"Sir, those American planes are coming with you again."

Hashimoto looked back and saw that the American fighters had really followed him again. Why are these guys so obscene? Can't they honestly compete with the Imperial Army?

But Hashimoto also understands that there is really nothing good to do with these obscene guys by himself. After the chase just now, and the order he received after that, Hashimoto's originally somewhat hot mind calmed down. Now Hashimoto has also figured out that the Ki-43 is too slow to catch up with the opponent, and the opponent does not accelerate and directly throw them off, but takes them to fly slowly, there must be something wrong with this. Somewhere ahead, there must be a large group of Americans waiting for them in ambush. And now, these American planes are coming again. This does not bode well, and it can only be explained by the fact that they were ordered to hold themselves back so that the group that had been preparing to ambush them could come over.

Despite the desire to go head-to-head with the Americans, and despite the fact that the Japanese had always had the upper hand in the fighting, at least in Burma, the exchange of air combat had always been more advantageous than the Japanese. Although Hashimoto was very confident in his own skills and that of his comrades, the Americans put on such an attitude of actively seeking battle, and even when an ambush was no longer possible, they still actively sought to fight. Such an attitude cast a shadow over Hashimoto's heart--there must be a lot of American planes nearby, and they may have formed an overwhelming advantage in their own fleet in terms of numbers. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain the abnormal behavior of the Americans.

"Maintain course while climbing to 4000 meters." Hashimoto issued a new order to the group.

Keeping your course brings you closer to the airfield, which makes it easier to get reinforcements. The climb is to prepare for this air battle that could happen at any time. The Ki-43 is not very fast in the first place, and if it is still at a disadvantage in height, it will be difficult to fight.

……

"Ron, the enemy fleet is rapidly climbing." A staff officer came to report to Ron.

"The fact that the enemy planes first gave up pursuit, turned back, and then climbed rapidly shows that they had foreseen our move. However, although it is no longer possible to rely on the height advantage to attack, it is still possible to use the speed and numerical advantage to fight a dozen. Ron silently pondered in his mind. Suddenly he remembered something and asked:

"Are there any safari formations near Myitkyina airport?"

"Yes," replied one of the staff officers, "Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, they haven't broken the radio silence yet, they should still be nearby." ”

"Inform them that it is likely that a group of Japanese fighters will take off soon, so go over and watch immediately."

……

Myitkyina Airport

Two Ki-43s were lined up at one end of the runway.

When Kato gave the order for Hashimoto to return, he expected that they might be besieged by the outnumbered American planes, so after giving that order, he immediately ordered all the remaining Ki-43s to take off and prepare to support Hashimoto. At the same time, Kato still has a dream in his heart, that is, to use this great air battle to give the Americans a blow to the head when they have just launched this air offensive, so as to completely demoralize the Americans. However, the sneak attack on the airfield by American fighters in the morning still put a lot of pressure on Kato, and if he was attacked by American fighters when the large group took off, the losses would be great. So he decided to take off a few planes in advance to protect the airspace near the airport, and then carry out high-intensity large-scale takeoffs.

The propellers of the first Ki-43 began to spin, and a puff of pale blue smoke erupted from the rear of the nose. Then the sound of the engine began to become rapid and high, and the Ki-43 began to glide on the runway at high speed.

"Bodhisattva bless, don't come out of nowhere now." A ground crew member somehow came up with such a sentence.

"Slap ......" a slap slapped heavily on his head, "What nonsense! You damn crow's mouth! Phew! ”

However, the "crow's beak" did not seem to take effect, and the Ki-43 took off smoothly, and it quickly climbed to an altitude of about 700 meters. And not only this one, but another Ki-43 also flew and will soon be able to catch up with the first Ki-43.

"There are two planes already in the air, so it's much safer." Looking at the fighter planes that were circling and continuing to climb, many Japanese breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.

Then, two more Ki-43s finished their preparations and began to glide on the runway. The pilot pushed the throttle valve to the end, and the plane began to accelerate.

"Enemy aircraft spotted!" The two Ki-43s, which had already taken off, raised the alarm and began to fly towards the south side of the airfield. It's nearly noon and the sun is setting south of the airport.

Anti-aircraft gunner Hideki Koizumi quickly pointed the muzzle of the 20-mm gun to the south, and the strong sunlight pierced his eyes, and he squinted his eyes and faintly saw several shadows shaking. It's just that he really can't see clearly, and of course he can't shoot.

The P-51 was too fast to swoop in, while the Ki-43 was one of the slowest of World War II's mainstream fighters. The two Ki-43s that had already taken off were no longer able to intercept enemy planes in any other way than to attack head-on. However, the firepower of the Ki-43 is very weak, with only two 12.7 mm machine guns, and the firepower is not even as good as the Zero Battle. And the performance of the Japanese 12.7 machine gun was also not satisfactory. In addition, the plane itself is not too sturdy. Head-on shooting is really not a good option for the Ki-43.

But at this time, it's the only option. The Japanese pilots flying the Ki-43s understood that if the American fighters were allowed to rush over, the two Ki-43s that were taxiing on the runway at high speed and the pilots above them would be dead -- the Americans could not even miss such a target. In contrast, shooting at U.S. fighters, while the chances of shooting them down are not high, can interfere with U.S. planes. to divert them from their intended route. These P-51s are now very fast, and the window of time to shoot at the target is actually very short, and it is likely that after deviating from the intended course, it will not be too late to recorrect the course and thus open fire on the fighters that are still taxiing on the runway.

However, head-on interception is also very dangerous, first of all, the P-51 has strong firepower, not to mention that in this time and space, its firepower has been strengthened to four 20mm guns with a rate of fire and muzzle velocity of 1000, even if it is the original 6 .50 machine guns, that firepower is not comparable to the Ki-43. Coupled with the common lighter characteristics of Japanese aircraft (they burn at the first dozen, they must burn at every dozen), and the fact that the sun is now behind American planes (although not directly behind), the sunlight will also interfere with the aimed fire of the Ki-43 that chooses to hit head-on. Shooting head-to-head is like dancing with death.

Without hesitation, the two Ki-43s swooped down on the P-51 whizzing down. The two sides began to open fire when they were 800 meters apart - the Americans did this because they had such a long range in the event of a head-on attack, and the Japanese did this purely to distract the Americans.

Planes on both sides were spitting a rain of bullets and rolling to dodge. The distance of 800 meters is very short for a fighter facing head-on. In just a few seconds, the two sides staggered.

In the confrontation just now, George's P-51, the leader of the Mickey Mouse formation, took two bullets, but fortunately did not hit the vital point. But his opponent was not so lucky, and George hit at least two 20mm shells, one of which severed a small part of its wing, and the other set it on fire. If nothing else, the plane could almost be considered shot down.

Wingman Terry's plane didn't hit in the confrontation just now, but it didn't hit the opponent either, and everyone was frantically barrel rolling, and as a result, the bullets didn't know where they flew.

In the previous confrontation, the Mickey Mouse formation deviated from the original scheduled course, and as a result, they flew over the runway before they had time to attack the two Ki-43s that had just flown off the ground.

However, it would be too early to assume that the two Ki-43s were safe, because just behind the Mickey Mouse formation, two more P-51s whizzed down, and on the wings of both planes were a triumphant Donald Duck with a square step.

The two Ki-43s that had just flown up to a height of more than ten meters were beaten down by these two Donald Ducks without any resistance. Two more experienced pilots were heroically shattered. Although the airfield anti-aircraft guns fired desperately, nothing came down.

Several P-51s that had succeeded in the sneak attack did not turn around until they were out of range of anti-aircraft fire, and at this time, the Ki-43 that had just been hit by George also fell. However, the pilot managed to parachute. The remaining lone Ki-43 did not chase after him, but circled around in the circle of fire of the anti-aircraft guns and climbed up. The plane had just received an order from Kato: to climb high and monitor for any American planes that were ready to come and sneak attack. And the driver American fighter did not rush again, they also began to circle and climb outside the circle of fire of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns.

At this time, the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, which had been consistently unresponsive, finally reacted, and they began to fire at the four P-51s. In fact, the firepower of these anti-aircraft guns is very sparse, plus there are no such high-tech gadgets as radio fuses. The threat to fighters is rather limited. But the American fighters, who had already taken advantage of it, did not intend to take risks, and they did not hesitate to turn their heads and fly into the distance.

It was also at this time, over the radio, that Hashimoto sent back the latest news - the discovery of a large number of US fighter groups. The number of aircraft is estimated to be more than twice that of its own.

Kato knew that because of the sneak attack of these American planes just now, the entire airport was in chaos again, and it would definitely be too late to raise another group of planes to support Hashimoto. As a battle-hardened general, he knew very well that in an air battle, the side with the superior numbers would have a great advantage on the premise that all other factors were roughly equal, and when the outnumbers ratio reached more than two to one, there would almost certainly be a one-sided crushing situation. But now he can't do anything but pray for Aunt Amaterasu's blessing for them.

By the way, I recommend a friend's urban novel "Living with a Goddess", which is very good.