Hao Lingheng spent two hours studying the target he was going to bomb, and after carving the characteristics of the target in his mind, he boarded his "water bird". When the navigator began to check the radio station on the plane, Hao Lingheng thought that he had forgotten to eat breakfast, and quickly asked an aviation crew member to help him get two buns, and swallowed them before the plane took off, so he felt a little more comfortable in his stomach.

Hao Lingheng is one of the three leading dive bomber pilots of the Fourth Task Force, with the rank of colonel, and the corresponding position should be the captain of the group. At the time of the outbreak of the war, Hao Lingheng was only a cadet in the Imperial Naval Aviation Academy, and when he officially joined the Naval Aviation Corps, the war had been fought for almost a year. As a result, in the first half of the year, Hao Lingheng served in the shore-based bomber unit and became a lieutenant officer. Subsequently, the first task force was expanded, and Hao Lingheng was selected into the carrier-based aviation unit, which can be said to be the highest honor for a naval aviation pilot, and at this time he was promoted again and became a captain pilot. When the First Task Force was restructured and the Second Task Force was established, Hao Lingheng was not able to go to the Second Task Force, but he did not want to continue to stay in the First Task Force, so he was transferred back to Wuxi as an instructor in the reserve force. This work lasted for more than a year, and it was not until the establishment of the Fourth Task Force that Hao Lingheng got the opportunity to go to the front line. During his first year at Task Force 4, he served as a squadron leader for bombers, and he worked diligently and conscientiously. Subsequently, Huang Xiaotian reorganized the Fourth Air Wing, breaking the previous establishment. Hao Lingheng was one of the six pilots promoted at that time, becoming a colonel pilot, nominally the deputy captain of the dive bomber, in fact, he had become one of the best dive bomber pilots in the Fourth Task Force.

The establishment of the 4th Air Wing is different from that of other carrier-based aircraft air wings. This was also a major feature of the Imperial Navy at that time, since the carrier-based aircraft unit was under the direct command of the fleet, the fleet commander would organize the carrier-based aircraft unit under his command according to his own hobbies, to be precise, his own understanding of aviation operations, and almost every carrier-based aircraft aviation wing was different, and there were always some differences in details. One of the major characteristics of the Fourth Air Wing is that Huang Xiaotian completely downplayed the "captain" in the administrative sense, but put the "team leader" in a more important position. The 4th Air Wing had three dive bomber leaders, three torpedo bomber leaders, and three fighter leaders. These "leaders" are like the captains of other air wings, and they all have the rank of colonel. Their main task is to guide other bombers to attack and improve bombing efficiency when carrying out bombing missions.

The aviation crew started the bomber's ground engine with a battery car, and the 22 cylinders were quickly running. There was a loud roar. Hao Lingheng also came back to his senses. He touched his slightly swollen belly, quickly checked the gauges in front of him, and when he saw that everything was normal and the engine had reached its maximum speed, he gave a thumbs up to the take-off pilot on the right. The take-off director flew quickly in the air with his right arm. Then he quickly climbed on the flight deck, Hao Lingheng released the brakes of the plane almost at the same time, and then a huge force pressed him to the seat. The "waterfowl", which weighed more than 6 tons, was ejected by a catapult like a huge cannonball. The moment it left the aircraft carrier's flight deck, the bomber sank slightly, then quickly pulled up, and flew into the sky ahead with a slight shaking. … ap．１６

After stabilizing the bombers, Hao Lingheng looked back at the aircraft carriers that were rapidly becoming smaller on the sea, and the other bombers were ejected one after another. The "Shooting Bird" slowly climbed to an altitude of 1,500 meters. Then began to circle, waiting for the bombers that took off behind to catch up. Hao Lingheng was not too satisfied with the performance of the "Shooting Water Bird". It's slow and the range isn't long enough. What he was most dissatisfied with was that this bomber weighed more than 0 tons when it was loaded with bombs, while the "Golden Eagle" with a more powerful engine weighed only 5 tons. This made the bomber bulky when flying with a full load. Perhaps, Hao Lingheng would prefer to be a fighter pilot.

While waiting for other bombers, Hao Lingheng quickly recalled this bombing mission.

The target he had to deal with was a desalination plant. According to the photos taken by the submarine, the desalination plant is hidden in a sturdy reinforced concrete fortification about 20 meters from the beach, connected to the sea by a pipe that is directly close to half a meter. The entire fortification was less than ten square meters, almost as large as a barracks. Perhaps, the fortification is easy to identify on the ground, but it is difficult to make out in the air. What's more troublesome is that for dive bombers, the target of 3 meters square is too small, even if it is a fixed target, if you want to accurately drop the bomb on the target, this is still a difficult job, the accuracy of the bombing must reach the level of surgery by the surgeon, there can be no deviation, and there can be no hesitation, maybe even the best dive bomber pilots are difficult to ensure that the target is bombed, and the pilots of those torpedo bombers are even more difficult to do.

It is precisely because of this that the task of bombing the desalination device this time was all handed over to the dive bombers, and Hao Lingheng personally led a small team of 12 "water-shooting birds" to drop 12 aviation armor-piercing bombs over that target, as long as one bomb hits, it is enough to ensure the destruction of the target. In addition to bombing the desalination plant, he also had to command two other squads of "waterbirds" to deal with several other targets that were difficult to destroy.

There was only one chance for this bombing operation, which made Hao Lingheng a little annoyed, so he decided to drop the bomb first, kill the desalination device first, and then deal with other targets, and he hoped that the bombs he dropped could destroy the targets, so that he could save 11 bombs to expand the results of the battle and ensure that all targets could be destroyed.

Fifteen minutes later, the other 35 bombers of this dive bomber squadron under the direct command of Hao Lingheng all left the aircraft carrier and gathered around Hao Lingheng's landline plane. By this time, the sky was already slightly bright. Hao Lingheng did not wait for the escort, and the fighters who also had to carry out the bombing mission to catch up, so he led the group to set off first. The "Shooting Birds" cruised much slower than the "Golden Eagles", and the fighters were lined up to take off after the torpedo bombers, but by the time the group reached the skies over Wake Island. The fighters will catch up with the dive bombers at the front and go to attract the US ground anti-aircraft fire.

This made Hao Lingheng feel a little funny, in the past, it was the bombers who were responsible for attracting the enemy's anti-aircraft guns, but this time they let those extremely proud fighter pilots go to open the way for them, which also made Hao Lingheng's psychology a little more balanced, at least, this time those fighter pilots will not compete with them whose bombs are more accurate.

The dive bombers on the three aircraft carriers set off first, and in addition to Hao Lingheng, the other two "team leaders" were Colonel Changsun Hong and Colonel Zhang Zhiyun. Changsun Hong is the oldest dive bomber group leader in the Fourth Air Wing. And Zhang Zhiyun is the oldest pilot in the wing, he is 34 years old, and in front of a group of "dolls" in their 20s, he can indeed be regarded as an "old".

The three groups met about 50 nautical miles south of the fleet. Let's fly towards Wake Island. Some of the pilots, who knew each other well, were already chatting on the radio. Hao Lingheng didn't interject. He was not a talkative person, he kept an eye on the instruments in front of him, and from time to time asked the navigator questions about the flight route. This time, his fleet would be the first to enter the skies over Wake Island, and it would be his navigator who would be in charge of guiding all the bombers before the fighters caught up.

The sun soon climbed to the surface of the sea. Watching the sunrise on the sea at an altitude of 3500 meters, this is definitely the most unforgettable scene, but at this time, Hao Lingheng is not in much mood to see the sunrise, he has seen the sunrise at this height countless times, and he feels that there is nothing to be surprised about, and he can't figure it out, so how did the poet who prides himself on being full of poetry write those poems about the sunrise on the sea without personal experience? If these poets had the opportunity to sit in a bomber and watch the sunrise over the sea, perhaps they would have been able to blow this scene into the sky.

Thinking about it, Hao Lingheng laughed. He's not a man of interest, at least that's what his new wife says. I thought that I received an order from the army on the third day after my marriage. When he left his wife, left his relatives, and returned to the fleet, he felt sad again, this hateful war has taken many lives, but it is still going on, God knows when the war will end, and these proud sons who soar in the sea and sky can return to their relatives.

"Colonel, 20 away, just ahead, see?"

"That's right, it's right ahead, it looks like the Yankee's airfield hasn't been repaired yet!" Hao Lingheng saw the island that appeared on the sea antenna in front of him.

"Fighters, damn it, they're finally catching up!"

A flock of "Golden Eagles" roared over the bomber group, they didn't need to fly so high at all, presumably those fighter pilots were going crazy again.

"Prepare to speed up, leave those crazy people alone, we'll do our own thing. A small team came with me. Hao Lingheng switched to the in-flight communication channel and gave the navigator an order: "Contact other groups of planes and let everyone disperse!" ”

The three groups of dive bombers immediately dispersed, Hao Lingheng and the first squad of bombers began to accelerate, and the bombers of the other two squads were still flying at cruising speed. was gradually pulled to the rear. Wake Island in front of it was getting bigger and bigger, and the fighter planes had already flown over the island, and then clouds of gray-black smoke appeared in the air, which was the smoke produced by the explosion of shells fired by American anti-aircraft guns in the air.

"Pay attention to the anti-aircraft gun positions, they are all following me, our target is to the south of the island, pay attention to the distance, pay attention to the height, pay attention to the speed......"

The speed of the fleet has reached 220 knots, which is the limit speed of the "water birds" when they are hanging bombs and have most of the fuel left. Hao Lingheng stuck the photo taken by the submarine on the gap in the dashboard. Because the submarine is shooting the target on the sea surface, while Hao Lingheng is looking down on the target from the air, the angle is not the same at all. But Hao Lingheng was accustomed to identifying targets through the pictures taken by submarines, and when the bomber flew over the island, he immediately found the reinforced concrete bunker hidden in the reef group on the south side of the island, which was the target he wanted to bomb.

"Prepare to dive, disarm the bomb insurance, work in small groups, don't waste bombs!"

The four "waterbirds" quickly lowered their altitude and swooped down towards the almost unrecognizable target. Hao Lingheng's landline flew at the front, and it took him only two seconds to complete a series of maneuvers from diving to disarming the bomb insurance. Then, he gripped the joystick and tried his best to control the bomber's flight path.

The altitude was getting lower and lower, and Hao Lingheng, who was sitting in the bomber, seemed to feel the earth rushing towards him, and he knew that this was an illusion, an illusion generated by human vision. The bomber let out a terrible whistling sound and trembled slightly. The air currents over the islands are more complicated, which is a problem in the bombing, which is even more annoying than those anti-aircraft guns of the American army, and if you are not familiar with these air currents, then you will not be able to drop bombs on the target.

The time that allowed Hao Lingheng to adjust the flight path of the bomber was only a few seconds, and he had to aim at the target and drop the bomb in those few seconds, and these few seconds would be the key to whether it made sense for him to fly back and forth for several hours.

At an altitude of about 450 meters above the ground, Hao Lingheng was the first to drop bombs, and then three other bombers also dropped bombs one after another. The bomber was almost pulled up against the sea, and after half a circle to the south of the island, Hao Lingheng controlled the bomber to rise to more than 1,000 meters in the air. The target was already covered in smoke and dust, and the other two groups of bombers were still hovering in the air, waiting for the smoke to clear before deciding whether to drop bombs. Hao Lingheng felt that there was not much need, he was almost sure that the bomb he dropped hit the target accurately, and he even felt that he saw the bomb fall on the target, but this was mostly just an illusion, because it was impossible to see the bomb hit the target when he pulled up the bomber. In addition, when the bomber changed its dive rapidly, the overload exceeded 3 gravitational accelerations, and a large amount of blood rushed to the brain, which was easy to hallucinate, but Hao Lingheng still thought that he had hit the target, and now he just needed to wait patiently for two minutes, and after the smoke and dust on the ground cleared, he would know if he would paint another bomb logo on the left fuselage of his landline.