Zhou Zhihan continuously pulled the lever. At first glance, the edges and corners were obviously a bit square, but upon closer inspection, Wildcat No. 214, which seemed a bit fat, jumped upwards like lightning, and soon became the size of a matchbox above the heads of 11 US military pilots. It was obvious to see Second Lieutenant Nice Taylor was dumbfounded. He had never seen such a swift wild cat before. It wasn't until the wild cat completely disappeared into the sky that he shook his head with his mouth wide open: "God, this is such a flexible fat cat!"
Wildcat No. 214 entered the air at 9,000 meters and looked at the second wave of Japanese attack aircraft flying at a constant speed in the distance.
Viewed from a high altitude, the 171 Japanese fighter-bombers are like densely packed sparrows, arranged in four formations. At the front are 54 slow-flying Type 97 torpedo planes, flying at an altitude of about 2,300 meters.
Two kilometers behind the torpedo plane were 81 dive bombers divided into two echelons, flying at an altitude of about 2,800 meters.
The 36 Zero fighters were divided into three squadrons and served as defense on the left, right and rear of the bomber group. They flew at an altitude of about 3,200 meters. The formation of the entire group was impeccable and came with great momentum.
Not far behind the second wave of attack aircraft was the first wave of returning attack aircraft. They had just passed by each other. The two groups combined were huge in number. When viewed from the air, it was very spectacular.
Looking at the Type 99 bomber with a yellow and blue fuselage, communicating with three other Japanese planes with a yellow fuselage, using their unique gestures, Zhou Zhihan quickly disappeared into a thin cloud above the mist, quietly Waiting for the arrival of the Japanese.
At this time, it was not the best time to shoot down the Japanese commander's plane. It was not difficult for Zhou Zhihan to decapitate the enemy general among three to four hundred fighter planes. The difficulty was that after a great battle, the fuel of his fighter plane The quantity and ammunition should be reasonable.
There was no problem with the fuel level. After all, we were fighting at home, and the Japanese arrived shortly after the Flying Tigers took off. Like all Wildcats, No. 214 Wildcat had more than half of its fuel capacity left.
As for ammunition, Zhou Zhihan also has enough reasons. Except for bombers, he used two machine guns when he shot down the Zero. This is what most pilots have seen. If he tries to break through alone now, he will definitely use too much ammunition. It’s hard to explain, and even the Japanese will be suspicious of it.
The commander of the second wave of attack aircraft, Shige Shimazaki, Major and Fuchida had a brief exchange and confirmed that the imperial surprise attack was a great success.
Shigekazu Shimazaki, the river grass flourished, and Kondo was overjoyed.
Fuchida told Shimazaki Shigekazu that special attention must be paid to Zhou Zhihan, Iwamoto Tetsuzo and Nishizawa Hiroshi, as well as at least one squadron's Type Zero in this person's hands.
In addition, there was about a squadron of American fighter planes over Pearl Harbor.
When Shimazaki Shige and the three of them heard this, their smiles froze.
Kondo said that he would definitely shoot down the Chinese Zhou Zhihan and avenge Nishizawa Hiroyuki and Iwamoto Tetsuzo.
Shige Shimazaki and Major continued to move forward with the fleet.
Seeing Pearl Harbor ahead, Shige Shige and Major frowned.
Now that there is no possibility of a surprise attack, coupled with Zhou Zhihan and a squadron of U.S. aircraft, their second wave of air strikes will be very difficult and they will definitely encounter a fierce counterattack from the U.S. military.
At this time, the entire sky above Pearl Harbor was covered by thick smoke caused by the first wave of attacks, and there was no daylight below the harbor, which caused a lot of trouble for his attacking team.
At the moment, the task force was still more than 200 nautical miles away from here, and the communication system could not be connected. Shigekazu Shimazaki was unable to communicate in detail with Takashige Egusa and Kondo, so he could only launch an attack according to the original plan.
Shige Shimazaki and Major Shimazaki had been using binoculars to search for Wildcat No. 214 and a dozen other American fighter planes, but they had never found them, which gave him an ominous premonition.
Looking at the foggy Tantras Mountains in front, which was very suitable for an ambush in the air, Shimazaki Shigewa judged that Zhou Zhihan and the others were most likely hiding in the fog, so he ordered Kondo to lead a squadron of Zeros to advance forward. Find Zhou Zhihan and shoot him down.
Kondo opened the hatch and made a "Follow me" gesture. Immediately, a squadron of zero combat followed him and accelerated forward, searching along the Tantras Mountains.
Just as Shigeka Shimazaki and his attack group surged forward, the Americans who woke up from their nightmare began to show unparalleled unity.
After the first wave of Japanese attack aircraft left, ordinary people near Pearl Harbor, after a brief mental recovery, burst out with high-spirited patriotism, rushed into Pearl Harbor to participate in fire-fighting and rescue operations.
Some people even brought pistols and rifles. If the Japanese dared to come again, they would never come back.
At this time, Zhou Zhihan realized that his worries were unnecessary. The U.S. military at Pearl Harbor had discovered the Japanese military aircraft group that appeared from more than 20 kilometers away and launched corresponding defenses. He had previously worried that the Americans would directly attack them after being attacked. stupid.
As we were getting closer to Pearl Harbor, looking at the target shrouded in smoke, Shimazaki felt a headache and didn't know how to start for a while.
If the fighter plane flies high and is obscured by smoke, it cannot find its attack target, and the accuracy of bomb delivery will be greatly reduced.
Flying too low was both dangerous and difficult to determine the direction in the thick smoke. Moreover, the surviving American soldiers had recovered and, under the command of the commander, turned on all available anti-aircraft fire and resumed their flight over Pearl Harbor. Build a dense air defense firepower network.
At this time, there were still 5 kilometers away from Pearl Harbor, and the attack aircraft group began to form a formation.
Suddenly, the pilot of the Ninety-Seven carrier-based aircraft flying at the front discovered that a Wildcat fighter jet appeared from the sky above the Tantras Mountains and swooped down towards the Imperial fleet at an extremely fast speed.
"It's Wildcat No. 214."
Kondo led a squadron of Zeros to search forward. When he saw the situation, he yelled, made a "Follow me" gesture and quickly pulled the lever. The Zeros flew up and jumped cleanly to meet them.
Seeing that the squadron leader's pull-up jump was very exquisite, the team members cheered in unison, pulled up the rod one after another, and formed an A-formation with Kondo to face the No. 214 Wildcat.
"court death!"
Seeing a Zero with a yellow fuselage pulled up, Zhou Zhihan couldn't ask for it. He sneered and said with a sneer. He pushed down the push rod with his right hand and turned the ratchet at the same time. He only used the two machine guns under the nose of the machine and still used Wilde machine gun bullets. His shooting skills At this stage of his transformation, there was no need for bullet traces to be used as a reference.
Wilde machine gun ammunition was first used by the Spitfire. As the Battle of London deepened, the British gradually used this advanced ammunition on American fighter jets rented under the Lend-Lease Act. Later, the United States Some fighters also began to use more advanced Wilde machine gun ammunition.
This ammunition has the ability to set fire, unlike the standard incendiary rounds used previously.
As mentioned above, there is no conspicuous fire or smoke after the Wilde is discharged from the barrel, but a flash point will erupt the moment the bullet hits the target, allowing the pilot to clearly see whether he has hit the target.
Wildcat No. 214 dived faster and faster, leaving a white contrail behind the fuselage, like a waterfall hanging in the air, which was particularly vivid against the background of the blue sky.
In this sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan used a Zero-21 carrier-based aircraft.
Compared with the Type Zero 11 that shined on the Chinese battlefield, the Type Zero 21 only uses foldable wings.
After accumulating a lot of experience in aircraft carrier operations, the Japanese army modified the approximately 20-inch wingtips at the outer ends of the wings to a foldable style in order to facilitate the use of elevators from the hangar to lift the Zero to the flight deck. After this change, the aircraft carrier More Zeros can be carried to enhance combat effectiveness.
However, when adding the wing folding function to the Zero-21 warship, it required fixing rivets and rotators, which inevitably increased the weight of the wingtips. Therefore, without increasing the power of the engine, the speed and agility of this fighter aircraft The degree has declined.
However, the Japanese Navy does not care about this. After various arguments, the Japanese believe that at the moment, the Zero fighter is invincible.
Since their great success in the Battle of Bishan in China, the Japanese were very satisfied with the Zero Fighter. Although in subsequent battles, the Zero fighter was repeatedly defeated by the Messerschmitt, Spitfire and Hurricane piloted by Zhou Zhihan. However, the Japanese military has always believed that it was not the British and German fighter jets that defeated the Zero fighter, but Zhou Zhihan, who had phenomenal flying skills.
In the early 1940s, Germany sent several Messerschmitts to Japan. At that time, the Type 12 ship-to-ship battle had been released. The Japanese military had used these two fighters to conduct many simulated air battles, and the Zero fighter almost achieved a complete victory.
The primary task of current fighter jets is to protect one's own bomber fleet and gain air supremacy, and the fight for air supremacy comes from dogfights.
The Messerschmitt's hovering ability and turning radius were inferior to those of the Zero, and its range was a disaster, with only dive and climb winning.
However, the main purpose of escorting fighter aircraft is to surround one's own bomber group to defend and expel enemy aircraft. Obviously, the Messerschmitt, which was fiercely attacking, was slightly lacking in this regard.
Comprehensive comparison, Messerschmitt is not as good as Zero War.
The Spitfire in the early and mid-term is slightly inferior to Mei's style, let alone the Hurricane.
This is also the current confidence of the Japanese.
"Whoosh whoosh..."
From a distance of 800 meters, Wildcat No. 214, which struck down like lightning, opened fire first, hitting a very short burst.
Seeing the faint light of fire flashing under the nose of the Wildcat, Shindo laughed: "This is China's ace pilot? Do you want to scare me from such a long distance?"
But he couldn't laugh out loud the next second. The sound of glass rang in his ears. His body was shaken and blood spurted out on the dashboard. Then there was severe pain in his left shoulder. He was shocked and subconsciously put the ball. Zero The fighter jet changed its ascending attitude, drew an arc with its nose, and plunged toward the ground to avoid the threat of Wildcat No. 214.
Seeing a flash of light erupting from the nose of the Zero flying head-on below, and then ducking down to avoid it, Zhou Zhihan chuckled and did not chase. If a matchbox like the Zero was hit, the pilot would die or be disabled. .
Zhou Zhihan's main attack target was not the Zero fighter, but the 54 Type 97 ships that had removed the torpedoes and replaced them with bombs, flying at the forefront.
This Type 97 is a Type 97 torpedo machine with torpedoes, and it is a Type 97 ship attack model with bombs.
Zhou Zhihan succeeded with one blow and lightly pulled the lever. Wildcat No. 214 recovered from the downward hit and flew forward, passing the other 11 Japanese pilots who saw their squadron leader shot down and were still in a state of confusion. They were still thinking "how could this happen?" Putting again, the fighter dived quickly.
All the Japanese bomber pilots had no idea that 12 Zero fighter jets could not intercept a single Wildcat. With just a snap of their fingers, Shindo's plane plummeted downwards with black smoke, and the bomber group was launching an attack formation. A little panicked, they immediately dispersed when they saw Wildcat No. 214 reaching the top in a blink of an eye.
late.
Wildcat No. 214 once again opened fire from a long distance, hitting the ammunition depot behind the nose of a Type 97 naval attack aircraft. After a burst of flash, the nose of the aircraft exploded. The bomber was instantly torn into several pieces like a paper plane. The explosion produced Shrapnel flew in all directions, frightening several bombers to the point of almost colliding with each other as they tried to dodge, and the formation of the fleet was suddenly in chaos.
Zhou Zhihan took advantage of the chaos to pursue. Wildcat No. 214 used a 360-degree plane roll to the right to change its position during the downward attack. It continued to attack, stabilized the slope, and opened fire, hitting a Type 97 attack ship that dispersed in the panic.
Or hit the ammunition depot.
"boom!"
The Type 97 ship that was hit exploded.
The attack of No. 214 Wildcat was simple and effective. It fired three times and all hit the nose of the aircraft. One aircraft caught fire and fell, and the other two caught fire and exploded. This made all Japanese pilots feel numb.
At this time, the 11 Zeros led by Shindo had flown to the front and could not quickly return to defense and could only continue to move forward.
Rich practical experience allowed the Japanese to stabilize quickly.
Seeing that the destroyer commander Shindo was shot down, Captain Makino Saburo took over the command according to the order and led his Zero Squadron to attack the No. 214 Wildcat.
The Zero squadron holding the formation at the rear was rich in actual combat experience and reacted extremely quickly. They quickly divided into two small teams and stood on both sides of the somewhat panicked bomber group to protect the group as they continued to move forward.
There are 171 fighter-bombers, and it is impossible to stand still because of a Wildcat.
Captain Saburo Makino led 12 Zeros that suddenly dispersed and formed a four-machine formation and four two-finger formations, which were divided into four directions and surrounded the No. 214 Wildcat.
Zhou Zhihan was shocked in his heart. The Japanese formation was a bit weird and he had never seen it before.
The bomber group spread out in formation, divided into several groups, and headed straight for Pearl Harbor. Some attacked the airport, some attacked the battleship avenue, and some attacked the battleships escaping out of Pearl Harbor.
At this moment, Second Lieutenant Kenneth Taylor and his 11 fighter planes appeared from above the Tantras Mountains and used a dive attack to attack the Japanese bomber group.
Shindo's plane broke away from Pearl Harbor with thick smoke. Lieutenant Keiichi Kimura took over the position of squadron commander automatically. He led the fighter planes to intercept Lieutenant Kenneth Taylor and the others.
The second wave of Japanese aircraft was not as lucky as the first wave of attack aircraft. What they encountered were US ships and sailors who were on full alert and ready to attack.
Arriving over Pearl Harbor, Shige Shige and Major Shimazaki were even more troubled. The smoke was so big that it was almost blocking out the clouds and the sun. It was impossible to see where the large warships were parked. This made it difficult for his attack fleet to carry out effective and accurate strikes. This kind of smoke made the bomb-dropping skills they had practiced so hard useless. land.
Seeing the Japanese attack fleet entering the sky above Pearl Harbor, all US warships that could still fire fired salvos into the air with anti-aircraft guns, forming columnar barrages in the air.
Some sailors on the ship climbed onto the bridge and launched defenses with machine guns and other weapons. Some soldiers climbed up to the command tower or observation towers and masts to shoot at the diving Japanese aircraft with rifles.
The extremely high-speed smoke screen formed by the warship's anti-aircraft guns drew out lines of fire, which were very conspicuous and majestic, and immediately became the new positioning point of the Japanese army.
The 80 Japanese dive bombers, under the leadership of Major Takashige Egusa, who were worried that they could not find or recognize the US warships, boldly swooped down along the high-speed barrage fired from the warships, dodged the hail of bullets, and headed straight towards The warship pounced. When the dive reached a certain height and the warship was clearly visible, it immediately took aim and bombarded the US warships in the counterattack.
Captain Shohei Yamada, who took off from the aircraft carrier Akagi, also found the attack target. When he found a place where the smoke from the shells was the densest, he was ecstatic. He thought he had found a large warship and immediately led the entire squadron to kill it. In the past, when they dived to a certain height, they discovered that it was just a land fort, so they had to curse and pull up the plane, climb up again, and look for a new target.
The Japanese will not waste artillery shells on land-based forts.
The second wave of Japanese attacks made Pearl Harbor filled with smoke and chaos. Huge mushroom clouds rose into the sky from time to time, and the smell of smoke, gunpowder, and blood was suffocating everywhere.
