Shanghai.
10:30.
There were crowds of people on both sides of the Huangpu River. Hundreds of reporters from various countries, holding cameras and video cameras, had already taken the best position.
There were several airships in the sky at the best viewing positions, and each airship had a dedicated camera crew. The senior observers sat on it, drinking hot coffee, eating steak, and discussing whether they dared to come to the 214th ship battle.
According to reliable sources, many gamblers and institutions have placed sufficient bets for today's battle. It is said that the total bets have reached tens of millions of yuan.
More than 90% of people believed that the Japanese ace pilot could win this victory.
No one doubts the air combat skills of the Japanese ace pilot and the chief instructor of the Chinese Air Force, but the former is waiting for work, while the latter needs to fly a long distance to reach the battlefield, and the fuel supply of the fighter plane is a hurdle that he cannot overcome. Now the air in Shanghai is the territory of the Japanese , the latter works alone, and it is inevitable that he will have stage fright. Not everyone is Changshan Zhao Zilong.
Time returns.
Nanjing.
10:11 minutes.
Ship No. 214 turned around and flew towards Shanghai, with soldiers and civilians all over the city waving farewell.
Ground troops outside Nanjing strengthened their defenses and rearranged anti-aircraft artillery fire.
The Air Force fighter jet landed, and the mechanics rushed to repair it.
In this battle, the Chinese Air Force was hit again. In addition to Cao Fangzhen who died fighting for the country, several outstanding pilots died in the battle. Six fighter planes were damaged and several others were injured. At this time, the shipping and air transport between China and the West had been destroyed by the Japanese army. Damn it, many fighter planes lack spare parts and cannot be repaired for a while, so they can only be parked in the hangar.
The interceptor commander of the Chinese Air Force, Gao Zhihang, and others have lingering fears. If the chief instructor piloted the No. 214 ship to arrive at the critical moment for support, the consequences of facing so many enemy planes today would be unimaginable.
Considering that Ship Battle No. 214 was going to Shanghai to accept a one-on-one air battle from Japan's ace pilot, Gao Zhihang fully wanted to send several fighter planes to escort Ship Battle No. 214. However, due to the fierce air battle that had just occurred, all the fighter jets had run out of fuel. After landing and refueling, it would be even more difficult to catch up with the Type 96 ship-to-ship battle, which was faster than all Chinese fighter planes, so we had to give up.
Leaving Nanjing, Zhou Zhihan pushed the throttle to the end, and Ship Battle No. 214 flew towards Shanghai at full speed.
In order to avoid being entangled and wasting time when encountering Japanese aircraft on the way to Shanghai, Zhou Zhihan turned the nose of the aircraft when passing Xiaomaoshan and flew diagonally to the northeast for more than ten kilometers, and then flew towards Shanghai, thus avoiding The Japanese plane's return route.
When flying over Yangcheng Lake in Wuxi, the sky gradually became clearer. An hour ago, there was a heavy rain in the direction from Wuxi to Shanghai. After the rain, the sky was washed very blue and the air was very fresh. I piloted the No. 214 ship to fight at an altitude of 2,000 meters. Flying, looking into the distance, the field of vision is excellent.
Suddenly, three black spots the size of soybeans appeared more than ten miles away. If Zhou Zhihan hadn't had excellent eyesight, it would have been impossible to spot them.
Zhou Zhihan immediately pulled the lever, and Ship Battle No. 214 quickly climbed to an altitude of 3,500 meters and looked into the distance from a bird's eye view.
Sure enough, the area of the black spot increased. There were three planes flying in from a distance. The markings on the fuselage could not be seen clearly. There was no need to take out a telescope to confirm that they were Japanese planes. There could not be any planes flying from the direction of Shanghai at this time. Chinese fighter plane.
The three oncoming enemy planes were Japanese fighter planes returning to Shanghai after the air raid on Nanjing. On the way back, they communicated with the aircraft carrier commander via telegram, knowing that the 214th ship battle must fly to Shanghai with their ace pilot Yamashita. Colonel Shichiro was engaged in a one-on-one air battle, so he set up an ambush on the way, hoping to prevent or shoot down the No. 214 ship battle.
At this time, what faced Zhou Zhihan was whether to fight or not.
Obviously, the Japanese army would not let him fly to Shanghai easily. Even if he turned the nose of the plane to avoid the three oncoming enemy planes, there would be enemy planes waiting for him elsewhere. Have communication equipment.
The three Japanese planes had already seen the battle of No. 214 through their telescopes, and the two sides were approaching quickly.
The Japanese planes flying in the three-finger formation suddenly changed their formation. The wingman and sub-wingman pressed their noses down, and the three planes flew intensively, forming a "pin"-shaped formation for a head-on attack.
This is the most obvious three-machine firepower head-on suppression formation. No matter how the No. 214 ship battle is fired, the firepower is always at a disadvantage.
No matter who it is, facing simultaneous attacks from three enemy planes and six cannons, they will be timid before fighting and make changes first.
Zhou Zhihan is not a fool, and naturally he will not fight head-on with six cannons, but he knows that this "pin" type fire attack formation is just a decoration. It is the psychological intimidation of multiple machines against a single machine. In real combat, Not of much use.
All pilots know that the effective envelope of a head-on attack by a fighter jet is very narrow, and because both sides are flying head-on, they approach very quickly, leaving very little time for each other to shoot. Under the influence of avoidance caused by fear of collision, they can shoot The probability of hitting the opponent is very, very low.
The best way to counter a head-on attack is to fire in advance, so that the enemy will be anxious about how to defend, resulting in tactical mistakes.
The desired effect of the "Pin" shooting formation is to intimidate the opponent and make the opponent actively change direction and fall into a disadvantage. Then the three fighters immediately change out of the "Pin" attack formation to form a three-finger attack formation and bite the single aircraft. , attack in turn until shot down.
This is a tactic.
The two sides flew closer and closer.
2000 meters apart.
Ship Battle No. 214 did not intend to turn the rudder left or right. Instead, it raised the nose of the aircraft, climbed dozens of meters upward, then reversed and continued forward.
The Japanese "pin" formation then moved upwards, recovered, and continued to head on.
Both sides flew head-on at extremely fast speeds.
1500 meters apart.
Ship battle No. 214 escalates again.
The formation with the word "PIN" followed suit.
1000 meters apart.
Ship No. 214 used right rudder, turned its head on the plane, then changed back, left rudder, turned its head on the plane, and then changed back.
The Japanese three-machine formation was immediately reassured. Ship Battle No. 214 was a little overwhelmed under the pressure of the "pin" formation, swinging the nose of the aircraft randomly, not knowing which way to turn the rudder.
The Japanese pilots felt very comfortable, but the Chinese Air Force chief instructor panicked under the pressure of the three-plane formation.
It seems that Ship Battle No. 214 is the time to urinate.
The three-machine formation was proud and ready to pursue the No. 214 ship battle that had been resolved in advance at any time.
Flying head-on is a game between brave men. Whoever urinates first will change course first.
800 meters apart.
Ship Battle No. 214 suddenly opened fire in advance.
"Whoosh whoosh..."
Red tracer bullets flew against the background of the blue sky, biting towards the three-machine formation.
"Damn it..." The leader of the three-plane formation did not expect that No. 214 would dare to avoid the battle and open fire in advance. He hurriedly shouted and raised the nose of the aircraft, and reminded his wingmen, "Quickly, move to the left and right and spread out... …”
He didn't need to yell to remind him, the wingman and sub-wingman had already moved out left and right and were already a hundred meters away.
No. 214 Ship Battle did not encounter any obstruction, so he rushed over and moved forward at full speed. When the three Japanese planes circled and then turned back, No. 214 Ship Battle had flown far away.
"Chase!" the Japanese captain ordered his wingman, and he took the lead in pushing the throttle to the end to chase out, "Sakura 300, I am Sakura 301, the Chinese ship No. 214 is fleeing towards the 150-degree direction, please organize fighter planes to intercept immediately... …”
