At ten o'clock, Spruance let the first group of bombers go. The bomber fleet consisted of 35 SBDs and 30 F4Us with bombs and rockets. At 7:30 a.m., the second group of bombers began to take off, with 40 SBDs and 15 F4Us with bombs and rockets. Spruance did not leave air defense fighters for the fleet, and all F4Us carried out bombing missions at the same time.

Before the second group of bombers departed, Spruance received a message from the theater command: Midway had been attacked by hundreds of bombers, and the radar had spotted a second group of bombers, the size of which was also more than a hundred, before it was destroyed. At this point, Spruance no longer suspected that Task Force 1 was near him. There were more than 200 bombers in the two bomber groups, and if Task Force 1 had three aircraft carriers, then more than 200 bombers would be all the bombers on the three aircraft carriers. If Task Force 1 had only two aircraft carriers, there would be a number of fighters for bombing missions among the more than 200 bombers. In other words, it was impossible for Task Force 1 to divide part of its forces against him. Now the 51st Task Force is about 600 nautical miles away from Wake Island, and the Tang Empire's tactical bombers have a combat radius of up to 300 nautical miles, and even if it is a one-way suicide attack, it will take at least three and a half hours of flight time, and then the first group of bombers will have returned to the fleet, and 30 fighters are enough to provide air defense cover for the fleet. Under these circumstances, Spruance did not need to think about keeping air defense fighters for the fleet at all, and the purpose of arranging 30 fighters in the first group of bombers was to provide some cover for the bombers, in addition to allowing these 30 fighters to return to the fleet first. Who can guarantee that those fighters of the Don Empire on Wake Island will not make a one-way sortie to provide air defense cover for the landing fleet? At least, Spruance would never have doubted the courage of the pilots of the Don Empire. Computer station.16

Spruance was not wrong to worry. The telegram sent by Han Shaofeng to the theater command was intercepted by the air command on Wake Island. And at night. They received a message from Liao Hanxiang that they would try their best to provide air defense cover for the landing fleet. Thus, the fighters of a squadron were ready to take off at night. But no one expected that the US military ground strike would come so quickly, and at this time, the landing fleet was still 400 nautical miles away from Wake Island!

When the "Falcon" fighter is carrying a ground hunting mission, if it is equipped with a large auxiliary fuel tank, its combat radius can reach 400 nautical miles. During the war against Japan, many "Hayabusa" fighters carrying out free hunting missions flew over this distance, and some even flew as far as 450 nautical miles to drop bombs. But the problem is that when performing air supremacy missions, fighter jets must save at least one-third of the air combat fuel, even if they hang a large auxiliary fuel tank and fly at the best cruising speed in the middle of the flight, their combat radius is only 350 nautical miles, and this can only ensure that the fighter can perform a maximum of ten minutes of ground air combat mission, therefore. In this case, fighters generally serve only bombers to escort them, and not to perform the tasks of fleet air defense.

The 36 Falcon parked at Wake Island Airport all had large fuel tanks. And there were no external weapons hung, just the ground bomb bay of the aircraft gun was filled with shells. After receiving the news, the 36 pilots who were on standby did not hesitate and immediately rushed to their fighters. The first Hayabusa took to the air at 7:15 a.m. Within five minutes, all 36 fighters left the airfield and flew in the direction of the landing fleet in the form of two simultaneous takeoffs.

The fighters did not fly at the optimal cruising speed, but at the maximum cruising speed of 220 knots per hour, and as a result, after all the fighters reached the skies above the landing fleet, they could not return to Wake Island, even if they did not engage in air combat with enemy fighters, and finally had to make a forced landing on the surface of the sea, or parachute. The 36 pilots did not think about returning to Wake Island, all they could think of was to get to the landing fleet before the American bomber group to provide cover for this fleet, which was seriously lacking in air defense.

It would take about an hour and 40 minutes for the fighters to reach the skies over the landing fleet (in the same time, the landing fleet would sail about 40 nautical miles south, thus shortening the range by 40 nautical miles).

When the U.S. Task Force 51 sent out its bomber group, it was only 200 nautical miles away from the landing fleet, and it only took an hour and a half for the bombers to reach the landing fleet.

Both sides were scrambling for time, and Major Wang Xiaotian, who led the "Falcon" group, was well aware of the situation in front of him. At night, when Liao Hanxiang sent the news, he gathered his pilots, gave a general explanation of the situation, and at the same time told the others the information they had sent. Although Wang Xiaotian was not able to enter the carrier-based aviation unit (this is the most elite unit of the Navy, and only the best pilots are qualified to serve on aircraft carriers) and did not know much about the decisive battle of the fleet, he knew that General Liao Hanxiang had sent a telegram in the middle of the night asking them to prepare for departure, and the situation must have been extremely urgent.

If it weren't for the fact that the speed of the fighter could not continue to increase because of the hanging of the auxiliary fuel tank, Wang Xiaotian would definitely let the group fly a little faster. 400 nautical miles is too far away, and if they arrive late, in one step, then 36 fighters will not play any role! Looking at the rapidly rotating numbers on the fuel gauge (there are two ways to display the fuel gauge on the fighter jet, one is the pointer in the middle, and the other is the index gauge at the bottom right of the dial, where the index represents the liter, and a large scale of the hand represents a hundred liters), Wang Xiaotian was anxious, he was not anxious about the speed of fuel consumption, but the speed of the plane.

Wang Xiaotian is a native of Shanxi, and unlike most Shanxi people, he did not go to the rivers and lakes. When he was about to graduate from middle school, HNA went to Shanxi to recruit new recruits, at that time the aviation can be said to be a hot industry, not only good treatment, but also access to aircraft, Wang Xiaotian was signed up for the army at this time, he was admitted to HNA with the second place in the county, and entered the aviation academy of HNA in that year (not the academy from which Hao Dongjue graduated). But the result was not as good as he imagined, and when choosing the direction, because his physical fitness was not as good as that of other students of the same period. Wang Xiaotian was not assigned to the fighter unit, but was assigned to learn to fly a reconnaissance plane. Before the outbreak of the war, Wang Xiaotian served in the Navy's ground patrol aircraft unit. And has become a second lieutenant officer.

After the outbreak of the war, the HNA lost a large number of pilots. In particular, fighter and bomber pilots are obviously impossible to wait for pilots from new training sites, so HNA selects outstanding pilots from the previous second-tier aircraft groups such as patrol planes, reconnaissance planes, and transport planes to be integrated into the fighter and bomber units. It was at this time that Wang Xiaotian entered the fighter unit. It is also because of this that he was not able to enter the carrier-based aviation units, but was assigned to the shore-based fighter units. After three months of training in fighter flight and air combat, Wang Xiaotian was assigned to the front-line unit in early '22, and the first fighter he flew was the "Sparrowhawk" that had been eliminated from the carrier-based aviation unit.

From "Sparrowhawk" to "Vulture" to "Falcon", the world has also gone from 22 to 25 years.

In more than three years of campaigning, Wang Xiaotian was promoted from second lieutenant to major, from an ordinary fighter pilot to the squadron leader of a shore-based fighter squadron. In these more than three years of fighting, Wang Xiaotian was shot down twice. Five pilots of seriously damaged fighters returned to the airfield. In these seven thrilling experiences, Wang Xiaotian came back alive. At the same time, he fought from the island of Ryukyu to the Korean Peninsula. Then to mainland Japan, then to the Mariana Islands, then to Wake Island, and then to the Solomon Islands. Finally back to Wake Island. In more than three years of fighting, Wang Xiaotian became an ace pilot in 23 years, and now, his record has reached 21, and he is one of more than 200 fighter pilots of Hainan Airlines who have a record of more than 20 aircraft.

The fighter jets were flying rapidly, and every five minutes, Wang Xiaotian would look at the fighters around him and make sure that all his comrades were following him. He remembered that when he was selected, he was assigned to the patrol aircraft unit, and he almost despaired because of this, the purpose of any pilot who joined the air force was to fly fighters, not to carry out reconnaissance patrols! If it weren't for the war, he would have been left in the patrol aircraft unit for the rest of his life, and at most he would have been assigned to the aviation school as an instructor after the age of forty-five, and he would probably end up only as an aviation captain. Although this will make him worry-free for the rest of his life, it is just a dull life, not a wonderful, colorful, and full of ** and struggle.

"Squadron leader, received a message from the fleet, channel 5."

Hearing the wingman pilot's voice, Wang Xiaotian immediately turned the channel knob on the radio station, and when the scale pointer pointed to "5," he heard a murmur from the earphones, and then heard the call of the fleet's air defense guide.

"How far are we from the fleet?" After listening for a while, Wang Xiaotian knew that it was the fleet's air defense guide calling for fighters.

, 86 nautical miles, it will probably take more than 20 minutes. ”

"Be combat-ready, maybe the enemy will reach the skies over the fleet before us." Wang Xiaotian said as he looked at the sky in front of him, "The first squad is below the clouds with me, the second and third teams go above the clouds, pay attention to keep in touch, after encountering the enemy plane, the two formations will act together, don't scatter, focus on hitting the bombers who did not drop bombs!" ”

The 24 Hayabusas, which followed behind a small group, quickly burrowed into the clouds, while the 12 fighters in front remained flying at an altitude of about 1,500 meters.

"Throw away the drop tank in five minutes." Wang Xiaotian gave the order very calmly, "Brothers, maybe we won't be able to fly back, and after running out of fuel, we will make a forced landing near the battleship or parachute." This may be the last time we will work together, brothers, the Imperial Eagle will not back down! ”

"Never back down!" The other pilots shouted, the battle cry of the squadron.

"Okay, after the battle, if you're lucky, I'll invite you to drink!" Wang Xiaotian laughed, "Brothers, see you after the battle!" ”

The two "Falcons" were the first to throw off the auxiliary fuel tanks, and by this time they were already less than 50 nautical miles from the fleet. Then, two "Falcons" of another formation also lost their auxiliary fuel tanks. The four fighters rapidly accelerated, and this was a new formation tactic summed up by the shore-based fighter unit of the naval aviation in actual combat.

In the past, the shore-based fighter units of the Navy adopted the tactics of a two-plane formation modeled on the carrier-based fighter units, but in actual combat, the superiority of the two-plane formation was very inconspicuous; in the air defense operations that mainly intercepted enemy bombers, the air defense fighters were easily intercepted by the enemy's escort fighters; if the two-plane formation tactics were still adopted, the wingmen could not effectively guarantee the safety of the long planes, so it was very easy to be attacked by the enemy's escort fighters when attacking the enemy bombers.

Fighter pilots summed up this new set of tactics in actual combat, using the second formation to cover the first formation, and the four fighters acted in coordination, under normal circumstances, the two fighters of the first formation were responsible for the attack, and in extreme cases, only the captain of the first formation was responsible for the attack, while the other three fighters were all responsible for covering. Although this will reduce the number of enemy bombers intercepted at a time, it will improve the accuracy of fighter attacks, which is very effective in improving the survival rate of fighters and dealing with enemy escort fighters.

The closer we got to the fleet, the more rapid the call on the radio became, and the American bomber group had arrived and was attacking the landing ships in the fleet. The landing ships carried the officers and men of the landing team, but the landing ships only had a few small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, and the other was machine guns and rifles in the hands of the officers and men of the Marine Corps.

"Prepare for battle, do you see the enemy plane in front of you?" Wang Xiaotian quickly adjusted the communication channel, "We are responsible for the attack, and the one behind will follow up and cover, and we are going to kill today!" ”

At the same time, the wingman pilot called the fighters of the other two squads, the enemy bombers were under the clouds, and in order to protect the fleet, the bombers were the first target, there was no particular need, and they should not be entangled with the enemy escort fighters.

Wang Xiaotian raised the engine to the maximum output, and then pulled up the fighter.

He had already spotted two SBDs that were preparing to enter the dive channel, which was the target he was going to attack, and shot them down before the enemy bombers dropped their bombs, so that he could protect the battleship on the sea!