, a reconnaissance aircraft sent by the main task force responsible for carrying out anti-aircraft search missions on the periphery of the third task force. Comparatively speaking, the quality of the air force of the Second Task Force is slightly better than that of the First Task Force, and the sortie rate of its reconnaissance planes is also higher than that of the First Task Force. Therefore, in the second task force provided for the third task force, only the first task force was sent.

The first group of U.S. bombers to emerge was a "reconnaissance eagle" patrolling about 1oo nautical miles west of the Third Task Force. The reconnaissance plane flew at an altitude of more than 7ooo meters, and at this altitude, its radar detected a group of heavy bombers at a distance of more than 4o nautical miles, and the detection range of bombers also reached 3o nautical miles. Just after 7 o'clock, when the reconnaissance plane, numbered 2O8, had just turned to its southwestward flight course, its radar showed a rapidly approaching group of US bombers, and the reconnaissance plane immediately raised an air defense alarm.

Ten minutes later, a huge group of at least 8o B-17 heavy bombers and 4o P-51 escort fighters flew over the airspace where the reconnaissance plane had been located. Less than five minutes later, the radar of a destroyer on air defense alert left behind by Task Force 3 also showed an approaching group of American bombers. At this time, the U.S. bomber group was only about 8o nautical miles away from Task Force 3. It was also at this time that the fighters of two squadrons under the personal command of Colonel Jiang Wenhan rushed over. Both squadron fighters were sent from Task Force 2.

The battle to intercept the US bombers was quite fierce. At that time, almost all of the P-51s used by the US 6th Army Aviation were even equipped with 2O mm guns, and they were no more powerful than the "Peregrine Falcon" in terms of firepower. The sprint performance is better, and the P-51 is lighter, the armor is not as good as the Peregrine Falcon, and the ability to maintain the degree is also a little worse than that of the Peregrine Falcon.

Jiang Wenhan knew that he was not fighting alone, and behind him, two fighter squadrons of the First Task Force commanded by Colonel Ellsler were hurrying in, and they would arrive within five minutes. Therefore. When encountering the US planes, Jiang Wenhan did not forcibly attack the US bombers, but directly led a squadron of "peregrine falcons" to deal with the "Mustangs" that were escorting the bombers, while the fighters of the other squadron were on standby on the periphery and waited until Jiang Wenhan and the US escort fighters had led away before attacking the bombers.

This set of tactics has worked very well, and the main task of the US escort fighters is to prevent the air defense fighters from attacking the bombers. After Jiang Wenhan and them took the initiative to come to the door, they naturally would not let Jiang Wenhan and them go easily. Soon. The fighter squadron led by Jiang Wenhan diverted the US escort fighters away. Then, another squadron of fighters killed. It was at this time that two fighter squadrons of the First Task Force led by Ellsler arrived on the battlefield. That is, at that time, there were three squadrons of 1oo fighters attacking the bomber group of the US army, and the bomber group of the US army was not directly covered by fighters!

If they had faced ordinary tactical bombers or medium bombers, the battle would have ended quickly, but they were now facing the B-17G heavy bombers, which were equipped with the largest number of U.S. 6th Army Air Forces. The B-17 series bomber used to be the main bomber of the original strategic bombing against Germany, especially in the British aviation industry, which was seriously damaged. Unable to produce more heavy bombers such as "Halifax", the United States deployed a large number of B-17 bombers on British soil, and even produced a special model of 17 for the British Royal Air Force. In the past few years of fighting, the B-17 has made many improvements to the problems exposed in actual combat. At this time, the G-type, the main equipment of the United States 6 Airlines, was only improved at the end of 25 years, and the G-type was put into production in 26 years.

The bomber had 13 heavy machine guns for self-defense, and its self-defense firepower was almost overwhelming, making it impossible for any fighter to approach easily. In addition, the bomber received an updated motive, redesigned the fuel tank. The main structure has been strengthened, the maximum take-off weight has been increased. In the case of carrying 7ooo kg bombs. Its maximum range is over 35oo miles, and its maximum flight degree is also higher than that of the previous model. But relatively speaking, the B-17 series bombers are already relatively backward, especially since their fastest speed of less than 5oo miles per hour can no longer allow them to get rid of the attack of fighters. The most important thing is probably the 13 self-defense machine guns and the heavy armor steel plates covering the most critical parts of the fuselage.

As soon as the battle began, Ellsloer felt that this B-first attack on a B-17 bomber was the first time. In the Pacific Theater, he once shot down 8 B-17s, which is the most proud result of Ansle, because he is the carrier-based fighter pilot who shot down the most B-17s, and Jiang Wenhan only shot down 4B-17s. In the words of Ellsler, if the results of the battle are calculated by the number of enemy maneuvers, he is already the number one trump card of the Imperial Navy.

In the first round of attacks, two pilots who had not previously fought heavy bombers were shot down by the B-17's intensive self-defense fire, and three Peregrine Falcons were damaged. Ansler entered from the left rear of the plane, which was one of the relatively weak dead spots of the bomber's self-defense firepower, and he saw with his own eyes that the shells drilled into the tail of the bomber, but the B-17 only emitted a puff of smoke, did not fall, and did not even fall behind! The second time he entered the attack, Ellsloer still chose the B-17 that he had damaged. This time he entered from the front right of the bomber, almost facing the bomber, turning to the left at the last moment, and at the same time firing a shell. The two engines on the right side of the plane were hit by machine gun shells one after another, and they caught fire at any moment. It was only by this time that the B-17 fell towards the sea with thick smoke in tow.

The other pilots quickly found the trick of attacking, and like all heavy bombers, the motive hanging from the wing was its most vulnerable part, and even if there were four motives, it would be difficult for the bomber to fly if two of them were destroyed. If two engines on the same side had been destroyed, the bomber would certainly not have been able to continue flying. Of course, the attack is to be skillful, if the most self-defense firepower is directly from the bomber

The most effective way is to enter from the side rear, the latter is from the side front, so that the self-defense machine gun on the bomber will be blocked, and it will be difficult to aim at the approaching fighter, and it will be difficult to effectively deal with the attack of the fighter. Of course, the most advantageous weapon for attacking is the degree of the fighter, as long as the maximum degree of entry and exit from the battle is maintained, the self-defense machine gun on the bomber is difficult to aim, and the threat to the fighter is not very great from blind shooting.

Soon, Ellsly used the same tactic to kill three B-17s, and the other pilots also achieved successes, at that time, in addition to Ellsle, at least 3 pilots shot down 3B-17s in ten minutes, 2 pilots, and a squadron of pilots won the results. That is, in just ten minutes, more than 6o B-17s were shot down. There is no doubt that even if a bomber with powerful firepower for self-defense does not have the cover of escort fighters and at the same time faces air defense fighters with numerical superiority, its battle loss rate will be unbearable, and it will not even be possible to effectively break through the interception network of the air defense fighter organization.

At this time, the group of escort fighters who were led away by Jiang Wenhan had already rushed back, but they came too late. In ten minutes, Ellsloth had already decided the outcome of the air battle, and the returning 2O P-51 could not save the remaining dozen bombers. Instead, he put himself in a desperate situation. These US fighter pilots also quickly appeared, they need to face air defense fighters that are several times more numerous than themselves, and each opponent has more combat experience than them, there is no suspense in this battle!

It can be said that the most exciting thing at that time was Ansle. Before this battle. The gap between him and Jiang Wenhan has narrowed to single digits, and if he is lucky enough, maybe after this battle, he will become the number one air combat ace of the Imperial Navy. Just when the U.S. escort fighter arrived, Ellsler received news from the wingman that Jiang Wenhan had only one result, and he had shot down three B-17s. After Jiang Wenhan. What's more, Jiang Wenhan did not pursue the US escort fighters, as long as he seized the opportunity and beat down a few US fighters, then he would have passed Jiang Wenhan!

While Ansler was looking for U.S. fighter jets to expand the results of the battle, Jiang Wenhan was rushing to the south of the Third Task Force. It was only after he received the news that a reconnaissance plane patrolling the south had spotted the second group of approaching US bombers. And the reconnaissance plane was also sent from Task Force 2. Therefore, Jiang Wenhan directly received the report of the reconnaissance plane, but An Shile was not able to receive the same report.

When the US fighters got out of the battle, Jiang Wenhan organized the remaining 31 fighters of the squadron under his direct command, and immediately added them to intercept at least 7o bombers in the second batch of US bombers, plus 5o escort fighters. Still a combination of B-17 with P-51. By the time Jiang Wenhan and the others arrived, the US bomber group was less than 5o nautical miles away from the battleship formation of the Third Task Force, and Ansding was able to arrive in time, so Jiang Wenhan did not deliberately divert the US escort fighters this time, but directly attacked the US bomber group.

Less than a minute after the battle began. Jiang Wenhan achieved the first result. His first attack was from a high altitude, and he aimed directly at the cockpit of the bomber, and he did not open fire until he was less than 3oo away, and the dense machine guns directly shredded the entire cockpit, killing the two pilots inside at the same time. Although the bomber was not damaged in other key parts, it was impossible to continue flying after losing the pilot. Obviously, Jiang Wenhan's tactics are simpler and much more shrewd, but the premise is. The technique must be very skillful, otherwise it is impossible to aim at the cockpit in a head-on attack. It is not even possible to aim at the target.

Ellsler received the order to arrive at the fleet five minutes later, by which time the first American bombers had been completely defeated, and none of the bombers could reach the skies over the Third Task Force. Ansler immediately threw away the P-51 where he was fleeing, and beckoned the other fighters to fly quickly to the south of the fleet. At this time, I also received news that within five minutes, Jiang Wenhan had killed three B-17s, while An Shile had only shot down one P-51 in the beginning of the battle.

When Ellsler arrived, the U.S. bomber group had already flown to the periphery of the battleship formation of the Third Task Force, and was about to enter the range of the fleet's anti-aircraft guns. Jiang Wenhan did not withdraw from the battle at this time, and it was even more impossible for An Shile and the others to stop at this time, as in every previous battle, even if the enemy planes entered the killing range of the fleet's anti-aircraft guns, they still pursued them relentlessly, without considering that the anti-aircraft guns on the battleships also posed a deadly threat to them.

Under the full interception of the fighters of the four squadrons, only a dozen or so battleships of the B-3rd Task Force finally dropped bombs over the formation, which did not threaten the battleships sailing high on the sea at all, and finally dropped bombs, and successfully got rid of the pursuit of the fighters, and only 4 B-17s escaped from the battlefield. At the cost of nearly 15O bombers and 6O fighters, the US military finally dropped only a few dozen bombs and blew up dozens of water columns on the sea.

By the time the two fighter squadrons from Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 arrived, the American attack had been routed. Task Force 3 was unharmed, and the four fighter squadrons that took part in the battle lost a total of 38 aircraft, including destroyers and seaplanes of Task Force 3. Another 22 "Peregrine Falcons" were wounded and could barely return to the aircraft carrier, and there was no value for repair.

After returning to the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier, Ellsler first inquired about Jiang Wenhan's record, and was extremely frustrated to learn that Jiang Wenhan had shot down 7 enemy planes and he had only shot down 6 enemy planes, but at least they successfully covered the Third Task Force and routed the US counterattack!