. Everyone, now let's improve my battle plan."

At 4 o'clock in the morning, the first Avenger torpedo attack plane flew off the deck of the Enterprise. After the torpedo plane, dive bombers took off, and then f[-]f wildcat fighter jets.

This takeoff sequence is very different from normal.It is usually safe to let the fighter take off first and fly to the front of the fleet to escort the fleet.But now, in order to gain time and save fuel-you must know that almost all planes attack at the limit range-the fleet has chosen to let the slowest torpedo planes go first, and then those that take off at a faster speed The faster planes, first the last fighters to take off, and then the dive bombers would catch up with them, and they would rally along the way and launch a general attack together.Because the weather forecast shows that today the sky is cloudy and the height of the clouds is relatively low, so the fighter force has received such an instruction: don't fly too high, and keep visual contact with the torpedo plane fleet.This is Ron's suggestion. Originally, if there were no clouds, the fighter jets should fly a little higher, so as to gain an altitude advantage over the zero battle.But now, if you still do this, the consequence is likely to be that the fighter jets are flying above the clouds, and the torpedo planes are flying below the clouds, and they will be lost as they fly.

In the original history, such a situation happened that the torpedo planes that arrived first attacked the Japanese fleet alone without any fighter cover. As a result, they were all shot down without even hitting a single torpedo.If it wasn't for the sudden appearance of the dive bomber that had lost its way, and the Japanese fighter jets were all attracted to the low altitude at this time, the ending of the battle might be different.

Of course, letting f4f fly low will make them extremely passive in the face of zero battles, and there may be a lot of sacrifices, but, in any case, it is better than letting torpedo planes face zero battles alone.In fact, Ron's suggestion even got James, the commander of the VF-6 fighter force on the Enterprise.Lieutenant Commander Gray's support. "War requires sacrifice. We are always willing to sacrifice for the motherland, freedom and justice!" James said.That's what Lieutenant Gray said at the time.His categorical words moved Ron so much that he was so excited that he offered to fly out instead of staying to protect the mothership as previously arranged.In fact, Ron knew that if nothing happened, it would be quite safe to stay.Because in the original history, the Enterprise was not attacked during the entire campaign.Now Ron was sitting in the cockpit of the attacking F4F, feeling a little regretful.After all, he is not the real American pilot Ron, he does not even belong to this era, and he is far from James in his heart.Lieutenant Commander Gray's sense of responsibility.So he could only say to himself: "Every time a devil is killed in the Pacific Ocean, the Chinese on the other side of the ocean will save more blood. I can also fight for my motherland like these people!"

Thinking of this, Ron looked around, and now the entire fleet has assembled, beside him are 29 Avenger torpedo planes, 67 Dreadnought dive bombers, 40 f4f wildcat fighters (General Spruance) dispatched more fighters than in history), this desperate sortie will decide the outcome of the battle.