"General, radio detection report."

Zheng Guanhua was taken aback, and immediately took the one-page report from the staff officer, which indicated the direction.

"40 degrees, about 10 nautical miles."

There was a cloud over there, and it was relatively dense, and when Zheng Guanhua looked in that direction, he didn't see any planes.

He hesitated for a few seconds, and immediately said: "The fleet has switched to an air defense formation, and in addition, contact Jiang Wenhan and ask them to come back quickly." ”

The fleet began to turn, and Zheng Guanhua glanced in the northeast direction again, but still did not see the shadow of the enemy plane. Is there a problem with the radio monitoring station? He shook his head, definitely not, but could this abnormal radio wave really be sent by a US military reconnaissance plane?

"General, there is a call from the headquarters, abnormal signal activity, and it is judged to be an aircraft carrier of the US fleet."

Zheng Guanhua's mouth immediately opened in surprise, and when he saw the telegram sent from the theater command, and the accurate content on the telegram, he couldn't believe his eyes at all. In the northeast direction of the fleet, several electromagnetic wave signals appeared in the sea area between 180 and 250 degrees, which were determined to be emitted by the aircraft carrier radio station of the US fleet. Zheng Guanhua looked in the northeast direction of the fleet again. Fleet aircraft carriers, is it the fleet aircraft carriers of the US military?

"Do we have any bombers that haven't dropped bombs yet?" When Zheng Guanhua asked this question, it was already 9:15.

"Colonel Deng Zichao's fleet has just arrived, and it should not have finished dropping torpedoes."

"Immediately contact Deng Zichao, abandon the bombing of the US convoy, and search for the sea area where the radio waves appeared. Attack the aircraft carriers of the US fleet. Zheng Guanhua hesitated, "Maybe it's three fleet aircraft carriers, let him be careful." Other than that. Has the Jiang Wenhan fighter returned? ”

"They're all back, and they're returning at full speed."

Zheng Guanhua nodded. Let the staff officer leave. Only now did he come to his senses, where did this fleet aircraft carrier come from? Could it be that the US Navy has a seventh fleet aircraft carrier? Originally, Zheng Guanhua judged that this was Halsey's Task Force 31, but he has now rejected this judgment. Task Force 31 in Halsidi was in the second half of the night of the 19th, to be precise. It was to leave Port Vila in the early morning of the 20th, and even if it headed north at full speed, it would not appear in the waters east of Wake Island now.

But there is no intelligence that the US Navy has a seventh aircraft carrier, in addition to the three fleet carriers in Halsey, only the aircraft carrier with the board number CV-13 that escaped before, but ......

More than 20 escort warships were all surrounding the aircraft carrier, and the radar on the cruiser was rapidly activated, and then the US reconnaissance plane about 30 nautical miles northeast of the fleet was discovered. There was nothing wrong with the radar's detection, it was indeed a US military reconnaissance plane. The air defense operations staff officers in the fleet are also quickly arranging the positions of the warships. In addition, they also sent a message to Jiang Wenhan. Let Jiang Wenhan intercept the US bombers as much as possible and try to get closer to the northeast of the fleet.

As time passed, it was not only Zheng Guanhua on the aircraft carrier "Bear Lake" who was anxious. Even Jiang Wenhan, who was returning to the fleet, was anxious.

Jiang Wenhan scratched the outside of the glove a few times, and the wound just happened to be a little itchy, which made him feel very uncomfortable. All of his fighters successfully dropped bombs, and none of them were shot down. However, few of the 36 bombs hit the US military ships. After receiving the order from the fleet, Jiang Wenhan immediately asked all the fighters to return home, and increased the speed to 280 planes in one go, time is more precious than life, and they must return to the fleet before the US bombers arrive.

"Colonel, we should adjust the course and strive to intercept enemy aircraft in the direction of the fleet at 40 degrees, and try to expand the interception distance a little."

"Yes, turn with me."

The group began to turn in a small group, the three squads were close together, and all the fighter pilots knew the news of the appearance of the US fleet, and they did not speculate why there was still a US fleet operating on the battlefield, what they had to do now was to intercept the US bombers that had already taken off.

"Watch your surroundings, don't let the son of a son of a girl slip past us." Jiang Wenhan's breathing was a little short, "Brothers, there is a fleet behind us, I don't want to let that scene from half a month ago be repeated, cheer up, let the son of a bitch know what the real trump card is!" ”

Before 10 o'clock, the US military plane group appeared in the northeast direction, and Jiang Wenhan and several pilots discovered the group of more than 30 fighters almost at the same time.

"It seems like it's all fighter jets."

"Don't worry so much, let's entangle the fighters first, and the second and third squads will go to the back to look for bombers, and the American bombers will definitely be behind." Jiang Wenhan also saw it at a glance, but now he didn't let him think about it at all, why there were only fighters and no bombers in the US military fleet.

The "Falcon" fleet immediately began to accelerate, and the speed soon exceeded 300 knots.

The oncoming group of "pirates" also discovered the fighters of the Tang Empire, and then began to accelerate. Jiang Wenhan did not waste his strength, he only led one squad to intercept the US fighters, while the other two squads all bypassed from both sides to find the US bombers. The operation of the "pirates" was no exception, one squadron (equivalent to the squad of the Tang Empire's HNA) flew towards Jiang Wenhan, and the other two squadrons split up to meet the other two squadrons of "Falcon" fighters.

The air battle broke out immediately, and Jiang Wenhan soon discovered that most of the US fighters did not avoid him as before, but directly pounced on him. As a result, within ten minutes, Jiang Wenhan killed three "pirates" with five short shots. And the "pirates" of that squadron were also routed. It was only at this time that Jiang Wenhan remembered that it was too late to paint the downdown mark on the outside of the cockpit of his new plane, and perhaps those US pilots regarded him as a "rookie."

In the Tang Empire and the US Navy, "rookie" fighter pilots were told when they entered combat units that when fighting the enemy, they should never choose those enemy fighters with a large number of downed marks painted on the outside of the cockpit, but should first choose some fighters that did not have a downed mark. Wait until the actual combat ability is improved, and then go to kill the opponent's trump card. In other words, it is better for the "rookie" not to deal with the "eagle". Otherwise, the consequences will be dire. It's not just advice. At the same time, it can also give more "rookies" a chance to survive the battle and then grow into "eagles". Therefore, in battle, most of the "rookies" will avoid the "eagles" and specifically look for the opposing party's "

Rookie "go sharpening knives."

"Colonel. Team 2 is in trouble. ”

"See, go help them, don't let the son of a son of a girl slip away."

On the left side of the battlefield, five of the twelve Falcon have been shot down, and six more have been killed. Half of the pilots in this squad were newly recruited, so they didn't take much advantage in battle.

The battle soon lost its unified command, and both sides adopted a two-plane formation, with each two fighters forming a group, covering each other and attacking each other.

Jiang Wenhan first let the fighter climb to an altitude of 4,000 meters. Having chosen one of the attacking "Corsairs", he immediately began to dive, and the wingman immediately followed. The height of the two "Falcons" is rapidly decreasing. The speed is also increasing rapidly. Suddenly, Jiang Wenhan noticed that another US fighter plane was rushing towards him, and without the slightest hesitation, he immediately rushed to the left.

Then he saw a fire coming out of the wingman's wing, and the wingman fired in his place. The "Corsair" directly in front of it was hit by at least several 20-mm shells, and the "Corsair" that began to rush towards Jiang Wenhan also rushed into the range of the wingman's fire, and the second short shot quickly went out. When Jiang Wenhan pulled up, both "pirates" were shot down.

"Well done, Xiao Li, how many achievements have you had?"

"Twenty-eight, it's fun."

"Follow me and be careful to conserve ammo." Jiang Wenhan laughed, he had already brought out three ace wingman pilots, which was also a new record.

Fifteen minutes later, the remnants of the U.S. fighter began to flee. These US pilots who were able to escape alive were all veterans, and they knew very well the strength of their opponents, especially the two fighters that were constantly shuttling in the three air groups, which left a deep impression on them, and the US pilots who had fought with the Second Air Wing before knew that the number one trump card of the carrier-based aviation of the Tang Imperial Navy was in the Second Air Wing!

Jiang Wenhan did not let his subordinates pursue, and the defeat of the US fighter group was only the first step, and it was not the most critical battle, they had to intercept the US bomber group. When the surrounding "falcons" approached one after another, Jiang Wenhan found that there were thirteen fighters missing from his squadron, of which eleven were piloted by novices, and in addition, there were three novices who were not shot down, and these three people must be talented.

"Colonel, to the east, the bomber group of the American army!"

During the air battle, the group of planes had already moved more than 30 nautical miles to the north, and when Jiang Wenhan looked to the east, he immediately saw the huge group of bombers. Nearly fifty SBDs flew in a dense formation at an altitude of 3,500 meters, and the "pirates" that had escaped before were approaching.

"Rush up, three squads entangle the enemy's fighters, and the others will attack with me, don't let the enemy bombers get close to the fleet!"

The leader of the SBD had long received reports from the fighters at the front, when they saw the "Falcons"

As the fleet flew in from the west, it immediately began to reduce altitude. At least the dozen or so experienced pilots in this batch of bombers clearly knew that the machine gun in the back seat of the SBD could not stop the fighters of the Tang Empire, and the SBD was a tactical bomber, not a heavy bomber. The only way for the SBD to survive against a fighter is to escape, preferably by burrowing into the clouds, or going underneath them. At this time, there was a dense cloud in front of the US military fleet.

"Don't let them into the clouds!" Jiang Wenhan also reacted quickly.

In the clouds, it is already very good for a pilot to be able to see an enemy aircraft from a distance of several hundred meters, but for a fighter with a speed of more than 300 knots, a distance of a few hundred meters is only a few seconds of flight time, and few pilots can complete an attack maneuver in two or three seconds. In addition, dense clouds can easily allow fighters to collide. For fighters, the clouds are the natural enemy.

Too late, the "Falcon" is more than ten nautical miles from the SBD, and the SBD is only a few nautical miles from the clouds. Before the "Falcon" arrived, most of the SBDs had already burrowed into the clouds, and the first "Falcon" to arrive only intercepted the last few SBDs.

"-"

"Colonel, what should I do?" The pirates' got into the clouds, damn it, too. ”

"Go ahead and wait, fuck it, I don't believe SBD is faster than us, they can hide in the clouds for a lifetime!" Jiang Wenhan quickly made a decision, "The third team is staring at it, and the first and second teams will follow me to the bottom of the clouds to guard, I won't believe it, the son of a son of a bitch." ”

Fighting is not brute force, or even entirely technology, it can be said that fighting depends more on the mind. The target of the American bombers was the battleship on the sea, and in order to attack the battleship, these bombers had to get out of the clouds. Jiang Wenhan thought of this, but he forgot one point, that is, at the end of this cloud, it was only about 20 nautical miles away from the aircraft carrier.

The "Falcon" fighter was the fastest of the carrier-based fighters of the two navies at that time, slightly faster than the "Corsair", and even faster than the SBD. And in the entire Pacific theater, probably only the P lead D, which has just been equipped with the US Army Air Corps, is faster than the "Falcon".

In less than five minutes, Jiang Wenhan and the others came to the front of the clouds, and controlled the height at about 1,500 meters, just below the clouds. Another squad of fighters (there were only seven) flew above the clouds. More than 20 "Falcons" waited patiently for US fighters to appear.

When Jiang Wenhan saw the destroyers in the southwest direction that were sailing at full speed, he knew that he could no longer let the US bombers advance, and behind them was the fleet, and the aircraft carrier was not far from the southwest direction, and after the US bombers broke through their interception, they would soon fly over the aircraft carrier.

In the sky, more than 20 imperial pilots have the same idea as Jiang Wenhan, and some people once ridiculed them that these carrier-based fighters are the "watchdogs" of the fleet, perhaps this analogy is not appropriate, if the bombers of the US military are called "robbers" or "wolves", then these fighters are indeed "watchdogs", the fleet is their home, and their task is to make those "robbers" unable to threaten their home!