Chapter 22 air lighter

On the morning of November 2, following Ozawa's order, 89 Type Zeros and 18 Type 99 "Ship Explosions" flew out of the Rabaul base, aiming directly at the transport fleet at Augusta Beach. The U.S. transport ships that received the warning immediately began to evade. At the same time, 16 U.S. fighter jets from Kolombangara Island and Vela Lavela Island launched an air escort. In previous battle scenes, it was unimaginable for 16 U.S. fighter jets to 89 "Zero" type, but at this time the performance and quality of U.S. fighter jets have improved again, and the old F4F "Wildcat" type has gradually faded out of sight and replaced it. In addition to the F4U "pirate" type, there is also a new type of fighter that is more legendary.

It's a long story.At the time of the Battle of Midway Island, a "Zero" carrier-based aircraft in the Aleutian Islands crashed due to a malfunction. The Japanese army sent a patrol submarine to search for the wreckage carefully, but failed to find it.They judged that the aircraft must have been severely damaged, and the pilot was either dead or injured. Even if they found it, it would not be of much value to move it on the frozen ground, so they let it go. In fact, although the pilot of the "Zero" died instantly, the aircraft itself suffered only minor damage.The plane was still in good working order when a US search team found it five weeks later.

At that time, "Pirates" had not yet been launched in large numbers. If they fought alone, any model of the US military would not be an opponent of the "Zero" type. The "Zero" type can be said to be invincible on the Pacific battlefield. When this fighter is mentioned, everyone will shudder.The Americans were overjoyed to capture an almost intact "Zero" type.They immediately shipped this baby back to the United States, studied it carefully after some repairs, and made all possible flight tests. Soon, American experts fully grasped the secrets of the "Zero" and understood all the advantages and disadvantages of this model. The advantage of the "zero" type is that it has very good maneuverability and a long range, but in order to reduce weight, it does not install protective armor to protect the pilot and the fuel tank, let alone self-sealing fuel tanks and any automatic fire extinguishing devices.This makes it extremely easy to catch fire in the air and cannot withstand a little damage, even the damage that old-fashioned fighters such as the "Tomahawk" of the US Army Aviation and the "Wildcat" of Hainan Airlines can easily deal with. For "air lighter".

After knowing it well, American aircraft designers immediately started to create a fighter that surpassed the "Zero" type in all aspects of performance. This is the F6F "Hellcat" (also known as the "Evil Woman" type).Pilots couldn't put it down, and one Navy pilot even joked: "I really love this aircraft. If it can cook, I will marry it as a wife." The genes of Americans who are good at learning and innovating have been brought into full play on the Pacific battlefield.In the process of air competition, U.S. military pilots have improved their flying skills to the extreme, and the performance of the aircraft has been continuously improved.The previous "Pirate" and "Lightning" have initially changed the disadvantage of the US fighter jets against the "Zero". With the advent of the "Hellcat", the "Zero" was completely locked in hell, and Japan's air power was far away. left behind.Knowing this, Okumiya expressed emotion: "The loss of only one 'Zero' type allowed the Americans to quickly conquer all the 'Zero' types. It is really unexpected. This is one of the decisive factors for Japan's final defeat."

Now it was the turn of the Japanese pilots to tremble.Seeing the "Hellcat", the "Zero" is too busy to take care of itself, how can it protect the bomber?The formation of the Japanese aircraft was scattered, and in the end only 12 "ship bombers" dropped bombs in a panic, and the US transport ship was basically unscathed. Unable to bully the transport ship, the Japanese formation had no choice but to turn around and vent their anger on the Merrell escort fleet.The scheming Merrill had expected that when the "ship explosion" was 10 nautical miles away, the cruiser had already turned 90 degrees sharply and set up a wheel-shaped air defense formation.

Before the Japanese plane approached, the anti-aircraft artillery fire roared in, and the shooting was quite intensive and accurate. One "Ship Explosion" was directly blown up. In just two minutes, 6 "Ship Explosions" were shot down. The sky was full of fragments of shells and aircraft. Two minutes later, Merrell ordered the fleet to turn another 360 degrees to meet the three-aircraft attack launched by the Japanese aircraft from another direction.The fierce artillery fire and skilled ship operation skills of the US ships made the Japanese planes feel itchy like dogs facing angry hedgehogs, even though they had nowhere to say anything, most of the bombs they dropped were thrown into the sea.

At the end of the day, the plane retreated and returned to the voyage. The Merrell fleet shot down 17 Japanese planes. Only two bombs from the Japanese plane fell on the deck of the US military, and one crew member was injured. The U.S. transport fleet continued to unload, and 14,000 people and 6,000 tons of supplies had landed that night. The Marine Corps was preparing to meet the Japanese counterattack on the island, but the sixth division did not show up. This division was full of enthusiasm for killing civilians. In war, their brains are mediocre. They would rather guard the airport, dig fortifications in the jungle and on the ridges, and wait for the US military to attack. If the US military does not go, they will not come.

The reason why they are so mentally retarded is that the Sixth Division judged that the U.S. military would definitely seize their airport, but the U.S. military did not care about their broken airport.The Marines would simply have to extend the beachhead inland so that the Engineer and Naval Engineer Battalions behind them could follow. Of course, scaling isn't easy either.The marines encountered something more annoying than the Japanese soldiers in the process of advancing, and that was the dense tropical jungle.From evergreen swamps, short shrubs, to giant trees covered with vines, some of them curl up on the ground, some soar into the clouds, some are as soft as floating sand, and some are as hard as stones... In this green hell of putrid smells, everything can sink in, but nothing can be pulled out.

Compared with Bougainville, Guadalcanal is simply a scenic park.Someone described Bougainville like this: "The jungle is the enemy of all creatures. It devours its own youth, and youth hangs itself." No matter which direction to advance inland, there are many difficulties. The marines waded through the water and felled trees, climbing and walking, and their progress could only be calculated by foot by foot.In the midst of resentment, a team member couldn't help but say something like this: "When this war is over, what we should do is to give this Bougainville Island to the Japanese—let them live forever." In this wretched hell!"