After the air battle on June 14, the frequency of activity of the 64th Sentai of the Japanese Army Air Force stationed at Myitkyina airport suddenly decreased to the point where there was almost no activity. In the nearly week since, the transport plane on the Hump route to Kunming has not encountered a single interception. Even, those fighters who carried out safari missions, never saw a single Japanese fighter flying in the air again.

"Phew, what kind of Japanese fighter jet flying in the air, I didn't even see it parked on the ground. They probably hid all those planes! Damn it, if this continues, when will I become an ace? Christie, returning from the cruise, sat on the couch in the pilot's lounge, playing poker and complaining.

"Shut up, boy! Play your cards seriously! With you, I've really found a pig teammate...... Nima's, how can you play this card! ”

……

The War Room of the 10th Air Force

"Sir, come and see these pictures." A staff officer handed Ron some aerial photographs.

Ron took the photos and spread them out one by one on his desk.

"Well, these are anti-aircraft guns?"

"Yes, sir." The staff officer continued to explain, "Sir, you see, this one is from the day before yesterday, this one is from yesterday, and there is another one, which is today. ”

On these three photographs, it is clear that the number of anti-aircraft guns has increased in the number of anti-aircraft guns.

"Sir, you see, this is a Japanese 37-mm anti-aircraft gun, and this gun has good performance...... This is a Type II 20-mm anti-aircraft gun, which has doubled in number...... And here," the staff officer took out another photo, "here, on the south side of the runway, about 3.5 kilometers from the airfield, the Japanese seem to have built another anti-aircraft artillery position, armed with 37 and 75 mm anti-aircraft guns. ”

Ron thought it was probably because most of the planes that attacked the airport were coming in from the south. So they put more anti-aircraft artillery in this area.

"In addition, here, and here, Japanese observation posts have been found."

……

In the canopy of a huge banyan tree in the rainforest, several shirtless Japanese soldiers were looking around. One of them was holding a telescope, and the other was holding a notebook.

"It's already half past four in the afternoon, and I don't think I'll see any more planes from the American ghost animals. They usually go back at this time. ”

"It was like that for the first few days, but we can't go back yet, it's not dark, so we have to stick to our posts. As long as we keep a record, General Kato will be able to find the flaws in the ghost beasts and beat him up. ”

"Of course, ghost animals are cowards...... And I've heard that we're going to fight back soon, as long as we find out what they're doing......"

……

Under another large banyan tree not far from the airport, several ground crews are covering a Ki-44 with rain-proof canvas.

……

64 Sentai War Room

Commander Kato was convening a meeting of his subordinates.

"This is the statistical ...... of the presence of US military planes in the nearby airspace that we have obtained after many days of reconnaissance." After the meeting began, a staff officer first briefed the officers on the relevant situation.

“…… Based on this, we can conclude that the US fighter planes will take off at about 4 o'clock in the morning (about an hour or so with India) and cross our observation posts at a high altitude under the cover of night, in order to achieve the purpose of the surprise attack. After arriving, the US military deployed fighter planes in groups of four in different areas to carry out patrols, so as to control this area. About an hour or so later, enemy transports appeared on this route. If our fighters take off at this time to intercept them, they will definitely be spotted by the enemy aircraft waiting in the air. As a result, they were entangled with enemy fighters and it was difficult to complete the interception mission. And the battle on the 14th also showed that the enemy P-51 was a rather difficult opponent. Its speed far exceeds that of our Ki-43, which makes us quite passive in air combat. Moreover, the total number of fighters deployed by the enemy in the entire airspace is much more than the number of fighters that our army can dispatch at one time. This means that our battle with American fighters must be resolved quickly, and if the battle drags on, we will be besieged by an enemy with numerical superiority. ……”

After the staff officer had finished briefing him, Kato stood up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the situation is now clear that the enemy has put a noose around our necks. We must act to cut this noose, and you can say whatever you have to say about the situation. ”

There was silence in the room, and after a long time, no one spoke.

Kato frowned, waited a little longer, and spoke:

"Koga-kun, you were a witness to the last air battle, do you have any ideas?"

Koga was a survivor of the last battle, and if he had been an American pilot, he would have been a hero. However, he was a Japanese pilot. In the eyes of the Japanese, it is a shame that his teammates all defended their country and that he escaped.

However, General Kato did not discriminate against him because of this, but encouraged him, and earnestly hoped that he would find a way to defeat the American ghosts. These days, Koga has been pondering how he can repay the general's trust and save his reputation by striking a hard blow to the Americans. Now, that's the opportunity.

"General," Naoya Koga stood up, "I think we will only be able to catch those P-51s by setting up an ambush and diving down from a high altitude." And only through such tactics can there be a chance to fight a quick battle and avoid falling into the siege of an enemy with numerical superiority. ”

"How can we do this?"

"General, in addition to the Ki-43, we also have the Ki-44 Zhong Kui fighter in our hands." Koga replied, "Hang up the auxiliary fuel tank for Zhong Kui, take off at about 5 o'clock, that is, before the American fighter appears, and climb to an altitude of 6,000 meters to standby." When the US fighters appeared, our side took off a certain number of KI-43s as bait to attract US fighters to attack. The usual mode of attack of the US military is generally like this...... In this way, we will definitely be able to catch the beautiful animals by surprise! ”

……

It's already quite hot in Myanmar in June, and the sun is just showing its head in the morning, and the hot and humid water vapor in the rainforest is steaming, making people completely breathless.

The runway, which has been empty for the past few days, is now full of warplanes. If you take a closer look, you will see that these fighters are a little different from the usual Ki-43s.

The size of these fighters is larger, especially the nose, which is particularly chunky compared to the slender Ki-43, and its tail is extraordinarily slim, which makes the aircraft seem a bit top-heavy.

This kind of aircraft is the Type 2 Ki-44 "Zhong Kui" single-seat heavy fighter produced by the Japanese to intercept US bombers. Of course, this heavy weight was only relative to the excessively light Japanese aircraft. Compared with the Americans, this thing is better called a light fighter. (Just like Japan's medium tanks, which can only be considered typical light tanks in Europe.) The aircraft had a 1,500 hp engine, and as an interceptor, it climbed quite well, its high-altitude performance was not bad, and the maximum level flight speed reached 605 kilometers per hour, which was not as fast as the P-51, but not slow. And unlike the Zero Fight or the Ki-43, which like to punch holes in the stressed parts, the Ki-44 "Zhong Kui" has a relatively strong body structure and can withstand more pressure. So its swooping performance is also quite good. Coupled with the firepower of 4 12.7mm machine guns, although it is not as good as the American one, it is twice as powerful as something like the Ki-43.

However, there are also a lot of problems with this aircraft. First of all, its hovering is nowhere near as good as the typical Japanese fighter like the Zero or the Ki-43. Therefore, many Japanese pilots who are accustomed to circling to get by are quite disliked by it. But to be honest, compared to American aircraft, its circling is not too bad. Secondly, it's not very well controlled. The tail wing of "Zhong Kui" is too small, and the head is too big, blocking the wind, resulting in the problem of insufficient tail efficiency. Usually it's good to say, but the worst thing is that when taking off and landing, the fuselage with an elevation angle will block the tail to death, and the result is that the efficiency of the tail has dropped to almost equal to zero It is said,

The Germans, allies of the Japanese, had also test-flown such aircraft. In the end, the Germans commented: as far as the aircraft itself is concerned, it is compared with the BF109, but this thing is too troublesome to control, especially the poor take-off and landing performance. If Japanese pilots can fly this kind of aircraft well, then they will definitely be invincible in the world. You know, the take-off and landing performance of the BF109 is notoriously bad, which can make the Germans who are used to the BF109 unbearable, which shows how bad its take-off and landing are. If an accident occurs during take-off and landing, it is almost a sign of "Zhong Kui".

However, this time the "Zhong Kui" was piloted by the elites selected by the 64th team, so during the takeoff, no accidents occurred.

After the eight "Zhong Kui" took off quickly, the airport calmed down again.

……

Two P-51s quietly approached the Myitkyina airfield, and by the time it was time for the Japanese to take off the fighters, unless they were going to let the transport fleet pass freely, as they had done the other day, the Japanese would have to take off the fighters now. It would be cool if you could sneak up on a guy at this time.

It's just that this time the situation has changed. Before the fighters could get close, they were spotted by the Japanese, and then all sorts of anti-aircraft guns opened fire on them, and although they failed to hit, they also ruined their plans to attack the airfield. The two planes had no choice but to pull up and fly to the anti-aircraft artillery range to monitor the airfield.

At the airfield, sure enough, a group of Ki-43s were taking off one after another.

Under the threat of dense anti-aircraft artillery, Ronald knew that a forced assault was not necessarily a good idea. So he broke the radio silence and sent a message to the surrounding fighters who were responsible for clearing the airspace. He knew that after the news was sent, at least 12 to 16 fighters in three to four formations would outflank here.