New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

According to the previous practice, the fighters on Guadalcanal Island would take off about half an hour before the arrival of the enemy plane, and then climb to a higher altitude than the enemy plane to take advantage of the altitude.Height is potential energy, which can be converted into kinetic energy. According to energy air combat, being at a higher altitude means having more energy than the enemy, and will take the lead.

But this time the take-off time was greatly advanced.An hour before the enemy plane arrived, Ron took off with all the p-38s and f4fs that could fly.The first to take off is the f4f, they need more time to climb to a sufficient altitude, then the p-38.After taking off, these fighter planes climbed to an altitude of 5000 meters, and then flew west in formation.

At the same time, the ground is also busy.On the positions of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, soldiers are making the final inspection of their weapons and camouflaging them.

There are several high-level weapon positions to defend the airport.In a small bush at the end of the runway, there is a Vulcan artillery position, where two Vulcan anti-aircraft guns and some anti-aircraft machine guns are deployed.And on a small bush-covered mound about 20 meters high on the left side of the runway, two other Vulcan anti-aircraft guns were deployed.Then there are some anti-aircraft machine guns and some quadruple-mounted 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns scattered in other places.The soldiers covered these anti-aircraft guns with camouflage nets. From the air, these anti-aircraft guns looked like part of the bushes. It was really difficult to find them without firing.

Ron's fleet was divided into several groups, and the distance between each group was quite large, because it was easy for opponents to spot them together.A few minutes ago, through the radio sent by the tower, Ron knew that Japan's first wave of attack aircraft flew over from his left.However, the distance between the two sides is very far, and Ron's aircraft formation is very sparse, Ri himself did not find them, and still flew straight to Guadalcanal Island Airport.At this time, another message from the control tower came from Ron's headset.

"The tiger's den calls the tiger, keep the course, and it is expected to contact the enemy's second attack wave in 5 minutes." This is the information sent by the radar installed on the island.

"All prepare for battle and strengthen the search." The battle was about to start, and Ron lifted the radio silence.

"Enemy aircraft spotted at ten o'clock!"

Ron looked in the direction of ten o'clock, and he saw a group of small black spots faintly moving about 4 kilometers away.

"All turn to the enemy aircraft group. Tigers are responsible for attacking enemy bombers, and Bobcats are responsible for pinning down enemy fighters." Ron began to assign tasks.

As a result, the five P-1 formations numbered Tiger 5 to Tiger 5 spread out and outflanked the past from different angles, while the F38F numbered Lynx directly approached the Japanese military aircraft group swaggeringly.

Now the Japanese army has also discovered American aircraft, at least the f4f fleet that rushed directly in a large cluster. Japan's fleet is configured with a double altitude, which is also the usual way for general escorts. The altitude of the Japanese bomber is about 3900 meters, and the flying altitude of the fighter jet is about 4200 meters. Compared with the current height of 4 meters of F5300F, there is a significant difference in altitude. Even better, it is impossible to climb to the same height for a while.Although the number of f4fs is not as large as the number of fighter jets escorting them, they still have a high altitude advantage and cannot be underestimated.In addition, at this time, the p-4 flying higher and more scattered behind the f4f has not been found, so ri himself made a wrong decision.They sent twenty of the thirty fighters to intercept the thirteen f38fs, leaving only ten aircraft in reserve.As a result, after the p-30 joined in, Ri's own fighter jets basically failed to effectively intercept the p-13.However, regarding the decision made by Nakamura, the Japanese fighter commander at the time, many people believed that he did not make any major mistakes.

"We first found about ten or so enemy planes, approaching us from ten o'clock than ours. They have radar and know when they will encounter us, so they always fly higher than us. This time they have a higher altitude than us. The height is about 1000 meters. In this way, they dive very powerfully. So Chief Nakamura ordered 20 fighter jets to intercept them. Only 10 were left as a reserve. But even so, even if we sent interceptor planes There are many enemy planes, but to be honest, we are still not fully sure that we can stop them and prevent them from approaching the bombers. Because the enemy planes dive down very fast, maybe in the blink of an eye, they will intersect with us. But our bombers are not very well defended for range and ammunition capacity. Alas, it would be nice if our bombers at that time could be as strong as the American b-17. Just like we used to attack b- When I was 17, I never heard of anyone being able to shoot it down with just one attack. This gave our fighters room to maneuver. But Japan’s planes and even bombers can be ignited with a single bullet The militarists in Japan have never considered the life and death of our pilots. Once they need to improve performance and save costs, they will always sacrifice the safety of our pilots without hesitation. Perhaps fighter jets can also rely on flexibility to avoid The enemy's attack, but what about the bomber? Do they still expect someone to drive a Type 1 land attack to compete with the enemy's fighter jets? The fragility of the bomber makes it necessary for us to ensure that even a single enemy plane cannot approach it. So at that time, Chief Nakamura's Although the order was later criticized by many people as being fooled by the Americans, I would like to say that under the circumstances at that time, Chief Nakamura did not do anything wrong." ——Excerpted from Japanese ace pilot Koga Yuo's "Sea Memoirs of an Empty Ace

Just when most of the escorted Japanese Zero Fighters and F4Fs fell into a melee, the p-38 divided each group of 4 aircraft into 5 groups, and pounced on the Japanese bomber group from different angles. The reserve team left by Ri himself is too small to face such a situation at all.And because there is no radio station, those who were entangled with f4f in the zero battle did not realize what happened here.

A Zero Fighter tried to get around Ron's back, but Ron ignored its attempt at all, and he rushed directly to a bomber. As for the Zero Fighter behind?With his speed, it is impossible to catch up to the shooting distance by following behind, so why bother with him?

Aiming at a Type 1200 Land Attack, Ron opened fire.He was satisfied to hear a roar like an electric drill drilling a hole in the wall (when the shooting speed of an aircraft cannon or machine gun reaches a certain speed, human ears cannot distinguish the sound of each bullet (cannonball) when it is fired , so the sound became continuous. For example, American World War II veterans always used "tearing tarpaulin" to describe the sound of the mg42 machine gun with a shooting speed of up to [-] rounds per minute.) Then one wing of the bomber in front It was broken off from the root of the wing as if it had been sawed by a saw.One short point, and a bomber was shot down.The Vulcan Cannon is really powerful.

Ron pulled the plane up and started looking for the next victim.His wingman Billy exclaimed on the radio: "Good job sir, they are going to hell! God, this gun is so good! I must replace it when I go back!"

Ron got on top of another bomber, and just as he was about to launch an assault, another panicked shout came from the headset, "Damn it, I've been hit, someone save me!"

Ron looked around and saw to the left, an F4F running with smoke, and behind him, two Zero Fighters were chasing after him, firing non-stop.In order to avoid bullets, this F4F kept doing barrel rolls, but this also made his dive speed not fast, so that the two Zero Fighters could continue to bite him.

Rescuing comrades in arms is always more important than winning battle results. Ron gave up the food in his mouth without hesitation, pushed the throttle to the bottom, and rushed towards the two Zero Fighters amidst the roar of the engine.

There was about 1.5 kilometers between Ron and them, which was supposed to be a close distance, within a blink of an eye.But the terrible thing is that the flight direction chosen by the fainted pilot is basically the same as Ron's flight direction.It ended up being him running in front, the two Zeros chasing him, and Ron chasing the two Zeros.The whole situation is like a large sandwich, with American planes on the outside and Japanese planes inside.

Fortunately, Ron's plane was faster and caught up after a while.Now the distance between Ron and the Japanese plane is about 700 meters. The Japanese plane may have spotted him, but in the case of tail chase, this distance has exceeded the range of ordinary planes. Even the Vulcan cannon is very difficult. Shoot at such a distance.So Ri himself continued to fire at f4f, trying to kill Ron before he got any closer.Although the distance was a little farther, Ron still decided to fire, not to mention whether he could hit or not, the goal was to scare away the enemy planes and make them give up continuing to attack.So Ron put the front sight a little above the Japanese plane, so that the shells would fly farther in the air with a higher-angle parabola.Ron shot a long she. This messy she was completely for the purpose of scaring people. Who knows, if luck comes, it will be unstoppable. A Zero Fighter that was clinging to the back of f4f suddenly exploded into a big fireball.The remaining one immediately gave up and continued to attack, made a sharp turn, and began to flee for its life.

But at this time, the f4f was almost dying. It was hit by several 20mm shells, and the operating surfaces on the wings and tail were basically damaged.He turned around with great efforts but clumsily, and flew towards the airport.God knows if he can fly back.

"Thank you, brother! If I can go back, I will buy you a drink."

Ron smiled, looked around, and suddenly found that his wingman was gone.

"Damn it! Billy, where have you been!"

"Sir, I don't know, it's messy in the air... I hit a bomber! I hit him! He's on fire! Haha!"

Ron frowned. Obviously, Billy had chosen the former in the choice of attacking the enemy plane or going to rescue his teammates just now.Although Billy is a novice, he has good skills, a particularly good sense of space, and great potential for development. Ron has been training him, but...

Billy was continuing to shoot the bomber that was already on fire, and he was thinking, "Finally there's going to be a shot down, and if I had a cannon like Ron's, maybe I'd have one now. I'd be Ace, just like Ron. One day, I will go back with medals on my chest, Bronze Heart, Silver Heart, Distinguished Service Cross and even the Congressional Medal of Honor. I want those who look down on me, look down on me Mom's people..."

Now there are not many bombers left in the sky. Of the 30 bombers sent by Ri himself, only six escaped after dropping the bombs in advance, and the others were all shot down.Escorting Zeros also lost 12.But the U.S. military also paid a price. Among the thirteen f4fs, 6 were shot down and 4 were damaged. Two of the p-38s were also shot down and 8 were damaged—these may not be able to be repaired after returning, at least half of the p-38 fighters available to Ron in a short period of time.Fortunately, the loss of the pilot is not too serious, at least compared with Ri himself.

Just before Ron's battle, there was a more intense battle over the airport.