Chapter 561: Coral Sea Aircraft Carrier Battle Five
Fletcher of the US Army personally led the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier battle group, turned west and sailed directly into the Coral Sea. It seemed that he was preparing to rendezvous with the Japanese aircraft carrier Shohō and then enter the waters near the Hawaiian Islands from behind. However, US Commander Fletcher
Little did they know that their actions had been discovered by a medium-high altitude reconnaissance aircraft modified from a J-13.
After learning that two Japanese and American aircraft carriers would intercept the Far East aircraft carrier battle group from behind, Li Donghua, who was stationed at the Hawaii command headquarters, immediately ordered the two submarine formations of the Pacific Fleet of the Far East Navy, the Alligator and the Octopus, to assist and prepare for the invasion.
The Japanese and American aircraft carrier battle groups were intercepted outside the China East aircraft carrier battle group.
After receiving the news that two submarine formations of the Far East Navy were leaving the port, the Japanese Navy Command almost caused a panic. The Japanese Navy Command urgently ordered all Japanese transport ships to stop moving forward, all warships entered first-level combat readiness, and the Japanese Navy
The destroyer launched anti-submarine warfare in advance.
At around 15:22 pm on September 28, 1907, a total of 50 Far East Air Force J-11 and J-13 fighter jets from the Hawaii Naval Base began an aerial dogfight with 55 Japanese R-31 fighter jets.
Fighters taking off from the Fujian, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Jiangxi four Yanhuang-class light aircraft carriers are divided into three echelons and are moving step by step towards the Japan-US joint aircraft carrier battle group, the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku, and the US aircraft carrier Lexington.
Active preparations for war have begun, and almost all fighter planes are on the flight deck.
Although there were some dense clouds in the sky during the battle, as they reached an extremely close distance, the pilots of the Far East Air Force opened their weapon locks one after another, and their thumbs were already placed on the trigger button.
Ten miles, eight miles, five miles, gradually, the pilots of both sides could already hear the roar of the opponent's fighter engines. Finally, at around 15:25, they met, and then the first air battle began, and this time the two sides
The number of fighter planes is almost equal, so what will be the final result?
The R-31 fighter is a fighter between ground and high altitude, so whether it is the Far East Air Force's low-altitude fighter J-11 or the mid-to-high-altitude J-13, the Japanese aircraft can basically fight it, but the same thing is,
How could well-trained Far East Air Force pilots not know this?
So after the air battle had begun, the fifty Far East fighter jets were divided into five echelons and began to attack in groups. Each group had two different fighter combinations, that is to say, J-11 and J-13, which cooperated with each other.
At the beginning, the pilots of the Little Devils also showed their unique militaristic spirit and prepared to have a big fight with the pilots of the Far East Air Force.
But after just over ten minutes of fighting, the little devil was dumbfounded, because after just ten minutes, six R-31 fighters were hit. What was going on?
Because the mission of all groups of J-11 fighter jets is to attract the firepower of the Japs and swim directly towards low altitudes, while the J-13s are specifically responsible for diving and shooting from mid-to-high altitudes. This resulted in the loss of the Japs in the first round.
One-tenth of the fighter jets.
After reacting, the pilots of the Little Devil immediately adjusted their thinking and gradually gave up chasing the low-altitude fighter J-11 and mainly pursued the mid-to-high-altitude fighter J-13. However, just after the Little Devil had just changed their tactics, the pilots of the Far East Air Force also immediately changed their combat teams.
shape.
Even domestic children may now know about high-tech products like airplanes, but airplanes are generally classified into high-altitude and high-speed. Air fighter jets need both high-speed and high-altitude. But now that they are classified, their design and configuration
They will all be different.
Any fighter jet hopes to have high-altitude and high-speed characteristics, but there are many, many factors involved. For example, a small country with a weak economy like Mexico, or a very safe surrounding environment, definitely does not need high-altitude fighter jets.
Because the cost of a high-altitude fighter is equivalent to 1.5 times that of a low-altitude fighter.
Therefore, even a big country like the United States builds suitable fighter jets based on its own country's characteristics.
All this does not mean that the United States is weaker than the Far East in terms of air technology. It is because of what kind of posture the United States Air Force needs to adopt. Therefore, their air force is also divided into low and high altitude. And because of their situation, Japan
, produced a medium-altitude fighter aircraft.
The reason why the Far East Air Force builds high-altitude and high-speed fighter aircraft is mainly to stop the enemy. In this regard, because the land area under the jurisdiction of the Far East Group is too large and is cross-regional, it has a large number of high-altitude and high-speed fighter aircraft, which is more convenient for daily patrols and necessary operations.
fighting.
The same is true for the United States, which can be regarded as an offensive air force. It also builds and focuses on this type of fighter aircraft in large quantities, but Japan is not good at it, or does not have the strength to research. Real high-altitude and high-speed fighters can only be improved on the basis of the United States.
However, when it comes to high-altitude and high-speed issues, the Far East Air Force is divided into two categories. The first is the J-11, a low-altitude fighter that focuses on high speed. Although this is a high-speed fighter that is caricatured by some countries as half-toned, because of their mission
, it is not a high-altitude and high-speed combat mission. It performs very well in air combat, especially at medium and low altitudes, and at high altitude and high speed, there is also the J-13.
In Li Ningyu's words, as long as the J-11 is a mid- to low-altitude fighter jet with high speed and excellent fire control performance, it does not require every fighter to perform full-time missions. However, intercepting the enemy's J-13 at high altitude is very important.
First of all, the thrust of the fighter jet is large, but the fuselage is actually light, and it also carries enough fuel.
However, the J-11's engine thrust at medium and low altitudes is not very large, and it does not carry much fuel. The fuselage has good protection, but is a bit heavy.
So when the Japanese army changed tactics and pursued the J-13, the Far East Air Force came up with a new trick, that is, little devils, can you catch up?
If compared with the J-11, the speed of the R-31 fighter is naturally enough, but if compared with the J-13, it is far behind. Therefore, in the air battle where you are chasing each other, the back and forth is completed again.
The Japanese army's losses were even more serious, because when the R-31 was chasing the J-13, the J-11's huge aerial cannon fired out streams of flames without hesitation. Under the fire of the large-caliber shells, the little Japanese was skinny and bones.
The R-31 often only needs two shells to be shot down. If the Japs hadn't escaped quickly in the end, it is estimated that if the Far East Air Force was given another hour, fifty R-31s could be wiped out.
Of course, in the first wave of battles, 80% of the 20 J-11 fighters responsible for attracting the Japanese army had dense machine gun holes in their fuselages, but none of them were shot down, and among them the most seriously injured
The J-11 finally managed to fly back to the Hawaii base on a single wing, but the plane crashed when landing. However, the excellent, brave and decisive pilot was only slightly injured. In the first air battle, the Japanese army lost ten people.