Early in the morning of the 14th.

More precisely, in the early hours of the morning, before dawn.

Before the dawn of this northern China, there is no twilight, only starlight.

16 all-metal fuselage fighters painted with blue sky and white sun flags lined up on the side of the loess paved runway, there were no aerial bombs under the belly, that was to reduce the weight of the aircraft, auxiliary fuel tanks were hung under the wings, and all the supplementary ammunition was two 12.5mm machine guns to replenish the aircraft.

Because this time, they will go to the Niangziguan battlefield 630 kilometers away, which has already exceeded the combat radius of the "35 version of the Thunderbolt" fighter, and if they do not carry enough fuel and reduce the load as much as possible, even if they win the air battle, they will not be able to fly back to Yan'an Airport.

Even so, they were left with only 20 minutes to fight on the battlefield, beyond which they would have to abandon their planes.

That is to say, if the Japanese army did not arrive at the battlefield as Liu Lang expected, even if it was half an hour late, this time Liu Lang used his network resources for almost five years, and transferred more than a dozen fighters from the southeast 1,100 kilometers away to northern Shaanxi on the side of Shanxi, and then ran long distances to Niangzi Pass, which is the biggest hole card, it is a joke.

The only role they can play is to walk at an altitude of 4,000 meters above the battlefield for only 20 minutes before they have to return, otherwise the 16 fighters will have to run out of fuel in the Chinese sky.

There are the closest airports to Niangziguan, one is Yangmingbao Airport occupied by the Japanese, and the other is Taiyuan Airport in Taiyuan City, where the old man in Shanxi Province stayed. However, don't look at Taiyuan Airport as the territory of the Chinese, but, if you go anywhere, it is estimated that the result is the same as the meat bun beating the dog, and the old man in Shanxi even wants to know the mountain artillery of friendly forces, not to mention the plane that can make his eyes green.

However, this is not what Zhou Dapeng and the pilots have to consider, since Liu Lang said that the battle will start before 8 o'clock, then they only need to carry out the military order, arrive at the battlefield after 8 o'clock, and fight with the Japanese planes that only need 25 minutes to reach the battlefield from 160 kilometers away, and kill them. Chop off the last straw of the Japanese army in the encirclement.

Now, before arriving at the battlefield to fight, the first thing they have to face is how to take off at six o'clock in the dawn of this starlight and fly across the long distance of 630 kilometers under the guidance of only one general direction.

In this era, taking off and flying long distances in this dark night, not to mention that Zhou Dapeng has not experienced it, and few people around the world have done it.

They don't have radars of the future, they don't have wireless guidance from ground towers, they don't have electronic navigation, they don't have anything. Even in front of them, like their black eyes, they were black.

They didn't know if they would hit a mountain at some point, or if they would be tens or even hundreds of kilometers away from the battlefield when the dawn really came into their eyes. But they absolutely have to reach the battlefield, and if they don't, they will be killed or wounded hundreds of times the number of pilots, even if only one fighter plane can arrive.

Taking off in such a dark night is almost certainly suicidal. This truth is not only understood by Zhou Dapeng, who is experienced in flying, but also by the red soldiers who are standing in neat rows on the airport and are responsible for guarding.

However, in the solemn eyes of the red soldiers, the pilots wearing flight jackets and flight caps led by Zhou Dapeng stood in line, saluting the mechanics led by the chief maintenance engineer Heng Yu, who were also lined up in a neat horizontal line.

"Raise the fire, light up!" With a roar from one of the battalion commanders who were in charge of the airport guard, one of the battalion commanders in charge.

Nearly 400 red soldiers standing on both sides of the runway of the airport, almost at the same time, raised their left hands high, and the torches made of pine oil in their hands scattered lights on both sides of the runway, forming a row of starlight.

Starlight on the ground.

This is the only thing the red soldiers can do for this group of fearless pilots, to light the way to the battlefield.

"Salute!" Another roar.

More than 400 people raised their right hands at the same time and saluted the eagles who were about to fly into the sky. That was the only way they could pay their respects to these fearless eagles of the sky.

That is the gift of Chinese soldiers to Chinese soldiers.

Zhou Dapeng and his wingman were in the cockpit, and at the same time they saluted the red soldiers, and then, resolutely pushed the accelerator lever and stepped on the accelerator deeply.

No. 001, there are already seven red stars on the fuselage, indicating that Zhou Dapeng has shot down seven enemy planes, and after accelerating and taxiing for hundreds of meters with the huge roar of the engine, it takes off with its head held high and leaps into the sky with only starlight.

After flying around Yan'an City for half a circle, Zhou Dapeng and his wingman were used as arrows to fly in a "goose" shape in a "goose" formation to the northeast.

This is a small suggestion that Liu Lang made to the "aviation volunteers" and flight instructors when he was still in the United States. At the beginning of the war in what was once a time and space, there were serious problems with the way the fighters of the British and French air forces were formed. For aesthetic reasons, (and because airborne radios were still a novelty at the time) they were accustomed to a denser 3-machine wedge formation. This formation method brings a lot of problems, such as when it is raided, the fighter plane makes an emergency turn to dodge, and it is easy to collide with its own people.

The Third Reich Air Force, on the other hand, had a more rational formation because of its experience in Spain: the Third Reich fighters used a two-plane formation as the smallest combat unit, consisting of long planes and wingmen. During a combat cruise, the two aircraft are spaced about 200 yards apart, with the wingman behind, so that the long plane can concentrate on the search without worrying about the blind spot behind it, and in combat, the wingman is responsible for covering behind the long plane when it attacks. And every two two-plane formations can form a four-plane formation that covers and supports each other.

Later, this two-plane formation method was richly rewarded and quickly imitated by other countries. In fact, at this time, the Chinese Air Force adopted the same set that it learned from German instructors, using the dual mechanism of long aircraft and wingman, which was completely ahead of the three mechanisms of the Japanese.

Yes, the planes that took off from Yan'an at this time were not only the 15 that transferred from Nanjing, but also the one that quietly flew from Chengdu Airport in Sichuan, which was one of the eight aviation volunteers who stayed at Chengdu Airport, and it was also the landline prepared by Zhou Dapeng for his new wingman companion.

The fifteen planes are not the regular combat formation of the "Aviation Volunteers", and at the beginning of their intentions, they were only used by Zhou Dapeng and Liu Lang to fool Comrade Zhou and the pervasive Japanese spies after the secret exchange between Zhou Dapeng and Liu Lang, which means that we really transferred back to Sichuan to repair, not to fight.

In fact, in addition to Hengyu leading the mechanics to carry enough spare parts and ammunition that needed to be replenished, they set off by truck from the Huashang Group to Yan'an half a month ago, and there was also a plane that flew to Yan'an alone, replenishing the 15 fighters into a 16 battle formation.

The sky was still pitch black, and the starlight and the slight whiteness of the fish belly in the east could not provide the pilot with a clear sight to see the road ahead. Flying in such an environment is a great psychological test for pilots, especially now that you are flying at a low altitude of only 1,000 meters, you have no idea whether you will hit a high mountain in the next moment.

Shaanxi and Shanxi are not plains.

Of course, this is not the most terrible, the flight formation can fly the aircraft to an altitude of 5,000 meters at any time, the drag can be reduced while ensuring absolute safety, as long as the fuel is enough, you can fly to the "old world".

Now, the most terrible thing is that I am afraid that I will not be able to fly in the right direction accurately, and the slightest mistake may lead to tens or even hundreds of kilometers away from the battlefield, which is fatal for long-distance aircraft formations with limited fuel.

And the reason for maintaining an altitude of 1,000 meters is also what Liu Lang specifically pointed out in the message, although Zhou Dapeng did not understand Liu Lang's suggestion that reducing the flight altitude was only bad and not beneficial, but out of trust in Liu Lang, he still did it.

There was no noise on the radio, nothing but the loud roar of the aircraft engine, but Zhou Dapeng seemed to vaguely hear some heavy breathing from his teammates.

They are nervous, and anyone who is driving at 300 km/h in such an environment for the first time will be nervous.

In any case, he had to lead the formation to the battlefield at about 8:10, and Zhou Dapeng, who didn't have much in his heart, glanced at the altimeter that was kept intact, as well as the odometer that had flown 60 kilometers, and silently cheered himself up.

Even if all the planes crashed because of the lack of fuel, he would have to complete this miraculous combat mission.

"001, look, what's down there?" With an exclamation from the wingman, Zhou Dapeng's thoughts were interrupted.

Tilting his head slightly, looking towards the dark below, Zhou Dapeng was suddenly stunned.

Under the wings, there were sparks.

Moreover, not one place, but many places, as far as the eye can see, it is like a long dragon, winding all the way to the front of the nose.

"That's 。。。。。。" Zhou Dapeng couldn't believe his eyes.

If it was really what he thought, happiness should not come too suddenly.

"Yes, 001, it must be, that's the northeast. Fly in this direction, and it is the battlefield. We, no longer have to worry about getting lost. The wingman pilot cheered with determination.

"Haha! All of you, listen to my orders, follow me, follow the firelight, fly at a cruising speed of 280 km. Zhou Dapeng also laughed, and gave orders on the radio with a relaxed face.

"Hooray!" The cheers of the pilots rang out over the radio communicator.

In the sky, the stars are dotted.

The ground, too.