Deng Zichao did not pull the fighter up directly, which would cause the "Osprey" to lose a lot of speed, he drove the fighter plane to the left side and quickly turned to the left side, exiting the attack course at a height close to the sea surface, and the other three "Ospreys" also followed him to the left. This move saved Deng Zichao himself, as well as the pilots on several other "Ospreys". If they had pulled up at that time, they would have been hit by anti-aircraft fire from the nearby Japanese battleships. And they withdrew from the battle at the height of the sea, and instead they could use the shelter of nearby warships to avoid anti-aircraft fire.

By the time Deng Zichao led three other "Ospreys" out of the Japanese fleet's air defense fire network, he was not intercepted by Japanese air defense fighters. However, he soon discovered that the other two groups of torpedo bombers were almost completely lost, and their attack was not successful. The dive bombers that entered from the sky above the Japanese fleet were also intercepted by Japanese fighters, and the "zero battle" in the sky was almost twice as many as when Deng Zichao arrived! Most of the 24 dive bombers were shot down before they could enter the attack, only a few made it to the skies over the Japanese aircraft carriers and dropped bombs, and only four Kingfishers managed to "retreat" in the end!

"Major, what's going on?" The navigator in the back seat is also very experienced, and there are as many "zeros" in the sky as there are flies.

"I don't know, but it looks like the Japanese fleet has been reinforced, and this is probably a fighter from the Japanese mainland." Deng Zichao glanced at the "Akagi" struggling on the sea, and then sneered, "Greet other fighters, we should go!" ”

The 11 bombers that successfully dropped the bombs (torpedoes) and finally retreated safely quickly approached. Deng Zichao did not delay any longer, on the one hand, he asked the navigator to send back the results of the battle, and then led the other bombers to fly in the direction of Jeju Island. According to the plan, they will not return to the aircraft carrier after completing the attack, but will go to the airfield on Jeju Island to land, refuel, and then return to the empire mainland.

There were less than 15 "Sparrowhawks" left to escort Deng Zichao at this time, and these fighters almost ran out of ammunition in order to block the "Zero Battle". Seeing that the bombers had successfully retreated, they did not rush to continue the fight, and they got rid of the entanglement of the Japanese fighters and flew towards Jeju Island. However, those "Zero Battles" did not seem to want to let go of these "Sparrowhawks", and nearly 30 "Zero Battles" chased them out of nearly 100 nautical miles, and finally broke away from the battle after being summoned by the fleet.

Deng Zichao: The "Zero Wars" that they later discovered were indeed taken off from the airfield on the Japanese island of Kyushu. In the case of carrying a drop fuel tank, the range of the "Zero Battle" reached more than 2,000 kilometers, and it was completely possible to take off from the mainland to provide air defense cover for the fleet, which was the longest range fighter in the world at that time.

When Deng Zichao's plane landed at the airport outside Jeju on Jeju Island, he learned that the Fifth Fleet had been bombed by a Japanese aircraft group, and that the aircraft carrier "Taizu" had been attacked by a Japanese submarine and had almost sunk. This surprised him, and he originally wanted to ask about Tan Renhao's situation, but the officers at the airport didn't know about the fleet's casualties, so he didn't ask the question.

At that time, the Fifth Fleet was sailing at full speed in the direction of the empire's mainland, and when it was still more than 500 kilometers away from Zhoushan, Vice Admiral Wu Xianyu turned on the radio and called Zhoushan's fighters to provide cover for the fleet. However, this seems a bit redundant. At the outbreak of the naval battle, the Japanese fleet called the native bomber force, and Nagumo Kazutada asked the native bomber force to launch an attack on the Tang Empire's fleet, but the bombers were an hour and a half late to depart, and by the time they arrived at the sea area provided by Nagumo Kazutada, the Fifth Fleet had already retreated. These bombers were loaded with ammunition when they took off, and their range was shortened a lot, and most of the bombers only had fuel left to return when they arrived in this sea area, and with the influence of the storm in the south, these bombers all returned "ahead of schedule", and as a result, they did not even find the "Taizu" aircraft carrier formation, which was about 50 nautical miles to the west, and lost the best opportunity to blow up and sink the "Taizu."

Major Deng Zichao returned to Zhoushan two days later. Of the 24 fighters that landed on Jeju Island with him, 5 were left behind because of serious damage, and the other 19 fighters flew at a low altitude after departure in order to avoid being attacked by Japanese fighters, and after leaving the airspace where Japanese fighters were active, they rose to cruising altitude, and then flew westward, and finally landed at an airfield near Taizhou. The 19 fighters were left at the airport to wait for maintenance personnel to carry out repairs, while Deng Zichao and the others returned to Zhoushan on a transport plane.

By the time they arrived in Zhoushan, several damaged warships of the Fifth Fleet were being repaired, including the aircraft carrier "Taizong." The "Taizu" has not yet returned to the port of Zhoushan, but it has already entered the cover range of the shore-based fighters of the Imperial Navy. Wu Xianyu sent several other warships to escort the "Taizu". At this time, many people couldn't believe that the "Taizu" did not sink, and insisted on returning to Zhoushan Port.

After Deng Zichao met with his comrades-in-arms in the wing, the first person he found was Major Hao Dongjue.

"Colonel, is he alright?"

Hao Dongjue smiled bitterly and said, "I have been sent to the hospital at the base, but I am still in a coma." ”

Deng Zichao was stunned and looked at Hao Dongjue in disbelief. Hao Dongjue told Deng Zichao about Tan Renhao's injury, and then Deng Zichao understood.

"However, the doctor has already said that the colonel's life is not in danger." Hao Dongjue smiled at Deng Zichao, and then handed a newspaper to Deng Zichao, "The news has come out, the Fifth Fleet has been collectively commended, and Prime Minister Xue Xiyue has personally announced the results we have achieved, which can sink 3 aircraft carriers, 5 capital ships, and more than a dozen other warships of the Japanese fleet, this result is not small at all!" ”

Deng Zichao was shocked again, I'm afraid they didn't even kill one aircraft carrier, where did the three come from? Moreover, there were no capital ships in the Japanese fleet at all, where did they go to sink these battleships? However, Deng Zichao quickly reacted that this was a propaganda strategy adopted by the imperial government, not their real results!

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