"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, please enter the air raid shelter immediately!"
Seeing the dense bombers in the distance, Colonel's scalp went numb, and he quickly pulled Tianzhen Tanijiro and ran towards the air raid shelter.
"Baga, are you asking me to be a coward?" Tianzhen Tanijiro cursed.
"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, the Chinese have a saying, 'As long as the green hills are there, you won't have to worry about running out of firewood.' When the Chinese launch a large-scale attack this time, both land and sea aviation will be severely damaged and the Imperial Air Force will be lost. We cannot fight against such a large swarm of bombers without the support.”
In the end, Tiantani Jiro retreated to the air raid shelter under the persuasion of the colonel's chief of staff.
And in the sky, the bomber group was getting closer and closer.
Outside Nanjing, fighting was also taking place.
Taking into account the previous problems that occurred when Army Airlines and Hainan Airlines were stationed together, Hainan Airlines occupied the Dajiaochang Airport, while Army Airlines settled at the Ming Forbidden City Airport in the city.
Stationed at the Dajiaochang Airport is the Japanese 13th Air Force, with more than 20 aircraft including Type 96 carrier-based fighter jets, Type 96 land attack aircraft, etc., especially the Type 96 carrier-based fighter jets, of which there are 9 here.
You must know that at this time, the new model of the Type 96 carrier-based fighter jet of the Japanese Army has not yet been officially equipped, and there are not many initial models left. These 9 are all rare items.
But in this case, the Japanese aircraft had no time to get up.
"Baga, take off, hurry up!"
Colonel Chida Sadatoshi, the captain of the air force, shouted there.
The airport was in a mess at this time, and it was not easy for a bomber like the 96 Land Attack to take off in a short time.
Coupled with the success of the previous two air raids on Nanchang and the fact that it was the Chinese New Year, the Japanese army actually relaxed their vigilance.
The Chinese Air Force came from the direction of Chaohu, west of Nanjing, and the 13th Navy Air Force was not aware of it at all.
Especially after seeing the air battle in the distance, Chida Zadatoshi was even more anxious.
One Army plane was shot down.
Of course, this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is the black group of bombers further away, which is the most deadly.
If his plane cannot take off from the airport, it will most likely be destroyed at the airport. Can he not be anxious?
Soon, several Type 96 carrier-based fighter jets took off smoothly, but before they could climb up, Chinese fighter jets came over.
The two Type 96 carrier-based fighter jets were still in a fighting stance when they were shot down several hundred meters in the air and hit the ground heavily.
The one that escaped was also entangled by a Chinese fighter jet.
"Brothers, Captain Li has entangled the enemy plane, let's go to the airport!"
Seeing that Li Hang, who had shot down an enemy plane, flew his plane to catch up with the escaping Type 96 carrier-based fighter jet, Liang Tiancheng shouted and threw himself on the ground.
Although the pilots of the other fighter planes could not hear what he shouted, they all realized at this time that it was important to attack the airport and not allow the remaining Japanese fighter planes to take off.
After Liang Tiancheng dived towards the Dajiaochang Airport, his wingman pilot also followed closely. Two planes from another team and Zhou Zhikai, who was flying solo, also rushed towards the airport.
As for Li Hang, they are not worried.
As a wingman pilot, Zhou Zhikai naturally wanted to follow, but Li Hang's plane and the Japanese plane were flying far away, and he couldn't keep up. It was better to destroy the plane on the airport runway with Liang Tiancheng first.
Seeing the machine gun bullets flying continuously and the anti-aircraft guns roaring from time to time, Zhou Zhikai kept dodging in the plane, and soon rushed over the runway.
Seeing an enemy plane trying to climb, pull the trigger directly.
The enemy plane climbed only a few meters before it fell. The plane did not explode immediately, but shifted its direction and crashed into a nearby 96 Land Attacker that was trying to take off.
Several other people also achieved some results. Most of the Japanese fighter planes were destroyed. Even if they were not hit, they exploded on the spot, but they also prevented the Japanese planes from taking off because several Japanese fighter planes had fallen on the runway.
Seeing that the goal was achieved, Liang Tiancheng and others moved away from the airport and handed over the remaining tasks to the bomber formation.
The 24 bombers of the China Aid Air Force were divided into two parts. One part bombed the Ming Forbidden City Airport and other important targets in Nanjing. As long as the Japanese flag was flying, they could bomb the targets.
The other part carried out a carpet bombing of Daqiaochang Airport.
Twelve Soviet CB bombers, carrying 7.2 tons of bombs, were enough to blow up the Daxiaochang Airport and put it out of use for a month.
When the dense bombs fell, the meager anti-aircraft firepower of Daqiaochang Airport seemed extremely weak.
This is actually due to the Japanese army's underestimation of the enemy.
The main reason is that the Chinese Air Force rarely initiates air strikes, and the Japanese army has some loopholes in defense, especially the Air Force where the gap is not obvious.
Similarly, the Ming Palace Airport in the city was not much better. More than a dozen aircraft of various types staying there were destroyed and no one was spared.
"Li Hang, you escort the bomber back, and then go to Hefei Airport to refuel."
When the bomber formation finished its bombing and began to return, Lu Jichun drove the plane to Li Hang's side.
"Lao Lu, you go with the plane. I'll stay. If the Japanese plane comes, I can handle it calmly."
"Okay, then I'll take the other planes and take the first step."
"You guys remember to save your bullets!"
So Lu Jichun led three detachments and a total of six fighter planes to escort the bomber formation back, while Li Hang led two detachments and four fighter planes from behind.
They stayed in Nanjing for almost ten minutes. The airports relatively close to Nanjing include Changzhou Airport, Changxing Airport and Guangde Airport.
Especially Changzhou, which is only a hundred kilometers away from here. At the speed of the Japanese aircraft, it can be reached in ten minutes.
Because the ten aircraft of the 23rd Squadron did not have enough fuel to return, they had not landed in Hefei before, so they had to go to Hefei to refuel before returning.
In this case, they cannot land to refuel together, otherwise they will easily be overwhelmed by the chasing Japanese aircraft.
"Captain, what are we doing now? Are we just flying aimlessly like this?"
In the sky, without the threat of ground-based air defense weapons, several Chinese fighter planes did not know what to do.
Not far away, the bomber group had begun to return.
"As a small team, look for places in the city where Japanese plaster flags are hung, and kill more little Japs. But don't be too reckless and leave some bullets in case there is an emergency."
"Yes, just wait for what the captain says!"
Liang Tiancheng took the lead in breaking away from the formation with his wingmen and flew towards the north of Nanjing City.
Li Hang took Zhou Zhikai to the core area of the city, where there were probably many Japanese troops. Especially the office building of the former National Government, I don't know if there are any little Japs inside.
