Seeing that the opponent had only more than 10 fighters, An Shile and other pilots became excited, and they fought several battles with the US military, and they were very well aware of the ability of the US pilots, although the performance of the "Corsair" was good, but the quality of the US fighter pilots was not very good.

"Lao An, I'll follow you."

"Okay, keep an eye on it, it looks like we're going to add a few more results this time!" An Shile sneered, "Tell Qiu Gengbo and Zhang Zhitao to let them enter with confidence, and we will entangle the Yankees' fighters and let them bomb with peace of mind." ”

As the wingman made contact with the bombers in the rear, Ellsler began to add and try to control the altitude, and he did not think about flying the fighter above the clouds. The thickness of the clouds was about a thousand meters, and to rise a thousand meters, it would take at least a few minutes (at that time, the maximum climb altitude of a fighter in a minute was only a few hundred meters), and he did not have this time.

The two sides soon became entangled, and to Ansler's surprise, the quality of the US fighter pilots seemed to have improved a lot. In fact, shortly after the outbreak of the war, the US military realized the gap in the quality of its pilots. Especially in the first two naval battles ("Battle of the Philippine Sea")

and the "First Battle of the Marianas"), the US military deeply felt that the quality of the pilots of the Tang Empire who had been honed in the war for more than two years was so high that it was difficult for the US pilots to match. In the first half of the war, the ratio of air combat losses between US fighters and Tang Empire fighters was more than five, in other words, the US military had to pay more than five fighters to shoot down a Tang Empire fighter. In addition, the hit rate of bombs dropped by the bombers of the Tang Empire was even more frighteningly high. Under the pressure of war, the Americans had to find ways to quickly improve the quality of fighter pilots.

There are only two ways to improve the quality of fighter pilots: one is to accumulate combat experience (the outstanding pilots of the Tang Empire were all honed in the flames of war, and when the war broke out, the quality of the pilots of the Tang Empire was generally inferior to that of the Japanese pilots), and the other is to conduct strict training. Accumulating combat experience takes time, and even more so comes at a great cost, and it is already good to be able to train an ace pilot after a brutal battle among ten pilots. And the U.S. military does not have this time, and it cannot afford to lose money, and the only way is to strengthen training.

In the first half of '24, the US Naval Aviation first formed a combat confrontation force, concentrated the best pilots, let them fly fighter planes to imitate the fighters of the Tang Empire, and did high-intensity confrontational training with those new pilots. It's a whole new approach to training. After several months of confrontational flight training, the quality of US fighter pilots has generally improved a lot, or at least they will not have stage fright. The method of training bomber pilots is similar to that of the Tang Empire, that is, through actual combat target training, bomber pilots can master the ability to accurately drop bombs and torpedoes on the target in the face of high-intensity anti-aircraft fire.

In fact, by adopting the method of confrontational training, the Tang Empire learned from the United States. At that time, there was no shortage of excellent pilots in the Tang Empire, and many novices were incorporated into the old pilots' units after entering the army, and they received the guidance of the old pilots. And the idea of really forming confrontational training units. I still found inspiration from the US military.

Ansler didn't have time to think about it. He had to face the enemy. Just as they were entangled with the more than a dozen US fighters, suddenly a group of US fighters rushed out of the clouds.

"Lao An, be careful!"

Before the wingman pilot's shout came. Aware of the danger, Ellsler swerved to the left, a volley of machine-gun bullets grazing the fuselage, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the flames erupting from the wingman's wings. As he quickly dodged, the U.S. fighter jet attacking him came into range of the wingman's fire and was immediately hit by a shell.

"Lao An, your left wing."

"See, fuck it!" Ansloth had seen several holes in the left wing, which were left by a few machine-gun bullets.

"You're leaking oil, get ready to go home."

"No, I don't. Now is not the time to retreat! "Ansloer knew he could get back to the fleet with the fuel in the other wing, but he couldn't go now." Follow me, pay attention to the overhead, it seems, there are many more Yankee fighters than we thought. ”

US fighter planes swarmed in, and by the time more than 20 "pirates" appeared in the sky, five "Falcons" had already been shot down. However, several "pirates" were also killed. Ellsler and his wingman soon became a thorn in the side of the "pirates", and those American pilots also appeared, and the crash mark outside the cockpit of these two Tang Empire fighters meant that the pilots of these two fighters were aces in air combat. Immediately, six "Corsairs" surrounded them, and even if Ellsler and his wingman were trump cards, it would be difficult for them to parry with less and more, and as a result, before the bomber group arrived, Ellsler had been driven out of the sky over the American fleet.

Qiu Gengbo and Zhang Zhitao, who received the news, were also excited, but it was wrong news, the US 52nd Task Force had 42 air defense fighters, and only 24 went to deal with Ansle, and the other fighters were all rushing to this side, and at this time, the focus of the US fleet's air defense had shifted to the north, rather than continuing to be placed in the southeast.

Turner initially focused the fleet's air defense on the southeast at Spruance's request, and he became nervous when Task Force 51 was bombed. Judging from the news from the 51st Task Force, there were only a few dozen bombers that went to bomb, and Turner also knew that the First Task Force of the Tang Empire had two aircraft carriers and four bomber squadrons, so there were nearly 15o bombers, where were the other bombers?

In order to prevent a sudden attack on the fleet, when Task Force 51 was bombed, Turner turned on all the radars in the fleet, because these radars had already been warmed up, so they could be activated immediately. It wasn't long before the radar showed up on the huge fleet to the north. Turner first couldn't understand why the bombers of the Tang Empire were coming from the north instead of the southeast, and then he ordered the fighters to move to the north of the fleet, and at the same time the fleet began to turn eastward, trying to align the side of the fleet in the direction of the bombers. so that the fleet's anti-aircraft artillery fire can be used to the fullest.

At that time, when the fleet was bombed, whether the fleet should be facing the direction of the bomber's attack or the direction of the bomber's direction has always been debated, but the actual combat still proved that the fleet could not be more flexible than the bomber, rather than avoiding bombing. It is better to concentrate anti-aircraft fire against bombers as soon as possible. Turner did the right thing, and he got the fleet's radar on at a very timely time, which bought the fleet air defense fighters at least ten minutes to prepare, which ultimately decided the fate of Task Force 52.

Zhang Zhitao did not stop Qiu Gengbo again, and now that the air defense network of the US fleet has not yet been deployed, the most important thing is to take the opportunity to kill it, and if the dive bombers succeed, then the torpedo bombers under his command can also take advantage of the chaos to surprise and deal a fatal blow to the aircraft carrier.

Qiu Gengbo was even more active, after leaving Zhang Zhitao's group behind. He led the "Shooting Birds" group to kill the American fleet as quickly as possible. Meantime. Autumn Gengbo gradually lowered the height of the group, and made the group split up in squads, and eventually into small groups. Every four bombers carried out concentrated bomb dropping. At this time, Qiu Gengbo and they were still 2o nautical miles away from the American fleet, which was a little too far.

When the "pirate" suddenly came out, Qiu Gengbo was also shocked, but he didn't have time to think about it. The American fleet was in front, and he could not stop the pace of advance because of this, and the other bomber pilots also knew that it was a life-and-death moment, and they had no way to retreat. It is also necessary to strive to drop bombs and drop them on American aircraft carriers.

Seeing the gap in the clouds ahead, Qiu Gengbo led his group to swoop down first.

The American fleet was still about ten nautical miles to the south, and he had to get below the clouds in advance. Soon, the anti-aircraft guns on the American battleships rang out, and shells flew near the bombers. The timid people are afraid that they will be scared at this time, but Qiu Gengbo and they are not afraid, they are just a little sorry, if they can fly a few more nautical miles. They were over the American aircraft carriers, and they did not have to brave the dense counteroffensive artillery fire to surprise the American fleet.

Different from Yang Qinkai's group, this time it was the dive bombers that attracted the artillery fire of the US military; first, the dive bombers were faster, but the radar on the US warships appeared first on these high-altitude bombers, not the low-flying torpedo bombers first.

At this time, Zhang Zhitao had already led the group of planes to descend to an altitude of less than 5oo meters from the sea surface, and was rushing towards the US fleet as fast as possible. The air battle was taking place just above their heads, and there were already American pilots who noticed this group of bombers flying over the sea. "Pirate" swooped down. Then, the escort fighters who were still struggling to support themselves at the beginning also reacted.

The fighters of the two sides changed their positions, and before it was the "pirates" who were beating the "falcons" in groups, this time the "falcons" were chasing the "pirates."

"Take two teams as a unit, disperse the assault!" Zhang Zhitao gave the order to disperse the attack in time, but before he dropped the torpedo, he still needed to bypass the escort warships on the periphery of the aircraft carrier.

The artillery fire on the American battleships was very intensive, and some of the anti-aircraft guns had been turned against torpedo bombers. The hit rate of a torpedo is much inferior to that of a bomb, but the destructive power of a torpedo is much stronger than that of a bomb.

As long as the bombed aircraft carrier is not sunk, it can generally be repaired at the dock without entering the dock. As long as the torpedo is hit, then the aircraft carrier must enter the dock for repairs, because the torpedo attacks the part below the waterline of the aircraft carrier, and it cannot be repaired on the dock.

The battle has entered its most tragic stage, and it is as if it were a struggle, and any omission will lead to tragic consequences.

Zhang Zhitao tried his best to control the bomber, and at the same time nervously watched the trajectory of the anti-aircraft shells, he had to bypass the US air defense network, and then throw the torpedo in the direction of the aircraft carrier.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach, and as soon as his hand loosened, the bomber immediately lost control.

"Captain, pull it up!" The navigator on a nearby bomber shouted.

Zhang Zhitao's plane slammed into the sea, and at the moment when it was about to touch the sea, the bomber pulled up, and this time the dive just avoided the incoming shells.

"Captain, what's wrong with you?"

"It's okay, damn it, it's dangerous!" Zhang Zhitao wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, the sharp pain in his stomach made him almost faint, he gritted his teeth, he couldn't fall down at this time, even for the sake of his partner in the back seat, he couldn't fall down at this time. "Keep up, go around the cruiser in front, and follow me to drop mines."

The seven "sea eagles" were all closely following Zhang Zhitao's vicinity, and behind them there were another batch of eight "sea eagles" moving forward.

Zhang Zhitao knew that it was the "Brave", the flagship of the 52nd Task Force of the United States, but his vision was becoming more and more blurred, and the sharp pain in his stomach made him feel numb, and he didn't even notice that in order to endure the severe pain, he had bitten his lip.

When passing through the US air defense network, two "Sea Eagles" were hit, and when they entered the mine-throwing channel in a straight line, another "Sea Eagle" fell behind. Zhang Zhitao didn't notice these at all, he only stared at the aircraft carrier in front of him, but his consciousness became more and more blurred.

"Captain, hurry up and throw thunder!"

The navigator's scream woke Zhang Zhitao up, and the body of the aircraft carrier became extremely large in front of his eyes, he was only 5oo meters away from the American aircraft carrier, and the standard mine throwing distance was 8oo meters. Zhang Zhitao did not have time to correct the course, and immediately dropped the torpedo, and the other four "Sea Eagles" that followed also dropped torpedoes.

The group of planes quickly turned, and in the eyes of other pilots, Zhang Zhitao's landline did not immediately pull up, but turned to the southeast almost against the sea. None of them realized that the captain had an accident, and they thought that the captain had successfully avoided the interception of American artillery.

The bombing continued, Zhang Zhitao felt that his consciousness was becoming more and more blurred, he suddenly felt a fishy smell in his throat, and a mouthful of blood spit on the dashboard in front of him......