Episode 109 We're not here to jerk off

At 5:30 a.m. on the morning of the 16th, the Ming army's attack aircraft group flew over Yokosuka and divided into two groups, and the left group first pounced on the first target: Atsugi Airport was 30 kilometers northeast of Yokosuka, and the group of planes swooped over Atsugi Airport almost in the blink of an eye.

The sirens sounded at the airfield below, and the Japanese pilots ran towards the planes desperately, and the ground crews behind followed breathlessly with flight suits and the like. But at this time, the planes of the Ming army had already begun to pounce down, and the machine gun bullets were first strafed down intensively, and several columns of smoke and dust exploded on the runway, quickly passing over a fighter that had already climbed onto the runway...... Suddenly, the fighter jet, which was about to take off, let out a strange scream, made a big turn to the left, and the propeller flew out, and at the same time the engine burst into flames, and the whole plane stopped there.

The cockpit canopy "snapped" open, and the Japanese pilots inside desperately climbed out. But with a loud bang, the plane exploded, and black smoke and fireballs rose into the sky. The fuel tank was full of gasoline burning violently, and the black smoke column soared more than ten meters high, and then several Ming military planes swept past the smoke column.

This scene did not seem to have affected the other Japanese pilots. More Japanese pilots ran to the plane, climbed into the plane, pushed open the cockpit and got in, immediately started the propellers, and then took the flight suits of the ground crew next to them, hastily put them on, and prepared to start taxiing the plane.

At this time, the surrounding anti-aircraft guns also began to fire "ping pong", and black clouds appeared in the sky. But now the Ming planes are already at a very low altitude, almost grazing the roof and strafing, so the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns are just firing into the sky in vain. Only a few machine guns and anti-aircraft machine guns really came into play. In the sky, there was a line of fire, chasing the Ming planes, so that they had to dodge, and also covering the Japanese planes on the ground to take off with difficulty.

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The attack on the ground aircraft just now was mainly strafing. After a long war, the Ming army had considerable experience in ground attacks, and knew that dive bombers did not carry many bombs, at most three or four, and once they were thrown out, they would have no more, and they could only return if they wanted to replenish them. Therefore, even dive bombers are used to deal with soft and semi-hard targets such as personnel, vehicles, and aircraft, and they try to strafe as much as possible, while leaving bombs for enemy artillery, tanks, important buildings, and so on. This is even more true now, and the whole fleet knows that it is necessary to keep the bombs as much as possible and use them when bombing warships.

But at this time, the bombs of the Ming army must come into play. Dive bombers of one of the squadrons pulled up, and a dozen aircraft scattered, separately attacking anti-aircraft guns around the airfield. As a rule of thumb, dive bombers always worked well against anti-aircraft guns. During the dive, the artillery crew was strafed, and then a bomb was dropped. The anti-aircraft guns were all in the open air, with little protection, and as long as the bombs were not thrown too far, they could kill at least half of the crew. The crew of a machine gun always has four or five people, one person observes, two people manipulate the rotation and elevation angle, and one or two people carry the shells. There are even more large-caliber artillery personnel. A round of dive strafing plus bombs, even if there are two or three left alive, then it is basically impossible to operate the artillery, and this gun is scrapped.

Within a few minutes, the anti-aircraft guns around the Atsugi airfield were almost cleaned up by the Ming dive bombers, but they also consumed a lot of bombs. The threat of anti-aircraft artillery was cleared. However, there were already about 10 Japanese fighters that took advantage of the opportunity to fly and were being pressed and beaten by the Ming fighters from behind, trying to crush these enemy planes that had not had time to climb. Of course, the Ming fighters had a great advantage, and the pilots had an advantage in level and altitude, and immediately five Japanese fighters were hit before they could pull them up, dragging black smoke and falling to the airfield. Balls of fire tumbled over the runway, strewn with strings of smoking parts.

However, in this way, the Ming fighters were bound to be greatly distracted, and the strafing of the Japanese planes on the ground was greatly weakened. Ming fighters destroy an enemy plane parked on the ground in seconds. And if you want to shoot down an enemy plane that has already flown up, even if you have an advantage, you must at least use the minute meter. Just when the Ming fighters turned to attack the Japanese planes that took off, more Japanese planes on the ground were able to take off. And the more Japanese planes take off, the more Ming fighters will turn to attack them, giving more time to the Japanese planes on the ground......

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After the Ming dive bombers blew up the anti-aircraft guns, they concentrated on attacking the Japanese planes on the ground. At this time, the situation has exceeded expectations, and it can no longer be called a "smooth surprise attack", and a certain price must be paid. The Ming bomber leader also knew that he could not rely on strafing alone. He gave the order to drop the bomb.

At the sound of an order, the bombs fell one after another like meteorites, exploding one after another on several runways, and at least three Japanese planes that were already taxiing on the runways were blown into fireballs, dragging the raging flames and still rushing out of the distance. At the same time, more bombs also fell on the sides, and several Japanese planes that were evacuating taxiing also fell in the fire at once. Japanese fire trucks whistled and shuttled, and Japanese firefighters climbed on both sides of the vehicles, manipulating high-pressure water hoses to spray the flames. But in the face of the rain of bombs and strafing, this is futile.

There are burning wreckage on every runway, and even the lawns on both sides of the runway are riddled with bomb craters. Only by this time did the Japanese planes on the ground no longer be able to force their takeoff. Although there were some Japanese pilots who stubbornly drove the planes around left and right, trying to find a route that could take off, it was no longer useful. The subsequent Ming dive bombers simply strafed and let these Japanese fighters lie on the ground.

By this time, the Japanese fighters had already flown at least a quarter: a dozen, that is, almost a squadron. The air battle over the airfield began. Of course, there is no doubt that even in an air battle, the advantage is completely on the side of the Ming army. The fighters of the Ming air raid on this airfield were a large group, and in terms of numbers alone, it was four times as many Japanese fighters that had already flown up. Add to that the difference in the level of experience of the pilots on both sides, and the winner is almost immediately apparent.

Within five minutes, the battle was over. More than a dozen Japanese fighters were all shot down, and the Ming army lost four fighters and three bombers. In addition to the previous anti-aircraft artillery hit, in the battle of Atsugi Airport, the Ming army lost a total of five fighters and four bombers, a total of nine. However, the destruction of Japanese fighters was about thirty-seven or eight, and one transport plane was also blown up. The results were close to forty.

Looking at the numbers alone, this result is very much to celebrate. But the Ming pilots didn't think so.

"Brothers, hold on! Let's attack Yokosuka! The team leader shouted in a dejected air, "Damn, we didn't come all the way here to jerk off!" ”

Without saying a word, the other planes also raised their noses, regrouped in the air, and went directly to the southeast to bomb the main target, the Yokosuka Military Port.