863 The Sunset of the Old Empire Sixteen Tails Raid Asks for a Monthly Pass and Asks for a Subscription

"Colonel, are we going to ambush the Chinese devils!" The voice of the captain of "Haiyan 5" with excitement came from the earphones.

"Ambush?" The corners of Anderson's mouth hooked, and he smiled bitterly. If your pipe-nosed bird's nest performance is a little better, this may be an opportunity, right? Climb on top of your opponent's head, lurk in the clouds, and wait for them to make a sudden dive as they pass below...... Colonel Anderson, who had fought in the air battle in the North Sea a few months earlier, knew it wouldn't work. The opponent's 18 to 20 FW-190Cs can easily wipe out their own 40 Tubenose Swallows even in the event of a surprise attack! And the air combat performance of that A-4B dive bomber is also good, at least much better than the Swordfish and Barracuda escorted by itself. If the two sides fight an air battle here, it will definitely be their own side that will be defeated! If their 192 carriers are defeated by the Chinese, then this naval battle in the Indian Ocean will be lost.

"Nope! We track them with radar, find their aircraft carrier, and take it out! After saying that, Anderson turned off the electricity, and with a slight pull of the joystick, the pipe-nosed swallow raised the nose of the plane and flew towards the clouds high in the sky. It was followed by 191 British carrier-based aircraft with torpedoes and bombs.

……

At this time, it is on the surface of the Indian Ocean near the equator. Towards noon on this day, the Chinese advance fleet was hiding under a thick cloud cover. Just like the British aircraft carrier formation, which had just been flattened by Chinese carrier-based aircraft and lost the aircraft carrier USS Tejour, in this era when airborne radars were just beginning to be put into use, the top admirals of the Chinese Navy still used the clouds as an umbrella to hide the fleet's tracks.

The fleet rode the waves, and a ray of scorching golden light from the scorching sun near the equator pierced the thick clouds and painted the steel behemoths a dappled golden color. Admiral Zhao Zheng crossed his arms and stood on the island of the aircraft carrier Taiwan, looking at this small formation of six warships with satisfaction. A 27,000-ton aircraft carrier Taiwan, a 15,000-ton Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, four 3,000-ton Type 1936 destroyers. Although there are only six warships, this formation has become a formidable strike force because of one aircraft carrier!

Just an hour earlier, 83 carrier-based aircraft sent by the USS Taiwan had raided a British aircraft carrier battle group. The battle report has been sent back, and the results that can be confirmed are that one Southampton-class light cruiser was sunk, two W-class destroyers were sunk, and the aircraft carrier Radiance was subjected to at least four 500-kilogram armor-piercing bombs! The whole ship burst into flames. Not surprisingly, this aircraft carrier will not escape the doom of heavy damage, and it will need to be overhauled for at least a year before it is possible to return to the battlefield. By then, the war in Australia will be over. The Chinese side lost only three A-4B Thunderhawk dive bombers and six crew members in this battle.

Now there is no need to worry about the Brilliant, but the British still have three aircraft carriers on the run, and although eight aircraft carriers have been sent to chase them, they have not yet been found. There are still 6 hours to go before it gets dark, and if nothing is achieved by then, then this naval battle will not be a complete victory.

At this time, a shrill whistle sounded on the warship, one long and two short, which was a signal to clear the flight deck and that it was the return of its own carrier-based aircraft. Zhao Zheng raised his head, raised the telescope hanging around his neck, and searched carefully in the air to the south, and vaguely saw dozens of black dots flying rapidly.

Just when Zhao Zheng was full of joy for the safe return of most of the carrier-based aircraft, suddenly the whistle on the warship sounded again, and this time it was a piercing long sound over and over again, which was the siren of the enemy planes! Zhao Zheng, who was standing in the ship island, was startled, and saw the chief of staff, Meng Hailong, talking in a low voice from the radar director, his face changed greatly, and he shouted loudly: "Commander! The radar detected enemy aircraft, numbering about 200 aircraft, at a distance of 85 km, at an altitude of 5000 meters, at a speed of 200, coming to us! ”

"Hell! They were the carrier-based aircraft that tracked us back to find us! ”

Zhao Zheng shook his head and smiled bitterly. In order to let the carrier-based aircraft return as soon as possible, he ordered the carrier-based aircraft group to throw off the Min-25 equipped with radar and return first, but he didn't expect it......

"Sir! Carrier-based aircraft request landing, they are running out of fuel! This is the air traffic control director shouting loudly again. The returning carrier-based aircraft have flown back and forth for more than a thousand kilometers, most of the A-4Bs are running out of fuel, and the FW-190C has a slightly longer range, but it will not last long.

"Let Gao Zhihang lead the fighter squadron for a while, and the aircraft carrier will first recover the A-4, and then send the second fighter squadron." Zhao Zheng made a decision after a little thought, he couldn't give up the 62 A-4Bs, without them, the Taiwan would not be able to play a role in the next battle. Now there are still three British aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean, and they will not be more than 200 nautical miles away from the Taiwan, because no matter how far it goes, the 192 British carrier-based aircraft will not be able to fly back!

……

"Attention all Barracuda dive bombers! The first wave of attacks is launched by you, and the target is the Taiwan! ”

"All the Tubenose Swallow fighters, rush with me, entangle those FW-190s, they will run out of fuel, just entangle them."

"All Swordfish torpedo planes, five-five formations, target Taiwan, throw all the torpedoes down to me, you must sink the Taiwan!"

"God bless my king! Kill! ”

At this time, the commander-in-chief of the British carrier-based aircraft group, Colonel Anderson, also began to give combat orders. According to the original combat doctrine of the British Royal Naval Aviation, dive bombers were supposed to attack in conjunction with torpedo bombers, but at this time Anderson did not care about this. With a range of 85 kilometers, those swordfish can't fly at all without 20 minutes! Twenty minutes later, the FW-190C on the Taiwan was probably fully fueled and had already lifted off, and with its own forty tube-nosed swallows, it was impossible to stop them.

And now, just taking advantage of the opportunity of the Taiwan to withdraw the carrier-based aircraft, it launched a surprise attack. Let 75 Barracuda rush up first, no matter how fierce the opponent's anti-aircraft fire is, just grit your teeth and drop the bombs in one go! As long as a few 250-kilogram armor-piercing bombs can hit the flight deck of the Taiwan, this aircraft carrier will not be able to send carrier-based aircraft to fight for the time being! By then, the Taiwan will not be meat on the cutting board of a swordfish torpedo bomber? As long as you can sink the Taiwan, even if you fight all the barracudas, it's worth it!

It was precisely with this mentality of fighting hard to pull down that the 75 Barracuda bomber planes, almost after seeing the Taiwan aircraft carrier battle group, rushed to the wide deck of the target, hoping that they could blow it to shreds.

The 18 FW-190C fighters covering the aircraft carrier also knew that the British were desperate when they saw this posture, and immediately dispatched 8 planes to block 40 pipe-nosed swallows, and the remaining 10 planes swooped straight into the barracuda bomber group, spewing out strings of flames at them! The Nanjing Heavy Patrol and four 1936 destroyers surrounded the aircraft carrier tightly, and more than 200 antiaircraft guns and machine guns opened fire non-stop, weaving a network of fire around the Taiwan.

And so the duel shock began. Without hesitation, 75 Barracudas rushed into the powerful fire of the F cannons, and the remaining 67 Barracudas still did not hesitate to break through the fire net composed of the anti-aircraft fire of surface ships. It's like a suicide plane for the Japanese!

"Boom! Rumble! Boom ......" several dazzling fires burst out in the sky above the Taiwan, and it was four Barracuda bombers that were blown up by the fire of surface ships! There are also five barracuda dragging long black smoke into the water. However, most of the enemy planes still rushed through the fire net and began to dive and drop bombs!

"Boom......."

A column of water rose 20 meters from the port side of the Taiwan, and the sea water swept over the second deck of the Taiwan with a shock wave, pouring the sailors on several nearby anti-aircraft gun emplacements, and they were all soaked inside and out, as if they had taken a sea bath. But these gunners all looked like they didn't know anything, and they just aimed their guns at the sky and fired the shells like crazy!

"Left, left, Long Shao, two more planes rushed down on the left, dodge!"

"him***! How are these British like the Japanese? ”

"Don't talk nonsense, take the helm, the Taiwan is all up to you!"

The atmosphere on the island of the Taiwan was also extremely tense, and everyone was staring at the air, only to hear Meng Hailong, chief of staff of the island, and Long Yuhui, the captain of the Taiwan ship, who was personally maneuvering the warship to dodge left and right. At this moment, the rudder in Long Yuhui's hand turned fast, and the 27,000-ton aircraft carrier was as nimble as a four-wheel drive military jeep in his hands, dodging left and right in the middle of the bombs that rained down, and it actually lasted for 10 minutes and was still unscathed. However, the good fortune of the Taiwan ended there, and in the 11th minute of the air raid, with a dull roar, the entire aircraft carrier shook slightly, and a ball of flames rose from the starboard side of the Taiwan aircraft carrier.

"Sir, the right side of the flight deck of the USS Taiwan has been hit by a bullet and caught fire......."

"Hell! Can the plane still take off? ”

"You can fly, but you can only take off one at a time."

Hearing that the plane could still take off, Zhao Zheng Tieqing's face looked a little better, he looked at the burning flight deck, and saw that dozens of damage management team members had arrived at the scene, spraying water with rubber tubes to extinguish the fire, and the fire seemed to have been controlled. However, the opponent's attack was really crazy enough, ignoring the dense anti-aircraft fire, desperately diving again and again. Fortunately, due to the distance, these Barracuda dive bombers carried only a limited number of bombs, each aircraft only had one 225-kilogram semi-armor-piercing bomb, which was enough to destroy the flight deck of the Taiwan, but it was not sunk if it took a few of them. And now these dozens of Barracuda have almost finished dropping bombs, except for the Taiwan and Nanjing, which each received a bomb, and it seems that they have not achieved much success. Let's give the British's torpedo bombers to the field, right?

If a few torpedoes are allowed in the thin hull of this aircraft carrier, I am afraid that it will be more than lucky.

Thinking of this, Zhao Zheng raised his binoculars and looked at the sky in the distance, dozens of slow-flying Swordfish torpedo bombers were getting closer and closer to the battlefield!

"Gui Dan, can the second fighter squadron take off now?" Zhao Zheng put down the binoculars and turned his head to ask Major Li Guidan, the staff officer of the fleet aviation behind him.

"Now let the fighter take off!"

Looking at the enemy planes that were constantly diving down outside and the dense anti-aircraft artillery fire like a fire net, Li Guidan gasped and said: "Theoretically, it is possible, but the anti-aircraft firepower needs to be adjusted, which may affect the air defense effect, and it is also possible to be injured by mistake." ”

"Give the order...... Zhao Zheng waved his hand to interrupt the young aviation staff officer, and said: "Let the second fighter squadron leave those barracudas and tubenose swallows alone after taking off, their target is a Swordfish torpedo bomber, and they must not let a Swordfish get close to the aircraft carrier!" ”

Looking at the absolute expression on the face of the fleet commander, Li Guidan knew that the fleet had reached the most dangerous moment, and compared with the aircraft carrier Taiwan, accidentally damaging a few FW-190Cs was simply an insignificant loss. Just as he picked up the phone and gave the order to the 2nd Fighter Squadron to attack. The communications staff officer on the side suddenly shouted excitedly. "Your Excellency, Commander! The Cloud Eagle 12 has discovered a British aircraft carrier! The bearing is east longitude xx; Latitude xx south. ”

Hearing this news, a burst of surprise flashed on the faces of Zhao Zheng and Meng Hailong at the same time, and the two ignored the fierce confrontation outside, and both strode to the chart table, on which Meng Hailong quickly marked the location of the newly discovered British aircraft carrier.

"Sir, within the operational range of the aircraft carrier of Chief Chen's Western Fleet!" Meng Hailong said after measuring the distance.

"Good! Order Chen Hualong to attack, send all the A-4Bs out to me, and be sure to sink the British aircraft carrier! Zhao Zheng ordered.

"Do you want the main force of the Nanyang Fleet to send carrier-based aircraft?"

"No need, let them send ships to us." Zhao Zheng thought about it and said.

Meng Hailong was stunned for a moment and reminded: "Commander, it will take at least 30 minutes for their ships to fly over, I'm afraid the battle here is over, right?" ”

Zhao Zheng smiled coldly: "I didn't let them save the Taiwan." I'm telling them to follow those British carrier-based planes to their aircraft carriers! ”

"The Brits will find out, they have a seaplane with a radar." Meng Hailong hesitated.

Zhao Zheng straightened up, cast his gaze on the air that was fighting fiercely, snorted coldly, and spit out a few words. "I just want them to jump into the sea!"

……

"Sir! Chinese planes! ”

Colonel Anderson had just used his superior piloting skills to complete a series of tactical maneuvers such as circling, rolling, diving, and pulling, and finally threw off an FW-190C, and the shouts of the navigator Sever, who was in the rear driver's seat, rang out again.

"What! There are Chinese planes again! "Colonel Anderson was so anxious that he was about to cry, this still doesn't let people live! In less than 10 minutes, half of his 40 tube-nosed swallows were gone, and the opponent was only 8 FW-190s! The speed of these tube-nosed swallows of their own is not as good as that of others, and the maneuvering and turning performance is not as good as that of their opponents, so they can't climb and dive! If it's not an ace pilot like himself, as long as he is bitten by the other party, he will die!

"Colonel, it's not the Chinese planes that bite us." Severe finally said something that relieved Colonel Anderson, but the next one caused the Colonel's heart to fall into the ice hole. "It's the USS Taiwan that has more than a dozen FW-190s taking off! They're below us, and they don't seem to be coming at us. ”

"Not for us? Who is that going to? Anderson froze for a moment, then hurriedly deflected his wings and looked down. I only saw a dozen FW-190Cs painted with blue sky and white sun markings on their wings flying towards the right front of the aircraft carrier formation at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, which was ...... Anderson looked in the direction of the Chinese plane's flight and soon spotted dozens of Swordfish torpedo bombers flying slowly.

"They're going to deal with the swordfish! These Chinese devils are going to deal with the swordfish! Anderson couldn't help but shout, if these dozen or so FW-190s rushed into the middle of those slow-moving swordfish, it would be a one-sided slaughter! And if those swordfish want to escape for their lives, the only way is to throw away the torpedo to reduce their weight......

"Squadron of Victories, Squadron of Fearful Fighters, you pester those 8 FW-190s, and the others come with me! Let's stop the FW-190 down there, we can't let them hurt the Swordfish! ”

"But sir! There are only 4 tube-nosed swallows left in our squadron! ”

"So are we, we only have 5 ...... pipenoses"

The protests of the leaders of the two fighter squadrons of the Victory and the Dreadsome were heard from the headphones. Two squadrons, 9 Tubenose Swallows went to engage 8 FW-190s, and the consequence was, of course, the total annihilation. But Anderson has no choice, this is a battlefield, and someone must die for the British Empire! He took a deep breath and ordered, "It's an order!" Now I command you to die for the sake of the King, for the sake of the British Empire! ”

"Oh God! You can't do that......" There was a wail in the headphones.

"Die! Go now!!! After shouting this sentence into the headset with all his strength, Anderson reached out and pressed his left hand on the switch of the onboard radio station and turned it off. Then with a strong push of the control stick with his right hand, the plane dived towards a dozen FW-190s below. Although Colonel Anderson already knew that it was futile, in order to fulfill the duty of a soldier, he had no choice but to fight!

……