Fortunately, the performance of the aviation force did not disappoint him and the central leaders who rushed over because the meeting was interrupted by a Japanese air raid. Eight P-39 fighter jets and 21 incoming Japanese bombers attacked Yang Zhen. A fierce air battle began in front of the central leadership.
When the air battle had begun, Chen Xi, who had returned to his residence to get the airwalker, rushed over panting. Seeing Yang Zhen, Chen Xi motioned to the correspondent behind him to turn on the airwalker and start communicating with the sky. He said to Yang Zhen: "No. 1, judging from the intelligence transferred from the central government, the incoming Japanese aircraft should be the 18th Japanese Air Force stationed in Yuncheng and the 16th Independent Light Bomber Squadron of the North China Front stationed in Taiyuan."
"However, among the aircraft dispatched by the Japanese army this time, in addition to the Type 98 bombers we encountered on the Northeast battlefield, there is also a twin-engine light bomber. Although the flying height is not very high, the speed is very fast. And this kind of twin-engine light bomber It is also extremely flexible to launch light bombers.”
After hearing Chen Xi's report, Yang Zhen raised his telescope and took a look and discovered that the Japanese twin-engine bombers in the sky were indeed not the Japanese Army Aviation Standard Type 97 medium-sized bombers that he had come into contact with in the Northeastern battlefield. Instead, they were a new type with a smaller body size. A new bomber that is much smaller than the Type 97.
Although this kind of light bomber is a twin-engine bomber, its response is extremely flexible. As a bomber, in the confrontation with the P-39 fighter jets, it was actually unable to fight back unlike other Japanese bombers. It even used its onboard machine gun to fight with P39 fighter jets launched an air battle.
The Japanese aircraft did not expect that their opponents would have fighter jets, so they suffered a heavy loss when they came up. As soon as they fought, three Type 98 light bombers were shot down on the spot. The remaining ones dropped their bombs indiscriminately, perhaps relying on their own bombers to fight with them. The excellent performance of the Nationalist Government's old-fashioned fighter jets in combat has become more solid. They actually fought without fear. They tried to use twin-engine bombers to counter the opponent's sudden appearance of fighter jets.
Under the control of the sophisticated flying skills of Japanese pilots, these Japanese pilots not only relied on the superior flight performance of their planes among bombers during air combat, but not only did they not flee in the air battle with fighter jets, they even boldly There is room for counterattack. However, its dense formation limits the performance of this aircraft.
Facing a Japanese bomber formation that was in dense formation and trying to resist with airborne machine guns, the pilots of the eight P-39 fighter jets that took off did not fight hard. Instead, they used flexible tactics and the unique agility of fighter jets to take turns. Launched an attack on the Japanese formation.
The p-39 fighter jets are in a flexible two-plane formation, just like a group of wolves surrounding a flock of sheep. They will attack as long as the Japanese formation is slightly negligent. Its aircraft carries a powerful 37mm cannon and a 12-point cannon. The seven-millimeter machine gun posed a considerable threat to the Japanese bomber fleet.
Although the Japanese Type 99 light bomber began to counterattack due to its fast flight speed, its so-called fast flight speed was for the old fighter jets such as the I-15 and 16, which were the main force of the Nationalist Government Air Force. In the face of the new The p-39 fighter is still a bit slow and still looks a bit clumsy.
In the face of the P-39 fighter itself, which has complete defensive armor, the 7.7mm machine gun equipped by it is not a great threat as long as it does not hit the vital point. The 37 aircraft gun equipped by the P-39 fighter, although it is equipped with ammunition, The number is small. But as long as one shot hits, the Japanese bombers, who are thin-skinned and not too thick, will hardly escape as long as they are hit by one shot.
Especially because Yan'an has almost no air defense cover in the entire city except for the somewhat limited air defense force at the airport. These Japanese bombers, which had not encountered any resistance in previous bombings, generally flew at a low distance in order to improve bombing accuracy. It is at the medium and low altitude where the P-39 fighter jet performs its best.
After a fifteen-minute air battle, the two sides fought from a medium altitude of more than 3,000 meters to a low altitude of more than 1,000 meters. Although they had an absolute advantage in numbers, the pilots of the Japanese bombers were obviously dissatisfied with the Soviet-style bombers equipped by the Nationalist Government Air Force. There was nothing they could do about the completely different new fighter jets. They were somewhat horrified to find that their previous tactics against the Nationalist Government Air Force were completely ineffective.
My own bombers looked so fragile in front of the large-caliber cannon. The flying speed I was once proud of was still at a disadvantage in front of the opponent's strange-looking fighter. As for flexibility, no matter it was the new Nine-Nine Type Bombers, or Type 98 bombers, are no match.
Facing a powerful opponent, after fifteen minutes of air combat, the Japanese bomber pilots finally lost the courage to persist. The Type 99 light bomber in the formation, after leaving four piles of wreckage, relied on its fast speed and long legs. Taking advantage of the situation, he abandoned the cumbersome Type 98 light bomber with fixed landing gear and fled first.
After the Type 99 light bomber ran away like this, the Type 98 bomber that they were protecting in the middle was in an extremely embarrassing situation. It couldn't run, and it couldn't be beaten. I thought there was a new type of bomber that could even be used as a heavy fighter. The light bombers can cover themselves. But you know, those bastards escaped first without any sense of loyalty.
These Type 99 light bombers were the first to flee without loyalty. After the first wave of attacks, the remaining nine were originally covered by the Type 99 light bombers with certain air combat capabilities. They reluctantly dropped their bombs indiscriminately. The Type 8 bomber was suddenly exposed in the open sky and became the prey of eight P-39 fighter jets.
In fact, the nine Type 98 light bombers did not have no chance of escape. When the nine Type 99 light bombers tried to take advantage of their speed to engage in air combat with the eight P-39 fighters that took off, these Type 98 fighters were originally You can take advantage of the opportunity to escape and ascend to the sky. After all, there are only eight fighter jets launched to intercept, and the remaining four have to perform maneuvering tasks.
It's just that the pilots of these Type 98 light bombers were too confident in the performance of the Type 99 light bomber, which had shown its prowess during the air raid on Xi'an and shot down the most advanced I-Sixteen fighter of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. They thought these performance were advanced. , the extremely fast light bomber can repel the opponent's fighter jets when faced with intercepting fighters, just like it did over Xi'an.
However, he did not expect that after more than ten minutes of air combat, the opponent's fighter jets were not repelled, but were beaten away by the so-called Type 99 light bombers, which are said to be the most advanced in the world and can engage in air combat with all fighter jets. After these reactions, The Type 98 pilots who arrived saw that the situation was not good and wanted to retreat, but it was already too late.
After driving away those extremely fast Type 99 light bombers, the p-39 fighter jets used flexible tactics and ferocious firepower to launch a siege against these bulky Type 98 light bombers that basically had no armor protection. These The Type 98 light bomber, unable to fight or run away, tried its best to resist, but was unable to fight back.
Although the pilots of these Type 98 bombers are veterans who have experienced actual combat and have superb driving skills, they have repeatedly tried to use their own skills to deal with their opponents. But in front of these opponents who have experienced air combat and accumulated a certain amount of experience, You can never get rid of the passive situation.
The furious Japanese pilot even flew the aircraft out of a maneuver that was strictly prohibited when it was originally designed. The shooter in the back seat also fired desperately, trying to shoot down the opponent who kept attacking him, but he could never get rid of the opponent who followed him closely. attack.
Diving, biting, entering, attacking, and breaking away, the anti-alliance pilots in the sky strictly followed the training requirements and maximized the performance of the P-39 fighter jets, using a two-plane formation to launch successive attacks on the numerically superior opponents. In Under the 37mm cannon of the p-39 fighter, the Japanese Type 98 bombers, which had withstood dozens of bullets from Soviet fighter jets, were all shot down in less than ten minutes.
Zero to sixteen, an air battle ended neatly in less than half an hour. The aviation force of the Northeast Military Region successfully completed its first battle in the pass. It fought a beautiful air battle at the location of the central government and handed it over in front of the head of the central government. A satisfactory answer was given, fulfilling Yang Zhen's wish for a good start.
The sound of gunfire in the sky attracted the interest of many people in Yan'an. After discovering that there were planes in the sky to fight the incoming Japanese aircraft, the people in Yan'an did not evacuate and look for hiding places as before. Instead, they each found a place for observation. place, watching the air battle with great interest.
When the eight fighter jets that completed their mission returned under the cover of the four fighter jets that took off as backup aircraft, bursts of cheers rang out throughout the city of Yan'an. At the same time, Yan'an's security forces were dispersed, and everyone was full of cheers. Capture of parachuting Japanese pilots in the mountains.
Yan'an is a place that is tight outside and tight inside. It looks calm on the surface and does not have many guards. In fact, Yan'an is extremely tightly controlled. Those Japanese air crews who parachuted to escape were obviously not as lucky as their colleagues on the front lines of the tug of war between the two armies. Soon after the plane was shot down There may be a chance to escape the confrontation between the two armies and run back to your own side.
Of the forty-eight pilots on the sixteen Japanese planes that were shot down, except for the twenty-one who did not have time to parachute or were directly burned to charcoal because the plane caught fire and exploded after being hit, the remaining twenty-six airmen Within two hours, all the personnel were found and captured.
According to the past experience of these Japanese pilots, they have always been very safe in the air when bombing the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border area without any air defense. These overly aggressive pilots, in addition to flying maps, even used them after being shot down He didn't bring the pistol he used to escape or commit suicide.
The security forces did not spend half an effort to capture these pilots. These Japanese air crews, who originally planned to return to Yuncheng to have a good meal after dropping the bombs, were captured like sheep in a pen. When When these Japanese prisoners were escorted through Yan'an Street, if the guards hadn't stopped them, the Yan'an people who had suffered enough from the Japanese air raids would have called these Japanese air crews a taste of Chinese anger.