At this moment, something unexpected happened. Six aircraft with shark patterns painted on their noses suddenly emerged from the clouds above. They were a formation of P40 fighters!
This frightened the Japanese pilots so much that they didn't bother to duel with Wesker, so they hurriedly pulled the control lever and turned around to escape.
Six P40s swooped down and flanked him from two angles, giving him no chance to escape at all.
"Thump thump thump thump thump thump...!"
The dense bullets completely blocked all its flight trajectories, and the Japanese pilots had no way to hide. The Japanese fighter plane, which had been so arrogant just now, turned into a ball of fire in the blink of an eye.
Wesker looked at the scene in front of him in surprise, and then slowly breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't know who led this formation, he was filled with gratitude. It's a pity that it would have been better if they had arrived earlier...
"Hey! Brother, are you okay?" At this time, a familiar voice came from the intercom.
"Jamie?" Wesker asked in disbelief.
"Wesker? Thank God you're alive. Where are the rest of the bombing team?"
Jamie asked hurriedly. He took off from Kunming Airport half an hour ago. The superiors received intelligence that Japanese fighter planes were taking off for combat, so he was ordered to lead a team to the direction of Tengchong to investigate the enemy's situation.
But he knew that the Nantianmen area was currently in a battle, and the enemy planes that took off from Tengchong must be targeting here. Jamie simply changed the course and flew directly to Chanda to see if he could help Liao Mingyu.
Sure enough, they discovered a battle scene as soon as they flew near Zenda. Unfortunately, they arrived too late.
"I am the only one left in the escort formation, and Kevin..." Wesker said with difficulty: "Anderson's B17 has been entangled by enemy planes. They are in the southeast. You guys hurry up and support!"
"Understood, Wesker, please return first, and leave the rest to us!"
Jamie was very sad to hear the news, but now is not the time to be sad, there are more important things waiting for him to do.
…
Cooper, who rushed to the cab, tied Anderson's broken arm with a tourniquet. The latter looked pale and was not in good condition, and their crisis was not over yet.
The co-pilot was killed and Anderson was seriously injured. Cooper had to get into the driver's seat. Fortunately, he had been learning flight driving skills and was barely able to maintain the stability of the plane with Anderson.
The B17's fuselage was completely devastated, and one engine on the wing stopped working. Fortunately, the important parts were not damaged. The gunners at various positions were still fighting back hard, driving away the enemy aircraft and preventing them from getting closer.
But the cunning Japanese army didn't give up. They rushed over to harass them, slowly nibbling away bit by bit, waiting for the moment when this big guy fell suddenly. Their perseverance made the crew members on the B17 feel frightened.
"I'm out of bullets here!"
The machine gunners on both sides of the fuselage shouted loudly that the ammunition in several other machine gun positions except it was exhausted. The long-term shooting had exhausted the reserve ammunition on the B17.
The Japanese army seemed to have noticed something. Just as they were preparing to launch a new round of attacks, there was suddenly a roar of aircraft flying through the air from behind.
Four P40 fighter jets dived down from high altitude at high speed, aiming at the four Falcons below and firing straight at them.
Facing the enemy approaching at a very fast speed, the Japanese fighter planes could only react passively in panic, but they still underestimated the terror of the extremely fast diving P40.
Two Falcon fighter planes were blown up on the spot, and the propeller of the other one was hit. The plane lost its power source and fell straight down, dragging black smoke. The Japanese pilot hurriedly bailed out and escaped.
"Good job!"
"Kill these bastards!"
"Huha!"
The crew in the B17 couldn't help but scream for life. After being tortured by enemy planes for so long, now watching their companions slaughter the enemy with great power, a sense of pleasure arises spontaneously.
There was also a Falcon that escaped this wave of attacks, but the four P40s behind it did not pursue it, but quickly pulled up. The other two P40s that stayed behind dived downwards again, relying on the super high dive. The speed and firepower shattered the Falcon into pieces.
Although the maneuverability and climb rate of the P40 fighter are far from those of the Falcon, it also has the advantages of powerful firepower and excellent dive performance. More importantly, many parts of the fuselage are armored, and its resistance to attack is much higher than that of the Falcon. .
Generally speaking, this fighter and Japan's Falcon fighter each have their own merits, and neither one has an overwhelming advantage. The reason why the Flying Tigers achieved such an impressive record was entirely due to the aerial guerrilla tactics proposed by General Chennault.
Taking advantage of the P40's fast dive speed, it conducted hit-and-run dive attacks from high altitudes, never engaged in horizontal dogfights with the Japanese, and completed complex formation flights as much as possible, thereby destroying an enemy aircraft with multiple aircraft in an air battle.
The core of its tactics is to dive and fire at high speed, then fly away and dive and fire again. Fight and hide at the same time, and never stay within the range of Japanese fighter planes.
It was such a rather rogue tactic, but it made the Japanese Army Air Force lose all temper. As the old saying goes, it doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it is a good cat.
"This is Captain Jamie Bryan of the Ninth Squadron. I want to ask how you are doing."
Jamie adjusted the intercom channel to the corresponding band and asked the B17 crew. At the same time, six P40 fighters maintained the same altitude as them to fly with them.
"God bless, thank you for your support. We have suffered a lot of casualties and have to return immediately. Please escort us." Cooper immediately responded. Anderson had lost too much blood and could not hold on anymore. He had to return to the base for treatment immediately. .
"Understood, Sean, you form a formation to escort them, and the rest follow me to Nantianmen!"
Jamie quickly made arrangements, and the six fighter planes split into two and flew in two directions.
…
Time went back more than ten minutes ago. Just after the Japanese ground attack planes dropped several aerial bombs, several huge holes appeared in the Banshanshi forward position.
The first regiment of the Yu Division suffered heavy casualties. Four to five hundred people died under the double blow of enemy bombs and machine guns. Even Zhang Lixian was injured and sent to the rear.
The planes in the sky were still circling and swooping, firing machine guns mercilessly at the soldiers on the ground. The Japanese army took advantage of this opportunity to charge forward crazily, trying to capture the mountain rock in one fell swoop.
"Damn it! The kid still has a plane?"
Liao Mingyu and Yu Xiaoqing looked through the telescopes with eyes wide open. No one expected that the Japanese army would also have plane reinforcements. The Sichuan-Yu coalition forces, which also lacked air defense capabilities, were unable to withstand the fight.
Although there are many anti-aircraft machine guns on the east coast, they have no way to deal with the enemy planes far above the west coast. The distance is too far and is beyond the range, so they can only watch and worry.
But now that the little Japanese and our own soldiers were too close, the heavy artillery did not dare to fire there.
"Signal Corps! Contact Chen Jize immediately. We can't throw away the mountain stone yet. We must keep it for me!" Liao Mingyu frowned and shouted sternly.
"yes!"
The entire defense line was in danger. Fortunately, Hong Mu commanded the remaining troops to resist bravely with the enemy. The soldiers risked their lives and fought on the front line, holding the Japanese out of the position while waiting for support troops from the rear to come up.
"Boom! Boom! Boom..."
The 60mm mortars from the rear began to fire. The mortar shells blew up pillars of smoke and dust in the middle of the Japanese attacking team. The fire suppression caused the Japanese charging team to have offensive faults.
"Old Hong! Get out of the way!" Fan Laosan's loud voice sounded from behind.
At this moment, He Shuguang led the Third Battalion of the First Regiment, and Fan Xiangwu led two companies of the Third Battalion and rushed to the front line.
Hong Mu made a decisive decision not to continue the entanglement, and ordered the remaining soldiers to retreat immediately, leaving space for the supporting troops to shoot.
"Bahhhhhhhhh!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
…
As soon as Hong Mu and his men withdrew, the Japanese troops jumped into the position. Before they could cheer, they were greeted by a dense hail of bullets. In front of the powerful Sichuan Army, countless Japanese soldiers fell in pieces.
"Brothers, follow me and drive the Japanese out! Kill them!"
Fan Xiangwu shouted loudly, and after speaking, he was the first to rush forward with his gun raised. The soldiers were not to be outdone, and followed his steps and launched a counterattack against the Japanese.
…
