Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 495, 481: A Single Strike and Escape Technique – Luring the Enemy into a Trap

Fang Wen used his mechanical sensing eagle eye to carefully observe the Fengxiang below from high altitude.

Six years ago, he had never seen the Hosho, but he had fought against the Type 6 carrier-based aircraft that took off from the Hosho.

Now, we finally get to see what this first-generation Japanese aircraft carrier looks like.

(Side view of the Fengxiang)

(Aviation Perspective)
It adopts a double-layer structure.

A flight platform was added to the hull for the take-off and landing of fighter jets.

What about its weapon systems?
Fang Wen's eagle eye zoomed in again, spotting the shipborne air defense weapons located on the lower deck.

Twin-mounted Type 96 machine gun, 13mm Type 93 machine gun.

It can be said that its air defense capabilities are very weak, and its naval combat capabilities are almost zero.

It's essentially a sea platform used for taking off and landing fighter jets.

Its safety is protected by 14 fighter jets on the flight platform and a nearby escort cruiser.

The cruiser's anti-aircraft weaponry consisted of three Type 3 anti-aircraft guns, located in the forward, mid- and aft sections.

After using his supernatural abilities to understand the enemy's situation, Fang Wen made a decision for the safety of the 31 aircraft.

Inside the cockpit of the Qinyuan, Fang Wen pushed the control stick, causing the aircraft to tilt and dive downwards.

As the speed increased, his body, along with the driver's seat, began to shake.

In his human-machine integrated state, he observes the area below through the global perspective of the mechanical sensing eagle eye.

From a global perspective, Fang Wen monitored the enemy aircraft's movements in real time. His target was the 14 fighter jets that had not yet taken off. As long as he stopped them, the transport convoy would not be threatened.

On the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Fengxiang, ground crew waved white signal flags and then ran to make way, as a Type 97 carrier-based aircraft began to accelerate and taxi.

This fighter jet naturally became Fang Wen's first target.

However, the way fighter jets fight now is no longer as primitive as it used to be.

He used his supernatural abilities to connect to the television fire control aiming device, and the television camera data from the machine gun became the best shooting aid from a global perspective.

In a very short time, Fang Wen controlled the weapon joystick and aimed the machine gun at the fighter jet below.

At this moment, the plane also swooped down from an altitude of several thousand meters to an altitude of 1500 meters.

The enemy finally reacted, and the Japanese soldiers on the flight deck shouted and waved their arms to warn the enemy.

But it's too late.

The moment Fang Wen pressed the firing button with his thumb, the two 20mm cannons under the belly of the Qinyuan aircraft roared to life.

The machine gun shells drew two bright blue streaks of fire at an altitude of 800 meters, and the ammunition belt, like the Grim Reaper's reaping scythe, plowed across the body of the Type 97 carrier-based aircraft that was accelerating for takeoff.

The enemy plane's cockpit and right wing were immediately severely damaged. The Japanese pilot, who died on the spot, caused the plane to turn before falling. The fuselage then veered to the left side of the flight deck, crashed through the guardrail, and plunged into the sea.

And this was just the beginning. After taking down the first enemy plane, Fang Wen pulled up his aircraft, turning it from a dive to level flight. In those short 10 seconds, he controlled the two machine guns to continue strafing the other aircraft.

Ten seconds later, the Qinyuan rushed out of the flight deck area, then pulled up its fuselage and took off into the sky.

The sudden aerial attack took only 30 seconds, causing one Japanese plane to crash into the sea and five other fighter jets to suffer varying degrees of damage.

The process was so rapid that the Japanese soldiers on the two warships hadn't even had time to react before Fang Wen had already piloted the Qinyuan into the sky.

As the ship's alarm sirens sounded, Japanese soldiers armed with machine guns stood guard on the flight deck and lower levels aboard the aircraft carrier Hosho.
On the escort cruiser next to them, the Type 94 anti-aircraft guns were pointed at the sky, ready to fire at any moment.

All of this was observed by Fang Wen.

He was considering how to launch his next attack.

The Type 94 anti-aircraft gun on the cruiser is the standard anti-aircraft fire control system currently in service with the Japanese Navy.

Like the US Navy's air defense fire control system, it is controlled by a command instrument.

Equipped with observation devices at various angles and distances, once an aircraft appears, the observer will record and report the data, which will then be calculated by the technical officer using the firing dial.

The firing disc is similar to a future electronic computer, serving as the brain of naval fire control. It uses polar coordinates for calculations, is a fully rate-based system, and has a relatively simple structure.

The technical officer manually inputs data such as the target's current distance, rate of change of distance, flight time, target's current pitch angle, yaw angle, ship's course, longitudinal tilt angle of the line of sight, and lateral tilt angle. The calculation panel calculates function values ​​based on the input parameters, plugs them into a fixed formula, and quickly obtains the results, from which the firing parameters are determined.

This multi-person, manual fire control aiming method is unable to calculate and respond in time to large numbers of aircraft.

However, it becomes effective when facing a small number of aircraft, or even when there is only one fighter jet.

If I launch an attack next time, the enemy will definitely lock onto me with fire control and then launch an attack with anti-aircraft weapons.

This will pose a threat to oneself.

How to do?
How to break the deadlock?
Fang Wen thought of a phrase: 'In the world of martial arts, speed is the only thing that cannot be broken.'

The same situation exists now.

The opposing team is, after all, a human-powered aiming system composed of a group of people. Their observation, reaction, and calculation all take time, and the data they obtain will also be biased due to factors such as visual observation and mechanical errors.

If you are fast and agile enough to prevent your opponent from making a timely judgment, you can break the deadlock.

And that's his forte.

With this in mind, Fang Wen took a deep breath, focused all his attention, adjusted his position again, and swooped down.

Two Japanese warships are on alert in the sky.

They didn't know if the enemy had only one aircraft and were on guard against a possible attack by more warplanes.

Suddenly, the high-speed fighter jet that had fled far away turned back, seemingly intending to launch another attack.

Doesn't it have any companions? How dare it be so bold as to try again?

The officers on the two warships shouted commands to prepare for the impending attack.

The three Type 94 anti-aircraft guns on the escort cruiser were also targeting the dark shadow in the sky.

The Japanese observer, excited about the successful measurement, reported the data, and the technical officer began calculations.

Suddenly, the diving plane veered to the side, tracing an arc and making a turn.

This rendered all the original measurement data useless, and it was necessary to re-measure.

Without firing data, the anti-aircraft gun cannot carry out intercept firing.

This is Fang Wen's countermeasure: using high speed and high maneuverability to prevent the enemy from tracking his flight path.

During this process, Fang Wen successfully piloted the aircraft to approach the Fengxiang again.

The deadly machine gun fired again, and another Type 97 enemy plane preparing for takeoff was hit. A blinding flash of fire erupted from the root of the right wing, and the aluminum skin was torn open like tin foil. The leaking fuel was instantly ignited, turning into a rolling fireball.

Because it hadn't accelerated yet, the plane was very close to the other aircraft. The shockwave from the explosion enveloped the two fighter jets behind it in a rain of metal fragments. The main spar of the right wing of one of the jets snapped, causing the fuselage to tilt. The other jet spun around in place trying to avoid the collision, but instead crashed into the fighter jet behind it.

It blocked the runway in one go.

Meanwhile, the Japanese machine gunners on the deck who were trying to stop the Chinyuan could only fire at the rapidly departing Chinyuan, unable to stop the ghostly fighter plane from escaping again.

After attacking the aircraft carrier twice, Fang Wen piloted his plane back into the high sky.

Although the two successful attacks excited him, they did not make him lose his mind.

He understood very well the principle that things should not be done a third time.

The first time was when the enemy was unprepared, and the second time was when the plan was well-thought-out to avoid enemy manual targeting.

Trying to repeat the same trick a third time would be very difficult. He used his mechanical perception, Eagle Eye, to observe the situation below.

Driven to madness, the Japanese soldiers rushed onto the flight deck and aimed all their machine guns at the air.

The same was true on the escort cruiser next to it.

Fang Wen felt that if he flew down to attack again, he would probably be mowed down by a group of crazed Japanese soldiers.

At that time, I really wasn't sure I could dodge so many bullets aimed at me.

Therefore, he did not intend to continue flying down to attack, but instead flew in high-altitude, high-speed circles to put pressure on the enemy.

Faced with his continued provocation.

The two warships below dared not let their guard down, fearing that it might fly down again.

Meanwhile, the Type 94 anti-aircraft system on the escort cruiser was also attempting to fire at it.

At an altitude of 4500 meters, the Japanese anti-aircraft weapons posed no threat to the Qinyuan, piloted by Fang Wen. After firing blindly for a while without success, the Type 94 anti-aircraft system had to stop firing.

Now, the two sides are at a stalemate.

Fang Wen's plane tied down two warships.

Time passed slowly, and the Qinyuan in the sky and the two enemy ships at sea remained locked in a stalemate.

Fang Wen checked the fuel situation.

The plane has one-third of its fuel left, which is enough for a flight of 600 kilometers.

The air transport team has landed and is unloading personnel and supplies.

Radar detection equipment indicated that a formation of more than a dozen fighter jets was flying towards this direction from the east, passing through the waters south of Hong Kong Island.

Expected arrival in 30 minutes.

This was the Japanese Navy's backup plan!
Fortunately, Fang Wen discovered it in advance using his special abilities.

He picked up the microphone and called out, "Pan Jiafeng, how's the air defense weapon deployment going?"

"Two-thirds of the deployment is complete, and it will take another ten minutes," Pan Jiafeng replied, adding that the ability to complete all of this so quickly was thanks to the training.

After making contact, Fang Wen continued to keep an eye on the aircraft carrier below.

On the flight deck of the Phoenix below, in order to take off, Japanese soldiers dragged three destroyed fighter planes to both sides and then began to take off again.

This time, they were not intercepted and successfully took off.

There were a total of 5 Type 97 helicopters that were still flying. They all took to the sky to form a combat formation and went after Fang Wen.

The five menacing Japanese warplanes had forgotten their purpose in coming here. Instead of causing trouble for the transport team, they wanted to shoot down Fang Wen's Qinyuan high-speed fighter.

Thinking they had a large number of aircraft, they seemed to have forgotten that the performance of the Qinyuan surpassed that of the Type 97 fighter jet in every aspect.

Not to mention Fang Wen's incredible aerial piloting skills.

The Qinyuan, which was flying ahead, suddenly gained altitude.

The altitude suddenly increased from 4000 meters to 6000 meters.

The five Type 97 fighter jets quickly climbed to the same altitude, fearing they would lose the chase.

Fang Wen sneered at this.

The rapid climb of the first-generation Taishan fighter jet was specially tested and would not have any impact, but the Type 97 would not be able to do so.

The pressure changes caused by rapid ascent can lead to engine malfunctions such as insufficient air intake and reduced power.

The engine technology currently possessed by the Japanese all uses naturally aspirated intake systems, which can easily lead to a sudden drop in power due to insufficient air intake during rapid ascents.

Fang Wen even discovered the same problem in the development data of the Zero fighter.

Therefore, this is a fatal weakness that affects all of the Japanese warplanes.

Fang Wen plans to exploit this weakness to solve the problem of the five Type 97 helicopters once and for all.

He continued to climb, increasing the altitude from 6000 to 7000, but the speed could be reduced.

The Type 97 fighter jets were still chasing, showing no sign of giving up.

7500 meters above the ground.

A Type 97 propeller suddenly stopped spinning.

Its engine stopped due to an intake problem!

The fighter jet, having lost power, plummeted rapidly downwards. In this stalled and plunging state, at an altitude of 7500 meters, there was no way to stop it.

The other four Type 4s were in slightly better condition, but their performance was also significantly reduced due to air intake problems caused by high-altitude air pressure.

This was the best opportunity, and Fang Wen immediately launched a counterattack, turning his aircraft around and aiming at the enemy aircraft for precise fire.

Two Type 97 helicopters were hit by 20mm cannon shells in succession, and the remaining two fled in panic.

Fang Wen did not pursue the matter further.

The two fighter jets didn't even dare to land on the aircraft carrier, but instead flew away into the distance, as chasing them was no longer meaningful.

Now, after twenty minutes of fighting, the enemy's fifteen supporting fighter jets are almost here, and that's what he needs to deal with.

The two warships on the sea no longer posed a threat, and Fang Wen's Qinyuan still had 400 kilometers of fuel left.

The conditions for continuing the fight no longer exist.

Fang Wen intended to use the remaining oil to lure the enemy deeper into his territory.

He hovered in the air, waiting for the enemy to appear.

Ten minutes later, a formation of 15 fighter jets flew in from the northeast.

They were all Type 97 carrier-based aircraft, carrying aerial bombs, clearly targeting the aircraft of the Taishan Independent Regiment.

Fang Wen picked up the microphone: "Pan Jiafeng, are you ready?"

Through the radio, Pan Jiafeng replied, "Master, everything is ready. We're just waiting for the enemy to come."

"That's good. I'll lure them over. You all go into firing position."

The Independent Regiment's garrison, located 15 miles south of Yangjiang City.

It is a small village.

The village was built on a plain, which, as the county magistrate said, provided a suitable area for troop training and assembly.

Now, the 20mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns unloaded from the aircraft have been deployed.

Each anti-aircraft gun is operated by five soldiers, with the cannon muzzle raised high and aimed at the sky.

There were a total of 26 dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns, forming a deadly air defense network.

Any enemy aircraft that dares to intrude into this airspace will inevitably suffer a fatal blow.

In order to gain a foothold in Yangjiang, Fang Wen made thorough preparations, so how could he not consider the possibility of Japanese air raids?

Now, all that's left is for the Japanese planes to enter this air defense ambush zone.

(End of this chapter)