The plane will take off late at night, using the lights of the boats along the river and the campfires lit by agents in the downstream section as backup navigation points, meaning that the altitude will not be very high. Only the DB3 in the entire formation has radio navigation capabilities, and these things will not work if they pass near the battle zone between Changde and Germany, so they must rely on some ground guidance.

The attack was carried out without the participation of Soviet pilots and was carried out entirely by 3 DB3s and 5 DB2s piloted entirely by the Chinese. Originally, it was planned to add a remnant of the Henkel 111-A bomber, which had more accurate radio navigation capabilities and a machine gun to defend against it downward (both Russian aircraft did not have firepower from below), but Captain Jin Wen felt that this shrinkage would seriously slow down the speed, so he gave up.

Unlike other countries, the Soviet Union, out of the idea of delaying the Japanese army, was willing to come up with the best equipment to aid China (41 years ago), of course, even so, these equipment was already backward compared to the new Japanese fighters.

The engine life of these two bombers is very short, the shell of the DB3 is wooden, there is no sophisticated bomb commander, there is no oxygen equipment, and the communication equipment is often ineffective; However, it is enough for the Chinese Air Force, which does not need to throw * accurately on the enemy's head, as long as it shows its presence and firmly enshrines the news of the sinking of the Izumo. At present, the Japanese side is unclear about whether Izumo is sinking or not, and it is the time to chase and fight fiercely to completely shatter the lie of "not sinking Izumo".

"Turn on the lighting rheostat." Lieutenant Colonel Jin Wen gave the first order.

"Understood." The co-pilot, Captain Ouyang Shou, opened a knob in front of him. The interior lights are on.

"Open the starting oil valve and start the engine."

As the two engines crackled and began to spin, the plane vibrated with it. The co-pilot began to check the instruments and conduct a routine test of communication with the command, perhaps unaware of the potential danger of the enemy hearing unencrypted calls in these channels from up to 1,000 kilometers away.

The runway was brightly lit, and the captain looked to the side and could see a row of two-wing wooden fighters parked on the side, some of which were known as the peak of the biplane I-152, of course, it would not take off to escort, not only because of the lack of range, but because this kind of fighter was completely unusable.

Although the turning radius of this Soviet-made aircraft was significantly superior to that of the Hawker or Zero; But by the time it was put into battle, it was almost a waste. Especially in front of the new Japanese planes, with radio and oxygen equipment, an all-metal enclosed cockpit, a retractable landing gear, and a powerful climb, it is like a dull wooden target.

Since the first appearance of the Zero fighter team on September 13, 40, it and another army KI43 aircraft that appeared later, it has been a one-sided slaughter of all the fighters of the Chinese Air Force, and the losses of these two aircraft are almost all due to ground artillery fire; It is a bomber with strong firepower, and there is a record of forcing back the KI43 several times.

"1101, runway cleared, ready to take off."

"1101 understands."

Jin Wen and Ouyang Shou, who were sitting in the front and co-pilot's seats, pushed the throttle valve at their hands at the same time, and watched the various pointers on the dashboard stir up, another problem with the engine of the Soviet-made aircraft is that the output is a little slow and cannot be too urgent.

"Formation, attention, oxygen masks are not to be used without my consent."

The lieutenant colonel issued another order, since these bombers did not have oxygen equipment, they used the oxygen tanks removed from other aircraft, and with the oxygen valve open to half the flow, they could barely hold out for 2 hours, and it had to be used at the most dangerous moment (usually when they were being pursued by Japanese low-altitude aircraft and had to be thrown off at altitude).

"After receiving the captain, I can't wait to blow up the turtle son."

The Japanese route airlines, which were far away in Wuhan, immediately judged the approximate size and possible take-off airport from a brief phone call. Soviet military radios used telegraph and telephone modes, the latter of which used fixed channels. Of course, they still have no way of knowing who to attack, but these planes usually fly along the Yangtze River, attack early in the morning, and then use their speed to flee high altitude.

Bomber No. 1101 released its brakes, slowly slid away, and then jumped up and down the uneven runway. The ground crew next to him cheered with joy, this was the largest sortie of the bomber unit in two years, and it was about to set a new record for long-distance bombing.

The planes took off one after the other, and the lieutenant colonel did not expect it to go too well, and sure enough, the landing gear of the fifth bomber broke off, and rushed out of the runway with a crooked side, and the left engine of the seventh exploded on the runway. It's not a bad thing, it's better than parking in the sky.

Turn on the airplane's lights and avoid getting too close. There was no formation, and they all followed 1101 to the east.

After ascending to an altitude of 3,000 meters, each unit turns on the heating equipment. Ouyang Shou, the co-pilot and navigator, began to confirm the general direction according to the signals of the navigation stations in each direction, and then marked the location on the map. This was an early radio transponder device that used a cipher, but due to the fall of half of the wall, the area of action was limited.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, the plane crossed the vicinity of Yichang and entered the danger zone. However, everything seems to be normal, and the nearby Japanese transports do not have their lights turned on. The next stop was Wuhan, where the shorter-range DB2 would turn to Jiujiang for bombing, which was only a feint that made the Japanese think that this was the end of it, but the only two DB3s did not drop bombs and continued eastward in radio silence, all the way through Nanjing to Shanghai.

"See if they're keeping up?"

In the turbulent air flow, Lieutenant Colonel Jin Wen, who was holding the steering wheel steadily, asked.

"Understood."

Machine gunner Gao Chuanxian climbed the machine gun tower behind the cockpit and looked back. Flashing lights can be seen in the back.

1104 followed. The 11 squadron fell behind. ”

"Where are you now?"

"Location east of Jingzhou"

"Well, it's okay if they fall behind, send a report to the 11 squadron, let them complete the task on their own, and the formation will be disbanded."

In the dark, the faster DB3 threw off the light bombers that had brought the * flying fast. It seems that they can only go their own way.

Ouyang Shou once again talked to DB2, which could not find the north in the rear, and asked to disband the formation. Although they did not mention the location and route of the bombing, they once again revealed the size of the formation and the attempt to divide the troops into two routes.

"We were a little late and had to arrive in time for dawn. Signaling to 1104, we continue to pick up speed. ”

"Why didn't the hydraulic and artificial horizons move again?"

"It's okay, the Soviet goods are all in this problem, just smash it hard, hehe, Captain Konstantin did it before."

Ouyang Shou hammered the dashboard hard, and sure enough, the instrument that had undergone a strange deflection was restored.

"Ensign, can you see the navigation below? The guerrillas were supposed to have arranged some bonfires in the section from Jiujiang to Anqing. ”

"Yes."

"1104 said that we were at least 20 minutes behind and might not be able to catch up, so it was recommended to return or go to Tianzihao (referring to Nanjing Dajiaochang Airport)."

"Damn, don't they know that they can't use the radio if they fly over Ezhou? Tell 1104 to keep up, go to the old place, and stop talking. ”

At this time, the 11th Squadron DB2 was already near Jiujiang, using ground instructions to drop bombs, which made the Japanese listening personnel hiding in a dark corner roughly grasp that another formation might fly along the Yangtze River to a deeper area (the Chinese Air Force could almost only rely on the faint light of the Yangtze River ships at night to navigate), and the two bombers, the code names used were too hasty, and it was easy to guess the approximate location.

No. 419. Qin Xiaosu, who was reclining in the seat, sat up straight all of a sudden, he had the ability to multitask, so he had been listening to these completely unencrypted calls, he felt that the crew was just joking, even if he almost guessed where he would fly.

The alert radar No. 419 simultaneously detected up to 6 targets in the air. Two of them are very fast and fly very high. Perhaps they are also waiting for the sun to leap over the horizon. At this moment, Lin Xiuxuan and his team had already set off for the landing site in a rubber boat, and Qin Xiaosu could only inform him about it through the radio. Of course, he did not think that the bombing in Yangpu would have any impact on the landing of the Nanhui group.

At dawn, two bombers flew over Nanjing, and then were monitored by the 419 Dongfeng radar for the first time. They could be seen flying all the way towards Shanghai, and all they could count on was to increase the speed of the bombs to the extent that the Japanese were not in a hurry to catch up. Theoretically, at a speed of 450 kilometers per hour, it is true that most of the Japanese fighters can be thrown off, but not the Hayabusa.

The pilot soon saw two bonfires 1 km and 2 km southwest of the Japanese airfield, which were lit by ground agents in the field at the agreed time, and it was almost impossible for the Japanese to detect it. The purpose of choosing this direction to enter is to avoid flying over the concession by mistake to the greatest extent.

What Lieutenant Colonel Jin Wen has to do now is to fly flat in a straight line formed by two piles of firelight, and then drop bombs. If you're lucky, you* can land on an important enemy target.

It was still too dark for him to see the airport building faintly. * While whistling down from the sky, the machine gunner saw an enemy plane flying from the rear.

"7 o'clock, 4 enemy planes."

Before the words fell, the Japanese 7.7mm bullets were already whistling, but the machine gun tower on this medium bomber was not vegetarian, and immediately launched a counterattack. The group of enemy aircraft immediately scattered in all directions, preparing for a second attack. From the outside, the Japanese Army's Type 97 aircraft were attacked, which had weak firepower and almost no threat from 200 meters away.

At this moment the second bomber began to drop bombs, it flew lower, and with the sunrise in the east, the visual conditions were better.

* Accurately landed near several Chanceswart liaison planes belonging to the Japanese Army on the side of the runway. The value of this mission was not so much to destroy how many Japanese assets there were, but to let people inside and outside the concession hear the sound of the explosion and know that the national army was back.

Colonel Jin Wen began to climb and accelerate, if there were only 4 97s, he was not too alarmed, the all-round firepower of the two DB3s covering each other could roughly withstand two or three attacks, and when it reached 2000 meters above, he immediately changed to level flight and turned to fly in the southwest direction, the climb advantage of the Japanese aircraft would disappear, and he would be sure to get rid of the enemy. The only thing that worried him was that the Japanese might strike from the belly of the plane, where there was a dead end. Even double-clicking synergy doesn't make up for it.

Lin Xiuxuan had just learned that there had been another bombing, and the situation did not seem to be serious, so he decided to continue to take the rubber boat towards the tidal flats. The first destination after going ashore was an abandoned brick kiln 2 kilometers from the shore, where Lu Qingshan and Xu Chong had stayed, and all the entrances were sealed, and no one had entered for many years.