"This time it was discovered that the two new aircraft carriers of the US military, which are large in size and deck, seem to be new models, and their combat effectiveness should greatly exceed the previous ones. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

Tsukahara nodded slightly: "This is the Essex-class aircraft carrier, I heard that there are more than 100 aircraft crammed into the carrier, and the sinking resistance is better, and there is currently another one in the Pacific Ocean." ”

Seeing the calm and breezy appearance of the commander, Mitsuo Fuchida expressed puzzlement, and Minoru Genda quickly revealed the mystery: There are at least 20 such aircraft carriers lying on the American slipway, and they will be commissioned one after another this year and next year.

"20?" Mitsuo Fuchida opened his mouth in surprise, and now he finally understood why Tsukahara just said, "There are still many enemy aircraft carriers, but the only pilots we can sink aircraft carriers are you", not to mention the 20 Essex aircraft carriers in Japan, even if there are 2 more Shozuru-class aircraft now, it may not be possible to find qualified carrier-based aircraft pilots.

Because the requirements and operational ideas of carrier-based aircraft pilots have changed greatly, in the past, at most as many pilots as the standby aircraft were carried in the past, and sometimes they could not be reached, and now the carrying rate generally requires an overcrew of 25-30% (the Japanese standard specification is 50% overstaff, but in practice it has never been reached, and the German Navy has strictly followed this standard). Two more Xianghe-class ships means 200 more qualified carrier-based aircraft pilots (groups), not to mention that the skill of piloting a comet to take off and land safely on the deck alone can stump a large number of new pilots.

When he thought of the new pilots on Socotra who frequently crashed planes, he felt distraught -- what would he do when he returned to Japan now that Germany was holding on to training and crashing planes without money? There are more than 20 generals in the active duty and reserve of the Navy, and their annual salaries are probably enough to pay for 4 rounds of shells for the main gun salvo of the Yamato, and they can't even afford a Zerofight, let alone a comet that is more expensive than the Zerofight.

Thinking of this, he hesitantly asked, "Can you ask the German side to help us train a group of pilots?" A few hundred a year is fine. ”

"The chief and the special envoy of the Führer had a secret talk before leaving, and there should be some cooperation, but unfortunately." Tsukahara sighed, "Now there are not even hundreds of qualified pilots who have completed basic carrier-based aircraft training, and there are not enough instructors, and there are no seeds, so what good is it to have fertile soil and sufficient training?" ”

Mitsuo Fuchida knew the inside story; before the war, dozens of pilots were trained in a year, and the highest year did not exceed 100; in the pre-war ten years, except for occasional flight or training accidents, there was no loss of pilots, but on the contrary, they were full of people and overcrowded, and even had to worry a lot about promotion and placement. But as soon as the war was fought, the problem was suddenly exposed, and in a battle (whether it was the Coral Sea or Midway), the pilots consumed in the battle were only trained in the years before the war, and even in such a successful battle as the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan lost 29 aircraft.

What is even more ironic is that pilots are so important, but many old pilots are not yet officers, and they still have to raise their hands when they see other navies who have just graduated from the naval academy. Yamamoto Isoroku and Hori Tsukiyoshi, as well as Otakijiro Onishi of the Naval Aviation Headquarters, were anxious about the status and treatment of the naval aviation units, hoping that the air force would have the status of officers, but the outdated system was not so easy to break, and many high-ranking officials refused to let go of the restrictions of the "officer system."

According to the Japanese system, in order to become an officer, you must first enter a non-commissioned officer school, and after graduation, you can become a lieutenant officer (called a non-commissioned officer in the navy, and a general colonel in the army), which is a regular officer. Pilots are generally selected from ordinary soldiers or civilian people to participate in aviation school training, and basically have never entered a non-commissioned officer school, so they can only be a sergeant for the rest of their lives, but cannot become an officer. What happened to Sadaaki Akamatsu was the norm, and it was a minority like Mitsuo Fuchida who had the status of a naval soldier graduate to relearn the Aeronautics.

If the remuneration is only a personal issue, the command system is even more fatal, and the officers of the aviation units are promoted from the formal officers (i.e., graduates of the non-commissioned officer school), and those who need to be promoted can enter the aviation school for further study, and even many officers can become commanders of the aviation unit without entering the aviation school. Like Tsukahara and Nagumo can't fly a plane, and finally became the commander of the aviation unit, it's okay to know how to do it like Tsukahara, and it's a disaster to hesitate to know how to do it like Nagumo.

Fuchida Mitsuo is now Nakasa, and if an officer like him who was born as a pilot wants to command the mobile fleet in the future, it will take at least 15 years for his official career to go well, and if it doesn't go well, it will be impossible in this life - after all, he is only the 52nd phase of the navy, and his graduation ranking is not high, and the mobile fleet is still in charge of the 36th term.

Mitsuo Fuchida nodded: Socotra is a continuing education school, and it is impossible to expect the basic training of pilots to be done by the Germans.

"Didn't you say that it was expanded 8 times?"

"Yes, it's expanded by 8 times...... "Kusaka Ryunosuke sighed, "I didn't exceed 600 just like that, and only half a year has passed, and it will take at least half a year to see the results, and no matter how well the pilot flies, he can't be an officer, and the first choice for promising young people is definitely the naval academy." ”

"Hey......" system issues, national conditions, Fuchida Mitsuo had nothing to say, only a sigh.

At 13:29, all the planes were resupplied and ready to attack.

Tsukahara explained: "This sortie must be under the premise of ensuring safety, all the US formations will be annihilated, even the destroyers should not be spared, they usually salvage the officers and soldiers who have fallen into the water, they are the essence of the US Navy, in addition, the fleet's own air defense task is very heavy, I can only give you 16 escort aircraft." ”

"Enough, the enemy aircraft carrier formation is almost devoid of aircraft."

"Don't underestimate the enemy, what if they send planes from Puerto Rico on escort missions?"

Ryunosuke Kusaka took out 2 He-218 and 3 Ju-98s from the reserve to replenish them, bringing Mitsuo Fuchida's second attack wave to the scale of 16 Bf-219s, 71 He-218s, and 66 Ju-98s, which is still a rather terrible strike force.

Just as the second attack wave of the Axis Fleet was rising into the sky, Admiral Ingersoll, commander of the US Atlantic Fleet, was so angry that he jumped to his feet in the command tower and cursed.

It turned out that the Japanese naval reconnaissance had been circling and tracking above the battleship formation, and had no intention of leaving, at this time the battleship formation did not have a single fighter, and the anti-aircraft artillery fire could not shoot down the plane, and the chief of staff Turner was forced to helpless, and even ordered the ship's water reconnaissance to take off to drive out the Japanese reconnaissance plane, but the US naval reconnaissance was far from being the opponent of the Ar-372, and its speed was slow and clumsy, and it did not dare to try again for a long time after being shot down two planes. (To be continued.) )