Rise From Eight Hundred

The Chinese people on the ground who were unaware of the situation did not know what they were feeling at that moment, but their faces showed extreme panic.

However, Chen's think tank and the other coffin-carrying officers who were almost scared to death had joy on their faces.

They knew that the planes that rushed down from the higher sky were definitely not Japanese planes, but the six wildcat fighters that escorted the special plane to Yiling.

No wonder Tang Dao was so calm and so arrogant. He had arranged the six new American fighters to be on high alert in the sky before entering the city, waiting for the Japanese planes to come and fall into the trap.

From this tactical deployment alone, choosing him as the security person in charge of this operation to escort the coffin back to the capital proved that he had not made a mistake.

That's right, combined with the actions of the Japanese in the past and the current determination of the Japanese army to take Yiling, Tang Dao judged that the Japanese army would never miss this great opportunity to use the general's coffin to enter the city to hit the morale of the Chinese military and civilians, so before entering the city, he ordered the six wildcat fighters led by Shen Chonghai to take off through the radio and patrol and guard at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters.

This is also the reason why the Chinese people can't hear the roar of the aircraft engine. 6,000 meters is considered low altitude for future fighters, but it is already a very high altitude for current fighters.

Take the Zero fighter currently equipped by the Japanese army as an example. Perhaps its maneuverable and flexible performance and ultra-high range are already the top fighter performance in the 1940 era, but its biggest shortcoming is that the ceiling is not enough. When fighting at an altitude of more than 4,200 meters, its maneuverability will drop sharply.

"Don't panic, everyone, that's our fighter!" Chen, the think tank who has regained some courage, looked at the people around him who were obviously agitated, and shouted loudly to appease them.

Is that our fighter? Looking at the few small black dots rushing down from the sky, it is hard for the people to believe.

It's not that they haven't seen fighters. Since the Battle of Zaoyi, the Japanese army has attacked Yiling crazily, and the fighters of both sides have fought air battles over Yiling for no less than two times, but Chinese aircraft are basically biplanes.

Although the fighter planes that are becoming clearer and clearer in the field of vision still cannot see their specific appearance, they can still see whether they are single-wing or biplane.

Compared with the Chinese soldiers and civilians on the ground who were in doubt, Captain Shinteng Saburo in the air finally discovered something was wrong after the Chinese fighter entered a dive state for more than ten seconds and dropped to 4,000 meters in altitude.

Looking up, he saw several dark gray huge fighters rushing at him at lightning speed less than 2,000 meters away from his fighter.

In terms of size, the Zero fighter is 9 meters long and has a wingspan of 12 meters, which is actually larger than the Wildcat fighter with a length of 7 meters and a wingspan of 6 meters. However, because the Wildcat fighter carries 6 7mm machine guns, and the cockpit and fuel tank are armored, the weight of the entire aircraft is nearly one ton heavier than the Zero aircraft, and it looks very strong.

This is also the main reason why the Wildcat fighter's engine is 20% more powerful than the Zero fighter, but it is still far inferior to the latter in maximum speed, circling speed, range, and climb rate.

But just from the appearance, the Wildcat fighter is far more powerful than the lightweight Zero fighter.

Especially before departure yesterday, in order not to anger the Japanese too much, all 6 wildcat fighters were repainted. A shark with a bloody mouth was painted on the nose, and the original white five-pointed star was painted with dark gray paint on the fuselage. However, the blue sky and white sun flag was not painted, but the aircraft number was sprayed.

Because this batch of fighters was only equivalent to the United States renting it to the Chinese Air Force, it has not been officially incorporated and there is no way to give it a formal aircraft number. The six Chinese pilots each chose a number as the number of their own aircraft.

Shen Chonghai chose 9035, which was his mother's birthday. He believed that his mother would bless her son, and it also meant that if he died in battle, he would definitely remember his mother.

Zhang Dafei thought about it and wrote down the number 3816. Perhaps only Tang Dao knew that it was the time and age when he and Ms. Qi Bangyuan met at Nankai Middle School.

From the perspective of the Japanese pilots, watching six ferocious sharks rushing towards them with their bloody mouths wide open, even if they were not frightened, they would definitely be highly nervous.

"Yoshi! It's the Chinese, gentlemen, let's teach them a lesson and give the Chinese generals who have died in the battle a brilliant fireworks show! With Chinese blood and fighter planes!" Captain Shindo Saburo was not surprised but happy, pulled up the rudder and pushed the throttle hard.

Today was the first time that the Zero fighter was put into actual combat, but Captain Shindo Saburo, who had flown the Type 96 and Type 97 as well as the American Hawk-class fighter, knew clearly that the performance of the aircraft he controlled was completely superior to any country's fighter plane he knew, and the weak Chinese Air Force was even less to be feared, even if their aircraft were painted with hideous but ridiculous patterns.

The engines of the four Zero fighters that were diving into the sky above the Yiling city area made a huge roar, which was deafening.

The whole aircraft was like a nimble swallow, passing less than 2,000 meters in the sight of 100,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians, and then the nose of the aircraft was raised high, and it quickly climbed to 3,000 meters at a speed that made people's hair stand on end.

The whole climbing process took only one minute!

The Chinese soldiers and civilians on the ground probably didn't understand this concept, but Shen Chonghai and others in the sky were sweating on their foreheads.

They were all elite pilots of the Chinese Air Force, and they knew what it meant to climb nearly 1,000 meters per minute.

The I-15, the main model equipped by each Chinese flight squadron, has a climbing speed of 7 per second, which is about 820 meters per minute. The Hawk III fighter has a slower climbing speed, about 650 meters per minute.

Even if they are currently driving a Wildcat fighter with a 1,200-horsepower engine, the climbing speed will not exceed 700 meters per minute if the throttle lever is pushed to the bottom.

That also means that all types of fighters currently owned by the Chinese Air Force will be beaten by the Japanese aircraft in front of them in terms of climbing speed.

The climbing rate not only means that it is faster to occupy the high altitude advantage, but also means that the Japanese aircraft in front of them are extremely maneuverable.

"Da Fei and I, each of us will bite a Japanese aircraft and fight it, and the other four people will form a double-plane formation and kill the Japanese devils according to the scissors tactics formulated by the superiors. Everyone remember that these 6 fighters may be the only capital of my Air Force to fight against the new Japanese fighters, and they must not be easily destroyed." Shen Chonghai calmly issued instructions on the radio channel.

Shen Chonghai, who has participated in more than ten air battles of all sizes, is no longer the young man who just started out. The lieutenant of the Air Force who has been promoted to squadron leader knows what he should do now, and he has also considered the future battlefield.

Although the Wildcat fighter has a gap in maneuverability with the unknown Japanese aircraft in front of him, the Wildcat, with its fierce firepower, thick skin and strong horsepower, is still far ahead of all the current models of fighters of the Chinese Air Force in terms of performance. That is the biggest asset of the Chinese Air Force at present.

Life is not worth cherishing, but fighter planes are precious. He must not let his brothers easily do something that will die together with the enemy planes, and deliberately reminds them before the war.

"Understood!" The other five pilots answered in the wireless channel.

And the tactics deployed before the war were naturally not formulated before boarding the plane, but were temporarily formulated according to the number of enemy planes.

Yesterday, Tang Dao defeated Lieutenant Scott with one punch, and flew a wildcat fighter as an army colonel, which completely shocked the arrogant American pilots. The American pilots who were willing to be instructors spent a full 6 hours teaching the skills of flying wildcat fighters.

He and Zhang Dafei, who had just returned to China after training in the United States for a year and a half, were praised by Lieutenant Scott, who believed that they were the most talented pilots in China and would definitely have the opportunity to join the ranks of ace pilots.

Then the two best pilots would entangle the Japanese single plane, making it impossible for them to rescue their teammates, while the other four would need to rely on the advantage of numbers and use the scissors tactics that Tang Dao formulated for them at dinner to shoot down the Japanese plane.

Shen Chonghai still clearly remembered every word that Tang Dao said when he disassembled this set of flying tactics on the small blackboard for the six of them.

"I don't know if you believe it or not, but I'm actually a complete layman in air combat tactics. What would you do if you encounter Japanese Type 96 and Type 97 fighters?"

"We will bite them and shoot them down with the powerful firepower and excellent protection of the Wildcat fighters. Even if they are slower Hawk II fighters, we are not afraid of them." Zhang Dafei answered very confidently.

"Then let me ask you, if the Japanese army sends a new fighter with much better maneuverability than the Type 96, Type 97 or even the Wildcat fighters, what would you do?"

"Then we can only fight with him. If we can't defeat him with one, then we can use two, three or even more. In short, we can't let the Japanese devils run wild in front of us, unless one day the Chinese Air Force is dead." A pilot named Lin Heng answered fearlessly.

Tang Dao felt familiar with Lin Heng's name when he heard it before, but he didn't talk in detail because the American pilot wanted to pick a fight. After chatting and getting familiar with him during dinner, Tang Dao finally knew who this person was.

He was a famous descendant of the Lin family. In the past, he was not well-known because he died too early, but his sister and brother-in-law were famous architects in China in the future. Because of the sacrifice of his brother and his eight classmates in the aviation school, they wrote the famous "Crying for the Third Brother Heng".

"This cold and simple heroism is the poem of the times

This silent glory is you

I fully understand why I still cry to you

Just because you are a child but have nothing left for yourself

When I was a child, I looked forward to your happiness and your safety in wartime

Today you have no children to worry about and need to be comforted

And thousands of Chinese people seem to have forgotten who you died for!"

Tang Dao did not know this young pilot who died at the age of 23, but he had heard of his elder sister who also died in her prime. In order to protect the ancient buildings in Yanjing City, she asked a vice-ministerial official, "What are you?" She responded sharply: "My Lin family has been loyal and brave for generations. My third brother died for the country. What are you?" It was really deafening.

Now it seems that the brother and sister are equally stubborn.

"Sacrifice is a necessary condition for victory, but not the only condition. Good tactics may make up for this shortcoming. This is the tactic of our army. I wonder if it is practical in your air force. No matter how strong its mobility is, it still has to face the sword and gun. I agree with what Lin said just now. If one plane is not enough, we can use two!

You see, this is the inspiration I got from an old pilot."

The old pilot Tang Dao mentioned is Major John Thatch of the United States. After several battles and defeats with the Japanese Zero fighter, he invented an air tactic called "Thatch Scissors".

Because the Wildcat fighter is thick-skinned and tough, the entire fuselage including the engine is strong and durable. Although the speed is slow, as long as the Wildcat fighter engages in close combat with the Zero fighter, it will definitely have the upper hand.

The core idea of ​​the "Satchi Shears" tactic is to let two Wildcat fighters fight against the Zero fighter.

The two Wildcat fighters can cross-fly, cover each other, and fly back and forth in circles from the 6 o'clock position, which can offset the Zero fighter's super maneuverability advantage.

Even if the two Wildcat fighters are hit by the 7mm machine guns equipped by the Zero fighter, it is harmless. As long as the Zero fighter can be encircled and blocked, it will be easy to shoot it down.

Therefore, the tactic of "Satchi Shears" is to use the Wildcat fighter's sturdiness and heavy firepower advantages to narrow the encirclement and take down the Zero fighter with 2 to 1.

This set of tactics, verified by the Coral Island naval battle, completely made up for the inherent disadvantage of the Wildcat fighter's lack of maneuverability, and was used until the end of World War II. The Japanese Zero fighter never had the advantage over the US Wildcat fighter in the early stage of the war. When the Hellcat and P51 series fighters were put into service, the Zero became the target of being beaten.

To put it bluntly, as the saying goes, "The world's martial arts can only be broken by speed." In the early stages of the war, the Japanese played the advantages of the Zero fighter's ability to dive and its super maneuverability. On the other hand, the F4F fighter had a slow climbing speed and poor maneuverability. It had 6 large-caliber heavy firepower machine guns, but it was difficult to aim at the opponent.

The Zero fighter was like a cheetah that came and went without a trace, while the F4F was like a big rhino with thick skin and slow speed. As a result, the rhino was constantly bitten by the cheetah and lost blood, and eventually died.

But the US Navy and Air Force, who summed up this set of tactical theories, used two rhinos to continuously compress the cheetah's activity space. No matter how many times you bite me, you can't kill me as long as you don't bite my throat and balls, but if my horns hit you once, you will be finished.

Shen Chonghai was smart enough. After seeing the incredible climbing speed of the Japanese plane, he immediately chose the "scissors" tactics explained by Tang Dao without hesitation.

Major Sarkozy, who was going to leave his name in history, could only find out tragically that the tactics he summed up after suffering so many beatings appeared over the big river in China two years in advance.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Captain Shindo Saburo was bitten by a swooping Chinese fighter plane. A total of four large-caliber machine guns deployed on the nose and wings fired crazily, and four bright flames were clearly visible against the backdrop of a dark cloud.

That was Lieutenant Shen Chonghai, who had the best flying skills among the six Chinese pilots. Under his control, the seemingly clumsy Wildcat fighter was like a ferocious eagle, constantly shuttling between the clouds, chasing the Zero fighter that had just risen to an altitude of 3,300 meters and shooting wildly.

"Kill him!"

"Kill the little devils!"

The Chinese soldiers and civilians who looked up at the battle below cheered.

"Ridiculous!" Shindo Saburo hit the rudder hard, with a sneer on his lips.

The Zero fighter was like a swift, with an incredible turning radius, drawing a very small arc in the air, avoiding the crazy shooting of the Wildcat fighter.

The Wildcat fighter that followed closely behind it was less than 1,000 meters away, but it was visible to the naked eye that the turn it made in the air was much larger than that of the Japanese plane.

As the positions of the two fighters changed in the air, even those who knew nothing about air combat knew that the attacking and defending sides were about to change positions.

The originally cheering crowd suddenly fell silent.

"Yoshi! Daring Chinese, now it's time to bear the wrath of the Imperial Navy!" Captain Shindo Saburo put his hand on the onboard machine gun button, looking at the Chinese fighter plane that was accelerating 1,000 meters ahead.

But unexpectedly, the Chinese fighter plane that was about to be targeted and locked actually nosed down and dived madly to the ground.

"Damn it!" Shindo Saburo pushed the throttle suddenly, and the Zero fighter also dived down at high speed.

From the perspective of the ground, the two fighters dived almost vertically, and the height dropped from about 3,000 meters to about 1,000 meters in almost one breath.

The patterns sprayed on the fuselages of the two fighters were clearly visible.

But the most fatal thing was that the speeds of the two fighters were almost the same. Even if the afterburner was turned on for a dive, the fighter numbered 9035 could not escape the pursuit of the Japanese plane.

Shindo Saburo pressed the machine gun firing button fiercely, and the six 7mm machine guns roared terribly. Two of the six flames hit the rear side of the cockpit of the diving Wildcat fighter.

"Bang, bang, bang!" A brilliant spark burst out from the fuselage.

It was obviously hit.

The army lieutenant standing on the roof clenched his fists fiercely, even though his nails had embedded into his palms and bleeding without knowing it.

He knew that whether the general's coffin could be successfully delivered to the airport today depended on this battle in the air today.

It was impossible to prevent this tragedy with just a few dozen people, dozens of guns and six machine guns.

But now, is it still impossible? The sadness in the army lieutenant's heart far exceeded the heart-piercing pain in his palm!

"Mom, I dare not look anymore." The five-year-old child who looked up at all this took the initiative to cover his mother's hand over his eyes, and only dared to look at the sky through his fingers.

He didn't see that many of his uncles and aunts around him had closed their eyes fiercely!

No one wants to watch their air force pilots dying in blood right in front of their eyes!

As ordinary people, the only thing they can do is to close their eyes and not let the tragedy fall into their eyes!

So, they missed the most exciting scene in this air battle!