Half an hour later, the second attack wave of the Tianshu squadron launched an air attack on the Furutaka. Although the Furutaka had been alerted for nearly an hour, the entire ship's artillery was aimed at anti-aircraft fire.
All artillery crews were mentally prepared, but they still became the "training tools" of the Ming Army's aircraft carrier formations.
Facts just proved Xiang Xiaoqiang's conclusion. The Ming army learned its lesson from the second air raid. In addition to leaving behind warning fighters, most of the fighter jets also participated in strafing enemy ships. While the dive bombers dived to drop bombs from high altitudes, the fighter jets
The group covered the torpedo group behind them at low altitude, quickly rushed towards the enemy ship from the side, and fired with four machine guns.
There are unprotected targets such as the machine guns on the side of the warship, the glass windows of the command tower, and the rangefinder. The effect of strafing by fighter jets is better than expected. Such side targets are difficult to hit by high-altitude dives. Moreover, this kind of strafing is very effective against Japanese air defense.
The artillery fire formed a very good suppression. When the bomb did not hit, it could kill a large number of enemy ship's artillery and weaken the artillery fire.
Then, when the fighter jets passed by the enemy ships and climbed up, the torpedo planes behind them had also entered the throwing range. A large number of torpedoes were thrown into the water, and then the torpedo planes were also able to lift up and disperse.
The air raid only lasted ten minutes. The Nachi was hit by four bombs and two torpedoes, and exploded and sank. The Ming army's fleet only lost two dive bombers, four torpedo bombers, and two fighter jets.
It should be said that it was much more advanced than the last air strike. The time was much shorter and the losses were much smaller. Xiang Xiaoqiang’s prediction was confirmed. And the pilots of this second attack wave were the same as those of the first attack wave.
It was their first time to participate in a battle, and they had no previous experience in anti-ship combat. It is conceivable that as they participate in anti-ship combat for the second and third time, and become veterans from novices, the results will be better and the losses will be greater.
Small.
…
After the second attack wave group sank the cruiser Furutaka, not all of them returned home, but only those torpedo planes that had thrown away torpedoes returned, and some of the dive bombers without bombs were protected by some fighter jets and returned to reload bombs.
The remaining approximately one squadron of dive bombers each had at least one bomb. They were protected by a squadron of fighters and began to fly towards several nearby Japanese destroyers.
The approximate coordinates of those destroyers have been determined during the previous aerial reconnaissance. Now the commander of the Ming fleet feels that they can be easily sunk. As long as they are all sunk, then the 170 destroyers from Taiwan Island to the Diaoyu Islands will be destroyed.
There are no more Japanese ships in the kilometer-wide sea area. The Ming army's aircraft carrier formation can swagger through, break through the island chain, and enter the vast Pacific Ocean.
Within ten minutes, a squadron of dive bombers found another Japanese destroyer. 15 bombers and 16 fighters strafed and bombers dropped bombs. Within five minutes, a bomb was dropped on the deck, which immediately penetrated the deck.
Straight to the bottom. The bomb exploded together with the destroyer's boiler. The order to abandon the ship was immediately heard throughout the ship, but only half of the Japanese sailors had time to jump into the sea to escape. The other half quickly sank into the sea with the ship and perished in the belly of the fish.
Since the destroyer's anti-aircraft firepower was quite weak and it had little armor, the battle ended quickly and there were no casualties among the Ming fleet.
But at this time, a group of Japanese fighter jets flying from Okinawa had already flown over this sea area and were looking for the Ming army aircraft group. The Ming army aircraft group did not know it yet, and was still excitedly flying one ship after another.
They searched for Japanese destroyers all over the place. They had just discovered a secret: their dozens of small planes were actually more powerful than tens of thousands of tons of battleships. They had just realized how powerful they were, and they excitedly kept looking for opponents to repeatedly verify their power.
…
When they sank the second Japanese destroyer, the escorting fighter squadron leader sounded the alarm: a group of enemy aircraft was spotted ahead.
The fighter squadron leader immediately called the aircraft carrier formation and the reinforcement fleet heading here from the Taiwan base, reported their position and approximate number of enemy aircraft, and asked them to come over quickly.
Then, he pulled down his goggles and led a squadron of men to prepare for battle.
At this time, they had flown to the east of the Diaoyu Islands and had left the scheduled sea area behind. This place is about 400 kilometers away from Okinawa, which is almost the limit of the flight radius of fighter jets. The Ming army pilots also knew that they caught the Japanese
Due to the fuel shortage of the fighter jets, while allowing the bombers to return home, they faced Japanese fighter jets that were four times their size. They pushed the throttle to the maximum and forced the Japanese aircraft to engage in high-speed air combat with them in the most fuel-consuming way.
The Japanese fighter jets were in a dilemma at this time. If they also flew at high speeds to engage in air combat with the Ming army, they would not have enough fuel to return. If they did not fly at high speeds, then the air combat would obviously suffer. But there was no choice anymore, and the Japanese fighter groups also pushed the accelerator.
When it reaches the maximum level, it engages in a high-speed fight with Ming army fighter jets.
The Ming fighter planes were outnumbered, and they wanted to trap the entire Japanese fighter group and prevent them from attacking their bombers. Even the Ming pilots were veterans of Hainan Airlines, and they began to be shot down at this time.
But at the same time, these veterans of the Ming Army were not in vain. Basically, for every Ming Army aircraft that fell down during the battle, two Japanese Air Force aircraft would fall down.
The battle only lasted a few minutes. 4 Ming fighter jets were shot down and 8 Japanese fighter jets were shot down. At this time, the captain of the Japanese fighter group thought that the fight could no longer continue, otherwise the entire group would be lost on the way back due to lack of fuel.
Falling into the sea. He gave an order, and the remaining thirty or so fighter jets tried their best to break away from the battle and return to the northeast.
The Ming army's fighter group also had what they wanted at this time, so they quickly broke away from the battle, headed northwest to meet up with the bomber group, and then returned.
…
A few minutes later, two squadrons of fighter jets from the Taiwan base arrived. At this time, the original air combat battlefield was empty. The Japanese planes were flying back to the northeast, and the Ming planes were flying back to the northwest. The Ming army aircraft group at the Taiwan base
After searching around the spot, we only found some airplane wreckage floating on the sea surface, as well as a few parachutes, which should have belonged to skydiving pilots.
The aircraft fleet called Keelung Port to send a destroyer to rescue, and then returned.
However, just as the fighter jets from the Taiwan base were flying more than ten kilometers west, the team leader received a call from the base, ordering them to turn around and accelerate to the northeast to catch up and annihilate the returning Japanese fleet.
The team leader was very confused as to why he had just approved their return and now suddenly changed the order to let them chase the Japanese plane.
There is enough fuel now, after all, it is only 260 kilometers away from Taoyuan Airport. But with this distance and air combat, the fuel may be a little tight.
After the team leader reported his concerns over the radio, the base replied that he could rest assured. Because their fuel was only likely to be tight, and the fuel of the Japanese aircraft was already close to the limit. Therefore, their mission was not to engage in a tragic air battle, but as long as
Fight with the Japanese planes twice, use up their fuel, and then you can leave. Just let the Japanese planes fall into the sea halfway.
The base also said that the Tianshu aircraft carrier group in the north will also send a fighter group to cooperate with them in operations.
Finally, the officer at the base said that this was a suggestion from the highest command level in Nanjing. Of course, it was just a suggestion. If the team leader felt that fuel was really tight and the fleet was in danger of being unable to return, it could also return directly, with the Tianshu squadron's fleet
You can do it alone. The decision lies with the fleet leader.
When the leader heard about this situation, he immediately made a decision and led the squadron to turn around and head east to pursue the Japanese aircraft group.
…
In Nanjing, Xiang Xiaoqiang received a telegram from the Taiwan base and the Tianshu squadron. He sat in a chair, looked at each other with his staff, and smiled with relief.
Then, he snapped his fingers and said with a smile:
"Qiu Qiu, go to the kitchen to see if there is anything delicious and bring us some. Let them prepare a bottle of champagne... Haha, everyone, let's eat first. In the afternoon, they will wipe out all the Japanese fighter jets in the Okinawa base.