The uninformed Chinese people on the ground didn't know what they were feeling at that moment, but judging from their faces, they were extremely panicked.
But the faces of the wise man named Chen and several other Fuling officers who were about to pee were filled with joy.
They knew that those planes that rushed down from higher altitudes were definitely not Japanese planes. They should be the six Wildcat fighter jets that escorted the special plane to Yiling.
No wonder Tang Dao was so calm and spoke so loudly. He had actually arranged for the six new American fighter jets to be on alert at high altitudes before entering the city, waiting for the Japanese planes to fall into his trap.
In terms of this tactical deployment alone, choosing him to be the security person in charge of this operation to protect the souls and return to the capital proves that he was right.
That's right, combined with the actions of the Japanese in the past and the current Japanese army's determination to capture Yiling, Tang Dao judged that the Japanese army would never miss this great opportunity to use the general's coffin to enter the city to undermine the morale of the Chinese soldiers and civilians, so before entering the city, he radioed
Six Wildcat fighter jets headed by Shen Chonghai were ordered to take off and patrol at altitudes above 6,000 meters.
This is also the reason why Chinese people cannot hear the roar of aircraft engines. An altitude of 6,000 meters is considered a low altitude for future fighters, but it is already an extremely high altitude for current fighters.
Take the Zero fighter currently equipped by the Japanese army. Perhaps its maneuverability and flexibility and ultra-high range can be regarded as the top fighter performance of the era in 1940, but its biggest shortcoming is that its ceiling is insufficient. At 4,200 meters
In the above high-altitude combat, its maneuverability will drop sharply.
"Don't panic, everyone, that's our fighter jet!" The think tank surnamed Chen, who had regained some courage, saw that the people around him were obviously agitated, and quickly shouted to comfort them.
Is that our fighter plane? Looking at the few small black dots rushing down from high altitude, it was hard for the people to believe it.
It's not that they haven't seen fighter planes before. Since the Battle of Zaoyi, the Japanese army has violently attacked Yiling, and fighter planes from both sides have engaged in air battles over Yiling no less than twice. However, Chinese aircraft are basically biplanes.
Although the specific appearance of this kind of fighter aircraft that is getting clearer and clearer in the field of vision is still unclear, it can basically be seen clearly whether it has a single wing or double wings.
In contrast to the panic-stricken Chinese soldiers and civilians on the ground, Captain Shinto Saburo, who was in the air, finally realized something was wrong after the Chinese fighter plane entered a dive state for more than ten seconds and the altitude dropped to 4,000 meters.
He looked up and saw that less than 2,000 meters away from his fighter plane were several huge dark gray fighter planes arriving at lightning speed.
In terms of size, the Zero fighter is 9 meters long and has a wingspan of 12 meters. It is actually longer than the Wildcat fighter, which is 7 meters long and has a wingspan of 6 meters. However, the Wildcat fighter carries six 7mm machine guns, and the cockpit and fuel tanks are armored.
In terms of protection, the entire aircraft weighs nearly one ton more than the Zero aircraft, and it looks very strong.
This is also the main reason why the Wildcat fighter's engine is 20% more powerful than the Zero fighter, but its maximum speed, hovering speed, range and climb rate are still far inferior to the latter's.
But just from the perspective of appearance, the Wildcat fighter is far more powerful than the lightweight Zero fighter.
Especially before departure yesterday, in order not to anger the Japanese too much, all six Wildcat fighter jets were painted with new paint. A shark with a huge mouth was painted on the nose of the aircraft, and the fuselage was painted with
Dark gray paint obliterated the original white five-pointed star, but instead of painting the blue sky and white sun flag, the aircraft number was spray-painted.
Because these fighter planes were only leased by the Americans to the Chinese Air Force and had not yet been formally incorporated into the fleet, and there was no way to give them official aircraft numbers, each of the six Chinese pilots chose a numeric number as the number for their own aircraft.
Shen Chonghai chose 9035, which was his mother's birthday. He believed that his mother would definitely bless his son, which also meant that if he died in battle, he would definitely remember his mother.
Zhang Dafei thought about it and wrote down the number 3816. Perhaps only Tang Dao knew that it was the time and age when he and Ms. Qi Bangyuan met at Nankai Middle School.
From the perspective of a Japanese pilot, looking at six ferocious sharks charging at them with their mouths wide open, even if they are not frightened and their hairs stand on end, they will definitely be highly nervous.
"Yo Xi! They are Chinese. Gentlemen, let us teach them a lesson. Let's put on a brilliant fireworks show for the Chinese generals who have died in the battle! Use Chinese blood and fighter planes!" Captain Saburo Shindo responded without being surprised.
Hi, pull up the rudder and push the throttle lever hard.
Today is the first time that the Zero fighter has been put into actual combat, but Captain Saburo Shindo, who has flown Type 96 and Type 97 as well as American Hawker-class fighters, clearly knows that the performance of the aircraft he controls is completely inferior to what he controls.
Fighters from any country I know of, including the weak Chinese Air Force, have nothing to fear, even if their planes are painted with ferocious but ridiculous patterns.
The engines of the four Zero fighter jets that were diving into the sky above Yiling City made a huge roar, deafening.
The entire aircraft body was like a nimble swallow, flying from an altitude of less than 2,000 meters in the sight of hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians. Then, its nose was raised high, and it quickly climbed to 3,000 meters at a hair-raising speed.
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The entire climb takes only one minute!
The Chinese soldiers and civilians on the ground may not understand this concept, but Shen Chonghai and others in the sky have cold sweat on their foreheads.
They are all elite pilots of the Chinese Air Force and know what it means to climb nearly 1,000 meters per minute.
The climb speed of the Yi-15, the main model of China's flying brigades, is 7 per second, which is about 820 meters per minute when converted. The climb speed of the Hawk III fighter is even slower, about 650 meters per minute.
Even if they are flying a Wildcat fighter with a 1,200-horsepower engine, if the throttle lever is pushed to the bottom, the climb speed will not exceed 700 meters per minute.
That also means that all types of fighters currently owned by the Chinese Air Force will be beaten by the Japanese aircraft in front of them in terms of climb speed.
Climbing speed not only means that you can gain a higher altitude advantage faster, it also means that the Japanese aircraft in front of you is extremely maneuverable.
"Da Fei and I, one of us grabbed a Japanese plane and fought with it. The other four, in a two-plane formation, followed the scissors tactics formulated by the commander to kill the little Japanese. Everyone remember, these 6 fighters may be
The only asset our air force has against the new Japanese fighter planes must not be destroyed easily." Shen Chonghai calmly issued the order on the radio channel.
Shen Chonghai, who has participated in more than ten air battles, large and small, is no longer the young and inexperienced young man he was. The air force lieutenant who has been promoted to squadron leader knows what he wants to do now, and he is even more considerate of the future battlefield.
Although there is a gap between the maneuverability of the Wildcat fighter and the unknown model of Japanese aircraft in front of me, the Wildcat, with its ferocious firepower, thick skin and powerful horsepower, is still far ahead of all current models of the Chinese Air Force in terms of performance. So, then
It is the largest capital of the Chinese Air Force at present.
Life is not a pity, but fighter planes are precious. He must not let his brothers easily die with the enemy planes, so he deliberately reminded them before the war started.
"Understood!" the other five pilots replied on the wireless channel.
Naturally, the tactics deployed before the war were not formulated before boarding the plane. They were purely improvised based on the number of enemy aircraft.
Yesterday, since Tang Dao defeated Lieutenant Scott with one punch and flew into the sky as an army colonel in a Wildcat fighter jet, he completely shocked a group of arrogant American pilots. The American pilots who were willing to be instructors spent a full 6
Hours of instruction in flying Wildcat fighter jets.
He and Zhang Dafei, who had just returned to China after training in the United States for a year and a half, were praised by Lieutenant Scott, who believed that they were the most talented pilots in China and would definitely have the opportunity to join the ranks of ace pilots.
Then the two best pilots will have to entangle the single Japanese aircraft so that they cannot rescue their teammates, while the other four need to take advantage of the number of people and use the scissors tactics that Tang Dao formulated for them at dinner to shoot down the Japanese aircraft.
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Shen Chonghai still clearly remembers every word Tang Dao said when he dismantled the flight tactics on the small blackboard for the six of them.
"I don't know whether you believe it or not, but I am actually a complete layman when it comes to air combat tactics. What would you do if you encountered a Japanese Type 96 Type 97 fighter?"
"We will rely on the Wildcat fighter's powerful firepower and excellent protection capabilities to bite them and shoot them down. Even if it is the slower Hawker II fighter, we are not afraid of them." Zhang Dafei answered very confidently.
"Then let me ask you, if the Japanese army sends out a new type of fighter aircraft whose maneuverability is significantly better than the Type 96, Type 97 or even Wildcat fighter jets, what will you do?"
"We can only fight with him. If we can't fight with one, then we can use two, three or more. In short, we can't let the Japanese devils run wild in front of us, unless one day all the Chinese air force will die." A man named Lin
Heng's pilot replied with a fearless expression.
Lin Heng's name Tang Dao felt familiar to him when he heard it before, but he didn't chat in detail because the American pilot wanted to talk to him. After dinner, we became familiar with it, and Tang Dao finally knew who this was.
He is a descendant of the famous Lin family. In the past, he was not famous because he died too early. However, his sister and brother-in-law will become famous architects in China in the future. Because of the sacrifices of his younger brother and eight of his aviation school classmates, he wrote
The famous "Crying Third Brother Heng".
"This cold and simple heroism is the poetry of the times
This silent glory is you
I fully understand why I still cry to you
Just because you are a child and have nothing left for yourself
I look forward to your happiness when you are young and your safety during the war
Today you have no children to care about and need care and comfort.
But thousands of people across the country have forgotten who you died for!"
Tang Dao didn't know about this young pilot who died at the age of only 23, but he heard about his sister who also died in the prime of life. In order to protect the ancient buildings of Yanjing City, she questioned her at the deputy ministerial level.
Who do you think you are?' He responded sharply: "My Lin family has been loyal for generations, and my third brother died fighting for the country, so who do you think you are?" It was really shocking.
Now it seems that the two siblings are equally strong-willed.
"Sacrifice is a necessary condition for victory, but it is not the only condition. Good tactics may be able to make up for this shortcoming. This is the tactic of our army. I don't know if it is practical in your Air Force. No matter how mobile it is, it still has to face swords and guns.
?I agree with what Brother Lin just said. If one doesn’t work, let’s use two!
You see, this is the inspiration I got from an old pilot."
The veteran pilot Tang Dao is talking about is Major John Sage of the United States. After several defeats against the Japanese Zero fighter jets, he invented an aerial tactic called the "Satch Cut".
Due to the rough skin and thick flesh of the Wildcat fighter, the entire fuselage including the engine is strong and durable. Although the speed is relatively slow, as long as the Wildcat fighter and the Zero fighter engage in close combat, they will definitely gain the upper hand.
The core idea of the "Satch Cut" tactic is to have two Wildcat fighter jets fight against the Zero fighter.
The two Wildcat fighter jets can cross-fly, cover each other, and fly back and forth in a circle from the 6 o'clock direction, which can offset the Zero fighter's superior maneuverability advantage.
Even if the two Wildcat fighter jets were hit by the 7mm machine guns equipped with the Zero fighter jets, it would not cause any harm. As long as the Zero fighter jets could be encircled and blocked, shooting them down would be a piece of cake.
Therefore, the "Saatchi Cut" tactic is to take advantage of the Wildcat fighter's strength and heavy firepower, adopt a method of narrowing the encirclement, and capture the Zero fighter with 2 versus 1.
This tactic, verified by the Battle of Coral Island, completely made up for the inherent disadvantage of the Wildcat fighter's lack of maneuverability, and was used until the end of World War II. The Japanese Zero fighter jets no longer had the advantage over the American Wildcat fighter jets in the early stages of the war. Wait until hell
The Cat and P51 series fighters entered service, and the Zero became the target of being beaten.
To put it bluntly, as the saying goes, "The only martial arts skill in the world is speed." In the early stages of the war, the Japanese took advantage of the Zero fighter's ability to dive and its super maneuverability. On the other hand, the F4F fighter had a slow climb speed and poor maneuverability.
, there are 6 large-caliber heavy-fire machine guns in the air, but it is difficult to aim at the opponent.
The Zero fighter was like a cheetah that came and went without a trace, while the F4F was like a big rhinoceros with thick skin and slow speed. As a result, the rhinoceros was constantly bitten by the cheetah and lost blood, and eventually died.
But the U.S. Navy and Air Force, which summed up this tactical theory, used two rhinos to continuously compress the cheetah's activity space. No matter how many times you bite me, you won't be able to kill me as long as you don't bite your throat and balls. But as long as my horns collide,
As soon as I get to you, your shit will be over.
Shen Chonghai was smart enough. After seeing the incredible climbing speed of the Japanese aircraft, he immediately chose the 'scissors' tactic explained by Tang Dao without hesitation.
Major Sarkozy, who was supposed to leave his name in history, could only find out tragically that the tactics he had figured out after enduring many beatings actually appeared in the skies above the big river in China two years in advance.
........
Captain Shindo Saburo was bitten by a swooping down Chinese fighter plane. A total of four large-caliber machine guns deployed on the nose and wings of the aircraft fired wildly. Four bright tongues of flame were clearly visible against the dark clouds.
That was Lieutenant Shen Chonghai, who had the best flying skills among the six Chinese pilots. Under his control, the seemingly bulky Wildcat fighter jet was like a ferocious eagle, constantly shuttling between the clouds, chasing after the aircraft that had just risen to an altitude of 3,300 meters.
Zero fighter planes shooting wildly.
"Kill him!"
"Kill the little devil!"
The Chinese soldiers and civilians below looked up to watch the battle and cheered.
"That's ridiculous!" Shindo Saburo hit the rudder hard, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.
The Zero fighter was like a Swift, using an incredible turning radius to draw a very small arc in the air, avoiding the crazy shooting of the Wildcat fighter.
Although the Wildcat fighter that was less than 1,000 meters behind was also turning its rudder, it could be seen with the naked eye that the turns it made in the air were much larger than those of the Japanese fighter.
As the positions of the two fighter planes changed in the air, even people who knew nothing about air combat knew that the offensive and defensive sides were about to change positions.
The cheering crowd fell silent for an instant.
"Yo Xi! Bold Chinese, now it's time to bear the wrath of the Imperial Navy!" Looking at the accelerating Chinese fighter plane 1,000 meters ahead, Captain Shindo Saburo put his hand on the onboard machine gun button.
But unexpectedly, the Chinese fighter plane that was about to be targeted and locked turned its nose downwards and dived crazily towards the ground.
"Damn it!" Shinto Saburo pushed the throttle lever violently, and the Zero fighter dived down at the same high speed.
From the perspective of the ground, the two fighter jets dived almost vertically, and their altitude dropped from about 3,000 meters to about 1,000 meters in almost one breath.
The patterns sprayed on the fuselages of both fighter jets are clearly visible.
But the most terrible thing is that the speeds of the two fighters are almost the same. Even if the afterburner dive is turned on, the fighter numbered 9035 cannot escape the pursuit of the Japanese planes.
Saburo Shindo pressed the machine gun firing button hard, and six 7mm machine guns roared horribly, and two of the six tongues of flames hit the back of the cockpit of the diving Wildcat fighter.
"Bang bang bang!" A burst of brilliant sparks burst out from the fuselage.
That was obviously hit.
The army lieutenant standing on the roof clenched his fists tightly, even though his nails were embedded in his palms and blood was flowing out without him realizing it.
He knew that whether the general's coffin could be successfully delivered to the airport today all depended on today's battle in the air.
It is absolutely impossible to prevent this tragedy just by relying on dozens of them, dozens of guns and six machine cannons.
But now, is it still not possible? The sadness in the lieutenant's heart far exceeds the pain in his heart!
"Mom, I don't dare to look at it." The five-year-old child who looked up at all this took the initiative to cover his mother's hands with his eyes, and only dared to look at the sky through his fingers.
He didn't see that many of the uncles around him closed their eyes hard!
No one wants to watch their air force pilots, right in front of their eyes, stain the sky with blood!
As ordinary people, the only thing they can do is to close their eyes and prevent tragedy from falling into their eyes!
As a result, they missed an extremely exciting scene in this air battle!