Chapter 93 Non-stop continuous air strikes

These five batches are still land-based aircraft from Midway Island, the SB2U dive bomber group led by Major Norris. Among the original bomber models on Midway Island, the one that had to be covered with medical tape was the SB2U.This old antique aircraft is also nicknamed "shaker", or "weather vane", which means that it is stupid and slow, especially when diving, its movements are very stiff. According to the plan, the "vibrator" should act together with the new "Dreadnought", but the "vibrator" is so slow that Henderson Squadron could not wait for a long time, so they had to leave first.

The Norris fleet did not fly to the periphery of the mobile force at 8:20. When the plane was about to lower its altitude, it was attacked by a large number of "zero" types. If you refer to the previous air combat scenes, the old "vibrator" seems to be wiped out in a blink of an eye, but this time the situation is a little different. Frightened by the incoming U.S. planes, it was overwhelming, and Nagumo had sent all fighter jets into the sky, including the planes designated for the second wave of attacks.There are veterans and novices among pilots. The previous rounds of attacks by the U.S. planes relied on veteran pilots, but after a full four hours of tossing, even a donkey was about to foam at the mouth. In a state of extreme exhaustion, its reactions naturally couldn't be more accurate fast.As for the newbies added, they have not received further intensive training except for basic movements, and their flying and combat skills are not much better than the "rookies" on Midway Island-from this point, it can also be seen The Combined Fleet was far less prepared for Midway than Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese aircraft still adopted the tactic of dual-aircraft coordination, but the effect has been greatly reduced. The Norris fleet actually drove away most of the "Zero" types like flying flies, and one "Zero" type was beaten up on its stomach. down. The Norris fleet plunged into the cloud at an altitude of two thousand feet.From here to the aircraft carrier at the core of the fleet, there is still a distance, and Norris knows clearly that it is not easy to cross this road. The "Zero" type has just performed weakly. One is that the veterans are too tired and the novice is too young; atrocious.Maybe, before seeing the aircraft carrier, there will be very few "vibrators" under his command.

Why not find a nearby target to attack? Below Norris's plane was a beautiful battleship named "Homage".Norris issued an attack command to each aircraft, and then led the fleet to perform a long-distance high-speed descent, and 11 "shakers" rushed down one after another. While "楱名" was doing the "zigzag" movement, anti-aircraft guns fired in unison, and there were explosions everywhere in the air, which made it difficult for the "vibrators" to aim. The Norris fleet tried their best and failed to hit the enemy ship. When the aircraft group broke through and returned, they were once again surrounded by the "Zero" that came back to their senses. The tragedy was even worse than that of Henderson Squadron. to reimburse.A pilot found the correct way back to the island by tossing a coin. The officer on the island came up to greet him: "Okay, I didn't expect to see you again." He replied: "Damn it, me too!"

The continuous air raid on Midway finally came to an end.The five batches of fleets were neat and tidy when they went out, but they were in disarray when they came back. The air force lost two-thirds of the fighters in total, and half of the pilots were killed or missing. Gotta get quiet.What is even more tragic is that when the scattered fighters returned, they all took the huge black smoke column on the island as the navigation direction, and this black smoke column came from the fuel depot after the air strike. The four old aircraft carriers of the Mobile Force are still intact, and they will make a comeback to kill the defenders of Midway Island. According to the time of the last Japanese attack and the known location of the Japanese aircraft carrier, Saimad and Ramsay It is estimated that this interval will not exceed three to four hours.

What about three to four hours later?Midway Island has almost no fighter jets to defend against the enemy, and can only rely on anti-aircraft artillery and some small anti-aircraft weapons to guard the sky-judging from the effect of the first defense, it is at best only a distraction. No matter how brave the officers and soldiers are, the cruel fact is in front of everyone: the island has actually lost the ability to resist the second air attack of the aircraft carrier and block the landing of the Japanese transport fleet. As far as this round of fierce battle at Midway Island is concerned, the U.S. military is undoubtedly defeated. Saimad sent Nimitz a sad loss statistics report.

In the two hours after learning that Midway had been attacked by air, Nimitz had not received any news from the front line, neither Midway nor the task force. From the beginning of the Battle of Midway to the present, the pilots of the bombers and torpedo planes that the task force went out to attack the Japanese aircraft carrier did not even know that the carrier-based fighter jets of the aircraft carrier nearby could escort them. This is not the old man's negligence or mistake.