Compared with the hot "struggle" scene on the Japanese aircraft carrier, both the American aircraft carrier and the Soviet aircraft carrier seemed to be a little quiet, and in the bridge, the commander with the general star held his breath and pricked up his ears to pay attention to any movement in the wireless, of course, there was really not much news on the radio at this time.

Carrier-based aircraft of both the Red Navy and the US Navy are on the way, and apart from the occasional gossip, there is nothing of value at all. Of course, all this gossip comes from the pilots of the U.S. Navy, who are very loyal to the feeling of being in the sky. The pilots of the Red Navy, on the other hand, maintained strict radio silence and never used the radio except in the event of an accident.

The difference between the two sides in the use of radio is not in the middle of the flight, but also in the attack operation, there is a world of difference between the two sides. American pilots are always shouting meaningless nonsense on the radio channels, it's like three thousand ducks partying. And this greatly occupies the frequency, making normal command work difficult.

The Red Navy, on the other hand, will never shout about meaningless nonsense on the channel, or simply shout about it, they have already learned a lesson in the previous attack on Tirpitz, precious frequency must not be wasted on nonsense, the most important battlefield instructions must be conveyed.

Just when Nagumo Tadaichi was still struggling to attack which target, Nobutake Kondo in the west made a move. Compared with history, the strength of Kondo Nobutake's Second Fleet has changed to a certain extent, that is, the carrier-based aircraft of the seaplane aircraft carrier have changed from Type 95 water reconnaissance aircraft to Type II water fighters on Nakajima.

This Type II water fighter is quite unique, and it was the only freak of the Scorpion Baba before the Japanese army's strong feng shui warfare was put into service. Previously in the war of aggression against China. The Japanese army's Type 95 water reconnaissance also participated in the air battle. There are even examples of downed fighters. And this result gave the Japanese Navy the idea of developing a water fighter. In 1940, the Kawanishi Company was appointed to develop the Type 15 water fighter (later known as the Gale N1K1). However, when the West Sichuan Company was actively engaged in development. The superior performance of the Zero Combat made the Japanese Navy quite satisfied, so it was decided to transform the Zero Combat into a water fighter before the strong wind was over.

Due to the strong winds of the Kawanishi Company, although the Mitsubishi Corporation was the master of the Zero War, the work of improving and producing the Zero War was too busy (in addition to being responsible for the land attack and later the Thunderbolt), so it was delayed until 1941, and the Japanese Navy had to hand over the task of renovating the Zero War to Nakajima.

The reason is also very simple, first of all, the 95-style water reconnaissance is a product of the Nakajima Company, and it has experience in seaplanes. Secondly, Nakajima is also the manufacturer of Zero Battle, and it is quite familiar with Zero Battle.

So Nakajima's engineer Shinobu Mitake began to transform Zero-Battle's water warfare, and its prototype was the Zero-War 21. The main points of the renovation are: the removal of the main landing gear, tail wheel, wingtip folding mechanism and tail hook. In addition, a 95-type water reconnaissance pontoon should be installed under the fuselage to minimize the air resistance of the support brackets, in addition, a single-column supported auxiliary pontoon should be installed under the wingtips, and the rudder with a vertical tail should be extended to the lower part of the tail and a tail fin should be added.

The whole renovation work was carried out quite quickly, and it was completed by the end of 1941, and the day of the test flight of the Type II water battle was the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Because of the good results of the test flight, the Japanese Navy soon put the Type II water combat into service.

Objectively speaking, the armament and power of the Type II water battle are exactly the same as those of the Zero War 21, and the additional pontoon support has increased the weight by about 200 kilograms. Of course, the most important thing is that the resistance is relatively large, so that the maximum speed, climb rate and range of the Type II water battle are reduced compared with the zero war. It's just that its hovering performance is still basically the same as that of the Zero Combat 21, and it is still quite good among water fighters.

At this time, the two seaplane carriers each carried 18 Type II water battles (and two other backups, in addition to 6 Type 95 water reconnaissance), that is to say, the two seaplane carriers carried a total of 36 Type II water battles, plus 9 Zero Battle Type 21 (spare three) and 18 97 ship attacks on the Ruifeng, the aviation capability of the Second Fleet at this time is still much stronger than in history. Even if the combat effectiveness of Type 2 water combat is not as good as that of the Zero Type 21, the sufficient number is still considerable.

So Nobutake Kondo, after learning the exact location of the so-called U.S. Navy task force, decided to launch a wave of attacks. 12 Zero Combat 21 (using spare planes) and 18 97 ships were released from Ruifeng in one go, ready to give the "Americans" a little color. As for why the Zero Combat 21 was dispatched instead of the Type II water battle, the reason is very simple, not only because there is a gap between the performance of the Type II water battle and the Zero War, but more importantly, its range is much shorter than that of the Zero War, and it is not enough for escort, and can only be used for fleet air defense.

At this time, Kuznetsov and Sukhoi didn't know that Kondo Nobutake had taken the lead, of course, even if they knew, they wouldn't particularly care, because at this time their fleet still retained quite strong air defense combat capabilities, ninety-six Yak-3K fighters in addition to thirty took off to escort the Ro-2, there were still sixty-six left to escort the fleet, and Kondo Nobutake's wave of thirty planes was enough for the Red Navy pilots to eat meat!

Of course, the Red Navy is also facing a certain disadvantage, that is, the Yak-3Ks that were escorting the Ro-2 are returning home, and the 24 Yak-3Ks that were previously dispatched to support the Midway air defense operation are also basically running out of fuel and need to land.

If Nanyun Zhong encountered this kind of painful situation, he basically had no choice, so he could only honestly wait for the fighter to land first, and then make other plans. But Sukhoi and Kuznetsov don't have to be like this, the beveled deck and steam catapults give the Kiev and Minsk the ability to take off and land at the same time!

When the Yak-3K roared down in the air just hung up the blocking cable, the ground crew sent it to the elevator at high speed and put it into the hangar, and in the interval between landing, the two steam catapults near the bridge on the other side also hurriedly hung the steel cable for the Yak-3K that was about to take off for catapult.

To be honest, the Red Navy was also the first time that simultaneous take-off and landing was applied in real combat, and there were indeed some problems at the beginning. The flight crew appeared to be in a hurry. Fortunately, the Yak-3K is a pure fighter. It was only necessary to refuel and reload the machine gun cannon. There is no need to install bombs or torpedoes on pylons like attack aircraft, which is much less work, so it goes quite smoothly.

Of course, it is not without problems, for example, Sukhoi lamented: "The tonnage and deck area of the Kiev are still on the small side, which limits the take-off and landing capabilities, and we are now dancing on the tip of the knife!" ”

It was indeed dancing on the tip of a knife, and on several occasions it was a little bit closer, and the take-off and landing work had to be chaotic. The landed fighter almost had to "fight" with the fighter plane that remained near the bridge and was waiting to take off. Anyway, after this high-density simultaneous take-off and landing operations in real combat, Sukhoi no longer dared to play like this on the Kiev and Minsk.

At a quarter past nine, the Japanese fighters that took off from the Zuifeng broke into the air defense network of the Red Navy's task force with a big grin. The search radar on the Arkhangelsk air defense cruiser deployed to the west of the formation detected the targets 100 kilometers away, and quickly identified them as enemy aircraft, and the Arkhangelsk concluded that they were enemy aircraft and immediately alerted the flagship Kiev. The Kyiv's air defense command center immediately ordered the Yak-3K fighters patrolling over the fleet to intercept it.

And this efficient response was unexpected by the Japanese, at least Kondo Nobutake thought that he had launched the attack first, and he was able to catch the enemy by surprise. In fact, the Russians were not chaotic at all, on one side they methodically gathered the landing fighters, and on the other side they kept releasing the Yak-3K with full fuel bombs.

Of course, the decisive Japanese attack did not fail to make Sukhoi and Kuznetsov mutter, since the enemy's attack formation came from the west. That would also prove that the enemy did have aircraft carriers to the west, which forced them to reconsider the results of the previous reconnaissance of the Strawberry Nine and Ro-2 - could it be that the enemy's main force was really in the west?

Let's be honest. This kind of information that makes Sukhoi and Kuznetsov feel helpless, and all kinds of messy and contradictory information on the battlefield is really too testing, and it would be nice if there was a way to eliminate this false information!

However, it was naturally impossible to do it in that era, and this is also the role of human beings in the context of the increasing level of science and technology. The more reconnaissance and detection means, the more intelligence will be obtained, and it is very likely that this information is disorganized and contradictory, and as a command and decision-maker on the battlefield, the judgment of "people" is particularly important. If the quality of the "people" is relatively poor, it is very likely that they will be confused by this vast amount of various information, and in the end they will delay the fighter plane and make wrong decisions.

Fortunately, at this time, Kuznetsov and Sukhoi were entangled, but there were not many ways, because all the attack planes had been sent out in one go, and now they were afraid that they were close to the intended attack target, and it was completely impossible to recall them back. In other words, even if the west is the main force of the Japanese army, these two can only stare at each other.

And this also avoided their dilemma like Nanyun Zhongyi, yes, Nanyun Sang was still hesitant at this time, he was almost ready to order the attack wave to be divided into two parts, one to the east and the other to the south, so that there is always one side that can be touched, right?

Speaking from the heart, this is a very nonsense decision, the number of attack aircraft is limited, and it is divided into two halves, no matter how you look at it, it is like weakening its own attack power, in our old saying in China, it is to choose to hurt the enemy's ten fingers instead of cutting off one of its fingers. Chances are that neither of these waves will achieve satisfactory results, and in the end, your opponent will be able to recover and kill you with one punch!

Fortunately, when Nagumo Tadaichi was about to do this, Kondo Nobutake's telegram pulled him, and Kondo Nobutake didn't say anything else but said in the telegram: "Brother has done his best to attack the beautiful animal, you are so good at yourself!" ”

Kondo's original intention was to hope that Nagumo Tadaichi would join him in attacking the Red Navy task force, but this telegram helped Nagumo Tadaichi, and the vice admiral felt: "Since Kondo's men have gone to attack the 'enemy' people in the south, then I won't join in the fun, I'd better go to the east and have a look!" ”

Nagumo Tadaichi just thinks that Kondo has already done what he wants to do when he divides the troops, so there is no need to divide the troops, and he will go directly to work in the east!

Note that the exact time at this time is half past nine, which means that after an hour of hesitation, Nagumo made up his mind with the help of Kondo. It's just that Nagumo's fleet doesn't have the ability to attack at this time, because the formation of Captain Nagatomo, who had attacked Midway before, is landing, and the aircrew in the hangar are busy dismantling high-explosive bombs and replacing torpedoes.

At about half past nine. The confrontation between the Midway aircraft carriers finally broke out. However, it was not Nagumo Tadaichi and Spruance and Fletcher who were the first to move. Rather, it is Nobutake Kondo and Sukhoi and Kuznetsov to the south.

Gorshkov later recalled: "The piercing air raid sirens went incessantly, and all the officers and sailors rushed to their positions, well, in fact, they were already in their positions." I have not dealt with the Japanese, and my understanding of them is a blank space, except for reviewing the appearance of Japanese ships and Japanese aircraft over and over again in the battlefield identification manual, I can finally see their true faces......"

"The Kiev and Minsk sailed against the wind and ejected one Yak-3K after another. The planes quickly disappeared below the water antenna, and it was only then that I realized that maybe my desire to see the real Japanese army was going to be frustrated. The current naval battle is no longer a one-lined confrontation in the era of battleships, the battle will be fought hundreds of kilometers away, and it is clear that I can't see so far! ”

"I was a little disappointed by this result, and I had to go to the operations center to see the signal on the radar display, a large dense area of light constantly flashing. I knew that each of these points of light represented an airplane, and soon the two dense spots of light coincided. And in the accusation center, only the voices of the guides on the Kiev and Minsk can be heard one after another! ”

The Red Navy's Yak-3K went to intercept enemy planes in strict accordance with the instructions of the command guide, and they would pounce on the target at a specified speed according to the designated route and at the specified altitude!

It looks pretty rigid, but it was already very high-tech in those days. At that time, the fighters did not have radar, and beyond the visual range was blind. Therefore, in the course of air defense interception, it is necessary to act in strict accordance with the instructions of the guide. The role of the pilot is to guide these fighters to spot enemy aircraft within visual range, and then the rest of the work is handed over to the pilots.

Alexei. Vasilyevich. Aleryukhin joined the Red Army in 1938, graduated from the Chkhanov Military Aviation Academy in 1939, and on June 22, 1941 flew the I-16 in Odessa against the German and Romanian invaders.

Unlike most rookies who were shot down in the first air battle with the I-16, Aleryushin did not have much experience at the time, but he survived the brutal battle and even became the first pilot from Odessa to receive the Order of the Red Banner.

Over the next year, Aleryukhin took to the air 114 times, shot down 26 enemy aircraft, and became the undisputed ace of the air. In 1942, as an excellent pilot, he entered the service of naval aviation and became a squadron leader on the aircraft carrier Kiev. And today, he will lead his squadron to be the first to fight the Japanese fascists!

"The guidance of the guide was very successful, we found the enemy plane without much effort, and they were flying smoothly a thousand meters below us, and when I came out of the clouds with the boys, even if it was far away, I saw the shocked expression of the Japanese pilot. They didn't expect us to come. This makes the fight easier! ”

At that time, Aleryuskhin was the first to dive towards the enemy plane and fired first, and it only took three short shots to shoot the 97 ship attack led by the 97 ship with a puff of black smoke falling to the surface of the sea. Immediately afterwards, the young men who followed behind Aleryushin also opened fire fiercely, dispersing the formation of the Japanese 97 ship attack like tigers from the mountains. If it weren't for the immediate arrival of Zero, Aleryushin and his lads would have had no trouble hunting turkeys.

"Zero-fight is tougher. I've heard from an American friend that its hovering performance is quite good, and today I saw that it was the case. "Of course, this excellence is nothing compared to the wild cats of our American friends, and to our Jacques, this is nothing?" ”

Soon the Yak-3K and the Zero began to fight each other in the air at 3000 meters, at first the Zero pilot tried to take advantage of the late addition to accelerate up and bite the tail of the Yak-3, but the Yak-3 did not panic like the bulky F2A and F4F, but used its excellent agility to see the move.

"We were constantly fighting in the air, and the Japanese always tried to stun us, but they couldn't. On the contrary, in the constant tail-biting chase, we who are faster and more agile gradually get rid of passivity and begin to defend and attack. My wingman Vasily seized the opportunity to deftly cut into the back of an enemy fuselage by circling in a small radius, and with a flash of fire in the nose, the Zero quickly fell apart on the surface of the sea. ”

Of course, not all Red Army pilots like to accompany the Japanese in circles, and some impatient pilots directly solve the problem in a brutal and rude way, and in the face of the entanglement of Zero Battle, they directly pull the rod and start climbing, using the climb rate beyond a section to turn a somersault to attack Zero Battle. This kind of trick usually works, because Zero's ability in this area is really mediocre.

"To be honest, I was disappointed with Zero, I thought it was a tough opponent to fight and was ready for a matchup at the top, but after the actual fight, it gave me the feeling ......that meeting was not as good as being famous" (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to the parasite Schistosomiasis, the Flowing Laurels, the Glorious Charter, the Southern Rangers and Comrade Juventus!