At around four o'clock in the morning the next day, Zhou Zhihan, Zhang Mufei, and Gong Yeti took a car to an air force base. In the airport waiting room, they prepared to take a C-47 to the Corpus Christi Naval Air Base.
Song Ziwen temporarily stayed in Washington to deal with various matters related to leasing weapons and then went with Chennault.
As soon as they got off the car, Zhou Zhihan and the others saw Moritaka Nakasabu, Hiroyuki Nishizawa, and Kato also arriving at the airport waiting room, sitting on the other side waiting for their flight.
"Damn it, the little devil is here too."
Zhang Mufei and Gong Yeti cursed in low voices.
Ten minutes later, a C-47 slowly drove out of the hangar and stopped on the runway.
Under the arrangements of the ground staff, six pilots from China and Japan entered the aircraft first and sat at the front and on both sides.
This was the first time for Zhang Mufei and Gong Yeti to fly on such a large transport aircraft. They were amazed by the advanced facilities.
"Colonel Zhou!"
Zhongsheng Shengxiao is smiling but not smiling.
Zhou Zhihan's expression was calm: "Your Excellency Zhongxuan Shengxiao!"
Nakasa Moritaka smiled darkly: "I didn't expect that the two of us fought fiercely on the battlefield in China, and now we are actually flying together on a transport plane in the United States."
Nakaso Moritaka's words were full of sarcasm, which meant that I beat you at your home, but you still have to live with me outside.
Zhou Zhihan smiled: "Yes! We have fought in the sky over China. In the future, I may also fly an American bomber to fly above the Japanese Imperial Palace to drop bombs. In the future, we will definitely accept your surrender on Chinese soil."
Nakata Moritaka was arrogant and domineering in the land of China before, and his arrogance has been criticized for a long time. Now Zhou Zhihan retorted, unable to find the right words to retaliate, with murderous intent looming on his angry face, and his fists clenching.
Zhou Zhihan smiled coldly. There was an American crew member on the plane who testified that as long as Nakaso Moritaka dared to make the first move, he would make the three opponents' blood splatter on the spot within ten seconds.
At this moment, a paratrooper officer came up, stood on the side of the hatch, and shouted loudly to his paratroopers to hurry up, hurry up, and hurry up, so as not to be like a group of women who have no fighting spirit...
Then, a group of paratroopers filed in with heavy equipment on their bodies and sat on both sides of the transport plane. Most of them were chewing gum and relaxed, as if they were going on a trip.
Seeing American soldiers filling the cabin, the murderous look on Nakasa Moritaka's face gradually disappeared. He looked serious and closed his eyes to rest.
Zhou Zhihan said to Zhang Mufei and Gong Yeti: "It will take two or three hours to fly from here to Corpus Christi Naval Air Base. Let's all get some sleep."
I don’t know how long it took, but the voice of the paratrooper officer came to my ears: "Girls, now we are on top of the enemy's head. The altitude of the C-47 is 1,500 feet. It is now circling. Everyone is preparing to parachute. Remember The position of your loose bag rope must not be pulled on the wrong belt at the critical moment..."
Then there was a whistle in the cabin, the soldiers stood up, the iron hooks jingled, they laughed and cursed each other, some were betting on who would be the last to land, some were talking about how the NM was flooded last night...
Zhang Mufei and Gong Yeti almost laughed out loud. No wonder they heard Chennault say before that American soldiers seemed to be unable to wake up during training, and immediately became refreshed and unable to sleep after getting off the training ground.
The jumpmaster, a second lieutenant, shouted loudly when the red light came on: "Everyone, get ready, hook up."
Immediately, the cabin fell silent, and the soldiers who were teasing each other just now became alert.
The first parachuting soldier took a step forward and hooked the main parachute bag's tensioning hook to the parachute steel cable in the middle above the cockpit.
The soldiers behind did as they were told, and their movements were meticulous, showing that they were well-trained.
Zhou Zhihan whispered to Zhang Mufei and Gong Yeti: "American soldiers may seem undisciplined, but in fact they know how to relax, adjust, and control their state before the battle so that they can maintain sufficient physical strength and willpower during the battle. Some soldiers fight If you are nervous beforehand, it will accelerate the consumption of physical strength.”
Zhang Mufeidi said in a low voice: "The United States is really a strange country. It allows us to watch paratroopers parachute on the spot. Isn't it afraid that military planes will leak it?"
Zhou Zhihan said: "Americans are very confident. They know that many things cannot be learned by watching them, such as letting us test-fly P40, P51 and other fighter jets.
Test flight is one thing, but whether it can be built is another.
Japan may think that they have mastered the performance of US military aircraft during the test flight. In fact, the US military can also judge the true level of Japanese naval aviation from Japanese test pilots.
Americans are very sophisticated. For the same fighter plane, they will divide it into two types: export and personal use. The difference is very big.
Most of the models they sell are export models, or models that have fallen behind. For example, the P40B/C/Tomahawk we bought is lagging behind the factory compared with the main fighters of Western countries. Therefore, the true strength of their fighters has not been revealed. "
Zhang Mufei and Gong Yeti were speechless after hearing this, and felt sad. If we want to buy backward fighters, we have to look at people's faces.
Zhou Zhihan comforted the two of them: "Fighters are stationary, and people are alive. If we buy this P40B/C/Tomahawk, as long as we use the tactics properly, we can fight against the Japanese Type Zero. Buying this fighter is equal to a good decision." First, the United States can sell us more excellent fighter jets. Now, let’s see how they parachute first. This kind of wonderfulness cannot be seen in China."
Zhang and Gong nodded repeatedly. Today was an eye-opener. It was their first time to observe paratroopers parachuting up close. As expected, the styles of troops in different countries are different.
A sergeant jumpmaster yelled, "Check the equipment again and shout back."
"1, 2, 3, 4..."
The soldiers announced their numbers, then stood in front of the cabin door one by one, and jumped into the early morning sky one after another.
Zhou Zhihan glanced at Zhongsha Shengxiao with his peripheral vision.
Moritaka Nakaba, Hiro Nishizawa and Kato all had shock on their faces. The US military's weapons and equipment exceeded their imagination. If nothing else, this C47 could defeat all transport aircraft in Japan.
Zhou Zhihan and the others turned to look out the window. The white umbrella flowers were very beautiful floating in the golden morning light. Only then did they realize that the Corpus Christi Naval Air Base was more than 20 kilometers ahead of the C-47.
The C-47 flew over the Corpus Christi Naval Air Base and was slowly circling, descending in altitude. If it flew forward, it would be the blue sea.
Through the clouds, Zhou Zhihan saw the blue coastline and various large and small warships parked in the deep-water port. They looked majestic and peaceful in the morning light. There were several training planes coming and going in the sky, looking a little lazy and lack of energy. Lu On both sides of the runways of several airports, various fighter jets of Hainan Airlines and Army Airlines are neatly parked. The entire base looks very peaceful. White seagulls fly on the vast sea, flapping their wings rhythmically, looking for small fish and shrimps. , appears full of vitality.
As soon as they got off the plane, two jeeps drove up, taking the Chinese and Japanese pilots to their respective barracks.
Zhou Zhihan and the others are flying guests, so everyone has a separate room. They don't have to live in a dormitory with four or six people like sailors and ground staff on the base.
Zhou Zhihan and the others took the keys to their respective rooms and put away their luggage, and then went to the restaurant to have breakfast together. Next, the military would arrange for them to have flight instructors.
After breakfast, a jeep took them to Airport No. 1, where more than a dozen P40B/C/Tomahawks were parked.
