The sound of the sirens also alarmed the other officers and men in the fleet. When Tan Renhao looked at the staff officer, Hao Dongjue had already walked over.

"Chief of Staff, yes...... It's ......"... ap．bsp; Hao Dongjue pushed the staff officer away, quickly glanced at the flashing red light, and then turned back to Tan Renhao and said, "It's the air defense siren from the 'Chai Shao'!" ”

Tan Renhao immediately looked at the communications staff officer. "Chai Shao" is the main escort warship of the aircraft carrier "Xuanzong", and its position is in the northeast direction of the fleet, about 3 nautical miles away from "Xuanzong".

"The enemy group is coming from the northeast, at a distance of 65 nautical miles, and the fighters are rushing over!"

The communications staff officer had just contacted the air defense command officer aboard the large air defense cruiser "Chai Shao." "The size of the fleet is huge, and it is not possible to make a specific judgment at this time."

"Contact Major Yao Baiyan and ask him to report as soon as he confirms the situation!"

Tan Ren Haoxun gave an order, "In addition, contact Major Ellsle, ask them about the distance from the fleet, the remaining oil situation, and report back as soon as possible!" ”

The communications officer immediately got busy, and Hao Dongjue also gave the order for air defense operations at the same time. The fleet began to turn, all the battleships were also approaching the carrier, the gunners were all in position, and the air defense officers on the battleships were giving orders. After Hao Dongjue completed the deployment, the escort fighter group also replied.

"Ellsloth, they're about 75 nautical miles from the fleet, and they're ...... now"

"Immediately lead them to the enemy bomber group ......"

Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment and asked, "How long can they hold out?" ”

"Half an hour, but a lot of fighters are short of ammunition."

Hao Dongjue sighed secretly, these fighter pilots must have "overexerted" when attacking the 17th Task Force, he knew very well who Ansler and those fighter pilots were, because he himself was from a fighter unit.

"Let them stick to it as much as they can, but ......"

Tan Renhao hesitated for two seconds. "It's nothing, let's go and deliver the order!"

Hao Dongjue nodded, he felt that Tan Renhao still had something to say.

"Dongjue ......"

Tan Renhao stopped Hao Dongjue, "Tell Ansle to them, don't be brutal, we can get through the crisis!" ”

Hao Dongjue's body trembled slightly, and he knew very well the meaning of Ren Hao's last sentence. These fighter pilots are crazy, one might even say paranoid. In previous battles. There are pilots who run out of ammunition and fly fighter jets to ram bombers that threaten the safety of battleships. After the "Battle of Iwo Jima", the Tang Imperial Navy had already made clear regulations that pilots were forbidden to make such moves without a clear order (this was a specific manifestation of the Tang Imperial Navy's increased emphasis on pilots after the appearance of the Japanese "kamikaze") Now the fleet is threatened, and Ellsler They don't have much ammunition left, provoked, these pilots will definitely use fighters as shells!

The fighters of the squad led by Major Yao Baiyan were patrolling the east side of the fleet (which was the direction that was thought to be the most likely to appear US bomber groups), and when he received the air defense alert from the "Chai Shao," he immediately led the group to rush over. And before that. The fighter squad patrolling northeast of the fleet had already gone up first (the third squad was southwest over the fleet.) When Yao Baiyan arrived, the first batch of "Falcons" had already rushed into the US planes and were beating up the US bombers painted with insignia that looked very similar to Japanese fighters. What surprised Yao Baiyan was. There are no U.S. fighters in the sky, all of them are bombers, and there are a number of double medium bombers (B-25) These U.S. bombers are divided into two layers, the upper layer is a double medium bomber, the height is about 45oo meters, there are about 4o more, and the following is a single tactical bomber, basically hanging bombs, the height is about 32oo meters, there are about 5o planes. The first "Falcons" to be killed are attacking those tactical bombers at low altitudes. Fighter pilots are well aware. Tactical bombers are a greater threat to battleships, and those twin medium bombers cannot dive and drop bombs.

There was no time for Yao Baiyan to hesitate, and while arranging two groups (two two-plane formations each) to attack the tactical bombers below, he took his wingman and another two-plane formation to kill the US medium-sized bombers in front. No matter what type of bomber it is, as long as it can pose a threat to the battleship with bombs on it, it must be intercepted and must not be allowed to successfully drop the bomb. Yao Baiyan clearly remembered the Japanese suicide planes he encountered during the "Battle of Iwo Jima", and God knows if these US planes would also be suicide planes.

The battle was fierce. Although bombers are no match for fighters, they have self-defense weapons on board. The B-25 had five machine guns. In air combat, the power of large-caliber machine-gun bullets should not be underestimated.

"Keep up, kill the one leading the team first!"

Yao Baiyan called the wingman and began to rush towards the bomber flying in front, he was not familiar with the logo painted on the US bomber, but he knew that the plane flying in front must be a long plane.

The two "Falcons" shot at the bomber like arrows off the string. The machine guns on the bombers also quickly erupted tongues of fire, and the self-defense machine guns on several other bombers nearby were also firing fiercely, trying to knock down the two fighters, which were not much slower than the meteors.

"Don't get too close, wait and shoot together, and kill the Yankee's majesty first!"

Yao Baiyan has already achieved thirteen victories, and his wingman has also achieved eight, both of whom are ace pilots and are truly the pride of the earth. When he was still about 5oo meters away from the enemy plane, Yao Baiyan pressed the nose of the plane violently, and at the same time pressed the gun fire twist on the control stick.

The two fighters opened fire almost at the same time, and the wingman pilot, who was about a hundred places behind Yao Baiyan's left, knew what the squadron leader was going to do as soon as he saw the long nose pressing. Yao Baiyan saw with his own eyes (and the photogun also recorded the result) that the 2o-mm machine gun shells hit the bomber's head, almost all of them near the pilot's cockpit. Most of the 5O shells fired by the wingman (long shots, short shots will probably consume 2o shells) also hit the left side of the plane and near the left wing root. Then, both fighters dived out of the range of the bomber's self-defense fire.

"Lao Yao, go and kill the two bombers below and pull them up again!"

Hearing the wingman pilot's shout, Yao Baiyan understood. The fighter continued to dive, and soon the altitude went from 45oo meters to 35oo meters, and the degree also passed 32o knots (about to reach the limit) This time Yao Baiyan and the wingman acted separately (to deal with the bomber without escort fighters, the long plane and the wingman did not need to cooperate so closely) When the two fighters rushed out of the US tactical bomber group, the two of them each added a result.

The third squadron from the southwest of the fleet arrived fifteen minutes later, and by this time the American bomber group was less than 2o nautical miles from the fleet. The fighters of the first two squads have joined the encirclement and suppression of tactical bombers, 48 sBd (at this time the "Dreadnought" is only equipped with shore-based aviation, and has not yet equipped the carrier-based aircraft unit, mainly the training of pilots has not been completed) and TBd "Marauder" bombers, more than 3o have been shot down, and nearly ten B-stones above them have also been shot down.

The third squad of "Falcons" did not return to the carrier for refueling (in order of priority. These fighters did not have the opportunity to refuel) and they have been patrolling over the fleet for two hours, and there is not a lot of fuel left, and at most five minutes of air combat time (the fuel consumption in air combat is very huge, several times the fuel consumption during patrol) Five minutes is enough, because after five minutes, the enemy bomber group will enter the strike range of the fleet's anti-aircraft artillery, and in order to avoid accidental damage, the air defense fighters will withdraw from the battle at this time.

All the fighters were encircling the tactical bombers that had slipped through the net, but they didn't pay much attention to the medium bombers in the skies. In the eyes of all pilots. It is those tactical bombers that pose the greatest threat. On the contrary, less attention is paid to the threat of medium bombers. But when they now have a big threat from these medium bombers, it's too late to intercept them.

When all the sBd and TBd were shot down, the B-25 was only ten nautical miles away from the "Xuanzong". Fighters are being withdrawn from the battle. The anti-aircraft guns of the heavy cruiser "Lichun," which was located about five nautical miles northeast of the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier, had been erected high and aimed at the direction of the bombers. The 12o mm anti-aircraft guns fired first, and then the 8o mm anti-aircraft guns followed.

The four "Trotta" class heavy cruisers belonging to the 1st Task Force did not participate in the "Battle of the Philippine Sea" When the 1st Task Force went to sea, these four heavy cruisers were undergoing a mid-term overhaul, and their main improvement was the addition of 16 8o mm anti-aircraft guns. This is the latest anti-aircraft gun adopted by the Imperial Navy, with a moderate caliber and sufficient power (fleet air defense) The effective range and firing height (anti-air) are not below the 12o mm anti-aircraft gun. Swing and elevation (two of the most important performance figures of a battleship's anti-aircraft guns) were much better than those of 12o mm anti-aircraft guns. The only thing missing was the power of ground support, so the 8o mm anti-aircraft gun was the first medium-caliber specialized anti-aircraft gun in the Imperial Navy. It is precisely because of this that these four "Tsurotto" class heavy cruisers did not catch up with the "Philippine Naval Battle" After completing the refit, they returned to the First Task Force and then followed Tan Renhao to sea.

The U.S. bombers did not fly at high altitude to drop bombs, but when they were about to enter the range of small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns (about 3 nautical miles), they suddenly and quickly lowered their altitude, and finally at an altitude of less than 2oo meters above the sea surface, they headed for three cruisers (a large air defense cruiser). Two heavy cruisers) rushed to the aircraft carrier "Xuanzong", protected by them.

In the distance, Tan Renhao was also shocked when he saw the crazy actions of these American bombers, and his first thought was that American pilots wanted to use medium-sized bombers to make suicide attacks, otherwise, why did they fly so low, these medium-sized bombers did not have torpedoes, and they could only carry out horizontal bombing with bombs, and the minimum bombing altitude of horizontal bombing was about 8oo meters, flying so low, didn't it give those small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery a chance to attack?

Hao Dongjue also came to the porthole on the right side at this time (the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier formation was east of the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier formation, and the fleet had completed its turn at that time and was sailing in the northwest direction) "What are these American bombers going to do?" ”

Tan Renhao shook his head, and at the same time clenched his fists, the aircraft carrier may be able to dodge the bombs dropped from high altitudes, but it is very dangerous when facing a plane that does a suicide attack.

"Commander, Major Ellsler's fleet is back!"

Hearing the shouts of the staff officers, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue immediately looked towards the east side of the fleet, but most of their vision was blocked, and they could only see a part of the fighters flying from the moving side of the fleet, which was the returning escort fighters. The pilots of these fighters did not seem to see the blazing artillery fire over the fleet, but dived directly from a high altitude and rushed towards the bombers that were killing the "Xuanzong".

"What are they going to do, damn it, let them ......"

It's too late, even if Tan Renhao wants those fighter pilots to withdraw now, his order will not be delivered immediately, and besides, the fighter pilots in a state of madness may not necessarily obey the order.

The anti-aircraft gunners on the "Chai Shao" did not care about indiscriminately, and immediately opened fire on the approaching fighters, and the two "Falcons" flying in the front were hit, but fortunately the two fighters were still about a thousand meters away from the sea, and before the plane fell, the pilots had already escaped, and there were soon two more white umbrella flowers in the sky.

"Let those gunners aim at the big plane and fire!"

Hao Dongjue yelled at the staff officer in charge of the fleet's air defense operations, but it would take at least a minute for this order to reach the gunners.

Soon, two more "Hayabusa" were shot down by their own artillery fire, but fortunately, the pilots escaped. At this time, the gunners on the battleship also noticed that those were their own fighters, so they stopped attacking these fighters and aimed their guns at the US medium bombers that were already approaching.

Ellsler hung on a parachute and watched his men take out the four bombers at the front, and more fighters were joining the attack, attacking the bombers with their last shells. At this time, the "falcons" that began to hover around the periphery according to the order also came up. Major Yao Baiyan rushed to the front. Even Major Ansler has been killed, can he continue to watch?