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Chapter 1406 [Revenge Action]

Rabaul, afternoon of April 1943, 4.

A group of Japanese naval aviation pilots went to the Yamato Western-style bar as usual and did not leave until late at night.

Not long after the pilots entered the bar, Zuo Zhong went to the telegraph office and sent a message to He Yijun, indicating that he was ready to set off for Temasek.

Later, when the Japanese pilot was happily hugging the waitress, Zuo Zhong and Imamura Jun said goodbye and boarded a cargo ship.

April 4, 18 am, cloudy.

Yamamoto stepped onto the gangway of the Mitsubishi Type 1 land attack aircraft, turned around and waved to the crowd who were seeing him off. In order to show his respect for the army, he specially changed into a grass-green military uniform today.

Yamamoto's chief of staff, the commander of the Fifth Air Army, Ugaki Matome, got into another Mitsubishi Type 1 land attack aircraft, and six Zeros were responsible for protecting the two men.

7:30 in the morning.

After an hour and a half of waiting, when the weather conditions met the flight requirements, eight planes soared into the sky amid the cheers of the crowd and flew towards the southeast at an altitude of 2000 meters.

7 points.

In a private house not far from the airport, a Japanese businessman put down his compass and sent a plain text message to the port city using a commercial radio. The content of the message consisted of only five words: "The goods have been shipped."
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In the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, the sky had just brightened, the sea level was dyed red by the fiery sun, and the temperature was gradually rising.

Ricks, a pilot of the 339th Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Force, wore an oxygen mask and leaned against the window of his P38 Lightning fighter in silence. The heated windshield made a buzzing sound of electricity.

At this moment, he and 17 other pilots were on standby in the cabin, ready to carry out a highly confidential mission.

As for the objectives and content of the mission, they were kept strictly confidential before take-off. They only knew that the code name of the operation was "Revenge".

At 7:40, an intelligence staff officer drove a Willys Jeep onto the tarmac. He put his feet on the dashboard, held a document in his right hand and waved it continuously, and loudly gave the pilot a mission briefing.

"Let's go! Mission location: The airspace between Bougainville Island and Rabaul, target: Yamamoto!"

“Fight!”

Ricks whispered the unique slogan of the 339th Squadron and maneuvered the fighter to join the formation. Several warhawks in front reflected silver light in the sun.

At another airport, 18 P38s were also about to take off. The two sides had different mission locations but the same goals.

Yamamoto commanded the Combined Fleet to launch a surprise attack on Honolulu, which brought huge losses to the United States. This was not only a failure of the US Navy, but also a provocation to the national dignity and security of the United States.

In response, the American people are both angry and sad, and the entire society is shrouded in a mood of revenge.

Therefore, when they learned that the target of the mission was Yamamoto, all the American pilots, including Rex, were filled with anger.

A total of 18 P38s started their engines one after another. Amid the deafening roar, the fleet slowly slid towards the runway, accelerated, and took off like an arrow from a bow.

However, due to mechanical failure, the two planes behind Ricks failed to take off as planned. He subconsciously turned his head and saw his companion smashing his flight helmet to the ground.

The P38, codenamed Lightning within the US military, was developed by Lockheed Corporation. It has a twin-fuselage design, strong firepower, long range, and high speed. Its combat effectiveness is no less than that of the Zero, so it was chosen as the main model to carry out the revenge plan.

After taking off, the P38 fleet flew towards the mission airspace at an ultra-low altitude, with its belly only 50 feet above the sea at its lowest point.

Rex and others were flying almost close to the sea surface, and the airflow created layers of waves. This low-altitude flight was very dangerous, but it could effectively avoid Japanese detection.

After two hours of difficult flight, at 9:33, the remaining 16 P38 aircraft crossed the green coastline of Bougainville Island, flew northwest in search, and officially arrived at the designated mission airspace.

The South Pacific was calm in April, the sky was quiet, and only the low roar of airplane engines echoed around.

According to the plan made in advance, the US military aircraft fleet was divided into a covering group and an attack group.

The former consisted of 10 aircraft, responsible for luring the escorting Zero, and maintained a flying altitude of 6000 meters.

The latter consisted of 6 aircraft and carried out the attack mission. Ricks was assigned to the attack group and he flew the plane to an altitude of 3500 meters.

The reflection from the sea surface greatly increased the difficulty of observation. Ricks opened his eyes wide and kept looking above his head and under the plane.

There is only one chance to intercept Yamamoto in the vast air, and the time window is fleeting, so no mistakes can be made.

At 9:34, several small black dots appeared in Rex's sight, 30 degrees below the attack group. He decisively broke the radio silence and informed his teammates of the discovery.

Time goes back to one minute ago.

Kobayashi, the pilot of the Mitsubishi Type 1 land attack aircraft carrying Yamamoto, could already see the coastline of Bougainville Island. The co-pilot took the note and wrote a few words, then stood up and walked to the back of the cabin and handed the note to Yamamoto.

Yamamoto took it and saw that it said: Arrive at the airport in five minutes.

The major of the military police sitting next to him breathed a sigh of relief. There were too few escort planes on this flight, and it would be very dangerous if they encountered Allied fighter planes.

He had originally suggested that Yamamoto terminate the trip or increase the escort force, but both were rejected by the other party. Now they finally arrived safely. As the major was thinking, Kobayashi, who was in the driving position, saw an escorting Zero suddenly break away from the group, accelerate to the front, and keep swinging its wings. The pilot also pointed his finger to the upper right rear.

Kobayashi was a little confused and immediately looked in the direction the Zero pilot pointed, only to see several P38s diving towards him at high speed.

Having been busy all night, he had no time to think, and immediately pressed down the joystick. The plane made an emergency descent at an almost vertical angle. Kobayashi tried to shake off the enemy plane in this dangerous way.

At the same time, six Zero fighters climbed rapidly and entangled with the incoming cover group, and the battle suddenly became fierce.

The Japanese pilots who were able to escort Yamamoto were all elite. Although the American pilots outnumbered them, they still could not completely gain the upper hand. The bullets hit the P38's fuselage like hail.

An American pilot gripped the joystick with both hands and rushed towards a Zero with a roar. He finally eliminated the opponent with a large-caliber machine gun when he was only ten meters away.

The covering team's desperate attack successfully created an opportunity for the attacking team to launch a surprise attack on Yamamoto. Rex and his teammates approached two Mitsubishi Type 1 land attack aircraft in secret.

When the distance to Yamamoto's plane was only a few hundred meters, Rex decisively pressed the machine gun button, and the flames instantly sprayed towards Yamamoto's plane. The shells accurately hit the engine on the right side of Yamamoto's plane.

In an instant, black smoke billowed from the engine, and the plane began to shake violently, making a creepy metallic twisting sound.

Xiao Lin in the cockpit was covered in blood. He raised his hand and tried to touch the photos of his parents and wife on the porthole, but failed after several attempts. He could only close his eyes in despair. [tui, scumbag]

Rex's wingman was not to be outdone, and machine gun bullets poured towards Yamamoto's plane, leaving the fuselage riddled with holes.

Under the fierce attack of US fighter planes, the wings of Yamamoto's plane caught fire, completely lost control, and plunged into the jungle.

Mitsubishi's steel was of very good quality, at least it was not counterfeited like in later generations, otherwise the plane would have disintegrated long ago.

In the cabin filled with blood and flames, the military police major with a broken arm wanted to look for a parachute, but Yamamoto sat quietly in his seat, looking through the window at the ground getting closer and closer, with an extremely calm expression.

At the last moment of his life, the Japanese admiral who led the Combined Fleet to successfully defeat the US Pacific Fleet leaned on his sword with his body stretched straight.

One bullet penetrated his left shoulder from behind, and the other bullet entered from behind the left side of his jaw and exited above his right eye.

"Boom~"

The Mitsubishi Type 1 land attack aircraft crashed into the ground. After a loud bang, a fireball rose in the jungle of Bougainville Island. Ricks and his teammates cheered wildly on the radio.

Ugaki Matoi, who was on the second Mitsubishi Type 1 land attack aircraft, also could not escape the attack of the US military, and the plane swayed and fell into the Kahiri Gulf.

After cheering, Ricks immediately began to support his teammates. The two P38s of the cover group were fighting with two Zeros. With his help, the enemy planes were quickly destroyed.

From then on, Operation Revenge was successfully completed, all Japanese aircraft were shot down, and the US military did not lose any aircraft in the operation.

This thrilling air battle lasted only three minutes. With the intelligence support of the Military Control Commission, the U.S. Army Air Force successfully completed the mission with its outstanding technology and fighting spirit.

The American pilots returned triumphantly in their fighter planes, humming "We Will Strike Japan". Burning fragments of enemy planes could be seen everywhere on the sea below the fleet, and bodies of the enemy planes slowly sank to the bottom of the sea.

【With Easter egg video】

Two minutes after the U.S. fighter jet formation flew away from the battlefield, it crashed near the wreckage of the Mitsubishi Type 1 land attack aircraft in the Kahili Bay, and a bald head emerged from the water.

As the saying goes, a scourge can last for a thousand years. Yu Hengchan was not dead. He and two pilots lay on a piece of floating object and paddled desperately towards the shore.

At 10:15, the Allied forces received a report from Washington: We just shot down Yamamoto.

In the official residence of Huangshan in the mountain city, someone was walking back and forth excitedly with a telegram in his hand. He came in front of Dai Chunfeng, saliva flying from his mouth.

"Chunfeng, Shenzhong did a good job. We need to let our American and British allies know that the National Government is by no means a bystander in this war."

Dai Chunfeng looked humble and said nothing. At this point, the more he said, the more mistakes he would make, so it was better to hide his shortcomings. He would make contributions anyway.

But privately, Old Dai was thinking about one thing. It had been several years since he and Zuo Chong were last promoted. Was it time to move their military ranks?

Deep in the Pacific Ocean, Zuo Zhong on a cargo ship also received accurate intelligence that Yamamoto's plane had been shot down and he was expected to be dead.

This is not a random guess, but the result of careful analysis. Yamamoto's plane first caught fire in the air and then exploded on the ground. If he didn't die, it would be really weird.

Zuo Chong tore up the information and threw it into the air. The pieces of paper were blown in all directions by the sea breeze. Looking at the scattered fragments, there was no smile on his face.

Killing Yamamoto is only the first step. What is more important is to clean up the related clues. The line of Shimizu Mamoru involves many people and cannot be exposed now.

If the Americans hadn't leaked the news, letting the Japanese know that there was a spy around Yamamoto, he wouldn't have to worry about it. When Zuo Chong thought of this, he felt so angry that his teeth were itching and he had the urge to curse.

[To be continued]

The U.S. military during World War II was by no means a selfless army, and this was also true during the Korean War, otherwise our martyrs would not have paid such heavy casualties and costs.