Flying Fortress, B-25, and Dauntless dive bombers were in attack formation.
In order to prevent the failure of the hydraulic device and the inability to release bombs, all bombers opened their bomb bay doors in advance, which affected the aircraft's flight speed.
However, this is a routine that every bomber must do before dropping bombs. Otherwise, once the fuselage is hit by anti-aircraft fire somewhere during the battle, the hydraulic system devices throughout the fuselage may fail, which will cause the pilot to lose control of the bomb before dropping the bomb. At the time, the bomb was still hanging on its bomb rack, but the delay fuse had been turned on...
…
"Umino-kun, look, what is that thing swimming on the sea...oh, it's so fast..."
The second-class soldier on the destroyer asked the first-class soldier Cao.
Private First Class Cao Haiye watched intently and suddenly took a breath of air. He stayed for three seconds and shouted loudly: "Baga... it's a fighter... siren... sound the alarm... an American fighter jet flying at ultra-low altitude was spotted on the water. It has broken through the defense circle of my destroyer..."
At this time, the sky above the Japanese task force was full of sirens, and no one heard the loud roars of the two sailors.
Just as Private First Class Cao Haiye roared loudly, Wildcat No. 214 was already close to the sea, passing through the sea between the two destroyers [Kasumi] and [Hai], and pounced on [Xiang] who was taking off for the zero battle. Crane] and aircraft carrier Zuihe.
During normal travel, the distance between the two aircraft carriers is about 8 to 10 nautical miles. When the US military aircraft fleet attacks, the aircraft carrier formations begin to close the distance between the fleets, concentrate their superior firepower, and intercept the US aircraft in the air.
At this time, the previous Zero Fighter on the [Xianghe] had already taken off and began to rise into the air.
The first flight officer of the 11th team, Cao Gongzawa, was ready. After the takeoff and landing commander on the ship issued the "OK to take off" signal, he released the brakes and pushed the throttle. The Zero fighter accelerated and slid forward lightly. Right here. At that moment, Miyazawa Goonichi suddenly felt a flying object appear on the left side of the ship, moving forward quickly, so fast that he was a little dizzy.
At the same time, the sailors and anti-aircraft gunners on the port side of the aircraft carrier Shokaku all saw a fighter plane like a big eagle, rushing to the front of the aircraft carrier with such lightning speed that they were stunned and dizzy. At 1 nautical mile, he made a wonderful rudder drift turn - which was almost the same as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
There are only a few nautical miles between the last two defense destroyers and the aircraft carrier. The speed of the No. 214 Wildcat exceeds 600 kilometers. The distance of these few nautical miles can be reached in the blink of an eye, faster than the Japanese communicator.
Wildcat No. 214, whose fuselage was almost the same color as the sea and sky, flew too fast, like a blue lightning bolt.
The sailors of the Shokaku only saw one plane passing by, and they could not identify it as an enemy fighter. Most of them thought it was a Zero fighter, until Wildcat No. 214 quickly turned and attacked the Shokaku. When the bow of the ship came, they realized that it was not a Zero, but an American aircraft with stars and stripes on the fuselage.
Suddenly, the Japanese troops on the flight deck were in chaos:
"Discovered US military fighter jets, prepared to defend..."
"Baga, why did the US military fighter jets suddenly appear..."
"It's an American fighter jet, he's rushing towards us..."
"Ready to shoot..."
Wildcat No. 214 basically did not slow down when it drifted and turned. The fighter plane was more than ten meters above the water, leaving a white trail like an ink painting, and in a blink of an eye it was above the bow of the aircraft carrier Shokaku.
Zhou Zhihan put his thumb on the button and fired.
Miyazawa Goonichi was still accelerating without pulling the lever. The Zero fighter had just slid out more than 30 meters. He saw a hail of bullets above his head. He held down his Zero firmly. The fuselage trembled violently and there was a sound of glass. , he felt his neck being pulled by something, and then something hot flowed down. Almost at the same time, he felt hot from his chest to his abdomen, and then there was an explosion in his ears. This was him The last sound heard in this world.
"boom!"
While still taxiing, the Zero was hit by Wildcat No. 214. The fuel tank exploded. The entire fuselage was torn apart as it slid forward. Gasoline splashed everywhere. Huge flames ignited most of the flight runway. The ammunition on the fuselage was violently destroyed. After the impact, it was like a giant firecracker, flying and exploding, and for a while thick smoke billowed into the sky.
Wildcat No. 214 succeeded in one blow and quickly escaped from the explosion zone, almost grazing over the bridge of the aircraft carrier Shokaku.
"Wow..."
Wildcat No. 214 released the gasoline in the tank and poured it on the seven or eight Zero Fighter aircraft that were preparing to take off.
When he was about to fly out of the aircraft carrier "Xianghe", Zhou Zhihan wasted no effort in firepower. Six 12.7mm machine guns fired at the same time, flames spewed out, and he blew up a ship and then quickly pulled up and bounced away.
"boom!"
The ship exploded, sending flames flying, igniting the gasoline that Wildcat 214 had sprinkled on the carrier deck and on the Zero Fighter's fuselage.
"Buzz..."
Almost in the blink of an eye, the rear deck of the aircraft carrier Shokaku was set on fire. Several pilots sitting in the Zero fighter were defenseless. They waited for a few seconds before opening the cabin, rolling and crawling out to escape.
But most of the entire aircraft carrier turned into a sea of flames. Before these pilots could get off the plane, their whole bodies were ignited by the fire. Some people were wailing on the deck and trying to put out the fire, but the fire was getting bigger and bigger. The pilots who were close to the side of the ship were rolling in panic. Go into the sea and save your life.
To put it slowly, in fact, it took less than two minutes from the time the No. 214 Wildcat broke through the last two destroyers of the aircraft carrier formation to burning the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Shokaku, and the Japanese sailors were unable to respond effectively.
There are only a few nautical miles between the [Shōkaku] and the [Zuikaku]. No. 214 wildcat rabbit and falcon prevented the [Shokaku] carrier-based aircraft from taking off. It was obvious that the [Zuikaku] aircraft carrier was The sailors were stunned.
The surprise attack of No. 214 Wildcat was more precise than a surgical scalpel. Chuichi Nagumo, Ryunosuke Kusaka, Minoru Harada, Oishi and Yamaguchi standing in the command room of the aircraft carrier "Akagi" stared wide-eyed for a few seconds. Zhong said nothing.
The above people, except for Yamaguchi Wenduo who suffered from Zhou Zhihan's No. 214 fighter during the Battle of Songhu, this was the first time for the others to see the No. 214 Wildcat in actual combat, and they suddenly felt shuddering.
At this time, the entire task force was moving forward in a curve. Nagumo Chuichi and the others watched as Wild Cat No. 214 passed through the water between the Shokaku and Zuikaku at low altitude, and then drifted and turned like a ghost, without any movement. Slowing down, he flew over the "Xianghe" in a few blinks, blasted a Zero and set the carrier's deck on fire.
At this moment, the US military aircraft fleet also flew above the task force at high altitude, but the next move of the US military aircraft fleet made all the Japanese sailors confused.