At the time of the evacuation of the Qiu Gengbo group, the second group of bombers led by Colonel Yang Qinkai was still more than 100 nautical miles away from the 31st Task Force, in other words, the second group of bombers had just set off.

Because considering that the US bombers would attack the first task force, Tan Renhao did not immediately let the second group of bombers on the road after letting the first group of bombers led by Qiu Gengbo set off, but first strengthened the air defense force of the fleet itself, adding three squadrons of fighters to the original two air defense fighter squadrons. Just after these fighters took off one after another, Tan Renhao received a telegram from the Fourth Task Force that the second group of bombers sent by Halsey had reached the skies over the Fourth Task Force and was bombing the Fourth Task Force.

Now, Tan Renhao has nothing to worry about, Halsey no longer has a bomber in his hands! Then, he received a report from the first group of bombers that there was a large group of air defense fighters over the US fleet, and it was estimated that the escort fighters of Halsey's first batch of bombers had returned to the fleet. While asking Yang Qinkai to lead the group to set off, Tan Renhao ordered all the fighters of the three squads that had been replenished to the fleet's air defense network to carry out escort missions, while the fighters of the two squads that had previously carried out the fleet's air defense patrol mission would return to the aircraft carrier to replenish fuel immediately after the bomber group took off. In other words, Tan Renhao only kept 24 air defense fighters for himself, and all the other fighters were sent to carry out escort missions.

Hao Dongjue understood this arrangement of his partner, he first let the fighters of the three squads set off, and then Yang Qinkai's bomber group followed up under the cover of 12 fighters. And this batch of fighters went on the road half an hour earlier than the bomber group, that is. Half an hour more time for air combat! And at this time, over the American fleet, the escort fighters of the first bomber groups did not immediately retreat. Instead, they stayed and continued to entangle with the US military ground fighters.

It was also in the skies over the U.S. fleet that the Qiu Gengbo group withdrew from the U.S. fleet. After about 20 minutes of flying south, they encountered the group of 36 fighters.

"Lao Qiu, it seems that your luck is not good!" Leading this group of fighters was none other than Colonel Ellor Ellor, the number one air combat ace of the First Air Wing and the No. 2 air combat ace of the Imperial Naval Air Corps.

"Lao An. Don't be complacent, there are at least 40 or more 'pirates' waiting for you in front of you. Qiu Gengbo and An Shile are old comrades-in-arms, and the two joked, and they didn't care how many people on this channel could hear it, "I'll go back and help you prepare a fire extinguisher, don't catch fire on your butt!" ”

"Don't worry, remember the bet we made? If I kill 5 more enemy planes this time, you'll have to treat me to dinner. ”

"No problem, if you're going to get fished up by a seaplane, you'll have to treat me to dinner!"

"It's a deal!"

"It's hard to chase a horse!"

The two fleets quickly staggered. Ansler also regained its calm. As far as he knew now, Colonel Jiang Wenhan's land record was almost 90, more than 20 ahead of him. If he doesn't seize the opportunity and fight a few more enemy planes to come down, I'm afraid he won't be able to catch up with Jiang Wenhan!

An Shile originally planned to be sent to Luo Jinming's training unit, but he insisted on staying. Moreover, it happened that the First Task Force had restored the establishment of three aircraft carriers, and it was necessary to have three air groups, and the establishment of the flight unit had been greatly expanded, so it was only natural that he would remain in the combat unit. Similarly, Andersler also knew very well that Jiang Wenhan went to be the captain of the wing to maintain his combat record, so if Andersler wanted to become the number one air combat ace of the Imperial HNA, then he had to work harder, and it was not easy to surpass Jiang Wenhan.

At this time, on the aircraft carrier "Lexington" of the 31st Task Force, after learning the news that those fighters of the Tang Empire were not in a hurry to return home, Halsey immediately knew that the second batch of bombers from the opponent's ground would definitely arrive soon. He was not surprised, Tan Renhao was by no means the kind of commander who would leave any hope for the enemy, and it would be a real strange thing if he did not send two waves of bombers in a row.

On the sea, the speed of the "Bunker Hill" and the "Wasp" has fallen below 10 knots, and both aircraft carriers are on fire. The "Bunker Hill" has tilted to the left about ten degrees, and the captain is giving the order to fill the starboard compartment with water to restore lateral balance, but the problem is that the fire on the aircraft carrier has not been extinguished at all, and if the water ingress is too serious, the aircraft carrier will definitely be doomed! The captain did not immediately give the order to fill the corresponding compartment on the port side, but first tried his best to extinguish the fire, control the fire, let the backup generator on the aircraft carrier start working, and then fill the compartment on the starboard side with water, so as to control the water intake of the aircraft carrier. But the problem is that when the aircraft carrier is seriously rolling, the difficulty of extinguishing the fire is very huge, and if the fire is not controlled, and eventually the ammunition depot or fuel depot explodes, then the aircraft carrier will be completely finished.

In the fleet, two destroyers were also sunk, both of which were fired at the carrier, but did not hit the torpedo of the aircraft carrier.

These two battleships are also extremely unlucky, the maximum range of the aviation torpedoes of the Tang Imperial Navy is only two nautical miles to three nautical miles, if these two destroyers are a little farther away from the aircraft carrier, maybe they will not be hit by torpedoes, let alone sunk.

"General, do you want to bring back those fighters?"

Halsey hesitated, then shook his head slowly. At this time, Halsey felt very embarrassed, the first batch of air defense fighters that took off did not have much fuel and ammunition left, and the second batch of air defense fighters that took off was shot down a lot by their own anti-aircraft guns, and there was not much left. Under normal circumstances, these fighters should return to the aircraft carrier to replenish ammunition and fuel, but the current situation is not normal. Only the "Lexington" in the fleet can still receive and release fighter jets, and it will take more than 40 minutes to replenish fuel and ammunition for more than 30 fighters before they take off, counting the time of flying back and forth, but the question is, does he have so much time now? The second batch of bombers of Task Force 1 could arrive at any time, if these fighters did not have time to take off. The fleet is going to be beaten passively!

Task Force 1's second bomber group arrived faster than Halsey had imagined, and less than twenty minutes after the first group of bombers had withdrawn, the cruiser's radar spotted the group flying from the south of the fleet. It was immediately determined that there were dozens of fighters in this group (the radar at the time could not distinguish between fighters and tactical bombers). Those F4Us, who were still trembling with the escort fighters of the first bombardment group, immediately got rid of these fighters after receiving the call. Rushed in the direction where the group was flying. As a result, it was not bombers that were waiting for this group of American pilots, but a group of ground fighters led by Colonel Ellsler!

"All fighter jets?" Halsey is also blindsided now, what does Tan Renhao want to do? Why are all fighters sent, not bombers?

"Yes. All fighters, probably more than 30. ”

"These fighters didn't have bombs?"

"There shouldn't be, and even if there were, it was already thrown away."

Halsey furrowed his eyebrows, and then let the staff officer leave. He was a little confused, but the problem now was that he couldn't do anything else.

To the south of Task Force 31, Ellsler had already achieved two victories in three minutes. Although the quality of the US fighter pilots is not too bad, in front of Ellor, the No. 2 ace of air combat in the Imperial Naval Air Force, the US pilot who can really compete with him may not have been born yet!

"Lao An. Watch the back! ”

Hearing the wingman's warning, Ansle immediately depressed the nose of the aircraft and opened the speed brake on the fighter jet while turning left. Then, an F4U rushed over his head, and the American pilot did not have time to slow down. Ansloth immediately pulled up the nose of the plane, at the same time as the fighter began to climb the ground. Four tongues of fire erupted from the Falcon's wings, and the wingman opened fire almost simultaneously, and the F4U was immediately enveloped in a hail of bullets.

"Fuck me, you actually attacked me and beckoned the brothers around me to follow." Ellsler quickly controlled the fighter jet, and at the same time vigilantly watched the surroundings, "Today we are giving an air combat lesson to our American counterparts, and the tuition fee is their dog's life!" ”

There is almost no suspense in this air battle, Ansler not only has the advantage in the quality of the pilots, but also has the advantage in the number of fighters, the 36 fighters who have newly arrived are all elite forces, ammunition and fuel are extremely sufficient, and the pilots are also very energetic, and the group of escort fighters led by Colonel Yao Boyan before has not run out of ammunition. At this time, Colonel Yao Boyan was the fifth air combat ace of the Imperial HNA with a record of more than 50, no worse than An Shiro. Under the two super aces, there are at least 20 ace pilots, and among the US fighter pilots who are fighting against them, there are only two aces with more than 5 records, and most of them are "rookies".

Within 20 minutes, there were no more than 10 F4U left in the sky, and Ellsler alone shot down at least six enemy planes (two were common results), and Yao Boyan had also killed seven US fighters in this battle. The remaining U.S. fighters have all been driven out and are being hunted down by far more fighters.

Ansler didn't chase down the fleeing enemy planes, so he had to leave some training opportunities for his subordinates. After he saw Yao Boyan's landline, he immediately leaned over.

"Old Yao, you're not finished yet?"

"You crow's mouth, you don't speak, no one treats you as a mute." Yao Boyan was already sweating profusely, and after dozens of minutes of fierce fighting, how could he be in the mood to joke.

"Okay, no kidding you. You don't have much fuel, do you? Then hurry back and leave it to us. ”

"Can you carry it?"

"What can't be carried, the Yankees have run out, now I'm waiting for Yang Qinkai's kid to come over quickly, I'm still waiting to go back and let Qiu Gengbo have a treat, wait for everyone to have a share."

"You fought five times down?" Yao Boyan also knew about the bet between Ann Sle and Qiu Gengbo.

That is, if Ellsler shoots down five enemy planes in a battle, then Ellsler will invite him to dinner, and if Andersle is shot down by the enemy, or forced to land, or for some other reason and is not able to return to the aircraft carrier to land, then Ellsler will invite Anderson to dinner.

Up to now, Qiu Gengbo has invited Ann Skler to eat three times, and Ann Skler has only broken the bill once.

"Six, four and two halves to be exact." Ellsler smirked, and when calculating the common results, he only counted half of them.

"Okay, I'll go back and wait first, it seems that someone is going to have a pain today."

"Don't send it, be careful all the way, save some fuel, don't fly too fast."

"Don't crow's mouth, take care of your ass!"

An Shile was stunned for a moment, and then shouted, but Yao Boyan had already turned off the inter-formation communication channel and was beckoning his men to return to the fleet. The last time Ellsler invited Qiu Gengbo to dinner, it was because his landline was hit by the landing hook, and as a result, there was no way to land on the aircraft carrier, so he could only make a forced landing at sea, which also became a laughing stock of the Imperial HNA No. 2 air combat ace.

On the aircraft carrier "Lexington", Halsey was not so relaxed. The air defense fighters have been dispersed, and now the fighters of the Tang Empire are hovering over the periphery of the fleet, although these fighters have not yet entered the range of the fleet's anti-aircraft guns, but a large number of bombers are definitely about to arrive! By this time, Halsey also understood that the fighters who arrived first were here to seize air supremacy of the 31st Task Force, and without the cover of air defense fighters, the fleet was very vulnerable, and it was impossible for the anti-aircraft guns on the battleships to block the bombers on the left and right!

It was also when the air battle was still raging that Halsey received a report from the second batch of bombers, and the bombing of the Fourth Task Force failed again, with all the bombers lost, and only a few fighters flew back, and the report was sent back by the fighter pilots (in the U.S. Navy, combat reports were generally sent back by the bomber leader, not by the fighter pilot).

At this time, Halsey was completely desperate, he couldn't even believe the authenticity of this telegram, two batches of 200 bombers, in exchange for only two small aircraft carriers, not even the two fleet aircraft carriers of the fourth task force were not injured, is this possible?

"General...... General ......"

Halsey looked up a little numbly, and then walked out of the commander's bridge under the surprised gaze of the staff officer, he had been completely defeated!