The rear seat gunner, Hisashi Ozawa, was bored and fiddling with the machine gun in his hand. His ears were filled with the excitement of the pilot Sato Hakawa in the front seat: "Well done, another one was shot down... Haha, there is another enemy one."

The plane is smoking." When he discovered that an enemy plane was incoming, Ozawa was still nervous, but Sato said disapprovingly, "It's okay, those devils have no ability to break through the interception of our escort force. We can just see it.

A good show." From then on, things developed almost as Sato expected. The air battle was completely one-sided, and the Empire had an overwhelming advantage. Unfortunately, the air battle was carried out in front of the bomber group, but Ozawa, as a self-defense machine gunner, was in front of him.

He was sitting facing the rear. He had to try his best to turn his head and look in the direction of the air battle. But he couldn't see clearly.

"Oh, the view from the front seat is better." Ozawa twisted his sore neck and sighed. "Hey, what is there?" In his field of vision, a group of small black dots appeared. These small black dots quickly changed.

It got bigger and bigger. "Enemy attack!" Ozawa shouted loudly, while trying hard to turn the machine gun in the direction where the enemy appeared.

"This is Fox No. 1. There are no enemy planes to intercept. Attack! Attack!" Captain Heiser gave the order, and 14 fighter jets roared and swooped down.

Due to the successful guidance of the radar, the angle at which the Fox formation pounced was just in the blind spot of the firepower of most Japanese bombers' self-defense machine guns. In addition, the previous air battle not only delayed the escort's zero battle, but even disturbed the attention of many bomber pilots.

This unexpected blow caused several bombers to burst into smoke. More bombers were also forced to drop their bombs in advance. The design style of Japan's bombers is almost the same as Zero War, flexible but not strong. In terms of turning alone, 99

The ship's hovering ability is even better than that of the F4F, not to mention the bulky buffalo. However, like the Zero War, it is not strong enough. Compared with its American counterparts with thick skin and thick flesh, it is as flexible as a bird, but it is also fragile.

It's like a little bird. It only takes a dozen or even a few .50 bullets to kill it. The Japanese Navy believes that flexibility is the best defense. As long as you can't hit it, what difference does it make if you have armor or not?

But if you want to be flexible, you can't carry bombs. Just like you can't expect a football player to be able to dexterously pass several defenders and score goals while carrying a load equivalent to his body weight, even if

He is Messi. 99 ship bombers cannot remain flexible while carrying bombs. Now, under the attack of American fighter jets, many bombers have to drop their bombs in advance in order to save the aircraft.

Sato Hakawa also dropped the bomb. In the previous raid, due to being reminded by the back seat, Sato escaped the first attack of the American fighter jet. However, after the American fighter dived down, it immediately jumped up at a large angle.

Taking advantage of the dead zone of firepower in the bomber's belly, they launched another attack. This time the attack was completely different from the previous one. The American planes were swooping down just now. Their speed was very fast, and getting faster and faster. So when they approached the target, they fired.

The window time is very short. This time the American planes are jumping. As the altitude rises, their speed is also slowing down, so the shooting window time will be much longer. This time, Sato was targeted again. In order to dodge,

He had to drop the bomb. In this way, even if he flew over the target, he would have no effect.

After dropping the bomb, the bomber suddenly became much lighter. With a slight sharp turn, it avoided the F2A Buffalo that rushed down. Since the bomber no longer had bombs, the Buffalo gave up its attack on him.

He turned around and stared at another bomber that had not yet dropped its bombs.

But just when the F2A was about to attack again, a 99-ship bomb suddenly cut directly into its inner line and opened fire on it. This 99-ship bomb was the one piloted by Sato. The one that dropped the bomb

99 Ship Explosion almost immediately turned into a nimble fighter. It began to resemble an old hen with wings spread, working hard to protect other bombers.

After the second round of attacks, 5 more bombers were hit, but at the same time, at least 4 US fighter jets were hit and injured and had to withdraw from the battle. The pilots of Japan's Hainan Airlines are all top pilots. (Japan is the best.

All pilots in the U.S. military are fighting on the front line, but this is not the case in the U.S. military. The best pilots are always mobilized to the rear to serve as instructors to train new pilots. This makes U.S. military pilots often have technical difficulties when facing Japanese pilots in the early days of the war.

At a disadvantage. But as the war continued, when the old Japanese pilots on the front line were exhausted, the skills of the new Japanese pilots who took over were often extremely poor compared to the new American pilots.) Although it was raided, although this was a

It was an unfair air battle between fighters and bombers, but they still showed their superior technical capabilities. In the second round of the battle, they actually achieved an astonishing record of nearly 1:1.

Now that they have discovered that they have been fooled, Zero War is almost here. If they continue to attack, they may end up being annihilated. So the Fox Formation began to retreat on its own initiative. In these two rounds of attacks, they shot down at least 6 bombers and wounded them.

He killed about 3 to 4 aircraft, and forced at least 10 more Japanese bombers to drop their bombs in advance. He only lost 4 aircraft. The mission has been completed well. At least compared to previous air battles, this exchange ratio is simply

It's a miracle. If it doesn't get better, just give it up. What are you waiting for?

Because they were worried about other possible attackers, Zero War did not dare to pursue them. Now, they are protecting the bombers honestly and continue to move towards the target.

When the Japanese bomber group arrived at Midway Island, their first target was Midway Island Airport. At this time, Midway Island Airport was empty, all the planes had taken off, and only the empty runway was left. At the same time,

They were also greeted by intensive anti-aircraft fire on the island.

Braving artillery fire, the bombers launched dive attacks towards the target. Although bombers were continuously hit by anti-aircraft artillery and exploded into huge fireballs in the air, they still accurately landed the heavy bombs with ear-piercing whistling sounds.

The ground hit the ground, and immediately, there was a violent explosion on the ground, and a huge smoke column rose. The entire island trembled in the explosion. The bombing lasted for nearly 20 minutes, and the Japanese blew up an oil depot and a sea hangar.

.However, the Japanese bombers' attempt to eliminate the opponent's aviation power at Midway Island failed. The bombing targets they could find were only empty runways and a few empty hangars.

After the attack, Captain Tomonaga, the leader of the team, flew a plane to inspect the entire island. He saw that although Midway Island had become a sea of ​​​​fire, the airstrip on the island had not been completely destroyed. He believed that a second wave of attacks on Midway Island must be carried out.

Attack. But at this time, the first wave of attack aircraft he led had run out of ammunition and little fuel, so they had to return.

It was already 7 a.m. Central Pacific Time. Captain Tomonaga sent a telegram from the plane to the Nagumo Fleet: "The assault fleet is returning and it is necessary to attack again." His fleet was shot down by ground anti-aircraft fire during the bombing of Midway Island.

One-third. Compared with the results achieved, such an attack is really not worth the gain. However, if the second batch of bombers is dispatched quickly enough, they should be able to catch the US military fleet that must land at the airport due to fuel consumption.

Just when the Japanese launched an attack on Midway Island, General Frye also received a telegram from the "Catalina" water reconnaissance aircraft on the Yorktown aircraft carrier that the Japanese aircraft carrier was discovered. General Frye immediately planned to send

bombers, but at this time, the 10 reconnaissance aircraft just dispatched were preparing to land on the ship, and they were almost out of fuel. The aircraft carrier at that time had not invented the angled deck, and takeoff and landing could not be carried out at the same time on the aircraft carrier. In order to allow this

When several aircraft land on the ship, the entire runway must be vacated. Therefore, the bombers can only wait for these aircraft to land before they can be taken out of the hangar and prepare for attack on the runway. And at this time, the Yorktown aircraft carrier is ri away

The aircraft carrier was still a little far away. If the bomber force was directly allowed to take off at this time, due to range restrictions, it would be difficult for many aircraft to return to the aircraft carrier after completing their missions. So at 6 o'clock, General Fletcher sent a telegram to Sri Lanka.

General Pruance ordered the 16th Task Force to launch an air attack on the enemy fleet first, and the 17th Task Force to follow suit.

But it was difficult for Spruance to launch an attack immediately. His position was only 15 nautical miles ahead of Frye. The problem of insufficient range also existed there. So on the USS Enterprise, officers were urgently summoned.

, Ron is among them.

In the conference room, General Spruance’s adjutant briefed everyone on the relevant situation:

"At 5:13, the reconnaissance plane discovered the Japanese bomber group. At 5:25, the reconnaissance plane discovered the Japanese fleet in area 12 and confirmed that there were 4 aircraft carriers in it. General Fletcher asked our fleet to immediately attack the enemy.

The army launched an attack. Our fleet is currently far away from the enemy..."

"If we launch an attack now, how many planes will not come back?" General Spruance asked.

"Sir, if we take off now, more than half of the planes will not be able to fly back." The answer was Chief of Staff Colonel Mitchell Browning.

"Well, how about having them divert to Midway for a landing?"

"Sir, Midway Airport has just been bombed and will soon have to accept its own planes to land. I don't think they can help us much."

"So if we want to get to the right distance, when can we send the plane out?"

Several aviation staff officers made quick calculations, and one of them replied:

"General, it will be around 9 o'clock before our fleet can reach the appropriate distance."

"Ah, 9 o'clock..." General Spruance pondered, "That means we still need to wait for almost 3 hours. No, this is too dangerous. In 3 hours, the Japanese fleet can move out at least

60 nautical miles. By that time, the bombers we sent may not find anything. Moreover, the Japanese planes have a farther range than ours. They must have also sent out reconnaissance planes. During these 3 hours, they may find us at any time.

Hit us."

"So when do you think we will send out bombers?" the general asked suddenly.

After a buzzing discussion, the conference room gradually fell silent.

"General, I think we should send out bombers around 7 o'clock." Colonel Mitchell Browning said, "So that when we reach the enemy's sky, the enemy ships should be recovering the attack group, which is when they are most vulnerable.

"

"So how many planes should we send?"

"As a rule, we should divide the cluster into at least two batches, so that we will send out the first wave..."

General Spruance frowned, crossed his arms over his chest, and walked up and down the chart.

Ron looked at General Spruance. He knew that in history, the biggest highlight of Spruance, a general known for his caution, in this battle was that he dispatched almost all the bombers at once.

Go out, there is no second wave, there is no reserve. It is precisely because of this desperate decision that helped the US military win this decisive battle with great disparity in power. But at this time, General Spruance was still hesitating. After all,

This approach is extremely risky. Once it fails, the entire fleet will lose the ability to defend itself. And once it loses this fleet again, the US military will not have any combat fleet in the entire Pacific for quite some time. In this way, not only will it be lost midway

The island will surely be lost, and Pearl Harbor will also be threatened, and even the entire west coast will be threatened. Although Ron believes that even if the worst happens, the Japanese will not be able to land on the west coast of the United States. At most, they can only use carrier-based aircraft to land on the west coast of the United States.

Several disruptive air strikes of limited scale and even more limited effect; and the United States, relying on its overwhelming industrial superiority, will eventually win. But the road to victory will also become more rugged as a result. It is just that as a big country over the years,

The old habits of a young technician in the company make him very unaccustomed to showing off in front of his superiors.

Perhaps he noticed Ron staring at him, or perhaps Ron could always surprise people during these days of training, General Spruance said to him: "Young man, what do you think?"

Although he had already thought of a lot of plans in his mind, Ron was still a little nervous when asked. Looking at the general's bright eyes, Ron actually had the feeling that he had to face the situation during the thesis defense in college.

The feeling of panic when a professor who was notoriously hard to talk asked questions one after another. (I later learned that the more sternly the old gentleman asked questions, the more satisfied he was.)

"Well... General," Ron stood up slowly, stretched out his hand and held his hat to stabilize his emotions. After all, this answer may affect the entire battle. "General, I think,"

Ron calmed down, raised his head, looked at General Spruance firmly, and replied: "I think we should send all the bombers up at once!"

"This is too risky!" someone said.

"If we fail, we won't have any power to fight back!"

But General Spruance just smiled faintly and said, "Oh, the idea is very interesting, please tell me carefully!"

"General, the enemy aircraft are obviously superior to ours in terms of quantity, performance and even training level. If conventional methods are adopted, how many aircraft can complete the first wave under the interception of Japanese fighter jets?"

Breakthrough? Even if the breakthrough is completed, how many of them can actually hit? Therefore, going in batches will only make them continue to be killed by Japanese fighter jets. It is difficult to eliminate the entire Japanese fleet in one fell swoop. On the contrary, once Japan saves them

aircraft carrier and launch a counterattack against us, can our two aircraft carriers withstand the Japanese counterattack? Even if we keep all the fighter jets, we cannot withstand the assault of four aircraft carriers! Yesterday's tactical drill has been

Prove it!”

Ron stopped and looked at everyone. The nervousness just now had disappeared without a trace. Now his face was full of determination, so much so that his eyes had a hint of provocation.

"Since we don't have enough defense, the only way is to destroy all the enemy's aircraft carriers at once. When we arrive, the enemy should be recovering aircraft. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! There will also be fighter jets above the enemy.

, but it cannot be too many, but if we are well organized, the number of our aircraft appearing over the enemy ship at the same time will be more than the enemy's fighter jets. In this way, even if the enemy's fighter jets receive the most powerful command, each one will

Even if we can bite one of our planes, we can still ensure that a group of planes can successfully penetrate the defense and deliver a fatal blow to the enemy!"

"Well said!" General Spruance clapped, and the others followed suit.
To be continued...