Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Free as the Wind (2)

foreign legion The two major air battles in Wuhan caused the Chinese Air Force to lose the last batch of outstanding pilots. The Air Force is not the Army. Every pilot needs years of hard work to be trained. Not everyone can sit in the cockpit just by wearing a helmet. Song Meiling called Chennault over, and pointed to a pile of letters on the table for the aviation consultant to read. They were letters of invitation sent from abroad. The writers came from all corners of the country, from all over the world. In the letters, they all expressed their willingness to fight for China. Chennault immediately understood what Soong Meiling meant, and actually hoped that he would organize a foreign air force corps to make up for the shortage of domestic pilots.

Hiring foreign guns to help us fight the war was a good idea, but Chennault threw cold water on it. The Americans are very clear about the details of these adventurers who actively promote themselves. They are all looking at the face of money to try their luck. It is not an easy task to select a truly outstanding pilot from among them. But Song Meiling's helpless eyes also told Chennault that at this point, he could only give it a try. Chennault decided to check it out himself. Volunteers from various countries who came to apply for the job were indeed a mixed bag, and there were all kinds of birds.What surprised Chennault the most was a young man with an unshaven beard. According to the flight log he provided, this gentleman had already flown 12,000 hours.

Chennault himself has 20 years of high-intensity flying experience, but his total flying time is only 10,000 hours. This foreign guy not only has an amazing resume, but also has great ambitions and ambitions: I am going to bomb Tokyo! Chennault didn't say anything, and took him directly to the side of the plane.The latter immediately panicked, and hesitantly told Chennault that he was following a wild path, that he was a folk expert, and that he had never passed the formal examination. Chennault smiled: "You are wrong, I don't need to test your flying skills, as long as you can fly the plane into the sky by yourself."

The young man turned pale and had to honestly admit that he had never piloted any airplanes. For those who have blown their skin to the brim, there is really no need for any complicated inspection methods, the basic ABC can reveal their true colors. After Chennault's screening one by one, weeding out the bad and keeping the good, finally organized the selected relatively good ones and established the "International Flying Squadron". The members who can stay in the "International Flying Squadron" are all experienced. Some have participated in the Spanish Civil War and fought against the German and Italian armies.In the air, they are indeed much stronger than the remaining Chinese Air Force pilots. After the formation of the troops, they also successfully completed tasks including bombing Japanese railway hubs and bridges.

Song Meiling and Chennault seemed to be able to breathe a sigh of relief, and no one would have thought that there would be another problem. This problem did not come from the air, but from the ground. Chennault drew up a secret combat plan and planned to send the "International Flying Squadron" to bomb the Japanese headquarters in Jinan in the early morning of the next day. But that afternoon, the Japanese plane suddenly struck, and within seconds, all the bombers prepared on the runway were destroyed, leaving only fireworks, dust and wreckage. Chinese planes performing bombing missions

The Japanese plane will not launch a sneak attack for no reason, someone must have leaked the news.Chennault immediately set out to investigate, and the results of his investigation surprised him. The vagrants of the "International Flying Squadron" used to travel all over the world. They were hired for money, and they fought for money. They didn't accept any discipline at all.When there are no combat missions, this group of people will go to the bars in the downtown area of ​​Wuhan, and talk nonsense while they are in the middle of the night. In those places, there are many Japanese spies and traitors, which makes the Chinese Air Force have few secrets at all.

It takes a lot of money to maintain the "International Flying Squadron", but it has unintentionally become a place for leaking and disseminating military information, and has caused such heavy losses. During this period, you cannot dismiss these foreign pilots easily, otherwise the liquidated damages alone will be an astronomical figure. Obviously, the existence of the "International Flying Squadron" has become a piece of cake. Condor As early as when the national defense plan was drawn up, the Chinese High Command included air strikes on Japan, but air strikes on Japan are not just casual talk, especially since China retreated to Wuhan, not only is China’s air base farther and farther away from Japan, it can undertake such long-range operations The mission's excellent pilots have long since died.

There is a suitable candidate in the "International Flying Squadron", but the opponent's lion opened his mouth and offered one hundred thousand dollars. Chiang Kai-shek immediately rejected it after learning about it, not because he couldn't make up the money, but because the matter was too useless: the foreign employees he hired obviously had to pay sky-high wages for doing some work. Just when I didn't know what to do, someone suddenly stood up and said loudly: I will go! The status of this person is very special, because he is not active duty in the Air Force. Xu Huansheng, a native of Chongming County, Shanghai.His early experience is quite similar to that of Liu Cuigang, that is, he was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy and then trained in the Central Aviation Academy. Therefore, he has both the iron and blood spirit of Whampoa and the aristocratic temperament unique to pilots.

After graduating from the Central Aviation School, Xu Huansheng was sent abroad and studied in the German Aviation School and the Italian Air Force Academy for six years.Such a complicated school career is certainly not prepared for ordinary pilots.Prior to this, Xu Huansheng mainly served as the driver of Chiang Kai-shek's special plane. Being able to fly a plane for Chiang Kai-shek, just based on this alone, the flying skills are not bad, but after all, military use is not equal to civilian use, and being able to fly a special plane does not mean being able to fly a long-range bomber.

Including those regular Chinese Air Force pilots, most of them looked down on Xu Huansheng at first, and some even secretly nicknamed Xu Huansheng: transport plane pilot. Those who fly "transport planes" prefer to fly bombers. If this is not a spur of the moment, what is it?Dude, if you do this, you will fail. In the end, don't lose your job as a private plane pilot. Xu Huansheng quickly answered people's questions with his actions. To make an expedition to the Japanese mainland, ordinary bombers are not enough, and long-range bombers must be competent.The only American-made Martin bomber in the Chinese Air Force that meets this requirement. Originally there were nine of these aircraft, five of which were destroyed in air battles, and the remaining four are now in the hands of the "International Flying Squadron".

It is also restricted by the contract, and it is quite difficult to get the "International Flying Squadron" to hand over the plane immediately, and what Xu Huansheng needs to get is not only the plane, but also the relevant information about the Martin bomber, because in the Chinese Air Force, there is now No one else is familiar with these. Chennault decided to send Xu Huansheng out to make contact with these foreign pilots.The other party only knew that Xu Huansheng was flying the plane for Chiang Kai-shek, and this "Royal Driver of the Son of Heaven" usually wore a long robe, which looked like a gentle scholar, and he would not make people feel threatened no matter what, so Xu Huansheng quickly gained their trust. . After obtaining the information on the Martin bomber, the Chinese Air Force sounded an air raid siren and informed the pilots of the "International Flying Squadron" to leave the plane quickly.As soon as they left, Xu Huansheng immediately asked the base logistics staff to remove all the fuel from the plane. The next day, when the foreigners returned to the airport, they were surprised to find that they were not allowed to approach the plane.Xu Huansheng announced on the spot that the Chinese Air Force had set up the 14th squadron with him as the captain, code-named "Condor Troop", and all Martin bombers would be taken over by the Condor Corps from now on. Until this time, foreign pilots just woke up like a dream.The annoyed foreigners yelled wildly, and even shook their fists and danced their sleeves, intending to make a big fuss, but Xu Huansheng's verbal explanation was useless, so he had to leave first. After returning, he wrote an open letter to all foreign pilots—— Everything I do is obeying orders.As myself, I actually have a lot of admiration for you, and thank you for helping our country fight the war.Regarding today's matter, I hope that you will not easily use guns and violence, otherwise it will only go against your kind intentions.You must calm down, because your mission here is over. A letter with sincere feelings and strict justice, the foreign pilot saw that it was irreversible, so he had to give up, and one of the most difficult things to deal with was finally solved. Exotic The Condor Force has been established, and the next step is to complete the details. According to the original plan of action, the Condor troops would take off from Wuhan, refuel at the Ningbo base, and then bomb the city of Yawata, Japan, which is in central Japan and relatively close to Tokyo. Reality. Those in flight suits in the middle are all members of the "Condor Force" (the third from the right is the captain Xu Huansheng) The maximum range of the Martin bomber is 900 kilometers, but the distance from Ningbo to Yawata is close to 2,000 kilometers. Even if the maximum range is doubled, it is beyond Martin's ability. Under Xu Huansheng's suggestion, the target was changed to Nagasaki, Fukuoka, and Kitakyushu on Kyushu Island, which are the closest to mainland China, and the flight from Ningbo to Nagasaki is only about 1,000 kilometers away. But from 1,000 kilometers to 900 kilometers, isn't there still a gap between them?What's more, Xu Huansheng also considered that it is very likely that he will be chased by Japanese planes when he returns to the voyage. He will not be on the coast of Ningbo, but will have to go to Nanchang and other airports to refuel. In this way, it seems that the plan to attack Japan has become impossible again. Xu Huansheng told everyone: I have a way. Our Martins could not carry a few bombs, so it is better to convert the original bomb bay into a large fuel tank, so that the range problem can be easily solved. Everyone thought it was a good idea.But if that's the case, what are you doing flying over other people's houses? Don't you just go around and run back? Xu Huansheng said, let's distribute leaflets! Fewer bombs will not be effective, and more leaflets will be more effective if they are scattered, and we can use this to tell the world that we are engaged in a "humanitarian expedition". The purpose is not to bomb Japanese territory, but to tell ordinary Japanese: " The "China Incident" is far from over! Facts have proved that Xu Huansheng is indeed the best candidate for air raids on Japan. Before this, no one had experience in long-distance flights across oceans, but Xu Huansheng had received strict long-distance flight training as early as when he was studying in Germany. He knew that radio communication was very important for such long-distance flights, so he concentrated on A group of telecommunications technicians designed a set of ground-air interlocking radio network, and it is this radio network that enables the Condor Troops to have additional "magic ears" and "magic mouths" when performing tasks. After nearly two months of preparation, the Condor Troops are about to set off, but they still face an insurmountable difficulty: the expedition to Japan is most suitable for an expedition to Japan. However, due to the rainy season, such good weather has been waiting less than. Xu Huansheng decided not to wait any longer. On May 19, he personally led two Martin bombers to Japan.There was a long section of the voyage, and due to the lack of moonlight, the two planes were completely groping in the dark. Due to the sudden action of the Condor Force, the Japanese were unprepared. When the leaflets began to be distributed, the whole city of Nagasaki was brightly lit, just to illuminate the leaflets.It was not until after entering Fukuoka that the other party discovered the abnormal situation in the sky above and implemented a light control. The biggest danger Xu Huansheng encountered was not Japanese planes and anti-aircraft shells, but a pack of leaflets! When the crew members were carrying the sacks of leaflets, one of them rolled into Xu Huansheng's cockpit and got stuck between the joystick and the floor. As a result, the Martin bomber swooped down and almost lost control.At the critical moment, Xu Huansheng was very calm. While removing the sack, he grasped the joystick and finally regained control of the plane. When returning from the mission, he discovered that a Japanese plane was trying to intercept it, which made him realize that the Japanese Air Force would probably track the two Martin bombers and bomb Ningbo Airport as he had originally inferred. Xu Huansheng returns in victory Unable to refuel in Ningbo, Xu Huansheng temporarily decided to fly directly to Nanchang, and then continue to fly west to Wuhan after refueling in Nanchang.His prediction was extremely accurate. Sure enough, Ningbo Airport was bombed that day, but the Japanese got nothing. During this "humanitarian expedition", the Condor Force led by Xu Huansheng hovered over Japan for more than half an hour, dropping a total of 2 million leaflets.This is the first time in history that Japan has been attacked by foreign aircraft. Before this, the Japanese never thought that their island country facing the sea on all sides might also be attacked. Xu Huansheng's outstanding performance was not only recognized by the pilots of the Chinese Air Force, but also he himself was respected and appreciated by Chennault. Later, he served as the Chinese commander of the China-US Joint Air Force, namely the Flying Tigers. Before the end of World War II, the American "Life" magazine selected and published photos of 12 World War II pilots, including Xu Huansheng. Under the photo, it was specially marked: Xu Huansheng was the first person to bomb Japan.