When they returned to the sky over the fleet, the left tilt of the "Yangtze River" was already close to 20 degrees, and the "belly" painted with anti-rust paint on the right side of the battleship was already exposed to the sea. The "Xuanzong" was also emitting thick smoke and was slowly "crawling" westward at a speed of less than 10 knots in the sky, and the shadows of enemy planes were already visible, and several "falcons" were hovering over the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier, as if they were reluctant to leave their "bird's nest."

"Captain, this is our fleet?"

Qiu Gengbo gritted his teeth, and when they went to kill the 17th Task Force, their lair was also wiped out by the enemy. The "Yangtze River" is finished, the officers and men above must have gone to other warships, and the "Xuanzong" has only its last breath left, and it is a question of whether it can "climb" back to the port. While most of the other ships were still there, and all of them were able to hold out (most of them weren't even injured), the core of the fleet was finished, and there was simply no place for them to land!

"Captain, what are we going to do?"

"What to do? Cold salad, ready for a crash landing, damn it! ”

Qiu Gengbo's hands were trembling slightly, not because of fear, but because of anger.

"There's a plane over there, Captain, it seems to be our plane over there, it's coming, Northwest!"

Qiu Gengbo immediately looked to the left, and sure enough, a large group of planes was rapidly approaching, it must be a group of bombers taking off from the second task force.

"It's our people, it's Colonel Zhang Naiding!"

The navigator in the back seat shouted, "Captain, Channel 2, it's Zhang Naiding them!" ”

Qiu Gengbo immediately adjusted the channel. "Colonel, I'm Qiu Gengbo, damn, let's go with you to kill the Yankees, there are no more bombs, and there are machine gun bullets!"

"What are you messing around?"

Zhang Naiding's voice came. "How much fuel do you have?"

"You can fly up to 200 nautical miles."

"Enough, fly back along our course, our aircraft carrier is over there, try to land on the aircraft carrier, if you have the opportunity, you hang up the bomb and set off!"

"Colonel—"

Qiu Gengbo was so excited that tears were about to fall out.

"Don't fuck my mother-in-law, do what you are told, don't think that you can disobey me if you are the captain. You're still a lieutenant colonel, get out! ”

Zhang Naiding's voice was also angry, and it seemed that he was also very excited.

"Brothers, go to the second task force and land, hang up the bomb later, fuck him a son of a bitch!"

When the group turned, Qiu Gengbo looked at the "Yangtze River" again, which was his "mothership" and the home where he had served and lived for several years. At this time. The large air defense cruiser "Li Jing" raised the flag of the fleet. But it was not the commander's flag, but the chief's flag.

"Qiu Gengbo, I am Chief of Staff Hao Dongjue. Do you hear that? ”

Hearing the voice of the chief of staff, Qiu Gengbo immediately replied: "Chief of staff, I heard, I am Qiu Gengbo." ”

"Try to return to Task Force 2 to land, now I'm in command of Task Force 1, that's an order, understand?"

"Chief of Staff, Commander He ......"

"Don't ask so much, you're running out of fuel, and you're probably barely able to reach Task Force 2. Try to land on the aircraft carrier, if it doesn't work, then make a forced landing at sea, don't play with your life, there is no need to make sacrifices. Listen, this is an order, not a joke on you! ”

"Yes, we'll do our best!"

The returning bomber group quickly left the sky over Task Force 1 and on the sea. The battleship is laying down fireboats, lifeboats, and rescuing officers and men floating on the sea.

Zhang Naiding also glanced down when he flew over the first task force. At the beginning, Hao Dongjue and Qiu Gengbo talked to him, and he also heard it. Obviously, Tan Renhao, the commander of the first task force, has encountered an accident, at least he is seriously injured, maybe he has ......

Zhang Naiding didn't continue to think about it, he quickly wiped away the tears that were quietly rolling down and diverted his gaze. When he was still the squadron leader of the First Air Company, Tan Renhao was recognized as a less popular fleet commander, mainly because this young commander was too cold and did not like to come into contact with ordinary officers and soldiers, on the contrary, Lei Shaoqing and Hao Dongjue, the two staff officers, were much better. But at the same time, Zhang Naiding's group of pilots all admitted that Tan Renhao was a very good commander, and it was under Tan Renhao's leadership that they won so many victories and had their current status. It can be said that Tan Renhao has the grace of knowing them, and without Tan Renhao, they would not have today's achievements!

"Captain, we're out of the skies over Task Force One!"

The navigator in the back seat reminded Zhang Naiding.

Zhang Naiding took a long breath and said: "The group maintains the current speed, altitude, and direction, contact the escort fighters, and see where they are!" ”

The escort fighters had already rushed in front of them, and it was precisely because of this that when they received the order to turn, the escort fighters did not pass over the 1st Task Force after turning, but flew nearby. Zhang Naiding and the others quickly contacted the escort fighters, and immediately asked the escort fighters to come as close as possible, not to divide too much, otherwise they would not be able to protect the bomber group behind.

Five minutes after Zhang Naiding's group left, the group led by Deng Zichao also flew over the First Task Force. Deng Zichao's reaction was even stronger, he was the first of several main leaders of the Second Air Wing to know Tan Renhao, and his relationship with Tan Renhao was still very good, and when Tan Renhao got married, he also specially sent a generous gift. When he knew that Tan Renhao had "left" the position of commander of the First Task Force and that Hao Dongjue was taking the command, he was reluctant to jump out of the cockpit and go to the "Li Jing" to inquire about the unknown staff officer of the First Task Force, who was also his former old superior, the current Commodore Hao Dongjue!

"Fuck!"

Deng Zichao is like a lion in a cage, "Fuck, son of a bitch!" Brothers, get ready to speed up and take out the 16th Task Force to avenge General Tan! ”

"Captain, our fuel can't stand up to such consumption—"

The navigator in the back seat immediately shouted, calculating the route, calculating the return fuel, this was his job.

“……”

Deng Zichao hesitated for a moment, and then like a deflated ball.

The fleet is still moving at a normal pace, and even if it accelerates, it will only buy a few minutes at most.

Anger burned not only in the hearts of these bomber pilots, but also when Colonel Jiang Wenhan, who led the escort fighters in battle, knew that the First Task Force had suffered heavy losses. The "Yangtze River" has been completely finished, and the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier is also unlucky, he is not much calmer than others!

Thirty-six "Falcons" on escort missions began to accelerate, and these fighters all hung auxiliary fuel tanks, and even if they kept an hour of combat fuel, they flew at least 500 nautical miles at their maximum cruising speed (which is not the optimal cruising speed). The U.S. Task Force 16 is only 230 nautical miles away from the Second Task Force, and even if it flies around for some distance, it will not exceed 250 nautical miles. Other words. These fighters don't actually need to worry about fuel for their return. On the way to the enemy fleet, the fighters will first use the fuel in the auxiliary fuel tank, throw away the auxiliary fuel tank before the air battle, and use the fuel in the internal fuel tank of the fuselage during the air battle and return home.

Jiang Wenhan is now the acting wing commander of the Second Air Company, and although his rank has not been raised, his status has improved a lot. Among the pilots he led were 12 ace fighter pilots, and the rest of the pilots were also veterans. The core of the Second Air Wing is actually the former First Air Wing, and most of the outstanding pilots have been poached one after another. It can be said that the fighter unit of the Second Air Wing is the most powerful in the entire Imperial Navy, and among the top twenty ace fighter pilots of the Imperial Navy. There are eight in the second carrier-based aircraft aviation wing (full name) and three of them are ranked in the top five, Jiang Wenhan's downing record has reached 48, and he is now the most powerful ace pilot of the Imperial Air Force!

When the fleet was rapidly moving south. Jiang Wenhan was also quickly calculating the distance from the American fleet. In the last ten minutes of the voyage, he ordered the escort fighters of the squad to disperse and search for the enemy fleet, while he took the fighters of the other two squadrons to retreat to the left and right sides of the sky above the front of Zhang Naiding's group to carry out close cover. Five minutes later, the forward escort fighters encountered the air defense fighters of the American fleet, and an air battle broke out between the two sides. Jiang Wenhan sent the second squad up, and he took the last squad to continue to cover the bombers. The task of the American fighters is not to fight with the escorting fighters of the Tang Empire, but to shoot down the bombers of the Tang Empire, then there will definitely be American fighters arriving one after another.

Sure enough, it didn't take a few minutes. The pilot of the fighter plane, which was located in the southwest corner of the formation, spotted the US fighter plane that was rushing quickly. At this time, Jiang Wenhan and the others were also dragged into the air battle.

"Lao Zhang, take care!"

Jiang Wenhan greeted Zhang Naiding, and immediately began to climb high with his wingman, and striving for altitude superiority before the air battle was the key to victory.

At that time, the US 16th Task Force had already sent out the second wave of bombers, and because the bombers sent by the Second Task Force made a small detour in the middle, the two groups of bombers missed and did not meet head-on at all. Spruance gave himself only sixty or thirty anti-aircraft fighters. And there are thirty-six escort fighters killed this time! Although most of the U.S. air defense fighters were concentrated in the northwest and north of the fleet, they were flying in the direction of the first wave of bombers of the second task force. But the gap in numbers, especially in the quality of pilots, soon gave the Yankees a hard time.

At this time, the fighter pilots of the Tang Empire had not only quality, but also anger, and this anger was burning. They can't threaten warships on the sea, but they can deal with enemy planes in the sky!

"Captain, watch the back!"

The pilot of the wingman has been working with Jiang Wenhan for several years, and he still calls Jiang Wenhan "captain" instead of "wing captain" (the title "wing captain" used to be Luo Jinming's title, and now Luo Jinming has gone to train new pilots, in order to show respect, most of the old pilots have left the title of "wing captain" to their old superiors, and Jiang Wenwei also understands this) "See, I started to dive, you kill him!" ”

As soon as the "Falcon" piloted by Jiang Wenwei pressed down the nose of the plane, the wingman who had just circled about 800 meters behind him opened fire, and the 20-millimeter machine shells instantly tore through the fuselage of the F4U that had bitten Jiang Wenhan's plane, and several shells still grazed Jiang Wenhan's fuselage.

"Killed, Captain, below!"

"Okay, this time, I'll do it!"

Jiang Wenwei continued to dive, and the 49th victory was captured by a camera gun. In less than ten seconds, he and the wingman had already added a victory each.

Other pilots are also working hard, although the performance of the F4U is not much different from the "Falcon", it can be said that it is in the middle of the best, but the problem is that there are not many veteran pilots in the US military, and most of them are novices. When there is not much difference in the performance of the warring fighters, the ability of the pilot determines everything. The fighter pilots of the Tang Empire's naval aviation, who had been honed in the war for several years, could be said to be the best fighter pilots in the world at that time, and there were really few who were really qualified to be opponents with them!

The outstanding fighter pilots in the Tang Empire's naval aviation were by no means just fighter pilots, bomber pilots like Zhang Naiding were also outstanding. Perhaps, they failed to be selected and did not become fighter pilots (when selecting pilots, fighter pilots are always selected first, followed by bomber pilots), but they have found their place on the battlefield and found their sense of accomplishment, and blowing up and sinking an aircraft carrier is definitely more enjoyable than shooting down hundreds of enemy planes!

When Jiang Wenhan and the others entangled the US air defense fighters, Zhang Naiding had already led the bomber group to fly towards the US fleet. U.S. Task Force 16 was ahead, and the cloudless weather was the best for bomber pilots, who could see the surface warships ten nautical miles away. Those three massive aircraft carriers are at the core of the U.S. fleet, and they are all accelerating, evacuating. The surrounding escort warships are also rapidly approaching, ready to provide direct anti-aircraft fire cover for the aircraft carrier.

"Lao Zhang, go up quickly, let's cover!"

"It's okay, watch your ass!"

Zhang Naiding replied with a smile, and then stared at the nearest aircraft carrier.

The huge hull of the "Saratoga" is simply too tempting, it is simply a fat lady, but it is destined to be a "fat lady" who is going to be unlucky