When the combat alarm was lifted and Qiu Gengbo, who had been "locked" in the pilot's rest center for dozens of minutes, was "released" out, he was like a beast out of a cage. For them, the bomber pilots, they are well-deserved heroes when bombing the enemy fleet, but when it comes to protecting their fleet, they can't even help at all, and they will be protected like "living treasures" for fear of being hurt in the slightest.

Seeing those two aircraft carriers that are burning in flames, the hatred in anyone's heart will be ignited. Qiu Gengbo's mothership was not the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier, but the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier, and he landed on the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier in a hurry. This also allowed him to escape, and at the same time gave him a chance to get revenge. Even though the new mission was for him to find the U.S. Task Force 52, and the bomber was hung with auxiliary fuel tanks instead of bombs, Qiu Gengbo still boarded his plane without hesitation. As long as the enemy is found, then there is a way to take out the 52nd task force, if you can't find the enemy, no matter how many bombers there are, it is useless!

Qiu Gengbo was the first to depart, and his route was also in the easternmost direction. At that time, the routes of the six "waterbirds" that took off were very far apart, because Tan Renhao could not estimate the exact position of the US fleet, let alone know which direction the US fleet was sailing, so he could only spill the reconnaissance planes first, and as for whether or not the US fleet could be found, it was only a matter of luck.

After nearly forty minutes of flying, Qiu Gengbo was a little impatient, and now he felt that the cruise speed of 180 knots was a little too slow, and if his bomber could fly as fast as the "Peregrine Falcon", how much time would it save? Thinking about it, Qiu Gengbo's mood also calmed down, at least now the Fourth Task Force has not been attacked, and the First Task Force and the Second Task Force have not sunk any aircraft carriers, while the enemy's two task forces have six aircraft carriers, four battleships, plus dozens of cruisers. The destroyers had been blown up, they had already won, and all they had to do now was to catch up with the 52nd Task Force and extend the fruits of victory.

"Colonel, I seem to have received a report from another reconnaissance plane."

"Another reconnaissance plane?" Qiu Gengbo was startled, "The reconnaissance plane that set off behind us found the enemy fleet?" ”

"No, it's not. It seems to be a reconnaissance plane that departed before, and they made a call, you wait a minute......"

The navigator quickly adjusted the channel and connected to the communication line on board.

"Report...... Report...... Here is reconnaissance aircraft No. 101, here is reconnaissance aircraft No. 101...... We found ...... U.S. military ......"

There was a lot of noise in the headphones, Qiu Gengbo listened patiently, and the No. 101 reconnaissance plane said that it was the first of the second batch of reconnaissance planes that departed, and Qiu Gengbo and they belonged to the third batch of reconnaissance planes.

"It's Yang Xiao and them." The navigator had already identified the pilot of the reconnaissance plane and immediately reported it to Qiu Gengbo. "I've connected to their channel, and now I can talk to them."

"Yang Xiao. I'm Qiu Gengbo. If you hear it, please answer it. ”

There was silence in the headphones for a while, followed by a burst of laughter. "Are you Colonel Qiu Gengbo? Then I am Colonel Yang Qinkai. Dude, don't be kidding, we've made a big discovery, don't occupy the channel......"

"Yang Xiao, you rabbit cub, when you go back, Lao Tzu will clean you up!"

There was silence in the headset again, and it was clear that the pilot knew he had made a mistake. "Are you really Colonel Qiu Gengbo?"

"Damn, Lao Tzu is not Qiu Gengbo, who is Qiu Gengbo?" Qiu Gengbo immediately laughed. Yang Xiao was one of the pilots who had just arrived in the fleet, otherwise he would not have been sent on a reconnaissance mission.

"Colonel, I don't know it's you, and you've never been on reconnaissance missions before, are you going to attack the American fleet?"

"Don't give the damn a damn ramble, what the hell did you find?" Qiu Gengbo immediately pulled the topic back.

"We're ......," the other paused slightly, "Colonel, we spotted a group of returning U.S. planes about half an hour ago, and then we flew with them." But now that we've been dumped, we don't have much fuel left, and we probably won't be able to return to the fleet, but our long-distance radio has a problem and we can't get in touch with the fleet, and we're ......."

"Don't be verbose, the focus of the report, your current position, the course of the US military fleet, and their speed." Qiu Gengbo raised his finger at the navigator behind him and motioned for the navigator to write down Yang Xiaodi's report.

"Our current position is in the 23-50 sea area, about ...... distance from the fleet" Yang Xiao is not very experienced, and the speed of the report is not fast, "The course of the US military aircraft group is about 25 degrees, and the speed is between 170 and 180 knots, and we separated from the US military aircraft group five minutes ago. ”

"Colonel, they're near us, about fifteen minutes away." The navigator quickly calculated the distance between Yang Xiao and them.

"Yang Xiao, you return to the fleet first, I will help you call the fleet, you are ......"

"Can you fly to 19-21?" The navigator preemptively asked.

"Probably yes, we try to save as much fuel as possible, but I don't know how long we can last."

"Then you try to fly to that area, and we'll call the fleet." Qiu Gengbo sighed, "Okay, the call is over, Yang Xiao, you will return to the fleet, I promise!" ”

"Thank you, Colonel, no. Yes, Colonel! ”

Qiu Gengbo shook his head and smiled, and then switched channels.

"Colonel, we turn now, and maybe we can catch up with the US military fleet."

"Give me a new course, speed parameters." Qiu Gengbo also came to the end, "I don't believe that the son of a bitch can escape!" ”

Ten minutes later, Qiu Gengbo's landline arrived at the sea area where Yang Xiao reported the intelligence, and at this time Yang Xiao's landline had already flown away. The reconnaissance plane has accelerated to more than 200 knots, and because of the auxiliary fuel tanks attached, the range of the "water birds" is much farther than when it was on a bombing mission. After flying along the 25-degree route for about 220 minutes, Qiu Gengbo still didn't find anything, which made him a little worried, if the US military plane group was indeed flying in this direction, then it should have caught up by now. But there was nothing in the sky, there were no US troops at all, and there were not even shadows of other planes.

"Did you get the course wrong?"

"Absolutely not, this is the course of Yang Xiao's report, if it is wrong. It's not that I'm mistaken. The navigator immediately pleaded his case.

"Damn, Yang Xiao, this rabbit cub, will he make a mistake in a hurry?" Qiu Gengbo frowned, "The commander told us that the U.S. fleet should be in the north, not the northeast, but we are flying to the northeast now, there must be a problem." ”

"Then we'll turn west. Maybe something will be rewarded. ”

"That's all it takes, I hope you don't get too far left behind by the Yankees." Qiu Gengbo immediately checked the instrument in front of him and prepared to turn.

"Colonel, don't worry, look at it, front, below, down there, what's that?"

Qiu Gengbo immediately pulled down his goggles, and then looked forward and down. A group of bombers, flying at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, was turning to the right. The number of bombers in this group was not very large. There are about a dozen, and they look like torpedo bombers, but they are definitely not "Sea Eagle" groups. Because none of the Imperial Navy "sea eagles" flew in this area.

"Yankee's TBF, fuck it, that's got to be TBF"

"yes, that's TBF."

"Colonel, don't get too lumpy, slow down, get into the clouds ahead, and let the Yankees take us to their fleet!"

Qiu Gengbo had already begun to slow down, and he also thought of this, this was the American bomber that was returning home. Although he didn't understand why there were no dive bombers and fighters around, it was definitely a U.S. bomber. In any case, these American bombers will return to the fleet, and as long as they follow behind their butts, they will be able to reach the skies over the American fleet sooner or later. And Qiu Gengbo has only one thought, that is, the US fleet should not be too far away, and there is not a lot of fuel left in his landline.

The cruising altitude of TBF is generally about 1500 meters, and this batch of US bombers is obviously short of fuel. So the speed of the flight is not fast, and it is maintained at the optimal cruising altitude. Qiu Gengbo was anxious, but he didn't dare to speed up, so he could only maintain the same speed and quietly follow behind the US military plane. Less than twenty minutes later, when the U.S. fleet appeared on the sea in front of them, Qiu Gengbo knew that they had hit the jackpot this time.

"How much time does it take to send a telegram?"

"Three minutes, preferably five minutes." The navigator is already preparing the station.

"Then send a telegram as soon as possible!" Qiu Gengbo gritted his teeth, "I'll try to hide in the clouds as much as possible, and you can say hello when you need to." ”

"No, Colonel, we can return now, it must be Task Force 52!"

"It's better to make sure, maybe it's just a convoy, or some other place in the hell, and we can't confirm that it's Task Force 52 without seeing the carrier."

"Okay, but better be careful, wait until I'm ready to send the message before I go out, it will only take 30 seconds!" The navigators knew that it was stated in the combat manual that they could send a telegram only after visual certainty, whereas before they had only seen fleets in groups, but had not been able to judge whether there were aircraft carriers in the fleet, and how many aircraft carriers there were.

Qiu Gengbo waited patiently for three minutes, until the navigator patted him on the back, he stepped on the accelerator suddenly, and the "water bird" quickly drilled out of the clouds, and Qiu Gengbo also quickly glanced at the surrounding sky. Without looking at it or talking about it, this sight startled him, and four "super pirates" flew in the sky less than half a nautical mile away from him, and they flew directly towards them.

"Hurry up, fuck, the Yankees must have activated the radar, we're exposed!" Qiu Gengbo shouted as he manipulated the "Shooting Water Bird" to start diving, "Hurry up, don't delay time, we may not last a few seconds." ”

"Colonel, hold on for half a minute!" The navigator has already connected to the fleet communication channel, "Nest, nest, here is reconnaissance plane No. 201, spotting the US fleet, spotting the US fleet, spotting the US fleet ......"

Qiu Gengbo was indeed a madman, and when the US pilots on the "super pirates" who had been summoned to kill saw the reconnaissance plane that had fallen from the front like a meteor, they thought that someone else had shot down the reconnaissance plane, but they quickly reacted, and the reconnaissance plane was not shot down, but fled! The "Super Corsair" immediately followed, but the dive performance of the fighter was definitely not as good as that of the dive bomber.

"The telegram has been sent, let's run for our lives!"

"I'm running for my life, don't fucking affect me, keep an eye on the back, and report the situation at any time!" Qiu Gengbo roared, and now he could only run for his life.

"Catch up, turn around!"

"Turn your head, now to turn is to send you to death, damn, you want to play with me, son of a bitch, I'll play you to death!"

"Pull it up, Colonel, you're going to kill us!"

"Don't fucking scream, as long as we don't get hit by a machine gun, we can't die!"

After less than 400 meters, Geng Bo pulled back the joystick, and the two "super pirates" that were biting him at this time were only 200 meters away from him. When the "Shooting Water Birds" pulled up, the US pilots on the "Super Corsair" moved half a beat slower, and the two fighters did not have time to change their dives at all, and they tilted their heads and crashed into the sea.

"Well done, Colonel, you 'shot down' two American fighters!"

"Don't fucking be happy, there are two more, where are they?"

The navigator looked around and immediately spotted two other "Super Pirates" approaching behind him. "Above us, it's coming!"

"Sit tight, now you beg God for your blessing!"

When attacked by fighters, the resistance of the "waterfowl" is very poor, and the dive bomber does not have the excellent ultra-low-altitude performance of the torpedo bomber, nor does it have the speed of the fighter, and it is not even very strong, as long as it is hit, it is easy to crash. Qiu Gengbo has no other way, he can only fly at ultra-low altitude as much as possible, and the ultra-low altitude performance of the "Super Corsair" is not much better, and at an altitude of tens of meters, in addition to fighting for performance, he also has to fight for the pilot's ability and the size of his guts.

The "Shooting Bird" is like a flying fish, almost flying close to the surface of the sea, and probably only a pilot like Qiu Gengbo can make the "Shooting Bird" exert such excellent maneuvering ability at ultra-low altitude. On the contrary, the two "super pirates" that clenched at the back were more clumsy.

I don't know how long it took, Qiu Gengbo felt someone slapped him behind him, he was startled, and almost let the bomber lose control.

"Colonel, stop fighting, the Yankees have already withdrawn."

Qiu Gengbo immediately looked around, and after making sure that the American fighter plane had left, he pulled up the bomber, and at this time he was drenched in sweat.