The time when the 51st Task Force was bombed was 8:45 a.m., and at this time, the group of planes led by Deng Zi and Zhang Zhitao had been flying in the northwest direction for an hour and a half, and it seemed that they were about to reach the maximum sortie radius set by Hao Dongjue.

"Damn, Lao Zhang, don't you think there's a problem?" If it weren't for the fact that the cockpit was too cramped, Deng Zi would have jumped up in a hurry, "We flew for an hour and a half, and we have long exceeded the range of possible activities of the US aircraft carrier, damn it, did they all go down to the surface of the sea?" ”

"Maybe you've been swallowed up by the octopus monsters in the Pacific Ocean!" Zhang Zhitao made a joke, although he was very calm, he was more anxious than Qiu Gengbo.

The last time the fleet attacked, Zhang Zhitao suffered from stomach problems, and as a result, he went to the hospital to have one-third of his stomach removed, and then lay in the hospital bed for three whole months, missing several combat opportunities.

According to the regulations, Zhang Zhitao should retire to the second-line unit to serve as an instructor, after all, the requirements for physical fitness of the air force are extremely strict, not to mention major surgery such as stomach removal, even if the appendix is removed, he will be transferred out of the front-line combat unit. Zhang Zhitao tried his best to hide himself, and even spent tens of thousands of yuan to buy off his attending doctor, revised his medical record, and changed the gastrectomy operation to gastritis. After recovering from his illness, he will arrive at the fleet, just in time for this campaign.

"Damn, you're an octopus monster!" Qiu Gengbo also laughed, "Contact the fleet, those damn reconnaissance planes should also have news." Lao Zhang, you contact the fighters in front of you to see if they show up. ”

When the navigator in the back was in contact with the fleet, Zhang Zhitao also asked his navigator to contact the fighters in front. Similar to the escort tactics adopted by Yang Qinkai, because the number of escort fighters was extremely limited, only four fighters could be arranged to go out to carry out reconnaissance missions. However, Qiu Gengbo was different from Yang Qinkai in that he had all four fighters fly under the clouds.

Moreover, it was divided into two formations, and the distance between the formations was about 5 nautical miles, so as to increase the scope of the search sea area as much as possible.

"Old Qiu, the fighter jets are not present, they will turn in five minutes, it seems that we should also turn."

"Damn, are we going to return to the fleet with bombs and torpedoes?" Qiu Gengbo scolded. Then he wiped the sweat from his forehead very unwillingly, and at a height of several thousand meters, he actually felt hot!

"Lao Qiu, there's news!" At this time, the navigator in the back seat shouted, "The fleet has just received a report from the reconnaissance plane, an enemy fleet is about 8o nautical miles south of us, and in addition, Yang Qinkai and they have found the enemy fleet and are now attacking." ”

"What? actually let Yang Qinkai's kid take the lead. Mother's ......"

"It's not. It's a different fleet! The navigator had already noted the approximate positions of the two American fleets on his navigation chart, "and the enemy fleet they were attacking was further southwest, about 12o nautical miles from us." ”

"That's good." Qiu Gengbo laughed. "Lao Zhang, did you hear that? We finally don't have to go back with bombs. ”

"Then let's get on the road!"

The group quickly turned, and the fighters flying above the bombers began to reunite, rushing through the bomber group and flying to the front. The "Sea Eagle" group led by Zhang Zhitao began to reduce altitude, and the "Shooting Birds" group led by Qiu Gengbo still flew above the clouds at 35oo meters, and both captains made their subordinates ready for battle. Of course, they were commanding a squadron at this time, not a group, and who called the 1st Task Force had only two aircraft carriers. And what about the reluctance of the three captains to return to the second line?

In fact, the course of the group of Qiu Gengbo and Zhang Zhitao was only 8 degrees off, but this ground error was 25 nautical miles when it reached a distance of 18o nautical miles. In other words, Qiu Gengbo and the others were actually from the northeast of the 52nd US Task Force and probably the 52nd Task Force The air defense battle was concentrated in the southeast direction, not the northeast direction, so neither side encountered each other, and the four fighters sent out by Qiu Gengbo were not able to show the US fleet in the southwest direction. Outcome. The group flew close to Task Force 52 and was still sailing southwest to get closer to Task Force 51 (I don't know what Turner thought at this time, maybe he wanted to use his own air defense fighters to have 42 air defense fighters for Task Force 52). So, when they received the news, Task Force 52 was about 1o degrees east of their south, not southeast.

When they turned back with their bombers, they were actually attacking from the north of the 52nd Task Force, not from the southeast. 8o nautical miles, for a bomber flying at 22o knots, it will take less than 2o minutes. And within these 2o minutes, Yang Qinkai and the others had completed the bombardment of the 51st Task Force and were returning home, and at the same time reported the battle back. At that time, the distance between the two groups was less than 15o nautical miles, and the radio voice signal from Yang Qinkai was also received by Qiu Gengbo.

"Damn, what is this, Yang Qinkai's kid is even better than us!" Qiu Gengbo heard the laughter and scolding of the pilots in Yang Qinkai's group, and he was even more anxious, "Lao Zhang, should we hurry up?" ”

"You're in a hurry, don't leave us behind, wait for a coordinated attack." Zhang Zhitao was also anxious, and the degree of the dive bomber group commanded by Qiu Gengbo was faster than the degree of the torpedo bomber group commanded by him. "The chief of staff has repeatedly told us to attack together, and we can't act alone, you damn it, you dare to mess around, the chief of staff will clean you up and let you go back as an instructor!"

"Fuck you, you threaten me!" Qiu Gengbo scolded with a smile.

"What about threatening you? We need two captains now, and one more anyway, I think the chief of staff and the commander are also thinking about who to arrange to go back! Zhang Zhitao knew that this was Qiu Gengbo's weakness, so he was naturally not afraid.

"Okay Lao Zhang, I don't add it, your mother, you can hurry up and keep up!" Qiu Gengbo didn't dare to shout anymore, to put it bluntly, if he was about to arrange for a captain to go back, he was the most likely, because the commander would not like that kind of disobedient pilot.

At this time. There is another person who is more anxious than Zhang Zhitao and Qiu Gengbo, and this is Lieutenant Colonel An Shile, who commands the escort fighters. Previously, An Shile was the squadron leader of the fighter squadron of the 1st Air Group, and he was the same level as Qiu Gengbo (when Deng Zi was the captain of the 1st Air Wing, Qiu Gengbo was the squadron leader of the dive bomber squadron). After the separation of the First Air Wing, HNA instituted a new personnel system, that is, the bomber pilots were promoted to group captains, and the fighter pilots were alternates. But at that time, the First Bomber Wing had four bomber squadron leaders, and there were only three group leader positions, and the alternate position of Ellsler was meaningless.

Ellsle did not have much of a problem with continuing to serve as the squadron leader of the fighter squadron, after all, the bomber is the core of the strike force of the fleet aviation, and the offensive nature of the aircraft carrier determines that the bomber is more important than the fighter. The problem, however, is that by October, the shore-based units of the Navy were already very dissatisfied with the number of officers in the fleet air force. At that time, there was a serious shortage of middle-level commanders in the shore-based units of the navy, and the promotion of low-level commanders could not play an immediate role, so an application was made to transfer some pilots from the fleet aviation to shore-based aviation. Then. The actual officer staffing of the 1st and 2nd Air Wings is seriously marked. All because of the compression from three brigades to two brigades. Although the Fourth Air Wing was later established (the number of the Air Wing was the same as that of the fleet), the First Air Wing and the Second Air Wing transferred a group of outstanding pilots to serve as the backbone of the Fourth Air Wing. Of course, most of the transfers are actually squad leaders who need to be promoted. In the pilots of the original unit, there was little room for growth, and many squadron leaders even took the initiative to ask for demotion in order to stay in the old unit.

Luckily he stayed, but continued to serve as his squadron leader, and was also promoted to lieutenant colonel. But in November, Luo Jinming found him and asked him to consider becoming an instructor in the HNA Reserve Force, and then Ann Shile was anxious. It is better to go to the reserve force than to go to the shore base force of the Navy or the Fourth Air Wing, and the proportion of officers in the First Air Wing at this time is still the same, for example, there are three group commanders. Eight squadron leaders, but in fact there are only two squadrons, six squadrons, how can there be so many senior officers? The HNA reserve force is actually a unit that trains pilots, and after leaving the aviation school, pilots must first train in the reserve force for at least two months before being transferred to serve in front-line combat units. Luo Jinming is going to set up a confrontation force, composed of the best fighter pilots, and then engage in confrontational air combat with those novices, so that the novices can master the air combat skills as soon as possible. Improve the quality of pilots. Because the pilots of this confrontation force are aces drawn back from the front, they are also called "ace squadrons". An Shile is an ace fighter pilot in the top 20 of the HNA faction, and it is logical for Luo Jinming to find him. Luo Jinming even promised that as long as Ellsler was willing to go, he could immediately apply to the above to let Ellsler be promoted to colonel, and if he still needed to form a new fleet aviation unit, he would recommend Ellsler to serve as a captain, or even a wing commander. But the problem is that Ellsler knows that after he goes back, he will not have the opportunity to continue to increase his achievements, and he doesn't want to stop there and become an instructor with peace of mind.

Ever since Luo Jinming had found An Shile, he had been in a bit of a trance. At least by the middle of next year, before the second batch of "Lake" class aircraft carriers is put into service, the First Task Force will have only two aircraft carriers at most, and there will only be two air groups. But the problem is that no one wants to leave the First Task Force, everyone knows that the First Task Force is the most powerful task force in the Imperial Navy, and Commander Tan Renhao is the most powerful fleet commander in the Imperial Navy.

Ellsle didn't want to leave, but it wasn't up to him. Hao Dongjue and Tan Renhao have not yet said anything about the reduction of officers in the fleet air force, but An Shile knows very well that General Tan Renhao will keep the best pilots instead of sending the best pilots out. In the eyes of fighter pilots, there are two decisive factors for this quality, one is the efficiency of completing the task, but the results, and in Ansler's view, perhaps the latter is more important, and he is not the pilot with the most achievements in the first task force, Yao Baiyan has already passed him, if he wants to stay in the first task force, even if he continues to serve as the leader of the fighter squadron, he has to pass Yao Baiyan and become the number one air combat ace in the first task force.

The fighter had stabilized, and now it had reached its fastest cruising level, and the plane shook slightly, and Ellsler let out a sigh of relief, leaving all those troubles behind. Now his task is to cover the bombers and take out the aircraft carriers in the American fleet, if he encounters American fighters, he must intercept these fighters, and bombing warships is not something that fighters can do.

"Lao An, are you in a bad mood?" The wingman got a little closer.

Ellsler looked at the wingman in the rear left. "It's nothing, pay attention to the situation around you, maybe the American fighter jets are nearby, this time, I'm afraid we will be able to fight a lot less."

"No problem, I'm staring at your ass!"

Ansler laughed, and with the wingman following behind, he felt much safer. In actual combat, the positions of the long plane and the wingman are often exchanged, and whoever has the best attack position will attack and the other will take cover. In most cases, the attack position of the long aircraft is the best, so it is mostly covered by the wingman. Ansler's partner has also achieved more than ten results, and the two have worked together for several years and are very familiar with each other.

It is estimated that when they were about to reach the sky above the US fleet, Ellsler and they first searched the sky above the clouds, the sky was very clear, and there were no fighters of the US military, which made Andersler a little strange, it stands to reason that when the clouds are relatively low, at least some air defense fighters will fly over the clouds. Then, he led the group of planes into the clouds, and when they came out of the clouds, they were immediately frightened, the US fleet was more than ten nautical miles ahead, the two aircraft carriers located at the core of the fleet were very eye-catching, and in front of them on the left, a group of about a dozen US fighters were killing them!