Chapter 4 Chapter Four

On August 14, Kiyoshi Hasegawa, commander of Japan's 3rd Fleet, ordered the naval air force to attack and bomb China's two major airports in East China—Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport and Guangde Airport in southern Anhui. If there is a sphere of influence on the ground, there must be one in the sky.To the north is the Army Air Forces, to the south is the Naval Air Forces.This is not entirely the result of mutual hatred between the navy and the army, but more because the Japanese army has land airports in North China, but not in East and South China. Therefore, the Navy has obtained a "monopoly" in the South.

The Naval Air Force has three bases, namely mainland Japan, Taipei, and aircraft carriers at sea.The typhoon happened to blow that day, and the local Kisarazu Air Force was blocked by the typhoon and could not get through, while the aircraft on the aircraft carrier did not dare to fly because of the strong wind and waves and the low visibility. Of the three air teams, only the Taipei Deer House Air Team remained. Taipei is outside the typhoon zone, and weather reports there show clear skies without problems.But it was different after arriving in Hangzhou. The weather was getting worse and worse, and it started to rain heavily.

At that time, the pilots kept in contact with a pair of naked eyes. The visibility was very low in the rain, and the vision was blurred. As a result, in a formation of nine aircraft, three lost their way midway, and only six of them actually reached the sky over Hangzhou Jianqiao. Chennault's prediction was extremely accurate, and the Japanese naval air force dispatched all bombers, without a single fighter escort. On the bomber, there are guns and cannons, and everything you need is available. This is called being your own bodyguard, and you don't need to hire another person, and you have to pay extra for it.

The six bombers had just entered Hangzhou, and the Jianqiao Airport was already full of alarms.There was no radar at that time, and the Chinese Air Force relied on another new theory besides Chennault's "combat mechanism victory theory"-early warning network. The so-called early warning network does not require any high-tech, not even hackers, just hire two people to look out from a high place with binoculars, and once you see bombers in the distance, notify the airport immediately, which can provide more opportunities for fighters to attack. preparation time. Although this trick is simple, it was very practical before radar was widely used.Before Chennault, no one thought about it, or paid attention to it.

Before the war, Chennault built a triangular air raid early warning network in Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou, just like the beacon towers on the Great Wall in ancient times: after discovering the enemy's situation, the beacon smoke was lit, and then spread from one station to another. Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport is the camp of Gao Zhihang's Fourth Brigade. After the "July 7th Incident", the Fourth Brigade had secretly stationed at Zhoujiakou Airport in Henan Province, preparing to take off from the Ping-Han Line to launch an air raid on the Japanese army in North China. Just when the combat plan was about to be put into practice, the Battle of Songhu broke out, and the Four Brigades were ordered to cancel the original plan and rush to the Shanghai battlefield.

When the alarm sounded on the ground at the airport, Gao Zhihang had just led a squadron to land, and there were still two squadrons in the sky. When he first heard the alarm, he thought it was the early warning network that had mistakenly regarded the planes of the Fourth Brigade as enemy planes. He went to the control tower and asked, only to find out that it was true, and the trouble was coming. According to the general procedure, it seems that fighter jets need to be formed and prepared before they can meet the enemy. Moreover, after the four major brigades have traveled long distances, there is not much fuel in the cabin and they need to refuel urgently. However, Chennault once told Gao Zhihang clearly in class: No way!

The reason why the traditional theory thinks that fighter jets cannot intercept bombers is that it is the result of sticking to the rules. The bomber has already arrived, and you are still queuing up there. By the time you are in formation and ready to attack, the other party has already completed the task, whistled and went home to sleep. In this way, how can it be undefeated. In fact, it's very simple. For fighter jets, what are you waiting for, just fly up and attack them as soon as possible. If fighter jets want to intercept bombers, they must break the rules and attack first. Gao Zhihang ordered the flying squadron that had just landed to restart immediately and take off to meet the enemy. At the same time, through a signal, he asked the other two flying squadrons to stay in the air to intercept the enemy plane.

He also stepped onto the landline, and got on. Thereafter it was almost a review of Chennault's lessons. Teacher Chen talked eloquently in class. Let me tell you, I organized an air circus in the United States, which is a show that requires three people to perform together. Now I will teach you it. If an enemy plane flies in, you have to use three fighter jets to deal with it in a group. The first plane hits it from above, the second plane bites it from below, and the third plane stays still and recharges its batteries. To complete the final fatal blow! Wherever you hit, don't hit the fuselage, but hit its engine, so that even if you don't aim, you can definitely hit the fuel tank at the root of the wing. If the fuel tank catches fire, the fuselage will definitely die.

Now Gao Zhihang has three flying squadrons and 36 American Eagle fighter jets, while the opponent has only six bombers, three to fight one, more than enough. After Gao Zhihang went up, he didn't fight immediately, but had to look for it, because the sky was densely covered with clouds.The Japanese planes were all hiding in the clouds and only came out when the bombs were dropped. With two wingmen, I started to search from the clouds at 3000 meters, and there was none. Descending the altitude, it turned out that a Japanese plane was just searched. There is a turret at the rear of the Japanese plane, and the machine gunner inside also spotted the Chinese plane behind him almost at the same time, and quickly aimed.

It's a pity he was one step too late.Gao Zhihang shot first. The Eagle fighter is equipped with four Kaur detachable machine guns, and the firepower is very fierce, knocking out the opponent's rear turret with one blow. Without the rear turret, it means that all the teeth of the Japanese machine have been lost. Since then, they can't fight back and can only exercise their ability to resist blows. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Japanese pilots hurriedly drilled into the clouds.However, if it was caught by Gao Zhihang, it would be impossible to escape. Another burst of machine gun bullets.This time it was heading towards the engine, and the main fuel tank of the Japanese aircraft was hit, causing a fire and then falling.

This long-range shot was very important. Everyone's morale and fighting spirit were mobilized immediately. The squadron leader Li Guidan cooperated with the two wingmen, and then beat down a Japanese plane. When the four teams landed at the airport, most of the planes were just running out of fuel, and the second was accurate. Only one plane made an emergency landing near the airport because it was too short of fuel and couldn't get close to the airport. In half an hour of air combat, the four brigades shot down two Japanese planes on the spot and injured two planes, while the Chinese side suffered no losses. Although the two Japanese planes that were injured escaped from the sky at that time, they still failed to escape their bad luck.One of them fell into the sea due to serious injuries, and the other one flew to its own airport, but it also messed up people's backs, and ended up being completely scrapped. Before the air battle, the Japanese thought that their air force was invincible and swept thousands of troops. In their eyes, China did not have an air force, or the so-called air force was insignificant, equal to air.In contrast, China was originally most worried about its own air force, but the actual combat results were completely reversed. At that time, it was rumored that six Japanese planes were shot down, and Chiang Kai-shek was so happy that he almost fainted when he got the report in Nanjing. The depression and helplessness when he heard "91" on Mount Lu was swept away. The boys really give me a long face.The Japanese will brag about how good their air force is. It seems that the Japanese pirates' air force is also very poor. Just like Xu Haifeng won the gold medal for the first time in the Olympic Games, Gao Zhihang's "August 14" air battle will go down in history, and the Chinese Air Force opened the door to victory and established their eternal glory. After "August 14th", there is "August 15th". On August 15, following the Kanoya Air Force, Hasegawa Kiyoshi gathered the Kisarazu Air Force and the aircraft on the aircraft carrier in order to change his luck. Gao Zhihang led another attack, shot down one head-on, and then bit another. In his opinion, the one that was bitten was already a meal on his plate, and it would not take much trouble to shoot it down, but he didn't want to shoot it down immediately. We are short of planes, if we can capture one, wouldn't it be better than shooting it down. Approaching the right rear, flying in parallel, gesturing to tell the other party: Hey, buddy, surrender, it is still too late to trade the plane for your life. The pilot of the Japanese plane had never seen this before. It hurt his self-esteem. Impulsively, he drew his pistol and shot Gao Zhihang, hitting the latter's arm. Gao Zhihang endured the pain, and without saying a word, he directly aimed at the Japanese plane, and beat this ignorant guy into the air, killing him. The chief general is brave, and his subordinates are not behind it. After Gao Zhihang wiped out the enemy, several other gods and men surfaced, the first being Le Yiqin, the leader of the Fourth Brigade.