Captain Rudel did not know that one of his strafing shots had made a great achievement, and at this moment he was engrossed in driving the plane from side to side, shuttling through the fire network formed by the Japanese anti-aircraft artillery fire until he broke through the fire network of the Japanese fleet.

It's time to retreat, it's dangerous to stay!

Captain Rudel turned his head to look at the sky around him, and immediately made up his mind to control the plane to the west.

During the flight, Captain Rudell surveyed the sky around him, trying to find his comrades who had returned to the sea.

About fifteen minutes after flying out, his head, which had been bobbing from side to side, suddenly stopped swinging, and he squinted at the sky above him.

Against the blue sky, a black dot the size of a mosquito appeared in his line of sight, and it grew in size, soon becoming the size of a fly.

Planes of the Japanese!

Fighter plane? Bomber? Or a torpedo attack aircraft?

Before Captain Rudel could come to a conclusion, he was keenly aware of the opposite plane's change of course and heading straight for him.

The other party dared to go head-on, it must be a fighter, and Captain Rudel quickly confirmed the opponent's model.

High-speed dive detachment? No, the altimeter shows only 1,200 meters, which is a high dive that must have plunged into the sea.

Turning can't turn him, as for climbing······ The opponent climbs very fast and already has a height advantage, so you can only try to roll.

Having made up his mind, Captain Rudel turned the nose of the plane and turned to the right and accelerated, and the speed on the speedometer quickly climbed to more than 400 kilometers, quickly pulling away from the Zero.

The Zero fighter behind him followed the steering and accelerated at the same time, gradually closing the distance between the two fighters.

From time to time, Captain Rudel looked back at the distance between the Zero and his own plane, until he realized that the enemy was about to open fire, and jerked the joystick.

The F-190F1 then flew diagonally upwards to the right, followed by the belly facing the sky.

After a fluttering right-hand roll maneuver, the two chasing fighters parted ways.

Captain Rudel breathed a sigh of relief after throwing him off, and then used the precious time after throwing off the opponent to urgently increase the altitude, and did not return to a level flight position until the altitude exceeded 4,000 meters.

In the condescending line of sight, the Zero fighter at this time had turned into a tiny black dot in his line of sight.

This time it was my turn to attack.

Captain Rudel steered the plane down and flew straight into the distance Zero.

As the distance closed at high speed, the icy air drilled through the hole in the canopy into the cabin and hit him on the cheek like a knife.

Enduring the discomfort on his face, he stared at the approaching enemy planes, but was surprised to find that the Zero fighter that was originally climbing in altitude rushed towards him, and the two fighters formed a face-to-face charging posture.

This is a head-to-head attack, a fight of luck and guts!

Inserting the opponent's fuselage into the center of the sight, Captain Rudel pressed the trigger hard, and rhythmic vibrations came from the two MG131 machine guns in the nose.

Almost at the same time, two 7.7mm machine guns and two 20mm cannons all opened fire on the opposite Zero, raining ammunition on Rudel's plane.

Captain Rudel ignored the sound of a hammer pounding on a bucket until a few wisps of black smoke came out of the fuselage of the Zero fighter on the opposite side and crashed into the sea.

Turning the nose back to level flight, he looked down at the Zero fighter that was crashing into the sea, and let out a long breath.

Thinking of Lieutenant Schneider and Lieutenant Skhanowsky, who had not been able to return, Captain Rudel raised his hand and rubbed his cheek, which was tingled by the cold wind.

I have avenged you!

After about ten minutes of westward travel, Captain Rudel made contact with the fleet by radio and encountered two returning HE-100T1 fighters.

No sooner had the three planes met than Captain Rudel heard the bad news.

"Mr. Captain, smoke is coming from under the nose of your plane, and now it looks like only a few thin wisps, you better control the speed of the engine, and maybe you can delay your parachute jump."

Captain Rudel slowed down the plane, and two HE-100T1 fighters flanked him, monitoring the changes in the smoke beneath his plane.

In the exchange of experience in air combat, time passed imperceptibly.

When Captain Rudel could already see the black smoke dragged out of the rear of the fuselage, the trail of the German fleet finally appeared on the sea in front of him.

Captain Rudel hurriedly contacted the USS Seckert to explain his identity and the danger that the fighter plane was about to be scrapped, but received a reply that made him almost angry.

You hover in the air, waiting in line to land, and if the fighter plane is too injured to hold on, then give up the plane and parachute, and we will send search and rescue personnel to pick you up.

Captain Rudel snarled and asked why he had done this, and he was immediately regained his composure.

During the air raid of the Japanese naval aviation, another aircraft carrier was torpedoed, and the hull of the ship tilted, making it inconvenient for the aircraft to land.

All the returning fighters could only concentrate on the USS Seckert and land, and the fighters on the deck were parked that had not had time to reclaim the hangar.

Captain Rudel's plane was wounded, and if it lost control and rushed into the group of planes on deck during the landing, the consequences would be unimaginable.

After receiving the reply, Captain Rudel was forced to obey orders.

When the fighter plane was almost completely covered in smoke, a white umbrella flower appeared in the sky.

Captain Rudel, who participated in actual combat for the first time as a naval aviation unit, drew an unsatisfactory end to his battle by abandoning his plane and parachuting.

Shortly after the parachute crashed into the sea, Captain Rudel emerged from the edge of the parachute, shook his head, shook off the water above his head, and looked up at the fleet in the distance.

A FI-382 Black Hawk multi-purpose helicopter flew out of the fleet and soon hovered above him, throwing a rope ladder at Captain Rudel, who was waving his arms in the sea.

When Captain Rudel climbed the rope ladder, the helicopter turned around and headed back.

Upon stepping onto the hard flight deck of the Seckert, Captain Rudel's first thought was to fulfill his duties as squadron leader and count battle damage.

A squadron of dive bombers with fifteen F-190F1 fighters sorted, returning ten men and nine aircraft, with a third of the battle losses.

With the sadness of losing his comrades, Captain Rudel returned to his residence with his men and began to sum up the combat experience.

The battle report was compiled from the various squadron leaders, including Captain Rudel, to the carrier-based aircraft command, and after analysis and collation, the following conclusions were drawn.

1. The anti-aircraft firepower of the Japanese fleet cannot be compared with the anti-aircraft firepower of our fleet, but the combat effectiveness of the Zero fighter unit of the escort fleet is very strong, and the losses of our fighters mainly come from the Japanese Zero fighters.

Second, the advantage of the Zero fighter is that the turning radius is extremely small and the climb speed is very fast.

3. The weakness of the Zero fighter is the difference in dive speed, and the maneuverability deteriorates after exceeding the speed of 400 km/h, and it can be used to accelerate downwards and dive or roll to the right to get rid of the opponent's pursuit.

Fourth, the attacking Zero fighter can use the sine wave tactic of preferentially occupying an advantageous altitude, launching a dive attack, and then accelerating the dive to disengage.

······

In the evening, while Captain Rudel was having dinner with his comrades, a ship named Prince Eugen approached at high speed to the north of the fleet.

When Captain Rudel and his comrades walked out of the cafeteria with their round bellies, the Prinz Eugen officially joined the battle sequence of the second aircraft carrier formation.