July 10, 1941, 2 p.m. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Sea of Japan, 50 nautical miles off the coast, the aircraft carrier "Chisei".

Minoru Genda, a staff officer of the Combined Fleet Aviation, looked up at the "eight-spoke sun flag" fluttering on the top of the island, which was a flag of the admiral, which belonged to the commander of the Combined Fleet, Isoroku Yamamoto. The raising of this admiral's flag on the USS Chicheng means that Commander Yamamoto himself is now on the USS Chicheng.

Commander Yamamoto's visit to the ship this time was not an ordinary inspection, but an important matter that had a bearing on the course of future wars. He came for the Japanese Navy's newest sharp blade, the "Comet" carrier-based dive bomber.

At this time, the flight deck of the "Chicheng" was already busy, and after the two "Comet" planes with overlapping wings were slowly lifted onto the deck by the elevator, the deck crew immediately pushed them to the stern take-off assembly point, and then slowly stuffed the 500-kilogram training bombs that had been prepared into the bomb bay on the belly of the plane with a cart.

Minoru Genda rushed over, came to one of the "Comet" planes, and asked in a loud voice the captain of the "Chicheng" aircraft carrier, Mitsuo Fuchita, who had just climbed into the cabin: "Fuchida-kun, are you sure?" ”

As a result of the fact that Germany supplied Japan with a batch of liquid-cooled engines of the DB601E type through Sweden, the production of the Comet carrier-based dive bomber was significantly accelerated. Now it has reached 15-20 planes per month, which is basically mass production.

According to Yamamoto Isoroku and Kuroshima Kameto's earlier assumptions, before December 1941, that is, on the eve of the war between the United States and Japan, all six fleet aircraft carriers of the Combined Fleet would be replaced with the Type 99, which had a larger bomb load and a faster speed.

However, when the aircraft carriers of the Combined Fleet began to receive the "Comet" dive bombers, a very troublesome problem arose -- the "Comet" carrier-based dive bombers were equipped with liquid-cooled engines with less resistance because of the excessive pursuit of high speeds, and this caused the "Comet" planes to be too fast when they landed on the ship, and it was easy to fall off the deck. After the official start of equipping the aircraft carrier, 4 aircraft fell within a month, resulting in the death of 3 crew members.

Considering that there are not many "Comets" on the four fleet aircraft carriers (and two will not be completed until September), it is not a small number to lose four in a month. That's why Yamamoto 56 personally boarded the aircraft carrier "Chicheng" to inspect the situation.

"Genda-kun, don't worry, I won't fall to my death on the deck of the Chicheng!" Fuchida Mitsu Yunakasa replied with a big laugh. He graduated from the 52nd phase of the Navy, and he was a classmate of Minoru Genda, and they were both "old birds" who had been flying for sixteen or seventeen years. Although the Comet is difficult to control, it can be handled by the experienced Fuchida.

The pilot who flew the other "Comet" was Takashi Egusa, who graduated from the 56th class of the Navy. It is also an "old bird" with more than 10 years of flying experience. In terms of flight time and piloting skills, Hersmann's son Rudolph is a "rookie" compared to them.

But how many elite pilots from naval schools can there be (the Japanese Navy recruits more than 100 non-commissioned officers and students a year, and even fewer of them become pilots)? The fact that they can fly the "Comet" does not mean that the pilots of common law carrier-based aircraft can play such a difficult aircraft. However, the fact that pilots like Fuchida and Ecao can fly at least proves that the "Comet" plane still has the possibility of boarding an aircraft carrier.

After explaining to his old classmates, Minoru Genda quickly left the take-off assembly point. At the same time, the flight commander on the deck waved the command flag in his hand vigorously.

The engines of the two "Comet" aircraft began to roar wildly, and then the huge dive bombers sped on the deck, and at a distance of about ten meters from the bow, the wheels left the deck, and the planes turned to the left, and then circled and flew high into the air.

Admiral Yamamoto stood on the tall bridge of the "Chicheng" and witnessed the take-off of the "Comet" plane, but his brows were still not furrowed.

"Commander, the bomb load and speed of this 'Comet' aircraft are very ideal, far exceeding the Type 99. The problem of landing performance can always be overcome. Vice Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi, commander of the 1st Air Fleet, stood behind the mountain itself and whispered.

"But we don't have much time left, and the Imperial Council has just adopted a new national policy, which is determined to go to war with the United States." Yamamoto Fifty-six shook his head slightly, looking worried.

On the one hand, he was opposed to war with the United States, and he served as a naval attache in the United States, so he knew how powerful the United States was. If the U.S. can be rated 100 points for its industrial strength and resources, Japan can only rate it for 1 point. But knowing that he could not defeat the United States, Yamamoto Isoroku formulated a very risky sneak attack plan, hoping to use a bold sneak attack to give Japan a huge advantage in the early stage of the war.

In order to ensure the success of the sneak attack, Yamamoto 56 spared no effort to enhance the attack power of the Japanese Navy's carrier-based aircraft force, hoping to obtain carrier-based aircraft with more powerful performance. In addition, Japanese aircraft manufacturers have been asked to design new aircraft models. The "Comet" carrier-based dive bomber is the first "new model" to be developed, which is used to replace the existing Type 99 carrier-based dive bomber.

"Commander, I heard that the Germans are preparing to change the liquid-cooled engine of the 'Comet' to an air-cooled one, so as to improve the landing performance of the 'Comet'." Speaking Major General Takijiro Onishi.

Rear Admiral Yamamoto of the 11th Air Force, Rear Admiral Takaki Shiro, who is now involved in developing a plan for a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Today, I joined Yamamoto to watch the "Comet" plane take off and land on the aircraft carrier and dive and drop bombs.

"It's too late." Yamamoto Fifty-six shook his head, "Replacing the air-cooled engine will change the aerodynamic shape of the aircraft, and the wind tunnel will need to be rearranged for the test flight, at least 6 months, and then mass production will be arranged, without 10-12 months, the combined fleet will not receive the goods at all, how can we have so much time?" ”

Because the head of an air-cooled aircraft equipped with an air-cooled engine is different from that of an air-cooled engine, it is a major change if it is to be changed, and it is necessary to go to a wind tunnel and test flight, and it will be relatively fast to be able to complete it in 6 months.

In addition, the model after the change is almost a new aircraft, and there must be a process of capacity ramp-up to arrange mass production. Now that the changes are starting to begin, it is already a relatively optimistic estimate that the new model will reach production in 10-12 months.

Yamamoto paused, then said, "If the 'comet' can be used, we will use it as much as possible." The Germans were left to work on the replacement of air-cooled engines, and if they could open up the Indian Ocean lines of communication, they would be able to get ready-made models from the Germans in 10 months. As for our R&D strength, we should concentrate on the aircraft of '14 test ship attack', '15 test water battle', '16 test ship attack' and '17 test ship battle'. ”

The 14 test ship attack was later the "Tianshan" carrier-based attack aircraft. The 15 test water battle was later the "Strong Wind" type water fighter. The 16 test ship-based attack was the Meteor carrier-based torpedo bomber, a high-performance carrier-based aircraft that could simultaneously complete dive-bombing, horizontal-bombing, and torpedo bombing missions. The 17 test ship battle was a follow-up to the Zero carrier-based fighter, which was later named "Gale".

Because the German model of the Zero fighter, the Fokker Zero, has shown great might in the European theater, the Japanese military has greatly increased its confidence in its own aviation industry, and hopes to develop several advanced models that are far ahead of its opponents in order to make up for its lack of national strength.

"Commander, the Comet plane is about to drop bombs!"

At this time, Kuroshima Kameto, the immortal staff officer who had been paying attention to the "Comet" plane, suddenly shouted, and the senior generals in the command tower all stopped talking and raised their binoculars one after another to watch.

The "Comet" plane not only landed fast on the ship, but also soared very fast in the sky, with a maximum speed of 580 km/h, and could almost be used as a fighter. Level flight can reach speeds of up to 580 km/h, and the dive is of course even faster, falling from the sky like lightning and hitting two huge inflatable targets on the sea. One of the "Comets," which dropped bombs first, threw the training bombs on the sea less than 10 meters away from the target, while the other threw them more accurately and hit the target directly.

Yamamoto Isoroku and Nagumo Tadaichi both nodded with satisfaction, the "Comet" was very fast, the bomb delivery was very accurate, the bomb load was large, and its range was also greater than that of the Type 99. These four points are very important for a carrier-based dive bomber.

Being fast means it's not easy to take down, and it can fly faster from your own carrier to the enemy's carrier. The accuracy of the bomb delivery and the large bomb load mean that the "Comet" is extremely lethal. The long range allows the "Comet" aircraft to take off from a farther distance from the enemy, thus putting its own aircraft carriers in a relatively safe position.

The two planes that had completed the bomb dropping did not raise their altitude again, but circled in the air a few times before carefully landing on the deck of the "Chicheng." The speed of landing on the ship was indeed a bit fast, but as long as the training was intensified, the difficulties should still be overcome.

"Very good," Yamamoto Fifty-six put down his binoculars and said with a smile to Nagumo Tadaichi beside him, "Since Mitsuo Fuchida can, then other carrier-based pilots will definitely be able to do it through training." What is needed now is intensive training...... If you can't do it, you can also gather pilots who can fly 'Comets'. At the very least, we must ensure that there are 27 'Comet' planes on board each of the Chicheng and Kaga, so that we can be sure of victory even if we face off head-on with the US Pacific Fleet. (To be continued.) )