The departure time of the combat mission is set in an hour, that is, at one o'clock in the afternoon.
After the meeting, the flight group captains and flight group commanders returned to Taiyuan Airport.
The 30 fighter jets of the 1st Flying Group of the New Regiment, the 50 fighter jets of the 2nd Flying Regiment directly under the headquarters, and the pilots are ready to go.
In this mission, the 2nd Directly Affiliated Flying Regiment attacked the larger Hankou Airport.
The 1st Air Force Group attacked the smaller Japanese Aoyama Airport.
Although the 2nd Headquarters Flying Regiment has 20 more fighter jets than the 1st New Regiment Flying Group, the combat effectiveness of the two units is almost the same.
Because the 1st Flying Group is equipped with 20 Sabre fighter jets, while the 2nd Flying Regiment is only equipped with 10 Saber fighter jets.
They are all elite and ace pilots, but the pilots of the 2nd Headquarters Flying Regiment have more combat experience.
In order to prevent Japanese air raids.
The Eighth Route Army has been preparing for this air battle for a long time. Fighters, aerial bombs and fuel have already been prepared.
You only need to arrange combat missions, and the fighter jets can take off for combat at any time.
Li Shaorong and Zheng Shaoqiang quickly arranged combat tasks and conducted sufficient pre-war mobilization.
When the time reached one o'clock in the afternoon, the pilots of the 2nd Flying Regiment took off first in 10 Sabers and 40 Hellcats.
The plane that took off first hovered in the sky and waited for the following planes to take off. They formed two flight formations and flew towards Changzhi Airport.
About half an hour later, 50 planes arrived at Changzhi Airport, filled up with fuel and took off again, heading towards Wuhan.
The distance between Taiyuan and Wuhan is about 800 kilometers.
Changzhi is only about 600 kilometers away from Wuhan.
In order to prevent fighter jets from being unable to return without fuel after performing a mission, all Hellcat fighter jets, except for Sabre fighter jets, must refill fuel at Changzhi Airport.
Ten minutes after the departure of the 2nd Flying Group, 30 fighter jets from the 1st Flying Group of the new group also arrived at Changzhi Airport.
After filling up the fuel, we quickly took off, roaring with huge engines, and flew towards Wuhan.
After more than an hour of rapid flight.
The 1st flight formation of the 2nd headquarters flight regiment was the first to arrive at an area 100 kilometers from Wuhan.
At this time, the Japanese aviation unit set up a lookout post and used binoculars to see the Eighth Route Army aircraft in the sky.
…
"Reporting to the division commander, the northern lookout post reports that a large number of enemy planes are flying towards Wuhan."
Wuhan.
Lieutenant Colonel Taro Miyazawa, Communications Staff Officer of the Joint Air Raid Command, quickly walked into the headquarters and reported to Lieutenant General Michio Sugawara in a solemn tone.
"Enemy plane?" Lieutenant General Sugawara Michichi suddenly stood up after hearing this.
The staff officer Takara Yoshii on the side was also suddenly shocked.
"Is it an Eighth Route Army plane or a Chinese government army plane?"
Senior Colonel Yoshii Takara asked with a gloomy look.
After the establishment of the Flying Tigers, the National Army still has a number of aircraft and pilots.
"It's not clear yet, but the enemy plane is coming from the north. It should be an Eighth Route Army plane."
Lieutenant General Sugawara Michio narrowed his eyes, thinking that those coming from all directions were not good.
As soon as our side was preparing to attack, the Eighth Route Army took the lead in launching an air strike. Could it be that the intelligence was leaked?
Senior Colonel Yoshii Takara roughly calculated the speed of the Eighth Route Army fighter jets and the time it would take to call and wait for communication reports to the air raid headquarters. He looked at Lieutenant General Sugawara Michichi and said, "Your Excellency, Division Commander, the enemy planes will arrive in Wuhan in more than 10 minutes."
!The target of the enemy planes should be Wuhan Airport and Qingshan Airport!"
"Order all fighter jets at Wuhan Airport and Qingshan Airport to take off immediately to fight."
"And then order fighter jets from Xiaogan Airport and Sanlijie Airport to take off for reinforcements."
At this time, the Eighth Route Army's fighter jets were only more than 10 minutes away from Wuhan.
At this time, it was obviously too late to ask for instructions from the dispatched army headquarters.
Lieutenant General Sugawara Michichi prepared to send all fighter jets to fight.
Currently, the four airports in Wuhan, Qingshan, Xiaogan and Sanli Street have more than 112 fighter jets, including 48 Zero fighter jets and 64 Type One fighter jets.
112 fighter jets fight 50 fighter jets.
The Japanese pilots have rich experience in air combat and even have many ace pilots.
Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Sugawara Michichi's expression changed from solemn to confident.
The advantage is mine.
"Hi."
Senior Colonel Yoshii Takara suddenly lowered his head, turned around and walked towards the phone table, grabbed the phone and immediately said: "Moxi Moxi, this is the command headquarters, pick up Hankou Airport immediately..."
"Uuuuuu——"
As the air raid headquarters issued the order, sharp air defense sirens suddenly sounded throughout the three towns of Wuhan.
At Hankou and Qingshan airports, Japanese Zero fighter jets and Type 1 fighter jets quickly took off, lined up in flight formation, and flew in the direction of the Eighth Route Army aircraft.
…
"Notice."
"There are still 30 kilometers away from Hankou, all units are ready for battle!"
High in the air.
Zheng Shaoqiang, piloting a Saber fighter plane numbered 01, issued combat orders on the radio channel with a loud voice.
Saber fighters are relatively rare and rare, and are flown by the ace pilots of the 2nd Flying Regiment.
Elite pilots fly Hellcat fighter jets.
Jet fighters outperform propeller-driven fighters, but require higher driving skills.
but.
This was nothing to an ace pilot like Zheng Shaoqiang. It didn't take long for him to become familiar with the driving skills and weapon system of the Sabre fighter.
"receive!"
"..."
Each squadron commander flew a Sabre fighter and responded via radio.
The flight formation is almost arriving in Wuhan, and there is no need to maintain radio silence any longer.
In this flight combat, the pilots of the 2nd Flight Regiment were filled with vengeful rage.
In the battles of the past few years, countless comrades, including Gao Zhihang, the captain of the 4th Aviation Group, died under the fighter jets of the Japanese aviation unit.
This time, they want the Japanese pilots to pay with their blood.
"01,01, Japanese fighter jets are found directly ahead. Do you want to attack? Do you want to attack?"
The wingman pilot saw the Japanese fleet and immediately called Zheng Shaoqiang.
In fact, Zheng Shaoqiang also discovered the Japanese aircraft group directly ahead, a fighter formation composed of dozens of Japanese Zero fighters and Type 1 fighters, flying towards them.
"Keep formation and attack!"
Zheng Shaoqiang issued the combat order without hesitation, stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, and directly flew the Saber fighter to meet them.
More than 100 fighter jets from both sides soon fought together.
"Da da da……"
A Japanese Zero fighter targeted Zheng Shaoqiang's Saber fighter.
The Japs pilot aimed at Zheng Shaoqiang's Saber fighter and just took a shot, but found that the Saber fighter disappeared from the field of vision.
Just when the Japanese pilot was wondering whether he had shot down the enemy plane, he suddenly heard a loud crackling sound.
Before he could react, he was beaten to pieces by a 20mm cannon, and the Zero fighter suddenly exploded in the air.