Using nearly 500 Air Force School cadets and a few symbolic silver dollars to trade the cadet army's 24 Belugas and 38 I-5 Hawker fighter jets and several spare parts, no matter who thinks it is, The Chongqing government has made a lot of money from this deal. Chongqing is now lacking everything, but it is not lacking people. Moreover, Wang Hai and others also helped them shoot down eleven invading enemy planes and repelled a Japanese aviation force. The air raids greatly improved the morale of the people.
However, in Lao Jiang's view, because he felt that he had been coerced, he considered this to be a major stain on his military and political career. Therefore, when Wang Hai made such a big noise that the entire mountain city was deserted, the old man's mood suddenly changed. Too bad,
The current situation of the Anti-Japanese War is grim. For the people, no matter whether you are the Central Army or the Cadet Army, as long as it can defeat the Japs, it is a "good army" and worthy of their support and love. For example, at this time, there are actually quite a few of them. Some people already know that the cluster of fighter jets in the sky belongs to the military, so they can cheer and encourage them and call them "our planes." Compared with the civilian attitude, the military's attitude is much more complicated. , because the official deliberately blocked information related to the Xuebing Army, only the core members of the Central Army had their own internal channels to obtain this information, while those at the middle and lower levels and even some high-level officials knew little about the Xuebing Army, so when When they saw nearly a hundred fighter planes passing overhead, they were more shocked than the French and Japanese, because the Japanese army had actually controlled the northwest area of Jiangxi, and Guangxi was dominated by Xingui There is also a student army in the department, which is divided and controlled by the Central Army. Therefore, to them, the student army is nothing more than a warlord's armed force lingering under the Japanese cavalry in a corner of the southeast.
"Is this really a fighter plane from the Xuebing Army? Darling, there are so many."
"When did the Xuebing Army develop such a large-scale aviation force?"
"Grandma, you are a bear. This is even worse than our Central Army. If we still have so many fighter planes, why should we be afraid of the little devils coming to attack us with airstrikes?"
"People are more infuriating than others. Is this still the warlord armed force mentioned by the committee member?"
...The discussions among the middle and lower-level officers were more or less focused on talking about things, but the minds of the senior officers were alive, so someone suggested to Lao Jiang: "Commission, why not learn from the army?" All of this aviation force has been left behind. The capital's air defense force is weak and we need them to be loyal to the country..."
Old Chiang Kai-shek had never thought about this, but he just considered that the student army was not what it used to be, so he firmly suppressed the idea. After hearing the suggestions from his subordinates, the old man was quite moved, and thought it might not be a bad idea to give it a try, so Chief of Staff Calais asked him if there was any possibility of operation.
Chief of Staff He's answer was straightforward: "It's definitely worth a try. Leave it to me."
"The Xuebing Army is led by a major general named Wang Hai this time. Have you had direct contact with him, but Mu Jiandie must not let Mu Jiandie know about this."
"I know."
When Lao Jiang and Chief of Staff He were talking about Wang Hai, the latter was leading 24 Baiji Dolphins and 12 Air Fortresses in circles around Xiaolongkan.
The twenty-four Baijis escorted, plus the twenty-four traded, plus the twelve Flying Fortresses transporting spare parts, and the thirty-eight I-5s and Hawkers, a total of ninety-eight fighters. This has far exceeded the reception capacity of Xiaolongkan Military Airport, so something embarrassing happened for the national government. When thirty-eight I-5s and Hawkers plus the twenty-four Whitebacks used for the transaction landed in succession, Zhou Zhirou, who was in charge of the reception, was embarrassed to find that the runway could not be vacated so that the Xuebing Army fighter planes still hovering in the sky could land.
The maximum attack range of the Baiji is about 1,500 kilometers, but this refers to the cruising speed with auxiliary fuel tanks. In previous air battles, many Baiji had thrown away their auxiliary fuel tanks and also made a series of maneuvers. This This increases their fuel consumption, so although the straight-line distance between Xiaolongkan Airport and Baiyunshan Airport is only about a thousand kilometers, they cannot return to Guangzhou safely without refueling.
When there were no fighter planes, he tried every means to find fighter planes. There were more fighter planes, but the airport was too small. Zhou Zhirou couldn't help but sweat profusely. At this time, one of his subordinates made a suggestion: Since the airport can't accommodate them, why not move some fighter planes there? Dragging them to the street, Zhou Zhirou thought it made sense, so she quickly organized people to drag those Yi and Hawke styles to the street.
Xiaolongkan Airport lacks enough tractors, and if it is pulled manually, the workload is really not small, so it took more than half an hour for the airport staff to clear a runway.
Twelve flying fortresses landed first. Their maximum range is nearly 6,000 kilometers. They can return to Guangzhou safely without refueling. And because their fuselages are so large, Xiaolongkan Airport simply does not have enough apron for them to land. , so the only way is to land one and load and unload one.
When the airport staff were dragging the small Iraqi and Hawker fighter planes outside, a group of young people wearing student uniforms who participated in helping were very eye-catching. They were the group who were going to take the Flying Fortress to Guangzhou. Cadets from various aviation schools affiliated to the Central Military Commission,
There are a total of 549 cadets in this batch of aviation school, 217 sophomores are about to graduate, and the rest are all first-year students. Among them, there are 25 female cadets.
Because he was responsible for completing the handover procedures with Mu Jiandie and Zhou Zhirou, the Sky Fortress driven by Wang Hai was the first to land. At this time, the outside of the airport cordon was already crowded with reporters and onlookers. When the Sky Fortress began to fly in While taxiing on the runway, Mu Jiandie said to Zhou Zhirou: "Commander Wang is on this air fortress. Let's go and greet him."
Zhou Zhirou nodded, remembering Chief of Staff He's care in the phone call he just received, he turned around and shouted to the reporters behind him: "Aren't you going to interview? Today's protagonist is on this fighter plane. Every newspaper office sends A representative will come with me."
"Okay." "I'll go, I'll go."...
Zhou Zhirou attached great importance to this pick-up work. In order to express his gratitude to the student pilots who sent them over, he specially arranged a group of boys and girls to send flowers to the student pilots. Every student pilot before When they got to the ground, they all received a bouquet of flowers, and Wang Hai, as the commander of this send-off operation, was no exception. As soon as he got to the ground, a girl held a bouquet of flowers and handed it over with a sweet smile. He said sweetly: "General Wang, welcome to Chongqing."
Wang Hai took the flowers with a smile: "Thank you." Then he turned to the rows of cameras over there,