Spruance was not surprised when he received news from the group of bombers in front of him that anti-aircraft fighters had appeared over the Don Imperial fleet. The courage shown by the soldiers of the Tang Empire in this war is worthy of anyone's admiration. When he first fought with the fleet of the Tang Empire, he learned the madness of those pilots. Perhaps madness can only be used to describe pilots who regard death as their final destination. This time, it was definitely fighters from Wake Island that appeared over the landing fleet.

"General, should we arrange for these returning fighters to rush to reinforcements immediately?"

"No, immediately let them take off and carry out the task of fleet air defense." Spruance made a completely different decision, "Also, let the fighters that are returning to their homes speed up, the flight deck of the aircraft carrier should be vacated immediately, the bombers should be sent to the hangar, and when the fighters return, let them fly again as fast as possible." ”

"Yes!" The staff officer didn't ask much and immediately went to carry out the order.

Spruance also quieted down, his arrangement was justified. Since the fighters of the Tang Empire can provide air defense cover for the landing fleet without considering return, then those bombers of the Tang Empire can also ignore the return and attack the US fleet at the extreme flight distance. Thinking of this, Spruance immediately gave an additional order. In fact, it is.

After Wang Xiaotian's fighter squadron took off, the two bomber squadrons deployed on Wake Island, as well as the second fighter squadron (there were originally three bomber squadrons, two of which were "waterfowl" squadrons, but one of the squadrons was too late to prepare for takeoff) also set off immediately. Their mission was to find Task Force 51. And take out this fleet. The first bombers took off twenty minutes after Wang Xiaotian and the others left, while the last group of fighters left the Wake Island airfield at 8:20.

Then. There was no news about Task Force 51 in the fleet, and there was only one thing the pilots knew. That is, after reaching the sky above the landing fleet, turn to the north and fly, and if you can find the US bombers, then follow the US bomber group and fly behind, if you can't find it. Then disperse the search for the American fleet.

The order was actually to have these bombers do one-way attack flights. Once the bomber group had reached the skies over the landing fleet, there was little fuel left for them to return, and they had to continue their flight north. These bombers may not even be able to find a shadow of the American fleet, let alone attack.

After the briefing by the commander on the island, the pilots were left to make their own choice, and if they were unwilling to participate in the attack, it would not be considered a disobedience. The commander gave not an order, but a request, and the pilot could decide for himself whether to stay, or set off in a bomber. Outcome. None of the pilots chose to stay, even if it was a one-way flight, and even though they did not have more than a 20% chance of surviving. And they didn't back down from it. The moment they put on their uniform, any Imperial soldier would be told that their mission was to fight to defend the Empire, and now. It is time for them to contribute to the empire, to the navy, to the country, the people, their loved ones.

By the time the first group of bombers reached the skies over the landing fleet, it was already about half past nine, and they flew for a full two hours, which was already the fastest speed that a bomber could reach. The U.S. bombers had withdrawn, and in addition to the burning warships and some ships that were still able to sail, there were floating corpses and fragments of warplanes, and some were dyed yellow by the sea. That's the trail left by the pilot after a forced landing, or parachuting.

All the fighters commanded by Major Wang Xiaotian were lost. Almost all the pilots on the bombers knew Wang Xiaotian, and they all knew that Wang Xiaotian and the other 36 fighter pilots had paid the most painful price in order to protect the fleet, and perhaps the same fate awaited them not far to the north.

After a short time, the fighter squadron that was the last to take off, escorting the bomber group, caught up, and the thirty-six pilots took off their flight caps as they passed over the sea area where the battle had taken place, and thirty-six comrades were already ahead of them, and all they had to do was to advance one after another for a common goal.

The group also changed course here, with two bomber squadrons, one in the east and one in the west, all flying in a wide horizontal formation, and one squadron of thirty-six bombers scattered over a course more than ten nautical miles wide. In regular combat operations, bomber groups must fly in dense formations, so as to facilitate communication between the groups, and second, to achieve the goal of surprise attacks, and in addition, to use the bombers' self-defense firepower to cover each other when they are intercepted by enemy fighters. But now, they first have to find the American fleet, so they must expand the search area, so they can only disperse the bomber group into several small formations.

As the minutes ticked by, the fuel on the bomber was rapidly depleting. At about eleven o'clock, the group of planes reached the sky over the sea where the American fleet was before, but there was not a single warship here, and there was not even a trace of the existence of a fleet. At this time, the bombers of both squadrons had less than fifteen minutes of fuel left, and they could fly another 50 nautical miles, and the remaining fuel in the escort fighter squadron was only enough to fly at most 100 nautical miles.

Time is running out for these pilots.

Many impatient pilots have already cursed on the radio, anger is the most direct expression, but not everyone is venting, the two squadron leaders, as well as several squad leaders under their command, have kept a cool head. If the American fleet is found, ten minutes will be enough to complete the attack, maybe five minutes will be enough. The fleet is still continuing to fly north, and the U.S. fleet is definitely retreating northward, no matter how far it is, whether it can catch up or not, and now flying north is the only option.

"Squadron Leader, there's news!" The navigator in Li Changsheng's back seat suddenly shouted, "The three squads have discovered the American fleet. It's about 30 nautical miles from us, northeast. ”

Major Li Changsheng only hesitated for two seconds, and immediately said, "Contact the 'Sea Eagle' squadron." Escort fighter squadrons and let them rush over immediately. Fleet steering. Attack the U.S. fleet! ”

At this time, it was eleven o'clock and 5 o'clock, and Major Li Changsheng glanced at the fuel gauge after giving the order, and the pointer had fallen to the last bar in the red zone, that is, there was less than 100 liters of fuel left on the bomber. Stick to the flight for a maximum of 10 minutes. 10 minutes, 10 minutes.

To the north, in the ground fleet, which was sailing north at a maximum speed of 31 knots, the air defense sirens sounded, and the ground radar of the cruiser located in the southernmost part of the fleet detected a group of bombers approaching at high speed. By this time, both groups of bombers of Task Force 51 had returned, and half an hour earlier, the last fighter had left the carrier and began patrolling over the fleet. Spruance, after ordering the fleet to strengthen its air defenses as soon as possible, immediately ordered the fleet to flee the battlefield northward as quickly as possible. If you don't think about returning home. The maximum strike distance of the Tang Empire's bombers was 700 nautical miles, and at half past eight, the 51st Task Force was about 600 nautical miles from Wake Island.

By now, the fleet has sailed 77 nautical miles to the north.

"Let the fighters try to disrupt the formation of the enemy bomber group, do not fight, and try to delay the arrival of the enemy bombers over the fleet. Consume fuel for enemy bombers! Spruance quickly and decisively decisively decided, "Prepare for anti-aircraft combat, now we can only pray to God that those bombers will run out of last drops of gas before dropping bombs!" ”

The 22 "pirates" were divided into several small formations and rushed to the Tang Empire's bomber group from several directions, such as the south and southwest. When the fighters of both sides approached, the "Falcon" escorting the bombers also rushed over. But the problem is that now these escort fighters have less fuel on them, let alone returning, and their remaining fuel is probably only enough for a few large-scale maneuvers, and after a few fights, they will run out of fuel and fall into the sea!

There was not much suspense in the battle, the attacked bombers did not dare to evade, they had no extra fuel; They also did not dare to accelerate, and they had to save the last bit of fuel for the maneuvering flight when attacking the enemy carriers. Several escort fighters did not pull up after the first dive attack, and all rushed straight to the surface.

The fighter pilots of the US military also immediately discovered this, and then these "pirates" began to quickly intersperse attack bomber groups, and every time they made a rapid assault, they did not seek a hit rate, the purpose was only to force those bombers to change course, or to accelerate, or reduce altitude, anyway, to make the bombers consume more fuel.

Seeing several "pirates" rushing towards him, Li Changsheng just skillfully swung the operating stick, and the "shooting birds" hanging 500 kilograms of aviation armor-piercing shells were like jumping into the air ballet, easily avoiding the "pirates". Li Chang gritted his teeth in anger, but now he could only fight back with his gaze, he couldn't waste another drop of fuel!

"Squadron leader, look, damn, it's Gangzi, Gangzi bumped into it!"

When a "waterbird" evaded the first "pirate" that rushed away, it suddenly pulled up the nose of the plane and slammed into another "pirate" that was following behind. Both warplanes were crashed and then fell to the surface. When the fighters of the US military rushed over for the second time, the second, the third, the fourth "...... The pilots on the "Water Birds" were driven crazy, in fact, they were not crazy, they were creating opportunities for their comrades with their own sacrifices, they could not drop bombs on enemy aircraft carriers, but they used their bodies to knock down those fighters that threatened them.

"Damn, Gangzi, you wait, I'll come to you soon!" Li Changsheng did not see the pilot of the bomber parachuting, and the moment he collided with the enemy plane, the pilot and navigator of the bomber must have been finished.

The rest of the pilots roared, like a pack of beasts. The U.S. fighter pilots were also much more cautious, and when the bomber group continued to approach, they did not adopt the attack tactic of telling the intersperse, but circled around the bomber group, trying to shoot down the bombers with machine gun bullets, rather than dispersing the bombers.

On the sea, the anti-aircraft guns of the American battleships rang out, and almost at the same time the "pirates" quickly withdrew from the battle, and there was no attempt to enter the anti-aircraft fire network of the fleet's anti-aircraft guns. Just when Li Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief and was about to give the order to attack the three small aircraft carriers at the core of the US fleet, suddenly a shell exploded a few meters outside the left side of his plane, and the shock wave immediately bounced the bomber away, and Li Changsheng felt a pain in his abdomen, and when he lowered his head, he found that the flight jacket on his abdomen had been stained red with blood.

"Major, we've been shot, skydive!"

"You skydive first!" Li Changsheng gritted his teeth and endured the sharp pain in his abdomen, "I control the plane, you jump quickly, don't hesitate, otherwise we will all be finished!" ”

Without further arguing, the navigator immediately climbed out of the cabin, and when the bomber went into a spiral, he jumped out. After descending a few dozen meters in the air, the parachute opened automatically, and a huge force dragged him, and the speed of the fall was immediately full, and there was an extra yellow umbrella flower in the sky. When he came back to his senses, he immediately looked at the bomber that was still falling, and there was no second umbrella flower, the bomber had already entered a spiral state, and the altitude was rapidly decreasing.

"Squadron Leader—" the navigator hissed as he sufficienced.

As if his shouts had done their job, the "waterfowl", which had already been half knocked out of its left wing, suddenly changed into a spiral, pulled up at an altitude of less than 200 meters above the sea, and then crashed into the nearest American cruiser. In the surprised gaze of the navigator, the "waterfowl" directly crashed into the cruiser's amidship waterline, and then there was a violent explosion, and the 500-kilogram aviation armor-piercing projectile drilled into the cruiser's hull by the inertia of the aircraft, and then exploded!

"Squadron leader, why, why don't you parachute ......"

In the sky, more and more bombers were shot down by the anti-aircraft fire of the American fleet, and for the first time the pilots of the Don Empire encountered 71 shells of the American army on the battlefield. This was the first batch of 127 mm 71 shells that the U.S. military urgently airlifted to the Pacific theater, and it was immediately provided to Task Force 51. Many bombers were not able to collide with the enemy's warships at the last moment like Li Changsheng, but several still completed the collision.

Looking at those crazy bombers in the sky, on the "Independence", Spruance was also expressionless, an army composed of so many soldiers who were not afraid of death, what kind of army was that?