Time passed little by little, and inside the bridge of the Akagi, Ozawa, Furumura, and all the fleet staff officers held binoculars and watched the inextricable battle in the air. The pen %fun %pavilion www.biquge.info and the more you look at it, the cooler it is!

The Zero Type 52 in the air cannot be said to be pressed and beaten by the opponent, but it certainly does not have the upper hand. Of the downed aircraft, the Zero Type 52 is almost equal to the number of US fighters (not counting the SBD and TBF that are being chased by the FW-190T).

This either means that the technology of American carrier-based aircraft pilots has now risen to the point where it is comparable to the elite pilots of the Japanese Navy, or it means that the performance of the F6F and F4U really exceeds that of the Zero Type 52!

And in either case, it shows that the turning point of the Pacific War has arrived!

Now the Americans not only have an overwhelming superiority in the number of aircraft carriers and all ships, but their naval aviation is also able to draw with the Japanese naval aviation in equal numbers...... Considering the enormous superiority of the United States in the number of planes, oil, and pilots, the Japanese Empire was sure to be in for a bitter war.

Jizaburo Ozawa put down the binoculars in his hand and said as if talking to himself: "It seems that Commander Koga launched the 'Mountain Operation' in a very timely manner, and if the Panama Canal cannot be destroyed before a large number of American aircraft carriers are launched into service, the empire will soon lose its initiative......"

"Your Excellency, Commander!" Furumura Keizo's shout rang in Ozawa's ears and interrupted him impolitely.

Only then did Ozawa react, he was now in public, surrounded by a group of elite staff officers of the Combined Fleet!

"Hehe, this is a fact, everyone must be prepared for a hard battle." Jizaburo Ozawa smiled bitterly and did not retract his words.

At this moment, the phone in front of Mitsuo Fuchida, an aviation staff officer, suddenly rang. Fuchida picked up the earpiece and answered, then took a breath and said to Ozawa, who was staring at him, "Your Excellency, the first attack wave is about to return, and we are still 200 kilometers away...... Hundreds of P51s are still following them! ”

"Baga!" Furumura Keizo scolded, "It's really not the right time for these American ghost beasts to come!" ”

"How many Zeros are left in the first strike wave?" Jizaburo Ozawa asked.

"There are less than 30 ...... left"

Hearing this number, everyone's hearts twitched. I went out 60 Zeros, and when I came back, more than half of them were gone!

"Let them fend off the Americans' P51 ......," Ozawa said, "and in addition, another 60 Zeros will be sent out from the direct cover group for reinforcements, and it will be important to cover the safe landing of the returning Comet aircraft." ”

"Hay!"

With Ozawa's order, two warbands immediately appeared in the air, one was the Zero Battle F4U and F6F, and the other was the Zero Battle P51......

At the same time, the SBD and TBF in the first attack wave sent by the US 3rd Fleet had been driven back by the FW-190T, 12 were shot down, and the rest dropped bombs and torpedoes from the low altitude, and the attack was repulsed. But the fighters who escort these SBDs and TBFs still do not retreat!

It is clear that the Americans will also launch a second and third wave of assaults!

"Radar detects enemy aircraft! Due West! Quantity 50 or more, height 6000, distance 120 km ......"

At 5:28 p.m., the radar officer reported a piece of news that surprised everyone.

"What? Flying from the west? That's ......" The face of the chief of staff of the First Mobile Fleet, Keizo Furumura, suddenly darkened.

"It's an American aircraft carrier!" Jizaburo Ozawa gritted his teeth and said, "I think I drove from San Diego!" ”

"But...... How did they get to the vicinity of Panama? "Furumura Keizo really can't figure it out.

He could never have imagined that Marshal Kesselring and ME262 were too bluffing to trick all 3 motherships of the US Pacific Fleet into the vicinity of the Panama Canal.

"It doesn't matter how they came here," Jizaburo Ozawa's grandmother's face was also a little ugly, "the key now is to defeat them and blow up the Panama Canal locks!" He paused, "Let the remaining Zeros and all the FW-190T go and stop them!" ”

"But then the fleet will not be covered." Keizo Furumura reminded.

"It doesn't matter, just recall the Zero that fought with the US fighter jets in the east." Ozawa said, "Don't care about these American fighters, do they dare to come and ram our aircraft carriers?" ”

Both F4U and F6F can hang bombs, but F4U and F6F, who have been fighting with the Zero for so long, must not have brought bombs, and even if they were originally carried, they must have been lost now.

Therefore, after discovering that the situation had changed very unfavorably, Ozawa quickly made adjustments, no longer seeking to inflict heavy damage on the American attack aircraft group, but focused on protecting the security of the fleet.

However, the F4U and F6F, who were fighting with the Zero, seemed to see through Ozawa's thoughts, and instead of returning home, they flew south and joined the Zero's battle group against P51.

More than 80 Zero 52 fighters that were fighting with the P51 were suddenly besieged by more than 100 P51, F4U and F6F. And what's worse is that more than 20 of these 80-odd Zeros have already fought hard before, and many aircraft have run out of 20mm shells (carrying 120 rounds), and now only 7.7mm machine guns remain, and the threat of 7.7mm machine gun bullets is really limited for the sturdy P51, F4U and F6F.

Toru Iwamoto Sanfei Cao (non-commissioned officer) from the Zuizuru Air Force is the "Downfall King" on the Zuizuru and is known as the "Zero Battle Tiger Toru". In today's air battle, he took a lot of effort to shoot down an F6F, and then damaged another F4U, but he ran out of ammunition for 20mm shells. Now I can only rely on a 7.7mm machine gun to fight with a P51 with 4 12.7mm machine guns installed, but the American pilot who piloted the P51 is not stupid - the cousin of the P51 and the Zero 52 in the European battlefield Fokker Zero is an old opponent, and he has long known that the Zero is hovering at low altitude, and has also figured out a way to use climb + dive to deal with the Fokker Zero.

The Fokker Zero D, which is better in climb and dive than the Zero Type 52, must also have the cooperation of the FW-190A series (the FW-190T series on the German aircraft carrier cannot be beaten) when encountering the P51 equipped with Merlin engines (or the American imitation model).

But now Iwamoto Tetsuzo has no cooperation with the FW-190A series fighters at all, and there are fewer and fewer Zero planes fighting with him - they are either shot down or run out of ammunition and retreat.

Soon, Iwamoto Tetsuzo was not going to fight one P51 alone, but against two P51s...... It didn't take long to be three!

Tetsuzo Iwamoto knew that his end was near, and he didn't bring a parachute, and if he was shot down, he would die. So at this time, he was no longer thinking about life, but about how to die honorably.

"Emperor, onboard! Great Japan, onboard! ”

Iwamoto shouted a few times, and aimed his Zero nose at a P51 - the Zero's firepower and defense to the P51 against the nose of the plane was of course looking for death, and the pilot on the American plane also understood this truth, and did not hesitate to face it, and then shot a rain of bullets, enveloping the deadly Zero fighter, and soon set Iwamoto's Zero 52 on fire, but the Zero on fire was still rushing vigorously, as if it was going to die with the opponent, Frightened, the pilot on the P51 hurriedly rolled to the right and dodged away.

"I was dodged!" Iwamoto Tetsuzo smiled bitterly in the cabin, which had already begun to catch fire, and closed his eyes unwillingly......

After the ace Sasai Soichi, "Zero Tiger Toru Iwamoto" Tetsuzo Iwamoto also became a god on March 17.

However, the doom of the Japanese naval aviation is not over, and March 17 seems to be the day when they become gods!

After the "Zero Tiger Toru became a god", it was the turn of the "Sky Battle Soul" Sugida Soichi! His fighter squadron, in conjunction with the German FW-190T, had just won a victory, breaking up the first strike wave sent by the U.S. Task Force 17.

He then received an order to cover the landing of 23 (with 3 battle-damaged) FW-190Ts, because many of these powerful German carrier-based aircraft had run out of ammunition after two rounds of air combat.

But just when the FW-190T finished landing, the voice of Captain Kofukuda Haofumi came from the headphones of his superior: "Urgently assemble, there is an enemy aircraft group in the northeast!" ”

It turned out that the second attack wave sent by Halsey had arrived, and a large group of more than 100 planes flew in the sky.

"There are so many planes for the Americans!" Sugida Soiichi thought to himself, "I'm definitely going to become a god today!" But that's okay, as long as the aircraft carrier can be kept, Japan will win! ”

His idea partially became a reality 10 minutes later - at 5:59 p.m. on March 17, Soichi Sugitada's landline was hit and fell, and Soichi Sugita became a god!

.......

Jizaburo Ozawa looked at the enemy planes roaring in the sky, and his heart was beating faster and faster. Because he knew that his Zero was almost exhausted, and the German FW-190T fighter could not go to the sky for 20 minutes.

And because the energy storage flywheel catapult on the aircraft carrier Sedliz has limited power, it can only catapult 12 aircraft at a time (Zeppelin's catapult can catapult 18 at a time), and the remaining 11 FW-190T will be in trouble if they want to go to the sky, and the aircraft carrier needs to gallop against the wind to generate deck wind, and then cooperate with rocket boosters to get heavy aircraft like FW-190T into the sky, and it is too late at the moment.

Therefore, Ozawa has no way to keep enemy aircraft out of the circle of anti-aircraft fire, and the real bitter battle will soon begin! (To be continued.) )