Chapter 208: Solomon Checkers (16)

At 9:25 a.m., more than 10 nautical miles south of the "Tennessee," Captain Huo Xiaoyi's "Golden Eagle" shipboard attack plane had just surpassed a bloated cloud like a marshmallow, and looked down from between the pillars and steel wires between the double-layer wings.

"I still have the sound of anti-aircraft shells exploding in my ears."

The complaint of Sergeant Li Guoming, the radioman in the back seat, came from the headset, and Huo Xiaoyi certainly had no reason to comfort him, but he was still slightly apologetic in his heart: although the act of driving directly through the horrific barrage at full speed 10 minutes ago was only a thrill, the few bullet holes in the wings were enough to alert him - it was not fun

"Don't be wordy, polish your eyes for me, not a single fish is allowed to slip through"

Of course, Huo Xiaoyi is not idle to go to the barrage, according to the predetermined plan, if his landline enters the airspace where the battle is being fought, it should take the initiative to bypass, and then return to the original straight line reconnaissance route after a large arc.

However, just two minutes before takeoff, a herald ventured aboard the plane that had already activated its propellers and gave Huo Xiaoyi a hastily drawn map of the new route, plus a warrant signed by the captain.

The new route map expands the reconnaissance radius from 1 nautical mile and the reconnaissance sector of a single aircraft from 10 degrees to 15 degrees, and the contents of the warrant are: Flights must be strictly followed by the route map, and no detours are allowed under any circumstances.

If the reconnaissance radius and reconnaissance sector are temporarily expanded, once the mother ship turns away from the reconnaissance direction in order to avoid enemy attacks, the reconnaissance plane will face the danger of running out of fuel and landing in the sea.

If there is no detour in the face of engagement, then you have to go through the war zone and endure the baptism of sniper and anti-aircraft fire from the opposing fighters.

An order is an order, and it is not negotiable.

After the second attack wave took off, seeing that the air raid team was gradually moving away from his own route, Huo Xiaoyi thought that his landline could avoid crossing the battlefield, and he was relieved early.

Unexpectedly, the huge task force in the second attack wave and intelligence appeared at the same time, and suddenly the fire network was intertwined with barrages, Huo Xiaoyi had to fly directly over the enemy fleet at full speed in order to carry out the order to keep the course, although the smoke and shrapnel around him flew sideways, and finally there was no danger to get out smoothly and came to this beautiful sea area that is clear and clear.

"Remember the Bay of Bengal?"

Li Guoming's nagging came out of the headphones unexpectedly.

"Well, Bay of Bengal, so what?"

Huo Xiaoyi's reaction was cold, and he didn't seem to be willing to mention the past.

"We have the main force of the enemy."

Li Guoming obviously failed to understand the mood of the chief, and sighed with emotion.

"It was near Ceylon, and it wasn't time for a decisive battle. On the day of the real battle, we didn't find anything. ”

"Anyway, the chief has been rewarded for this."

"Don't mention it, Xiao Yuebai died, if I hadn't been too close that day......"

"Sir, Xiao Yue didn't die in vain - there is a track below two o'clock"

Huo Xiaoyi was in good spirits, and he followed Li Guoming's instructions to look down, and more than a dozen snow-white tracks were floating on the calm light blue sea, which could be clearly seen without binoculars.

"Little Plum, Identify the Type of Ship"

"Yes, wait a minute...... 1 British Radiance-class fleet aircraft carrier, 1 new aircraft carrier without information, 4 British C-class light cruisers, 12 destroyers......"

"Shoot the telegram right away, where is the current position?"

Chen Tongming did not hesitate: "Kirakira is 60 degrees, 15 nautical miles. ”

Huo Xiaoyi didn't think much about it, and ordered Ma Li: "Take an emergency message first: a new task force has been found south of the No. 1 target, 2 aircraft carriers, 4 light cruisers, hurry up"

"Filming ...... Sir, are we still going to follow the route map? ”

"Fool, go to his X's route map, of course it's close to the past and follow it to the end"

……

At 9:30 a.m., at the Kirakira Air Base, a terrible air defense siren sounded on all runways, and in the northwest sky, more than 20 four-engine Chinese heavy bombers were rumbling over the heads of Westland and Mitchell.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of swarthy bombs rained down from the sky, bursting like festive fireworks in mid-air a few meters above the ground, and thousands of incendiary shotguns were speeding in all directions, and for a moment, the base area within a radius of several miles looked as if it was in a boundless sea of fire.

However, when Westland and Mitchell came out of the bomb shelter under Tower 1, they invariably breathed a sigh of relief.

"If they had come a quarter of an hour earlier, the second wave would have been over."

Mitchell covered his nose and sighed, surrounded by the smell of burnt plants, and on the other side of the runway, several thick black plumes of smoke were billowing into the sky, but fortunately, the tower overhead, reinforced with sandbags and empty oil drums, was not significantly damaged, and it looked like it was still functional.

"If they had come a quarter of an hour earlier, they would have crashed into the second wave of escort fighters first, and that would have been 22 fighters – just now when the base's air defense was at its weakest, and we had only 15 fighters on duty."

Westland flicked the dust off his shoulders, less concerned about the crisis he had just dodged, than Mitchell did.

"Even then, we can't guarantee that we will be able to stop all enemy aircraft. Taking a step back, even if the losses caused by the bombing are not enough to affect the continuation of the air attack mission, the actual combat capability of the escort fighter group will be greatly weakened in the air battle, and it is very likely that it will not be able to effectively cover the torpedo group of the second attack wave to break through the enemy's fighter defense circle. ”

Mitchell still has palpitations.

The first attack wave took off, and the second attack wave began to take off, including 22 fighters, 27 single-engine torpedo bombers, and 14 twin-engine medium bombers, a total of 63 planes.

"Anyway, we've made all our bets, and now we can only wait patiently for the roulette wheel to stop spinning, and until then—maybe we can have a drink?"

Westland smiled, but it still didn't make Mitchell feel any lighter.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like I'll have to wait until the roulette wheel actually comes to a standstill before I can decide if I want to accept your invitation."

Mitchell shrugged and was about to climb the tower to look around, when a young tower observer jumped down the long steel staircase and saluted Westland before he could stand still.

"Observation post No. 1 reported that during the second air raid, it was observed that our fighters on duty and anti-aircraft artillery fire shot down a total of 5 enemy bombers, and at the same time, our fighters on duty lost 3 on the spot......"

Westland nodded and replied approvingly, "Your bravery is admirable, my child, how old are you and what is your name?" ”

"Royal Navy Cadet Warrant Officer, Louis? Mountbatten, 16 years old. ”

……