"It's incumbent!" Iijima Nakasa also returned the salute, bowed his head and promised: "We have been training for so long, just for a battle like today!" ”

At this moment, the American fighter pilots have not yet realized that their opponents have changed somewhat.

Early the next morning, the pilots of the US Army Air Corps were woken up by air raid sirens.

Captain Peter had just climbed into the clouds in his own P-40 fighter when he spotted the plane that had been killed in front of him.

Then he realized that he was facing a serious problem: the other side was not the Oscar fighter of the Japanese Army Air Force, which resembled the Zero fighter, but a completely new aircraft.

That kind of plane is very dexterous, more than twice as dexterous as the P-40, and it is like a smart swallow in the air, which makes him unpredictable at all.

The scary thing is that the kind of Japanese army fighter jet that spits green looks very familiar! Captain Peter, after being shaken off by the other party, confirmed that familiar feeling!

"Commander! Commander! That's the ME-109 fighter! That's a fighter for the Germans! Damn it! He piloted the plane to shake off the opponent's anti-bite tail chase, chose a very comfortable maneuver and left the dangerous area, before shouting to his commander on the radio.

Captain Peter had traveled to England as a "volunteer" to help the RAF fight, and in the Battle of Britain he shot down a German ME-109 fighter and also shot down a ME-110 fighter.

Coupled with his superior performance in the Pacific Theater, he is now an ace pilot who shot down 5 enemy planes.

That's why he was transferred to Australia to take charge of the air defense combat mission on the Cape York Peninsula - the U.S. military is here to the best of its ability, which can be regarded as a shipwreck.

It was also because of the experience of flying the P-40 fighter against the German ME-109E fighter that he found a trick to get rid of his opponent in an instant.

In general, the dive climb of German fighters was good, and the circling performance of ME-109 fighters was also powerful, but experienced German fighter pilots generally did not get into a rear-end attack with the P-40 fighter shaking from side to side.

German pilots preferred the tactic of diving to attack and then quickly disengage, using wingman cover to level out the enemy trying to pursue.

So, when Captain Peter swayed his plane left and right and used a series of maneuvers to get rid of his opponent, the Japanese pilots really gave up on pursuing him.

After all, if you spend the same amount of time and ammunition in the air, you will be able to achieve more results against other American aircraft.

In the sky, more than a dozen American fighter jets have been shot down, and this is the first time that Japan has won so clearly since the battle for air supremacy on the Cape York Peninsula began.

You know, in the past ten minutes, only four Japanese fighters have been shot down, but 13 American fighters have been shot down - almost twice the Japanese losses.

The Japanese Army Air Force, which originally wanted to continue to expand the results of the war, found that their fuel was not sufficient, so they had to return to the ship in a huff.

The US Army Air Corps, whose alarm had been lifted, were still nervous: the victories they had accumulated before seemed to have drifted away like a mirage with this sudden air battle.

"Captain Peter! You immediately write an engagement manual that summarizes in detail what you should pay attention to when engaging German fighters! "As soon as he landed on the runway of the airport, the commander of the Air Force Colonel, who was guarding the lawn of the runway, ordered.

The entire airfield was busy, the ground anti-aircraft artillery positions were already on first-level combat readiness, all the fighters were put on standby for takeoff, and the bomber units were applying for transfer to the rear airfields.

If the Japanese fighter force on the island of New Guinea cannot be eliminated in a short period of time, then the entire landing operation plan will have to be postponed accordingly.

As the time of the landing operation is delayed, the more thorough the Japanese Army's preparations on the island of New Guinea become, and the lower the probability of success of the landing operation.

Under such circumstances, the US Navy did not dare to easily intervene in the Coral Sea operation, and the support received by the US landing force was further weakened.

A series of chain reactions shocked the top level of the United States. They are also planning to go on the New Guinea campaign around October 10.

But now it seems that this time is a bit too optimistic. The Japanese also had new units thrown into New Guinea, which even included German fighters!

"I want the intelligence services to figure out the following things immediately! I want exact news! Not a guess! Not speculation! Got it? Marshall, who was far away in Washington, was annoyed and ordered his men.

After hearing about the course of the air battle on the Cape York Peninsula, he was not in a good mood: "First! Why did German planes appear in New Guinea! ”

"Second! Are these planes piloted by the Germans, or are they piloted by the Japanese! He held out a second finger and stared at the officer in front of him.

Then, slowly, he stretched out a third finger and continued, "The third point! That is, the most important point! Are the Germans preparing to declare war on us, or are they secretly supporting Japan and delaying our counterattack! ”

"Sir! I think the Germans are secretly supporting Japan and using Japan to drag us back. Inside his office, an American diplomat said, "Just a day ago, the German diplomatic envoy arrived in New York, and they could not have declared war on us at such a time." ”

It was no secret, and Marshall knew that the German envoy had just arrived in New York. But the United States did not dare to take any risks, especially ignoring the risk of Germany declaring war on the United States.

The East Coast of the United States, whether it is New York or Washington, is basically an undefended city -- 90 percent of the air force and about 80 percent of the navy have been transferred to the Pacific theater.

If Germany suddenly attacked New York and other areas at this time, almost half of America's coastal industrial cities would be scrapped.

Because the United States received a report from Turkey confirming that the main forces of the Axis fleets were now fighting in the Black Sea, they dared to transfer all the forces on the Eastern Front to the Pacific theater.

However, with the successive victories of Germany, the US top brass is not sure how much credibility Turkey's intelligence has, or whether their intelligence is still timely.

If German troops do appear in New Guinea, then the United States will really have to reconsider the question of whether the deployment of troops on the Eastern Front is sufficient or not.