Chapter 87 Chapter 8: The battle is still raging

The machine gunner had already been hit by the "Zero" bullet and threw himself on the machine gun. Ferrier was not very old, only eighteen years old, just coming of age.Before that, he was the same as Onesis as the driver and the machine gunner who died in battle. Death was just a concept in his mind. You tear down the abyss. Human maturity can sometimes be completed in just a few seconds.Without the escort of fighter jets, Onessis and Ferrier knew that they could not survive, but the two young men did not hesitate at all, and they continued their brave actions. A "Zero" dived down, and after a burst of shots, the hydraulic system of the "Avenger" was smashed, and then another "Zero" fired a bullet through Ferrier's hat, and he immediately passed out. Onesis' neck was wounded, and blood trickled down his neck.

Of the three people in the cabin, one died, one fell into a coma, and one seemed to have been stabbed, and the elevator of the plane began to fail. Onesis had no time and opportunity to attack the aircraft carrier.So he flew towards a cruiser on the left and "donated" the only torpedo to this warship, but because the bombing position was too high, the torpedo failed to hit the target. Of the 6 "Avengers", 3 have been hit by the "Zero" and caught fire. After falling into the sea, a high column of smoke was aroused.The torpedoes of the other 3 planes all flew towards "Akagi" except for the cruiser targeted by Onesis.

But it is a pity that none of the slow-moving torpedoes could hit "Akagi", and "Akagi" tried its best to avoid the incoming torpedoes with full left rudder and then full right rudder.After completing the attack, the two torpedo planes failed to escape the fate of being destroyed by the "Zero", and they fell like fireballs into the sea water near the deck of the aircraft carrier. Onesis was the only one left in the entire torpedo squadron. At this time, his plane had been damaged twice, and a protruding wheel made the fuselage lose its balance. , will also crash by itself.

At the critical moment, Onesis instinctively grabbed the landing adjustment tab and pulled it back. This extraordinary action actually had a miraculous effect, and the nose of the aircraft showed signs of tilting.Seeing this, Onessis hurriedly continued to pull, and finally pulled the plane up bit by bit carefully. Perhaps it is the reappearance of the magic banknote, and the plane can continue to fly normally again, but this does not mean that it is out of danger. Two "Zeros" clung to Onesis tightly and shot at him from different positions.Onessis seemed to be on the green field, and he had to use all kinds of feints like a football player dribbling through to find a gap to survive in the dense bullets.

"Zero" tail-biters usually refuse to give up easily without seeing blood. They chased for more than 20 kilometers and shot all the bullets before they were reluctantly recalled by the aircraft carrier.Onesis, who survived the catastrophe, heaved a sigh of relief. At this time, he and his plane had only half their lives left: the important parts on the plane, from the hydraulic system to the compass, were all broken, and the elevator and electrical systems were completely out of order. What is running is an engine. In desperation, Onessis could only adopt the method of "guessing, relying on God". He wiped off the blood from his eyes and tried his best to guess the return route. Touch in the direction of Midway Island.

Finally, when he passed through the clouds, he found that it was Kure Island below.Cure Island is across the sea from Midway Island, and Onessis found out his bearings through this island, which meant that he had caught the rope of survival. Of the 18 members of the torpedo plane unit, the only survivors were Onessis and Ferrier. Onesis, who survived the catastrophe, received the Navy Cross of Courage. Before this battle, the performance of the "Avenger" was not clear to everyone. The battle process of the torpedo aircraft unit and Onessis' experience showed that the "Avenger" was fully qualified to replace the "Destroyer".Spruance suggested to Nimitz: "Replace the 'Destroyer' with a new type of 'Avenger' as soon as possible."

Nimitz lamented: "The 'Avenger' is well-equipped, but due to the lack of fighter cover, it still cannot break through the interception of enemy fighter jets." Obviously, the battle failure of the torpedo plane unit was not the problem of the aircraft, but the tactics. Over there, Nagumo had just got rid of the "Avengers", and before he could take a breath, the bomber squadron came up again. Of course, there were no fighter jets on their left and right to protect them.