I worked hard the past few days and my cervical vertebrae were uncomfortable again, so I was a little late today.
…
Seeing a purple flare rising, dragging a dazzling long tail in the air, the Japanese mixed fleet immediately took action, changing from the previous formation flying formation to an offensive position.
When Fuchida fired the first flare, the fleet was still some distance away from Pearl Harbor. This was to allow each bombing formation time and space to develop their own best offensive positions.
Since the attack methods of each attack formation are different, before approaching the target airspace and starting to drop bombs, each team must occupy a favorable position according to its own method of dropping bombs, and then launch an attack, so as to achieve twice the result with half the effort.
The torpedo formation that requires low-altitude attack changes for the first time.
Major Shigechi Murata, who was flying at the front, took the lead in diving. The yellow fuselage of his squadron leader was very conspicuous, and 39 Type 97 torpedo planes immediately followed him.
The tactics were formulated before departure. The primary target of the torpedo planes was the aircraft carriers in the harbor. 40 1-ton torpedoes destroyed 4 aircraft carriers without any problems.
At this time, there was no aircraft carrier in Pearl Harbor, so Murata Shigetomo led the formation to attack the battleship.
Just before Fuchida fired the first blue flare, the fleet of aircraft following closely behind also spotted Pearl Harbor.
Except for the Zero fighter, all other fighters had at least two crew members. When Fuchida was looking for an aircraft carrier in the harbor, the other crews were also sure that there was no aircraft carrier in the harbor.
At that time, Fuchida carefully observed the ships parked in the harbor through his telescope. He calmly counted the large battleships in the harbor - only nine battleships.
Covered with mesh canopies, these battleships sit majestically side by side on the east side of Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor.
But what Fuchida wanted was not a battleship. He widened his eyes and searched for the entire Pearl Harbor again. Even if he could find an aircraft carrier, it would be good.
The power of aircraft carriers is far beyond that of battleships. The destruction of one aircraft carrier will cause a more powerful blow to the Americans than the destruction of four battleships.
Until it was finally confirmed that there was no aircraft carrier, Fuchida hoped that the information from the military headquarters was wrong.
The four U.S. aircraft carriers disappeared without a trace, which was a big regret for Fuchida.
Suppressing the disappointment in his heart, Fuchida carefully observed Pearl Harbor. This beautiful harbor is the palace of the legendary shark god Kaya Hubbach. Nearly a hundred American warships of various sizes lay motionless in the harbor. So he pulled out the flare gun with a little disappointment...
…
Seeing that the torpedo planes began to dive into formation, Mizuo Fuchida recognized that the wind direction was not conducive to horizontal bombing, so he led his Type 99 high-altitude horizontal bombers to the right along the Tantras Mountains, and turned to the west side of the island along the coastline to avoid Attack the mountains and clouds of the Tantras Mountains, then attack against the wind.
High-altitude bombers are best attacked with a headwind, while dive bombers are with a tailwind.
The Type 99 horizontal bomber made a circuitous turn to the right, which was also within the plan.
For this attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese took all the details into consideration.
According to the plan, when the fleet saw a flare representing a "sneak attack", Murata led the torpedo planes and began to dive and glide downwards. Shigeru Itani led the fighter fleet to accelerate forward and control the air superiority of the entire Pearl Harbor, so that the slower-flying fish bombers , can dive straight into the target without any obstacles, with dive and high-altitude bombers following closely behind.
After all the above has been formed, the attack formation will face two changes.
First, if the US military at Pearl Harbor has not discovered the air raid group at this time, then it will use torpedo planes to launch a low-altitude attack on large warships first.
Second, if the US military discovers an attacking group of aircraft at this time, then high-altitude bombers will be the first to drop bombs, directing the American artillery fire over the battleships, and then fighter jets will cover the torpedo planes to drop bombs at low altitudes to attack the large battleships, while the dive bombers will fly under the thick smoke. Under cover, they forced a high-altitude dive to bomb the four strategic ships on the inside.
Obviously, when Lieutenant Colonel Mitsuo Fuchida fired a flare, the Americans in Pearl Harbor were sitting in the restaurant preparing to have breakfast, and they were like blind people who did not see the overwhelming group of fighter bombers coming.
Therefore, the entire fleet should execute the second attack plan.
That is, when the high-altitude horizontal bombers began to turn and bypass the Tantras Mountains, the Type 97 torpedo planes had already launched the attack first, destroying the four battleships on the outside.
When the torpedo plane was launched and raised, the dive bomber took over the attack stick and dive bombed the other four battleships. Then the Type 99 bomber completed the turn and occupied the best attack position, took the attack stick and dropped bombs against the wind, launching a seamless attack. , and the upgraded Type 97 torpedo planes and dive bombers began to drop small conventional bombs, suppressing the US air defense positions on the ground and shipboard air defense firepower.
However, there were too many uncertainties in the war. Even if the Japanese took all possible details into consideration and analyzed and improved them, errors still occurred in the order of the attack of each formation when the battle came.
When Mizuo Fuchida fired a purple flare, the Zero aircraft group led by Major Shigeru Itani did not see it above the clouds, so they did not accelerate forward to seize air superiority.
It is very dangerous for a torpedo aircraft without air superiority to drop bombs at low altitude. In desperation, Mizuo Fuchida launched another flare into the air.
This time, Shigeru Itani's Zero fleet saw it and immediately accelerated forward to seize air supremacy, ensuring that American fighters could not take off after the battle started.
The misunderstanding occurred over these two flares.
The Zero fleet only saw one flare, so they accelerated forward to seize air supremacy. Major Kazuichi Takahashi mistook it for a strong attack plan with two flares, so he led his bomber group to swoop towards Ford Island and Kamsi Airport. past.
The speed of dive bombers is much higher than that of slow-moving torpedo planes, so the dive bomber group led by Takahashi arrived first and got ahead of the torpedo planes.
The torpedo plane commander Shigechi Murata witnessed everything. He knew that Takahashi Kazuichi made a mistake in his judgment, but the deal was already done. In order to get rid of the offensive interference and hindrance caused by the dive bombers, Murata Shigechi could only lead his torpedo plane formation. Rush to the target on the shortest route and at the fastest speed.
Because, after the dive bomber drops the bomb, there will be thick smoke billowing on the battlefield immediately. The huge black smoke will prevent the torpedo aircraft from finding the best attack position.
Mitsuo Fuchida and Saami Takahashi Keichi disrupted the carefully formulated combat plan, and he was so angry that he gritted his teeth, but he knew that Takahashi could not be entirely blamed for this, as this was an irreversible on-the-spot change in the battle.
Since the mixed fleet is far away from here, their airborne communicators are just decorations and cannot notify Takahashi to stop the dive attack. Fortunately, the Americans are like blind men and have no reaction. Success is already in sight. The sequence of the attacks has little impact on the overall situation. , so he took a deep breath, calmed down his anger, led his fleet to turn quickly, and at the same time directed each attack formation to attack in an all-out manner.
Just when Lieutenant Colonel Mizuo Fuchida fired the second flare, the Flying Tigers flying at 2,700 meters in the air finally saw a huge fleet of aircraft approaching the sky above Pearl Harbor. Even so, they were still stunned and did not believe that it was Japanese.
After being stunned for a few seconds, the team members took out their binoculars one after another.
"Damn, it's the sun flag..."
"Damn, they are so Japanese..."
"God...I have never seen such a huge fleet of aircraft appear over Pearl Harbor..."
"Damn Japanese... inform the base quickly..."
"Damn it...the Japanese fired another signal bomb..."
At this moment, all the American pilots in the Flying Tigers seemed to be choking on the air and couldn't breathe. They subconsciously knew that Pearl Harbor was about to turn into hell, and the Japanese were definitely not here for this exercise.
By the time they came to their senses, the No. 214 F4F Wildcat had thrown them away for several kilometers and rushed towards Pearl Harbor at top speed.
"Quick, quick, quick..." All members of the Flying Tigers pushed their throttles to the bottom. The Chinese were rushing to Pearl Harbor for support. What reason did they have not to move forward desperately?
Zhou Zhihan made several consecutive pull-up jumps, and the fighter plane continued to rise upwards at a rapid increase in speed: "Everyone, while accelerating forward, pull up the altitude to increase energy. The P40 Squadron went to the airfield to cover our fighter planes as they took off. The Wildcat Squadron followed I went to defend Ford Island and try my best to prevent the Japanese from launching torpedoes against the battleships."
"clear!"
All pilots knew that the situation was serious and immediately followed suit.
"Everyone remember, when encountering Zero fighters, do not fight them head-on, but use dive tactics. Our top priority is to disrupt the Japanese offensive rhythm, let our fighters take off, and let the warships deploy anti-aircraft firepower."
"Copy that, Chief Instructor!"
The members of the Flying Tigers finally understood that this was not an act, and the war had begun.
Zhou Zhihan finally warned all team members: "Everyone remember, if you are shot down, try not to parachute over Pearl Harbor. The Japanese are very vicious and they will shoot the parachuting pilots."
Then, Zhou Zhihan changed the channel: "Call the base, call the base, Japanese fighter planes are flying over Pearl Harbor. This is not an exercise, this is war."
The person in charge of the base tower was the fat man who chased the Flying Tigers when they took off. The Flying Tigers did not take off according to the regulations, which made him a little angry, but fortunately it reduced his work, so after a scolding After talking to the idiots in the Flying Tigers, he replied triumphantly to the control tower office and chatted with a group of airport mechanics. The girls in the bar last night were wearing so little...
When Zhou Zhihan said that the Japanese were attacking, the fat man smiled: "Colonel Zhou, this is the United States, not China. If the Japanese dare to come, I promise to capture them one by one and clean the toilets."
Zhou Zhihan was anxious. He had no time to explain to the other party and said loudly: "Look outside the window. The Japanese fleet is still up to 2 minutes away from Pearl Harbor. If you don't sound the air defense police, you will be court-martialed." Bar!"
You, a Chinese, dare to dictate here... The fat man was immediately angry and suppressed the sarcasm on his lips. After all, the other party was a colonel. He sneered: "I don't know who will go to the military court!" After that, he hung up. Dropped the communicator and became furious.
After a minute, all Japanese aircraft groups entered the offensive position and began to drop bombs.
