Quite relaxed and enjoyable for the Red Navy fighter pilots, the US Navy pilots seem to be very difficult, compared with the zero battle that is good at circling dog fights, the F2A and F4F equipped by the US military at this time are too bulky, especially the F2A, the nickname of this aircraft is the buffalo, you know what kind of flight quality it is.

For example, when the Japanese army carried out an air raid on Midway, the F2A and F4F on the island engaged the Japanese pilots. F2A is not to be mentioned, it is almost powerless in the face of Zero Battle, and F4F is only slightly better.

For example, in the early morning, Captain Smith, an American pilot, led a four-plane formation in the air to engage the devils in the first confrontation of the Battle of Midway. The Captain Smith went to the battlefield with a bunch of rookies, namely Noyce. Second Lieutenant McLennan, John. Sergeant Lindley and Charles. Second Lieutenant Kendrick. The two lieutenants had only been flying F4F for 16 days, and Sergeant Lindley had just passed the ACTG, the Carrier Training Group's junior pilot tactical training.

That is, as the squadron leader, Captain Smith is more experienced, in fact, most of the pilots in Captain Smith's unit are not familiar with the F4F, and they have not experienced real air combat, so they are a veritable rookie unit.

At that time, the four F4Fs flew northwest after liftoff, and built an air defense patrol network northwest of Midway Island as planned. Soon Captain Smith spotted six black dots rapidly approaching from the front, and although none of the four American pilots, including him, had ever seen the Zero Battle, the alert Captain Smith immediately judged that these suspicious targets were enemy planes.

Captain Smith's guess was accurate, and that was Zero. When the warplanes of both sides met in the air at 4000 meters. Zero occupies a height advantage of 150 meters. Even the F4F's repeated attempts to climb will not help (the F4F's climbing performance is not as good as the Zero. But the gap is not particularly large), and this is not good for the next air battle. However, the next scene proves the role of man in the war, in the process of pulling up the nose to seize the height, Captain Smith soon found that he could not compete with the enemy plane, so he did not sit stupidly and wait, but launched an attack and opened fire decisively, which happened to hit the belly of a Zero Fight, so Captain Smith's first personal result was born!

Everything happens in the blink of an eye. But without this preemptive blow, the outcome is really hard to say. Because Captain Smith didn't have time to taste the joy of victory, he found that he had been bitten by the tail of two Zeros (it can be seen how awesome the Zeros' hovering type can be), tracer bullets kept passing near the cockpit, and he seemed to be able to feel the scorching heat of the warhead!

Knowing that something was wrong, Captain Smith quickly pushed the joystick and dived towards the sea, and to be honest, this action was done by him subconsciously, and he didn't realize that this action had saved his life at the time. As we all know, because the engine power is not enough, the Zero can only sacrifice structural performance for the sake of large range and excellent hovering performance. The Zero, which is too light in structure, is not good at diving, especially at high speeds (if you don't get it right, it will fall apart).

I saw the beautiful animals rushing towards the sea like a tractor. The two Zeros besieging Captain Smith were also stunned, and categorically abandoned the attack and moved on to attack the other F4Fs. Of course, although Captain Smith escaped, his heart also jumped to his throat, and in just a few minutes, more than a dozen bullet holes were left in his fuselage, but fortunately, the F4F was as solid as a tractor, the instruments and engines were normal, there were no problems with the handling, and he could continue to fight.

Captain Smith immediately began to climb, and after a few efforts found Ensign McLennan and Ensign Kendrick, who had been scattered by the Japanese plane, but Sergeant Lindley was nowhere to be found. As the squadron leader, Captain Smith, of course, could not give up his own lad, and he called Sergeant Lindley on the radio while he continued to climb and observe his surroundings.

Soon he spotted several warplanes circling and fighting on the other side, and without hesitation, he immediately rushed over with two wingmen. Sergeant Lindley was under siege, and in the previous air battle, he had been chased by two Zeros and had no way to enter the ground, and every minute or two machine gun rounds would send him an intimate greeting, by which time his cockpit canopy had been shattered.

The only good thing is that the F4F is sturdy and generally able to hold on as long as the engine doesn't hang up. It's just that Sergeant Lindley can't see any hope, because in the dogfight with the Japanese plane, he has completely learned the power of Zero Battle. Whether it was rolling or circling, the F4F was completely blown up, for example, Sergeant Lindley's cockpit canopy was shattered in a rash circling maneuver, and when the Japanese plane fired one more short shot, he estimated that it would have become a sieve.

The arrival of Captain Smith was a slight relief to Sergeant Lindley, at least not alone. It's just that this breath was quickly raised again, because just after the confrontation, Ensign McHainan's wildcat was caught by Zero Zhan in a reckless roll, and as a puff of black smoke came out of the nose, Ensign McHainan quickly pushed open the cockpit canopy and chose to parachute.

Captain Smith's good fortune also came to an end, although he once again used the dive to get rid of his opponent's entanglement, but this time the Japanese did not let him go easily, but kept hovering over him, and just as Captain Smith pulled up, a Zero gave Captain Smith a bullet in a wait-and-see manner.

Captain Smith must once again thank the designers of the F4F, the Wildcat did not have the dexterity of a cat but the sturdiness of a bucket, with a bullet hole in his body and a pierced left arm, and Captain Smith had to reluctantly withdraw from the battlefield.

The only thing to be thankful for the Wildcat's pilots is that Zero War still has to cover the 97 ship's attack on Midway, and there is no time to continue to deal with them, otherwise Ensign Kendrick and Sergeant Lindley, who are floating in the air, will inevitably enjoy the machine gun greetings of the Japanese pilots, and the devil is not a gentleman!

Captain Smith was lucky for what happened on this day, as another group of F4F pilots lost their lives before they could meet the enemy. John. Captain Dorbin recalled that he began an air patrol with three wingmen as they climbed from 6,000 to 7,000 meters. Wingman Lieutenant Nikolai suddenly reminded him that the two wingmen behind him were not right in speed and altitude and were getting farther and farther away from the formation.

Captain Dorbin hurriedly called out to the two pilots, Mike and Macaulay. But nothing happened. Captain Dorbin considered whether to go and see what the two "wayward" Wildcats were up to, but in the end he thought: "We may encounter enemy planes at any time now, and it is too dangerous to spread out in formation, and there is nothing we can do about it!" ”

Shortly after, Dobin and Nikolai continued their ascent, and they never saw Mike and Macaulay again. Lieutenant Nikolai later recalled with great chagrin: "We never saw them again, what a fool!" I often think that we have been through so much hard training. Isn't it just for this moment? But they couldn't fire even a single bullet because the oxygen supply systemTM didn't work well, and the poor boy fainted from the oxygen supply system...... This unfortunate oxygen supply system is really useless, after wearing a white triangular oxygen mask, covering your nose and face, your life is handed over to it, but it is very likely that when you turn on the oxygen supply switch, the oxygen cylinder has no pressure, nothing is left! ”

The American pilots who did not die at the hands of the Japanese army, and died in flight accidents were far more than one or two. Another Lieutenant Carrick, for example, piloted the F2A Buffalo after a hard-fought battle with Zero. By the time the plane finally receded, Lieutenant Carrick's plane was already in thick smoke, but the skilled pilot still did his best to fly the burning plane back over the airport, but he really couldn't aim at the runway, so he had to make a forced landing.

Captain Smith, who had just landed and was dragged out of the cabin by the ground crew, recalled: "Carrick's plane staggered like a goose trying to approach the runway, we all knew he had done his best, but the damn buffalo was really not good to fly, I could see that the propeller in the nose had stopped working, the plane could be planted on the ground at any moment, and the only thing we could do at the time was to pray for Carrick and hope that his luck would be better!" ”

Unfortunately, Lieutenant Carrick's luck was very bad, the beginning of the forced landing was quite smooth, his plane almost hit the ground, and then bounced up heavily, fortunately, the buffalo was very strong, and could withstand such a toss, just when the plane gradually lowered down after a continuous bounce speed, with a click, the landing gear broke, and then the plane flipped on the ground, and then grinded a trench on the ground with the residual force of the dive.

Smith sadly recalled: "When we flipped the plane over with a crane, we could see that the cockpit was all smoothed out, and Carrick's condition was terrible...... I can't stand that scene when I think about it now......"

Of course, more American pilots were still lost in the battle, such as Captain Haberman, who drove the F4F to respond to the attack on the 97 ship attack on Midway, while the escort Zero took advantage of the altitude advantage to dive and strafe the F4F that was urgently lifted into the air, and soon shot down Captain Haberman's two wingmen, only Captain Haberman reacted flexibly and rushed into the clouds to evade.

When Captain Haberman came out of the clouds, the situation was still not good, his opponent was three Zeros, after a dogfight, the difference in flight performance was clearly reflected, Haberman's plane was tightly entangled by the two Zeros, and the blue-gray fuselage trembled violently under the fierce fire of the Zeros.

Dennis. Bode later recalled that they heard the squadron leader's last voice from the radio removed from the scrapped bomber, when his friend Captain Karl was anxiously shouting, "John, there's an enemy plane behind your ass!" Attention, they're firing! ”

Haberman, on the other hand, replied breathlessly, "Understood! Got it! Do me a favor and get this damn bastard down! ”

There was silence on the radio, and Bode never saw Captain Haberman and Captain Carl again, and it is said that Haberman's fuel tank caught fire and was quickly burned into an aerial torch, the only thing that was good was that Captain Haberman was probably killed before he was scorched. As for his good friend, Captain Karl, he was quickly blown up by a volley of Zero in the ensuing battle.

Of course, there were pilots who were a little luckier, such as Major Geller, who was hit and parachuted out in a fierce battle in the air, and he recalls that battle: "I was leading a six-plane formation on air patrol at 20,000-25,000 feet (6,000-7,500 meters), and suddenly eighteen Zeros rushed out of the clouds, and we immediately met them. It was cloudy in the sky, and after only a few minutes I found out that my formation was just me and Dean. Second Lieutenant Hartley. In the initial melee. I heard the sound of a plane being hit by a bullet. But I kept fighting. Together with Hartley, I charged at the seven Zeros hovering overhead. I hit one about four minutes later, and Hartley probably hit one too. Although the enemy had only five aircraft left, we were outnumbered, and during the battle we were almost beaten into a sieve by enemy machine guns. The difference was that Hartley struggled to fly back to the airport, but my plane was so badly injured! ”

"The fuselage of my plane was full of holes, the windshield was shattered, and the cold air in the air made me shiver, and the rudder under my feet was broken at that time. The engine also caught fire, and the plane fell like a rock, and to be honest, it was a miracle that I was able to make a successful skydive...... After the skydive, I fell into the sea and floated for three hours before Katarina picked it up...... At that time, I was really worried that the Japanese planes would continue to shoot at me, and I was worried about the waves and the sharks......"

We only later knew that the United States had won the Battle of Midway, but we did not know that the troops on Midway had indeed been mistreated. Of course, their heroic struggles and sacrifices were not without meaning, not only at the strategic level that attracted the attention of Nagumo Tadaichi, but also made the vice admiral make an unforgivable mistake. More importantly, the resistance consumed part of the Japanese carrier-based aircraft.

Let's move on to the battle at sea, when a local group of TBDs and B17s flying from Midway risked their lives to attack the Japanese aircraft carriers. Another commander of the First Fleet had mixed feelings, and this person was Yamaguchi Tashi.

Speaking of which, in the Pacific War, there were hundreds of Japanese naval commanders, but to tell the truth, most of them were mediocre straw bales, and there were quite few who were really capable of fighting, and among them, there were even fewer generals who could get a good evaluation (referring to military ability) during and after the war.

The most pity in this batch of cherished pandas is that Yamaguchi smells more, this thing is a bit unworthy of death (but it is really too good for the world anti-fascist war). Objectively speaking, it was not Nagumo Tadaichi who was more suitable to be the commander of the mobile unit at that time, but Tarumi Yamaguchi. Compared with Nagumo Tadashi, Yamaguchi Tawen's mind is clearer and his insight is more excellent, and most importantly, Yamaguchi's judgment, decisiveness and action are far stronger than Nagumo Tadashi. To put it bluntly, Nagumo Tadaichi is in the Japanese Navy in terms of seniority, and he can be heard more in front of Yamaguchi, and the others are not as good.

For example, when Yamamoto proposed the famous sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, who was the first to oppose it? Nagumo Tadaichi, who at the time thought that the attack on Pearl Harbor was too risky and difficult to succeed, advocated going south to deal with Australia first according to the plan of the Navy Command Department.

And when the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was successful, and on the way back from the First Air Fleet, when Yamamoto ordered Nagumo Tadaichi to attack Midway, what did the triumphant vice admiral answer?

"Defeat Yokozuna's Sekitori, there's no need to buy a radish on the way home."

The so-called Yokozuna is the highest level of sumo wrestling, and Sekitori is a sumo wrestling with a rank of "ten taels" or more, and it is clear that Nagumo Tadaichi means that he is the one who defeated Yokozuna, and as for that turnip, it is Midway.

All in all, Nagumo Tadaichi was proud of his timidity in front of him, and he was blind when he was needed to make decisions, and it was really not a good choice to hand over the mobile unit to him. And look at Yamaguchi's many stories, whether it was the third strike in the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor (attacking oil depots and shipyard facilities) or the decision at the critical moment of the Battle of Midway, it was basically the right decision. If he hadn't ordered the Flying Dragon carrier-based aircraft to fight back and seriously wound Yorktown, the Japanese at Midway would have shaved their heads.

Previously, at half past eight, when Nagumo Tadaichi was choosing between recovering Tomanaga's attack wave or attacking the U.S. aircraft carrier, Yamaguchi suggested that the 36 ships on the Flying Dragon and Soryu should immediately attack the U.S. aircraft carrier. It's a pity that Nagumo still lacks decisiveness and is still trying to be safe, and judging from the later attacks, if he had heard Yamaguchi's attack at that time, it is estimated that the result of Midway Island would have been very different.

Standing on the bridge of the Flying Dragon, Yamaguchi could see that the Zero Combat above the fleet was relatively easily dispersed the American fighters taking off from Midway Island. However, he did not feel relaxed, because he had a feeling that at this time, the carrier-based aircraft on the US aircraft carrier had already poured out of the nest and aimed at his fleet, and the best outcome at this time was to release the carrier-based aircraft as soon as possible to try his luck.

Why does Yamaguchi think he has to fight for luck? The only thing he is counting on now is that the US planes are not strong enough or the zero battles escorted over the fleet are strong enough to minimize losses. I think that the next passivity is unavoidable, and the best result is to fight with the opponent and end up together. After fighting the aircraft carrier, the fleet can still rely on a relatively powerful formation of surface ships to capture Midway, which is better than nothing.

Therefore, he urged the air crew to step up their work again and again, and constantly suggested to Nagumo Tadaichi to launch an attack as soon as possible, but the latter still insisted on the need for fighter escorts at this time, and at this time, it was only ten minutes before the first wave of the offensive of the US aircraft carrier aircraft began...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to Chuan Liu Huagui, CJSKY, old students, Southern Rangers and Comrade Juventus!