Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 304-303 Showdown in the Skies Over the Qiantang River: Japanese Navy Aircraft Possess More Advanced Equipment

July 1937.

Many Chinese people did not expect the situation to change so drastically.

From the moment the Japanese army launched its attack in Beiping in July, within just one month, many parts of North China fell to the Japanese, and Shanghai also faced an attack from the Japanese navy.

Having planned for several years, the Japanese army naturally reacted more swiftly and fiercely to the Nationalist government, which was engaged in a civil war.

This caused the strategy, which was originally intended to be concentrated in the north, to shift to Shanghai.

Just like five years ago, the National Army once again went to Shanghai to assemble.

They haven't made no progress at all; at least their military equipment has improved, and an air force has been established.

However, with Japanese spies infiltrating everywhere, those military secrets could not be concealed at all.

In mid-August, multiple Japanese naval bomber formations attacked airports in Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Cao'e.

The intention was to destroy the air force forces near Shanghai and Nanjing in one fell swoop.

In response, the air forces of various regions immediately took off to engage in combat.

Upon arriving at Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport, Fang Wen immediately set off with the pilots of the Fourth Squadron to engage the enemy.

At Jianqiao Airport, the pilots of the Fourth Squadron ran quickly outside.

Fang Wen and three pilots from the First Aviation Battalion of the Taishan Independent Regiment also ran outside together.

The situation is urgent; intelligence indicates that the enemy may arrive within ten to fifteen minutes.

We must take off immediately, or we'll be bombed.

However, the airport only has two runways, so at most only two planes can take off at a time.

Captain Gao discussed the matter with Fang Wen as they ran.

"Commander Fang, there are only 6 anti-aircraft guns deployed in Hangzhou. I'm afraid they won't be able to delay the Japanese bombing formation. Let's take off first and maneuver around them in the air to give the others a chance to take off."

Now that Fang Wen's Taishan Independent Regiment has been established, military personnel like Captain Gao prefer to address each other by their military ranks.

Fang Wen responded, "No problem."

Captain Gao immediately arranged for takeoff. He piloted the Hawk III and Fang Wen piloted the Shrike, which entered the two runways respectively and took off into the sky.

After takeoff, Fang Wen maintained his speed, keeping parallel to Captain Gao's plane, and the two communicated with brief hand gestures.

In this air team mission, Captain Gao and Fang Wen were paired up. Based on the recognition of Fang Wen's skills and experience, Captain Gao volunteered to be the wingman, while Fang Wen was the main pilot.

Their target was the area east of Hangzhou, in the direction from which the Japanese naval bombing squadron coming from the sea would appear.

A few minutes later, the plane arrived at the Qiantang River in the suburbs of Hangzhou.

A formation of bombers approached from the opposite direction.

The six 20mm anti-aircraft guns of the air defense battalion on the riverbank below immediately fired.

These machine gun shells were too sparse to pose a significant threat to the bombing formation.

Even the passing bombers dropped a few bombs, which, while not destroying any anti-aircraft guns, silenced half of the firepower below.

The bomber formation was about to pass through the air defense zone and head to Jianqiao Airport in downtown Hangzhou.

This kind of thing happened 5 years ago as well.

At that time, the Japanese army was flying Type 3 carrier-based aircraft, carrying small bombs, so the threat was not great.

Now, their aircraft have been completely upgraded, and are even more advanced than the army's fighter jet models.

Looking at those planes, Fang Wen recalled relevant information.

The escort fighter jets are Type 96 carrier-based fighter jets.

It was the Japanese Navy's first all-metal monoplane fighter.

The bomber variant is the Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft.

It is part of the same series as the Type 97 dive bomber that Fang Wen led his team to shoot down over Nanyuan.

This shows that the Japanese Navy had completed a complete transformation from a two-wing to a single-wing aircraft.

Fang Wen felt a bit of pressure about this, after all, it was a new model, would it be too restrictive in performance compared to biplanes like the Hawk III?

Therefore, he decided to test the waters with Captain Gao first.

As agreed, the two men harassed the bomber formation by neither approaching nor leaving, maintaining a certain distance.

Both of them were excellent pilots, and the Japanese bomber formations simply couldn't shake them off.

This situation put the Japanese bombing squadron at a disadvantage. In addition, the enemy only had two aircraft, so two Type 96 carrier-based fighters broke away from the escort and headed towards Fang Wen and his men.

This was exactly what Fang Wen wanted to do; he wanted to use this opportunity to better understand the actual situation of this new type of fighter jet.

Immediately, the Shrike and Hawk split into two groups, each choosing an opponent to engage in a dogfight in the air.

Fang Wen chose the one on the left, but the other side still used the combat tactics of Japanese pilots, charging straight at them.

In a flash, Fang Wen seemed to see the ferocious face of the enemy pilot.

This bayonet-fighting aerial tactic was unique to the Japanese Air Force.

Just like the Bushido spirit they champion, they draw their swords, charge in, and fight, even if it means dying.

That's why there are simple martial arts styles like the "draw-sword style" and the "one-sword style."

In martial arts competitions, Chinese people never blindly rush in; instead, they employ a variety of techniques.

The same applies to Fang Wen.

He wouldn't engage in a direct confrontation with Japanese warplanes; he'd rather see who was unlucky enough to be hit first.

Just as the enemy aircraft charged forward, the Shrike suddenly veered to the side, maneuvering its fuselage to bypass the enemy plane.

Faced with this situation, the Type 96 carrier-based fighter reacted better than the Type 95 biplane, immediately attempting to turn and pursue.

However, his skills were far inferior to Fang Wen's. Just as he was adjusting the direction of his aircraft, Fang Wen had already bypassed the opponent's flank.

As the nose of the aircraft turned, a fleeting opportunity to fire arose. In his mechanically aware state, Fang Wen locked onto the enemy aircraft without needing to use the crosshair aiming device in front of the cockpit.

He immediately pulled the lever to fire the 20mm cannon.

The 20mm cannon, which can also be used as an anti-aircraft weapon, fires deadly flames at enemy aircraft less than 500 meters away.

The other aircraft seemed to sense the threat of death and desperately adjusted its angle, trying to dive downwards to evade.

But his reaction was still too slow.

From the moment the judgment was made to the actual action taken, the machine gun shell fired by Fang Wen had actually been fired for three seconds.

Those three seconds determined his fate.

The nose section was instantly torn apart, and the propeller that powered the aircraft was blown away.

Then a second volley of machine gun fire hit the aircraft's belly, detonating a small bomb hanging there.

The entire plane exploded and disintegrated in mid-air in an instant.

In one round, Fang Wen cleanly and decisively defeated his opponent, once again proving the strength of China's ace pilot.

Through this encounter, he also gained some understanding of the Type 96 carrier-based fighter jet.

In reality, it wasn't as dangerous as he thought. Although it was a monoplane, its flight performance and maneuverability weren't very good.

If we must make a comparison, then it's like comparing an unmodified Shrike to a P-26 fighter jet.

As the first generation of monoplane fighter jets in the United States, it was put into service with the Army Air Corps five years ago, and it had many shortcomings.

The same applies to the Type 96 carrier-based fighter jet.

Its engine horsepower is too small, similar to that of the Il-16 and P-26 without Fang Wen's modifications, and its flight speed is only about 380 kilometers per hour. In even parallel flight, it is slightly worse than the Hawk III.

However, its maneuverability was not very good, and the pilots even maintained the flying habits of biplanes.

Therefore, in the ensuing air battle, since the enemy escort fleet needed to protect the bombers, if the Hawk III fighters, which were good at parallel operations, launched a strong attack, the enemy would not be able to bypass them and would instead lose the space advantage they should have had.

In an instant, Fang Wen made a judgment about this air battle.

He looked towards Captain Gao's direction.

Captain Gao, as the strongest pilot of the Fourth Squadron, held his own against the Type 96 carrier-based fighter with his Hawk III.

He deeply understood what Fang Wen meant when he said that in aerial combat, it's better to fight a dogfight without any dignity than to engage in a head-on bayonet charge. Therefore, he actively avoided the opponent and adopted a tail-biting tactic.

Faced with his tactics, the opponent could not find an opportunity to engage, but dared not turn back and expose their back to the enemy, thus becoming very passive.

Finally, taking advantage of the enemy's complacency, Captain Gao seized an opportunity and hit the rear of the enemy plane with his machine gun.

The machine gun was still not as powerful as the cannon. The enemy plane, billowing black smoke, tried to return and escape on its own, but Captain Gao kept a close watch on it and fired continuously until it crashed into the Qiantang River.

In the 2-on-2 battle, the Chinese side achieved a complete victory.

This also made the Japanese bombing squadron realize the strength of their opponent.

They dared not send more planes; sending too few would risk repeating the same mistake, while sending too many would affect the overall safety of the escort fleet.

It was this delicate situation that allowed the two planes to hang next to the Japanese bombing formation, providing a valuable opportunity for their teammates to take off.

A few minutes later, one after another, all the planes from the Fourth Squadron and the First Battalion of the Taishan Aviation took off.

Fang Wen and Captain Gao split up, each leading their men to form a new combat formation and launch an attack on the Japanese bombing squadron.

The Japanese bomber squadron is currently escorted by 20 Type 96 carrier-based fighters and covered by 5 Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft.

The Fourth Squadron had 10 aircraft taking off, and the Taishan Aviation First Battalion plus Fang Wen had 4 aircraft.

The gap between the two sides is not that big.

No words were needed; the collective aerial combat commenced.

Two fighter squadrons launched an attack on the Japanese forces.

In order to protect their bombers, the enemy had no choice but to fight back passively.

On the Taishan side, the strategy is teamwork, with 22 people forming a group to support each other, regardless of skill level, fighting 2 against 1.

The enemy planes that Fang Wen and his men had caught up with immediately became increasingly vulnerable.

The results came quickly: two enemy planes were shot down by the Taishan Air Force Battalion.

The battle situation immediately became 18 to 14. Although the Japanese still had a slight advantage in numbers, the successive losses had made the situation passive.

At this point, the bombers had chosen to retreat, dropping all the bombs they carried in order to escape more quickly.

These bombs landed on the Qiantang River and its banks outside Hangzhou, creating plumes of smoke and waves. Apart from a large number of dead fish floating on the surface, they did not cause any greater damage.

As the bombers returned to base, the Japanese fighter escort formations became even more aggressive, attempting to block the Nationalist Air Force's pursuit of the bombers.

This kind of group combat, if they really go all out, can be really difficult to deal with.

Suddenly, the Chinese fighter jet formation was tied up.

Only Fang Wen's side still has a chance to break through using the aircraft's performance and flying skills.

Fang Wen issued orders to his subordinates via coded telegram.

Du Jiahuai followed him around, while Shao Deqing and Zhai Xiaojun continued to maneuver against the Japanese fighter planes.

The pilots who received the order immediately carried it out.

Shao Deqing and Zhai Xiaojun's fighter planes, after receiving the frenzied attack from the Japanese warplanes, continued to avoid their sharpest attacks and engage in close combat.

Du Jiahuai quietly veered off course to join Fang Wen. The two flew towards the rear of the war zone, where the Japanese fighter planes could not stop them for the time being.

After escaping the combat zone, the two aircraft flew around and pursued the five Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft.

This bomber was Japan's first generation of carrier-based bombers, with a bomb load of about 1.5 tons, posing a threat to both ground and ships.

It was even more destructive than the Type 97 glider bomber.

Fang Wen wanted to leave at least one aircraft behind to teach the Japanese Navy a lesson.

He and Du Jiahuai accelerated their pursuit.

The flight speed soared to 470 km/h and 430 km/h.

The enemy aircraft was a large model, and even after dropping all its bombs, its speed was still only about 380 kilometers per hour, which was still much slower than Fang Wen's.

With a speed difference of nearly a quarter, Fang Wen was getting closer and closer to the bomber group.

Without fighter escort, a bomber group is just a flock of lambs to the slaughter. As long as he catches up, Fang Wen is confident that he can easily shoot them down.

Just as they were about to be overtaken, the bomber group finally realized what was happening.

They began to scatter and fly away, catching at least one attacking plane while the others managed to escape.

In response, Fang Wen issued a secret telegram to Du Jiahuai, instructing him to hunt down the nearest aircraft, while he himself chose to pursue the other one.

The modified Shrike burst forth with astonishing speed, closing the distance to the enemy aircraft.

In his mechanical perception state, he could clearly see some of the enemy aircraft's situation.

In the three cockpits of the aircraft, the last machine gunner blindly fired the only 7.7 mm machine gun on the back of the plane.

At that distance, machine gun bullets of that caliber would drift away and disappear before they could even get close to Fang Wen's plane.

The fear of death caused the three Japanese pilots in the cockpit to show expressions of despair, which Fang Wen, in his mechanical perception state, could clearly see.

But this won't earn them any mercy or pity.

Fang Wen's face turned cold. This bomber would be stained with the blood of countless Chinese people and soldiers in the future, so it was better for it to die now.

He accelerated, flew directly into the blind spot of the enemy machine gun, aimed at the middle of the plane, and pulled the trigger.

Countless machine gun shells were unleashed, first blasting the entire cockpit to smithereens, then an explosion occurred, flames erupted from the middle of the aircraft, and the plane broke in two and scattered.

With the Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft dealt with, Fang Wen then searched for three more.

The three planes had already reached the seaside. Fang Wen detected many flying objects on the other side of the sea using the radar detection device.

It seems we can't continue the pursuit.

He immediately turned back, and on the way back, he encountered Qi Baoqian, who had finished the battle. The two formed a temporary combat team and returned to the original battlefield.

The fighting there had also ended, and the Japanese fighter squadron responsible for blocking the bombers left after seeing them escape.

The counterattack operation came to an end, and the two formations of aircraft flew back to Jianqiao Airport to land.

(End of this chapter)