An hour later, the six aircraft involved in the operation finally entered the refueling area set up in advance by the Air Force.

Under the guidance of the operator, the pilot quickly saw the Il-78 tanker with flashing red and green navigation lights in front of him.

Refueling in the air at night definitely belongs to dancing blindfolded on the tip of a knife.

If the docking fails, it is even possible to tear off the refueling cone.

This thing itself is fine, but now the fuel warning lights of several planes have been on for a while, and if they can't refuel, they will definitely not be able to fly back to the Lingshui base.

Fortunately, everything is dangerous.

All successfully docked.

The UPAZ-78 refueling pod, equipped with the Il-1, began to deliver fuel to six aircraft at a rate of about 1600 liters per minute.

Wang Wei's heart that had been hanging just now finally let go.

Because the belly fuel tank was replaced with a photographic reconnaissance pod, his fuel level was the least optimistic in the entire mission formation, and he could hold out for another 10 minutes or so at most before he started to receive fuel.

Now it's finally on.

"Yuejiang 12, I just took a photo of you when you threw the auxiliary fuel tank in the middle of the opposing fleet, and I will give you a souvenir when I go back."

The voice of the pilot in the back seat of plane 21 was heard over the radio.

That is, the J-7 that flew with him over the opposing fleet.

This was not part of the mission plan at the beginning, but the two pilots of the No. 21 aircraft used to be the main force of the East China Sea Fleet Air Force, and often had various "friendly exchanges" with the Air Self-Defense Force.

The only fly in the ointment is that this camera, which is mainly used to shoot the Self-Defense Forces, turned out to be Olympus.

"Thank you, it's memorable."

"Yuejiang 12, you threw two auxiliary fuel tanks at their fleet?"

Tang Yiping, who had been listening on the radio channel but never spoke, suddenly asked.

"Ah...... Yes, division commander. ”

Wang Wei gave an explanation that had been thought of a long time ago:

"I had one less fuel tank with me than any of them, so I threw away the two empty fuel tanks to reduce drag in order to reduce fuel consumption on the return trip."

This kind of nonsense is naturally impossible to deceive Tang Yiping.

Even if it is really necessary to throw the auxiliary fuel tank because of the lack of fuel, it is a futile risk to do so in an ultra-low altitude state.

But he decided not to debunk this little trick.

The air force units in China have been held back for too long and have no results.

Originally, it would have been fine if it had been in this state, but at the beginning of this year, the Air Force suddenly made a big move in Kashmir.

As one of the few people who know the inside story, the boys of naval aviation are understandably itchy.

It's just a drop tank, and it's not really two bombs.

For such a humiliating thing, the Royal Navy's first thought is definitely to cover the lid and calm the people, and there is absolutely no reason to make a big deal about it.

Of course, not domestically.

The current general trend in relations between China and Europe, including the United Kingdom, is to warm, which may be a big deal for the military, but at a higher level, it is just a small episode.

Although I felt that it was a pity, but thinking that Deputy Division Commander Zheng, who had beaten down the MiG-25, had not been publicly promoted, Tang Yiping felt that it was a lot more balanced.

After the refueling in the air was completed, everyone returned to normal level flight.

The next 40 minutes of the return trip were so dull that they were a bit boring compared to the excitement of the evening.

However, for Seward and Spencer, who were on board the Royal Cruise Ship, the real excitement was just beginning.

After such an incident, although the dinner party on the top floor continued, most people no longer had the previous state of excitement.

And the two reporters who had already made sure that they had gotten the fierce material had long forgotten about the big man on the ship, and after eating two bites of something to fill their stomachs, they returned to the suite they lived in as quickly as possible.

After the 30 seconds of horror just now, the entire fleet fell into a state of headless flies for the next nearly an hour.

It was only not so long ago that the huge fleet began to gradually turn around and turn to the south.

The aircraft carrier Excellence recovered 4 Sea Harrier fighters from two directions, but did not take off new planes to pursue those distant Huaxia planes-

Technically speaking, this is simply because the Sea Harrier, which can only fly about 900km/h at most in the bomb state, is impossible to catch up with the opponent's 6 supersonic planes in a state of retreat, and there is no need to do useless work.

But in journalism, there are 10,000 ways to interpret this kind of thing.

As for which one to adopt, it depends on the judgment of the media......

"What did you just photograph?"

In the living room of the suite, Spencer asked excitedly as he took out the laptop he had brought on board and turned it on.

"At the beginning, it was a plane approaching an aircraft carrier, and then ...... It's so confusing that I'm not really sure, it's all instinct to take pictures. ”

Seward, who was next to him, said as he took out a roughly square memory card from his camera.

"But we'll find out right away."

Then he slapped Spencer's outstretched hand away:

"I'll do it myself, you're fussy, if you break it, you'll be in trouble, this is a new card from SanDisk, I paid £1,600 to buy it, and the editor-in-chief even said that he would only reimburse me half of the cost at most......"

The 16MB CF card was absolutely amazing in 1997, and although it could only hold about 30 mediocre photos including the body storage, it was enough for most print media.

"Look, this is the first plane, and he almost skimmed the deck and flew over the Excellence......"

"This is the one that is closer to us in the back, and I even captured the missile under its wing, oh my......"

Seward's voice trembled slightly.

Coming from a writing business, she wasn't really good at taking pictures, but today, somehow, this camera seems to be like a divine help, and more than half of the 30 photos are very newsworthy.

"You even clearly photographed the insignia of this plane, as well as the number, I think the editor-in-chief must have liked this one."

Spencer also praised next to him, "The one closest is 81193...... I thought I might have to find an expert to explain the meaning of the numbers when I got back. ”

"No, you can't wait until you get back."

Seward shook his head and said it was too slow:

"We're going to get the first draft out tonight and send it back to China on the satellite network, so that the editor-in-chief can finalize the main tone of the report......

The Guardian, where they work, is a non-neutral outlet, so many stories have to be trade-offs.

"Wait......"

Spencer, who was next to him, said suddenly, and at the same time directly reached out and held Seward's hand to manipulate the mouse, pulled the photo back to the front, and then zoomed in:

On the screen is when the Huaxia plane has just flown over the aircraft carrier.

"Look, this guy standing next to the fence above the Excellence......"

"This ......"

The sharpness of digital cameras in this era did not yet support this level of magnification, and the two could only guess from each other's uniforms that it might be the fleet commander, Rear Admiral Alan West.

"Inna, do you think he was calm or panicked?"

Spencer, who had retracted his hand, asked in a half-joking tone.

Seward glanced back at him:

"Is this...... It depends on whether Major West supports the Conservatives or Labour......"

(End of chapter)