mtl008 Chapter 1065 Two Wounded Japanese Air Forces Retreat
Chapter 1065 Two Wounded Japanese Air Forces Retreat
"First Squadron, flank from the left; Second Squadron, flank from the right; Third Squadron, attack from the front! Fire!" The squadron leader's order came over the radio channel of the Nationalist government's flight squadron.
Sixty fighter jets split into three groups and rushed toward the Japanese aircraft at an extremely fast speed.
The Japanese responded quickly; they also had 60 fighter planes, and another 40 bombers had already turned back.
The two sides are evenly matched in strength, but true combat effectiveness cannot be judged by the number of fighter jets.
From a great distance, the fighter jets of both sides opened fire on each other, and countless bright lights appeared in the sky in an instant. Bullets, unable to bear the loss, trailed glowing tails as they shot into the distance, forming a network of glowing fire. The fighter jets of both sides kept shuttling through this network of fire.
Those who were lucky managed to get through, while those who were unlucky were hit, leaving a bullet hole in the cabin. Some were even worse off, with their fuel tanks blown up, or their planes catching fire, burning in the sky and emitting thick smoke before crashing to the ground.
Just as the two sides were locked in fierce combat in this airspace, with fighter jets being shot down one after another, Xu Zhiming's B29 bomber squadron finally arrived at the scene of the battle.
"First group, climb up and fire down at the Japanese fighter planes; second and third groups, flank from the left and right, and wait for an opportunity to attack. Understand?"
"understand!"
"action!"
The 10 B-29 bombers were divided into three groups and immediately dispersed to carry out their own operations. Originally, the two sides were evenly matched and fought back and forth without a clear winner. However, with the addition of these 10 B-29s to the battlefield, the situation was instantly reversed.
A typical Zero fighter plane only has two cannons and two machine guns. In terms of weaponry alone, a B-29 has more than twice the weaponry of a Zero fighter plane.
In terms of protection, the B-29 bomber was heavily armored, while the Zero fighter was, after all, just a fighter plane, and its protection was far inferior to that of the B-29. However, the Zero fighter's maneuverability was unmatched by the B-29.
A burst of machine gun fire might do nothing to a B-29, but a burst of bullets on a Zero fighter could very well be fatal.
"Damn it! What kind of plane is that? Why did we fire so many bullets at it? The cockpit is riddled with holes, and it's still perfectly fine!" A Japanese pilot angrily shouted in a trembling voice over the communications channel.
"Boom—" Just as he finished cursing, he was blown up into the air by a machine gun fired by the B29 on the other side.
As the battle continued, casualties on both sides continued to increase, but overall the Japanese side suffered far greater casualties. The Nationalist government's fighter planes were P-51s, whose firepower was comparable to the Zero fighters, and whose maneuverability was far superior to the Zero fighters.
The Japanese pilots grew increasingly disheartened as the fighting intensified, as their comrades and their aircraft dwindled in number.
Seeing the situation becoming increasingly unfavorable, Regiment Commander He Tian had no choice but to reluctantly order: "Disperse and break through! Retreat!"
Upon hearing this order, the Japanese pilots could no longer hold on and spurred their engines to break free from the pursuit and desperately attempt to escape to the outskirts of the battlefield.
Some Japanese warplanes were shot down during the breakout attempt, while others were lucky enough to escape the pursuit.
The air battle lasted less than half an hour before ending in the defeat and rout of the Japanese aircraft.
The Nationalist government deployed 60 fighter planes, including advanced models such as the P-40 and P-51, but only 42 returned safely and landed. Almost half of them were damaged to varying degrees, with 18 directly lost. On the Japanese side, 27 planes were destroyed, leaving only 33 that managed to escape.
Xu Zhiming lost one of his ten B-29 bombers, two others were severely damaged but could be repaired, and the remaining seven all sustained minor damage, but it did not affect their flight. The breached cabins were easy to repair.
"Reporting to the boss, the B-29 bomber formation has returned after completing its combat mission and is here to report to you!" Xu Zhiming led the pilots and crew members off the plane and lined up to report to Zhang Yunhe.
Zhang Yunhe returned the salute and said, "Your fighting today was very valiant. I witnessed the entire battle. Very good. You destroyed a total of 9 Japanese Zero fighters, damaged 4, and suffered only one loss of your own, with two others severely damaged. A remarkable achievement."
"The pilot and crew of the downed B-29 successfully ejected at the last moment. I have ordered a search and rescue team to be dispatched and contacted the local authorities for assistance. Now you can rest assured, have something to eat, and get a good night's sleep. We have flight missions tonight!"
"Yes, boss!" Xu Zhiming saluted, then led the pilots and crew off the runway.
At this moment, Qin Jian drove up quickly in an SUV, stopped in front of Zhang Yunhe, got out, saluted, and said, "Boss, Air Force Commander Zhou called to express his gratitude. He said that without our timely warning, they wouldn't have been able to complete such thorough preparations for battle. He also said that without our coordinated operations, they wouldn't have been able to repel the Japanese aircraft so quickly."
Zhang Yunhe said with a smile, "This guy is a cunning old fox. He says thank you, but who knows how he's wary of us. He might even be plotting something!"
At 8 p.m., the second airdrop operation began. One after another, transport planes fully loaded with weapons and ammunition quickly took off from the runway and into the sky. The first to take off were seven B-29s, also fully loaded with weapons and ammunition. These first batch of aircraft not only undertook important transport missions, but also had to protect the safety of the entire transport plane formation.
The seven B-29s were riddled with bullet holes during the daytime battle, but after an afternoon of repairs, the mechanics successfully patched them all. Two of the more seriously damaged B-29s remained in the hangar for repairs.
On a mountaintop east of Jiangzhou, inside a radar station, the operator again saw changes in the flashes and ripples on the radar oscilloscope. However, the radar did not sound an alarm because it had already actively sent a set of radio signals at a specific frequency when it detected the flying object. The transponder inside the flying object provided the correct response code, so the radar alarm would not react.
"Sir, a large number of planes have taken off from the western suburban airport again, still heading northwest. However, it started at 4 pm yesterday, but the time has been changed today!" the operator reported to the officer.
The officer walked over, glanced at it, and said, "I'll call the duty room at headquarters to report this."
After receiving the telephone report, the Air Force Command duty room immediately reported the matter to Commander Zhou. After listening, Commander Zhou simply ordered the air defense forces to be on high alert, especially those around the airport, and ordered the pilots to stand by immediately.
But it was clear that Zhang Yunhe's transport plane formation had no intention of doing anything. They flew further and further away, and Commander Zhou's instructions were not used. The pilots were ordered to disperse again after a quarter of an hour.