I asked you to escape, but you became a soldier in World War II

Chapter 161 If You Want to Die, Then Die
However, under the brainwashing of militarism at the time, most Japanese citizens believed that the war launched by their government was just, that their own sacrifice was extremely glorious, and that they could even enter the "Jingguo Divine Toilet" after death.

So even without Yuantian's mobilization, there were still a lot of people who couldn't wait to die and were eager to participate.

After Major Yuichi Motoda and all the pilots drank farewell sake, the telegram from his superiors arrived as expected.

They told the US military to start air strikes on the Philippine coast, and they could fly over and catch the US military off guard.

Therefore, under the leadership of Yuantian, Japanese planes at Kaohsiung Airport swarmed out and rushed towards the US fleet with great momentum.

However, they did not expect that the US military not only cracked their communication codes, but also used powerful radar systems to detect their direction and number long ago.

Before they saw the US fleet, two groups of US Hellcat fighter jets came over fiercely.

"Fight with Zero fighters. Make sure to get the attack aircraft units close to the American ships at all costs!" After Motoda gave the order, he took the lead in flying a Zero fighter towards the first squadron that posed the greatest threat.

The Zero fighter was indeed invincible at the beginning of the Pacific War, but the United States' technological updates were too rapid. By 1943, the Zero fighter was already struggling against the US military's latest F4F.

Now facing the Hellcat, which is tailor-made for the Zero fighter, it is like encountering a natural enemy.

The Hellcat was designed entirely based on the weaknesses of the Zero fighter. For example, the Zero fighter had poor high-altitude maneuverability, while the Hellcat's Pratt & Whitney R2800-10 "Hornet" engine was powerful, and even at high altitudes there was still plenty of power for the aircraft to perform exaggerated maneuvers.

零战的火力凶悍防护垃圾，地狱猫的火力与防护却登峰造极，6挺12.7毫米勃朗宁M-2机枪让零战的2门九九式1型20毫米机炮与2挺九七式7.7毫米机枪相形见绌。

Therefore, in just one encounter with the First Squadron, two Japanese escort planes were shot down.

Yuan Tian had rich combat experience and had trained many Japanese air force pilots. When he saw that the situation was not good, he immediately changed his mindset.

"Don't go to high altitudes, engage with the U.S. military at low altitudes, and disengage after the fight!"

Under the command of Motoda, the remaining Zero fighters and Nakajima Type 1 "Hayabusa" fighters immediately adjusted their strategies and fought with the First Squadron in a close battle.

The other old fighters and bomber units desperately stepped on the throttle to the maximum and rushed madly towards the US fleet.

However, Lin Chen and his team just came out of the clouds, and the other side was limited by the glare of the sunlight and failed to discover them in time, and were severely beaten by Lin Chen and his second squadron.

Several attack planes were shot down in mid-air.

The escorting Type 97 fighter jets were too old. The pilots of these planes were all rookie students in the aviation school, and many of them had only studied for more than a month.

But even so, they still rushed towards Lin Chen and his fighter planes without hesitation. Their idea was very simple, that is, if they couldn't win, they would die together.

It’s a pity that the idea is good, but the strength is there.

Lin Chen didn't even give any orders, as other American fighter planes used their powerful maneuverability to shake off the approaching Japanese planes.

After a series of clean and neat operations of rolling, stretching and diving, it bit these poor guys.

"Tu Tu Tu!"

"Tu Tu Tu!"

"Tu Tu Tu!"

The dense firepower caused the Japanese Type 97 fighter planes to crash one after another, and several of them were even exploded in mid-air.

The remaining Type 96 land attack planes and several transport planes converted into bombers finally approached the air defense circle of the US aircraft carrier formation.

Various artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns on the US military's battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and even aircraft carriers opened fire.

The dense firepower intertwined into a terrifying fire net, like a messenger from hell, grinning and smashing towards the Japanese assault force.

Although each Japanese pilot had a white cloth plaster on his head with "Victory" written on it, the reality was that they were smashed to pieces one after another.

Finally, two Type 96 land attack planes broke through the layers of firepower and came near the fleet. They were also badly damaged and one of their engines was blown off.

There was definitely no hope of returning, and the two pilots looked at each other from a distance, then rushed towards the USS Dreadnought with the determination to die.

The quadruple 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and the single-barrel 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns on the Dreadnought fired like water. A Type land attack plane was hit without any suspense in the face of such powerful firepower, and then quickly broke its wings and fell.

Due to the friction of the air, an exaggerated fireball was formed in the air and slammed heavily into the sea surface.

The last Japanese plane was very close to the aircraft carrier. These stubborn beasts grinned and shouted in unison, "Aboard!"

The American soldiers on the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier below were so frightened that they hid away one after another, and some even let out desperate howls.

"Tu Tu Tu!"

"Tu Tu Tu!"

"Tu Tu Tu!"

At this critical moment, Lin Chen's Hellcat rushed over, and continuous shooting broke the wing of the Japanese attack plane that was already very close. It barely deviated from its original course and plunged into the sea at the tail of the aircraft carrier in a thrilling manner.

The huge waves stirred up gave the American sailors at the stern of the ship a lingering fear.

But they immediately cheered for the fighter plane piloted by Lin Chen that was roaring over, and raised their arms and shouted, "Good beating!"

Yuan Tian was seriously injured at this moment, and his plane was on fire.

He tried his best, but the US military was just too powerful.

His men only shot down eight fighters from a squadron at the cost of being wiped out, and he shot down two by himself.
Now I am almost finished.

There’s no going back, mom, Suizi, see you in the next life!

He made up his mind and dived madly towards Hamilton, the captain of the nearest squadron. Poor Hamilton was still admiring the final miserable appearance of his opponent, but was suddenly killed by the opponent.

With a huge explosion in the air, the battle finally ended under the stunned gaze of the American pilots.

The Japanese land-based aviation units coming from Tainan were wiped out.

The U.S. military won a complete victory, but it also paid a heavy price. Now the most critical thing is that Lin Chen and his plane have to land again. Lin Chen's plane has the most fuel, so he is still the last to land.

While keeping watch for everyone, he circled repeatedly and carefully observed their landing techniques.

Nearing evening, it was finally Lin Chen's plane's turn to land.

The mother ship issued the "OK to land" command, and everyone was paying attention to this "rookie" commander with a remarkable record.

Lin Chen turned around and flew back, adjusted the direction from the rear of the aircraft carrier, and paid close attention to the Fresnel optical landing aid indicator light.

This system is a very complex linkage system. The entire lighting part will be installed on a huge self-stabilizing platform to ensure that its light beam is not affected by the left and right swaying of the ship.

It consists of four groups of lights, mainly five segmented light boxes in a central vertical row, which emit five layers of light beams through Fresnel lenses. The light beams are parallel to the landing runway and maintain a certain angle with the sea level, forming five slopes.

The height of each light beam is 0.75 meters at the entrance where the carrier-based aircraft enters the glide path (6.6 nautical miles from the aircraft carrier). The middle section is an orange light beam, which turns into yellow and red light beams upwards and downwards respectively. There are horizontal green reference fixed light lights on both sides of the light box in the middle section.

When the height and glide angle of the carrier-based aircraft are correct, the pilot can see the orange light ball is in the center of the green reference light. By maintaining this angle, the pilot can glide and land accurately.

If the pilot sees a yellow ball of light above the green reference light, he should lower his altitude;

If you see a red ball of light and it is under the green reference light, you must immediately ascend, otherwise you will hit the end of the aircraft carrier's stern column or drop into the sea behind it.

There is a group of red flashing lights arranged vertically on the left and right of the central light box. If the carrier-based aircraft is not allowed to land, it will flash. At this time, the green reference light and the central light box will be turned off, telling the pilot to stop descending and make a go-around immediately. Therefore, it is called the "go-around light".

There is a set of green lights on the missed approach lights, called the cut-off lights. When they turn on, it means that you are allowed to enter the descent.

If a carrier-based aircraft wants to land, it can be divided into five stages from far to near: returning, waiting, approach, descent, arrest or go-around.

And Lin Chen is now facing the third stage.

The USS Intrepid was now maintaining a stable course and speed. Lin Chen saw that the landing aid light was green. He controlled the fuselage steadily and landed smoothly towards the rear deck of the aircraft carrier.

As the hook at the tail accurately hooked the arresting cable on the aircraft carrier, the plane still rushed forward for a distance due to inertia, and then slowly stopped.

A staff member immediately came forward to help, and Lin Chen slowly taxied the plane to the parking space next to the ship.

When he came down from the cockpit, there was prolonged applause and cheers at the scene.

He understood that his performance had completely conquered these picky and arrogant Americans.

"Major Lin, your flying skills are the best among us. You are truly the ace among aces!"

Colonel Sinclair praised excitedly.

Although he lost the captain of the first squadron, he gained a powerful general like Lin Chen, so it was still a sure win.

The first time it took off from an aircraft carrier to fight, it shot down five Japanese planes. Although they were all old fighter planes, they were enough to shock everyone.

In the evening, a small celebration banquet was held on the aircraft carrier. At the banquet, Colonel Sinclair announced that Lin Chen would be transferred to the captain of the dive bomber squadron, which was well deserved.

The reason why he was not allowed to take over as the squadron leader of a squadron was because the attack power of an aircraft carrier was mainly reflected in the level of torpedo bomber and dive bomber squadrons.

The dive bomber squadrons were equipped with the Douglas SBD-3.
It has a two-person cockpit layout and weighs 4.85 tons when fully loaded, and can carry a 1-ton aerial bomb.

Due to its outstanding performance in the Battle of Midway, it received a fair evaluation of "flying slowly but deadly enough".

In the following days, Lin Chen's squadron participated in air raids on ports across Luzon Island, actively seeking out the Japanese army's shore-based aviation for a decisive battle.

Under their thunderous attack, the Japanese land-based aviation suffered heavy losses.

日本陆军第4航空队只剩200架，海军第1航空舰队仅存35架，在台湾的第2航空舰队尚存230架。

Before the battle even began, the Japanese army had already lost its ability to counterattack in the air.

After completely gaining control of the air, the ground battlefield in the Battle of the Philippines also began.

In September, the US military first captured Peleliu and Molucca, eliminating the flank threat.

However, the battle of Peleliu was extremely difficult. For the first time, the Japanese army adopted the method of resisting in caves and tunnels, causing heavy losses to the US military.

However, Lin Chen’s focus was no longer on this, because the largest naval battle in human history was about to begin.

On October 1944, 10, the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, General Toyoda Soemu, immediately ordered the implementation of the "Steel One" plan. The Japanese Navy was mobilized in full force, intending to launch a concentric attack on the U.S. landing beachhead in Leyte Gulf.

In this naval battle, the US military had a total of 16 aircraft carriers and 18 escort carriers. Although the Japanese army tried their best, they could only muster 4 aircraft carriers.

Even these four aircraft carriers are modified models, and they are clearly at a disadvantage in terms of both the number and quality of carrier-based aircraft, not to mention the increase and decrease in the number of pilots of the two armies.

The only thing the Japanese army could show off were the battleships "Yamato" and "Musashi", which they boasted were invincible.

It can be said that these two sister ships were born at the wrong time. Japan sold all its belongings (much of which was wealth stolen from us) to build these two behemoths among battleships, but they happened to encounter the emergence of aircraft carriers.

When it was first built, the starting point was that a single warship could withstand a British or American fleet, and it would be best if a single salvo could take out a British or American battleship.

So they were equipped with three of the largest triple-mounted 460mm main guns in the world at that time.

The main gun's ammunition weighs more than 1 ton and has a range of more than 40 kilometers. Even the most powerful and advanced Iowa battleship of the US military, whose main gun caliber is only 9 mm, was hit by 406 such shells.

It can be said that the Japanese army really took great pains to do this, so with such a perverted steel behemoth on the sea, they still fantasized that they could save the situation in the Pacific War.

On October 1944, 10, the Second Task Force of the Third Fleet, to which the USS Intrepid was attached, was cruising east of the San Benardino Strait; the Third Task Force was east of the Polillo Islands; and the Fourth Task Force was in the waters east of the Leyte Gulf.

At 8:12, a reconnaissance plane from the USS Intrepid spotted Kurita Takeo's Central Fleet, including the Yamato and Musashi, entering the Sibuyan Sea;
Only 15 minutes later, Halsey directly ordered each team to send elite troops to attack Japanese ships (the Second Task Force was closest to the Japanese fleet, and the Third and Fourth Task Forces were to its north and south respectively), and at the same time urgently transferred the First Task Force back to the Philippines.

Lin Chen led his fully-strength squadron, carrying huge aerial bombs, and began to rush towards the location of the enemy ships that had been detected.

(End of this chapter)