"Rudolph, this knife is for you!"

On the afternoon of 17 March, in the hangar of the USS Akagi, Shigeru Itaya, who was about to fly a Comet carrier-based bomber, suddenly handed the katana in his hand to Little Hesman, who had come to see him off. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Little Hersman took Itaya's katana, a long knife with a beautiful scabbard - I wonder how it got into the cockpit of an airplane?

"What's wrong? You don't bring a broadsword on the plane anymore? Little Hersman asked a little strangely.

"Get on the plane with a big knife...... Haha, that's a really stupid thing to do. Shigeru Itaya laughed, "Rudolph, you're right, what do you want to do with a knife when I fly the plane?" So when I saw you today, I gave you this knife, and I won't bring it to heaven anymore. ”

"So...... Can I bring a parachute? "It's normal to be shot down, I've been shot down five times by the enemy." ”

In other words, Hirschmann's piloting skills are really not good, he crashed three times in the European theater, and when he went to the Pacific theater, he lost two more FW-190T. However, his life is relatively large, and every crash is thrilling.

"Baga!" Shigeru Itaya glared at Little Hersman, who was talking nonsense, "Isn't this cursing me?" I'm about to strike, so I'd better say a few nice words. ”

"Bring a parachute, and then the martial arts will last for a long time, so it's always okay, right? However, Itaya, several new planes from the Americans are really powerful now, so be careful. Hersman Jr. mentioned the parachute because he was worried about his Japanese friend, who had fought with the American F4U and F6F in the North Pacific, and had read many reports of the P51, and knew that all three types of aircraft were difficult to deal with, and that his two crashes in the Pacific Ocean were caused by F4U and F6F.

After listening to Little Hersmann's words, Itaya Shigeru didn't take it too seriously, he had been with the German pilots like Little Hesmann for a long time, and knew that the Germans were not good at talking, and they were all guys who had one thing to say and two things to say.

"Okay." Itaya nodded, took the parachute from one of the deck crew members beside him, put it on his back, and said with a smile, "Rudolph, wait to hear our good news!" ”

After speaking, he strode towards the Comet carrier-based crit plane he was piloting. This is a dive bomber that can fly up to 580 km / h, and its speed even exceeds that of the Zero, and it can easily break through the interception of US fighters from an altitude of 6,000 meters.

However, this high speed also has a side effect, that is, the speed of the dive is faster, and the accuracy of the bomb is reduced. In the Japanese naval aviation, only such an experienced "old driver" as Shigeru Itaya could fly such an aircraft. Itaya Shigeru also changed from a Zero Pilot to a Comet Pilot because of this reason.

In the attack plan drawn up by Mitsuo Fuchida based on the instructions of Jizaburo Ozawa, among the 180 fighters that formed the first attack wave, there were 120 comet ship critique aircraft carrying 500 kg of armor-piercing bombs.

In 3 hours, they will bring a devastating disaster to the US Task Force 19!

……

"Hasn't the radar found it yet?"

Rear Admiral Smith of the U.S. Navy aboard the heavy cruiser Wichita seemed to be waiting a little impatiently, and once again turned back to ask his chief of staff.

Stannap. Colonel Lin looked at the blue sky outside the bridge and the F6F fighters hovering in the sky, then shook his head and said, "Sir, maybe the Japanese don't plan to attack us......"

Before he could finish his words, the phone rang, and the staff officer picked up the phone and answered first, and then his face changed rapidly.

"What's wrong?" Colonel Lin immediately inquired when he noticed the anomaly.

"Here they are...... Radar detects enemy aircraft, more than 100 in number, 6000 at altitude and 100 (miles, equivalent to 160 km). ”

"Just in time! Order all the fighters to take off and intercept them! When Rear Admiral Smith heard the news, he immediately jumped to his feet and immediately ordered all the fighters on the three Borgs to take off to meet them.

Since the German JU288 and remote-controlled gliding bombs replaced submarines as the main threat to American ships. Therefore, the main task of US escort aircraft carriers is now air defense rather than anti-submarine, so the types of equipment equipped are also different from those in history. Each Borg-class escort carrier has a squadron of F6F and a squadron of F4U, a total of 24 fighters, plus 4 reserve aircraft.

In addition, although these Borg-class aircraft carriers are small, slow and unbeaten, they do not cut corners on the catapult, and all of them are equipped with flywheel catapults - the current catapults have just developed to hydraulic catapults, and the United States and Britain have this technology, but it has not yet been popularized, and the Japanese aircraft carriers are taking the path of gunpowder catapults, so there are no available catapults now - 18 carrier-based aircraft can be ejected into the sky in a very short time (the flywheel is an energy storage catapult, and the energy storage is temporarily unusable), Together with the 18 F6Fs that are now in the sky, 72 F6Fs and F4U are soon circling back and forth around the perimeter of the 19th US Task Force formation.

As the commander-in-chief of the first attack wave, it was Shosa Takahashi from the aircraft carrier Shozuru, who was an "old man" who graduated from the 56th phase of the Navy, two years earlier than Shigeru Itaya, so he was naturally an experienced elite. In the past year or so of war, he has led a fleet of aircraft to battle more than once. However, I have never encountered the F6F and F4U, I have only seen their photos, and I have heard about these two difficult American aircraft from the pilots of several light aircraft carriers on escort missions.

After discovering that the fighters circling in the air to cover the US aircraft carrier were F4U and F6F, Takahashi knew that there would be a bitter fight today.

He first gave an order to the squadron leaders of the six fighter squadrons under his command: "Sasai-kun, Shiga-kun, Shinto-kun, Fujita-kun, Tsukamoto-kun, Okajima-kun, the Americans' fighter planes have been handed over to you, please!" ”

"Hay!"

"Onboard!"

A cheering echo was heard from the airborne radio imported from Germany. Apparently, the leaders of the 6 fighter squadrons are full of confidence.

Then Takahashi began to give orders to the leaders of the 6 crit squadrons (Takahashi himself was also a crit pilot), and assigned 3 escort carriers, 1 heavy cruiser and 2 large light cruisers in the sea below to 6 crit squadrons.

"Ekusa-kun, Itaya-kun, Kobayashi-kun, Murata-kun, Ema-kun, Sanfu-kun, follow the official charge, onboard!" As soon as Takahashi finally shouted, he maneuvered his comet ship's crit plane and dived at full speed towards the American ship formation below.

At the same time, the 60 escorted Zero Type 52 fighters were already one step ahead of the US fighters in the sky. Although the pilots who flew these Zero 52s were all elite, and they had all learned a lot about the F4U and F6F before, everyone was still taken aback.

Lieutenant Sasai Koichi, who has the nicknames "Military Rooster" (I don't know if it's because of the Richthofen of Japan) and "Japan's Richthofen", was a shore-based pilot of the "Tainan Air Force" at the time of the war, and shot down many F2A, P40, and F4F in the Philippine and South Pacific theaters, and also shot down the US B-17, and was the ace of the Japanese naval aviation. However, today is the first time I have participated in the battle as a carrier-based aircraft pilot.

And...... It's likely that the teacher will be unfavorable!

Because he encountered an American carrier-based aircraft that would turn in circles almost like the Zero Type 52, but he was not afraid of the Circle Sasai Alcohol, he was a veteran trump card, although the speed of the American F6F was faster than that of the Zero Type 52, but Sasai relied on his clever air mobility skills to quickly bite the other party's tail.

However, before Sasai could complete his aiming, the American plane, which was supposed to be characterized by its agility and maneuverability, suddenly began to dive at a large angle, as if it were an FW-190T. Sasai followed behind its ass for more than ten seconds, and knew it couldn't catch up. The dive performance of that plane was better than that of the Zero Type 52, not a little bit, and it ran away in the blink of an eye.

Just as Sasai was trying to find another American plane to shoot down, he suddenly noticed two strings of fire flashing from the right side of his plane - one plane was condescendingly firing at his plane.

Sasai knew that something was wrong, and hurriedly piloted the plane to do an S-shaped maneuver, trying to avoid the opponent who was diving down from a high altitude. But it was still a beat slower, and a string of 20mm cannon shells swept on the wing of the Zero 52 he was piloting, and the wing was suddenly split in two, and the plane could not keep its balance, and rolled downward.

"Now I'm going to become a god!" Sasai was unwilling, but he didn't bring a parachute, and he only had a big knife by his side, so it seemed that there was nothing he could do but wait for death. However, just as the plane was rapidly falling, he saw a ball of fire rising on the surface of the sea, apparently the work of the comet critter......

Just when Sasai Junichi, who was piloting the fighter, was shot down by an F4U that was diving from a high altitude, Shigeru Itaya excitedly shouted hooray.

Because the crit squadron he led had just established a meritorious service, sinking an American aircraft carrier!

Although the Zero fighter now meets the two sworn enemies of the F4U and F6F, it is no longer as sharp as it was when it started the war. However, the "Comet" ship's critique plane, which Shigeru Itaya is now piloting, is very difficult to deal with. Because the speed of the "Comet" is too fast, if it strikes from an altitude of 6,000 meters, it will easily break through the enemy planes and rush into the fleet's anti-aircraft fire network. Although because of the high speed of the dive, the accuracy of the bomb delivery was reduced by more than half compared with the 99 ship explosion. But a hit rate of about 30% is still enough to inflict the heaviest blow on the US fleet on the water! (To be continued.) )