dognovel Chapter 189: F-8 Carrier-Based Fighter's First Battle
Chapter 189: F-8 Carrier-Based Fighter's First Battle
On the Qidong aircraft carrier with the hull number 001, the tail engine of an F-8 Crusader carrier-based fighter roared.
Then, propelled by the C-11 steam catapult, it glided at high speed on the aircraft carrier deck, which was only more than 100 meters long, like an arrow from a bow.
After leaving the deck, the fighter plane suddenly plummeted and disappeared from the sight of the crew on the deck.
Faced with this situation, the crew did not take any action.
In less than a second, the fighter plane returned to sight and roared into the air.
With the successful ejection of the first F-8 Crusader, the second and third began to be ejected one after another.
As the only carrier-based fighter of the Renaissance Army, the F-8 Crusader supersonic carrier-based fighter has the ability to crush any propeller fighter.
This carrier-based fighter made its first flight in 55 and was the first carrier-based fighter capable of supersonic flight.
It is powered by a J57 turbojet engine with afterburner thrust, with a maximum thrust of 4.8 tons and an afterburner thrust of 8.2 tons.
It is precisely because of a powerful turbojet engine that its maximum flight speed can reach Mach 1.7, its range is 2300 kilometers, and its climb rate can reach 130 meters per second.
In terms of climb rate, it can kill a lot of fighter jets in seconds.
Take the Mustang fighter as an example, its climb rate is 16.3 meters per second.
From these two numbers, we can already intuitively feel the gap between the two fighters.
In terms of weapons, it is equipped with four 4mm rotary cannons and a hidden 20mm 70-round Giant Rat rocket launcher in the belly of the fuselage.
Whether in terms of performance or weapons, the Crusader carrier-based fighter is undoubtedly powerful.
In this attack, the two aircraft carriers dispatched a total of 16 Crusader carrier-based fighter jets.
As for the F9F carrier-based fighter-bombers and A-4 jet attack aircraft, they were all dispatched and divided into two formations to attack one aircraft carrier each.
As the main offensive aircraft, the A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft only carried two MK25 aerial torpedoes.
This torpedo is also one of the main anti-ship weapons currently available.
In the era without anti-ship missiles, the main anti-ship means was still the combination of iron bombs and aerial torpedoes.
In a standard tactical operation, F-8 Crusader carrier-based fighters compete for air superiority over the sea.
Immediately afterwards, F9F Panther carrier-based fighter-bombers entered the scene and used the bombs they carried to attack the ships, paralyzing the enemy's air defense firepower.
Finally, the A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft entered the scene carrying torpedoes and completed the final harvest.
The same combat method was adopted this time against the two aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga.
A distance of more than 400 kilometers is only about half an hour's flight for the F8 carrier-based fighter.
With the guidance of the AD-4W early warning aircraft, a formation of 18 F-8 Crusader carrier-based fighters successfully flew over the Tsushima Strait.
"Found the target!"
After passing through a layer of clouds, they discovered two Fuso aircraft carriers sailing on the calm sea.
Two cruisers and four destroyers followed on both sides of the aircraft carrier.
Several Type 95 carrier-based fighter jets used for patrol were also circling in the sky.
"Enemy planes spotted, they're from the Restoration Army!"
When the F-8 Crusader carrier-based fighter jets broke out of the clouds, they were first discovered by a Type 95 carrier-based fighter jet on patrol, and then were discovered by the lookouts of the two aircraft carriers at the same time.
“Ding ding ding ding…”
In an instant, the battle alarms of the Akagi and Kaga aircraft carriers sounded rapidly.
The Fuso sailors responded quickly and entered their respective combat positions in an orderly manner at the fastest speed.
In less than a minute, carrier-based fighter jets began to take off urgently from the deck of the aircraft carrier.
This also shows that the Fuso Navy is well-trained.
On the aircraft carrier Akagi, after hearing the alarm, Major General Ryoji Nishida, commander of the 3rd Air Fleet, immediately picked up a telescope and looked at the Restoration Army fighter planes rushing towards them.
At this moment he was still very surprised.
I didn't expect that they could be found by the Renaissance Army in such a short time even though they were hiding here.
Moreover, they also launched several reconnaissance planes for patrolling the periphery, but they did not expect that the fighter planes of the Restoration Army would still sneak in silently.
However, when he saw the more than ten fighter planes of the Restoration Army attacking, he was stunned.
This was a fighter jet he had never seen before.
The first feeling he had was stunning, followed by shock.
This amazing feeling comes naturally and is inexplicably powerful.
This is like what people in modern time and space feel when they see the Xuannv aerospace fighter at first sight.
"The Chinese don't have propellers on their planes? How do they propel themselves?"
The tone of the officer next to him was full of doubt and confusion.
In his understanding, current fighter jets all have piston engines, and piston engines must have propellers.
But he did not see any propellers on these fighter planes.
"See the black smoke coming out of their tails? That must be their engine. It looks like this is another new type of fighter plane from the Restoration Army."
Seeing this, Major General Nishida Ryoji's heart skipped a beat. The appearance of the Restoration Army's new fighter planes at this time was not a good thing.
The two aircraft carriers began to launch fighter jets one after another, and the several Type 95 carrier-based fighter jets circling in the air did not rush forward in a hurry.
Compared with the army elk, the navy elk has a higher IQ.
They knew very well that rushing forward now would be seeking death.
Therefore, they have been hovering within the range of the fleet's air defense firepower, flying to the periphery for defense, waiting for the aircraft carrier to take off fighter jets, and then rush forward together.
But the F-8 fleet is not afraid of their anti-aircraft firepower, because one of their missions is to attract the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower.
So I pushed the throttle to the maximum, and the turbojet engine at the tail was already emitting an orange-red Mach ring.
At this time, the speed of F-8 fighter jets began to approach supersonic speed.
Then white shock waves were seen attached to the surface of the F-8 fighter.
A moment later, bursts of rumbling sounds resounded through the sky.
This is the noise made by a fighter jet when it breaks the sound barrier.
"They are coming here, how come they are so fast!"
The Fuso pilots were shocked after seeing this scene.
At this time, they no longer cared about staying within the range of the anti-aircraft firepower circle, but drove their fighter planes directly to meet it.
Compared with the pilots in the air, Major General Ryoji Nishida and others on the bridge of the aircraft carrier could more intuitively feel the acceleration of the F-8 fighter, which was in sharp contrast to their slow-moving fighters.
One looks like Bolt, and the other looks like an old lady with bound feet.
Gao Zhihang took the lead and rushed to the front in an F-8 carrier-based fighter.
When approaching the oncoming Fuso fighter planes, he turned on a few buttons on the control panel, turning on the onboard AN/APG-30 gun aiming and ranging radar.
Its function is to help the pilot aim the gun at the target.
2000米、1800米、1500米、1000米.....800米.....
Gao Zhihang looked at the Fuso fighter plane getting closer and closer, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
When it approached 800 meters, the aircraft gun's crosshairs were firmly locked on the Fuso fighter.
"Dong dong dong..."
Several tracer shells whizzed out, and the Fuso pilot on the opposite side didn't even have time to react before a 20mm shell hit the nose of his plane.
During the explosion, the Fuso fighter plane fell downwards with black smoke coming out.
The pilot inside the cabin had been riddled with thorns from the broken parts of the plane.
In just a few seconds, the Fuso fighter plane exploded in the air.
The high temperature ignited the fuel leaking from the damaged engine, causing an explosion and direct disintegration in the air.
"Cool!"
Gao Zhihang shouted excitedly after shooting down the first fighter plane.
It immediately rolled over and rushed towards a Fuso fighter plane that was still climbing.
"Too fast, they're too fast!"
As soon as the Fuso pilots saw the fighter planes rushing towards them, before they could react, they were hit by several shells.
But they were unable to aim at each other and could only take the beating unilaterally.
The six Type 6 carrier-based fighter jets that were previously responsible for air patrol were all shot down in less than a few minutes.
18 F-8 fighter jets formed several flight formations and continued to rush towards the Fuso aircraft carrier formation.
At this time, only a few fighter jets from the two aircraft carriers took off.
There are also a large number of fighter jets parked on the deck of the aircraft carrier, ready to take off.
Faced with the F-8 fleet rushing up at this time, the Fuso pilots who had already completed takeoff could only rush forward in their fighter planes.
Faced with the Fuso army's refueling tactics, the F-8 carrier-based aircraft group accepted them all.
With the assistance of radar, a Fuso fighter jet can be taken down with just a few shells.
The reason why the Fuso fighter planes did not hide was because it was too late.
The main reason was that the F-8 was too fast and they were shot down before they could react.
Major General Nishida Ryoji's heart sank when he saw this.
Their new fighter planes were still vulnerable to the new fighter planes of the Renaissance Army, no different from before.
"Hurry, hurry, get all the fighter planes to take off as quickly as possible."
"Destroyers and cruisers, move towards us as quickly as possible and create an air defense circle!"
After dealing with several Type 95 carrier-based fighter jets that intercepted them.
Gao Zhihang was the first to drive an F-8 fighter into the air defense circle of the Fuso aircraft carrier formation and dived towards one of the aircraft carriers.
This aircraft carrier is none other than the Kaga.
The Kaga aircraft carrier has many similarities with the Akagi aircraft carrier in terms of layout.
When fully loaded with multiple tons, it can carry more than 60 fighter jets of various types.
However, when facing several Restoration Army fighter planes diving towards them, their fighter planes still remained on the deck, waiting in line for takeoff.
"Anti-aircraft guns fire, intercept them!"
As a heavy aircraft carrier of the Fuso Navy, the Kaga aircraft carrier is also equipped with powerful anti-aircraft firepower.
It is equipped with 8 twin 127mm anti-aircraft guns, in addition to 8 200mm naval guns.
These eight twin-mounted 8mm Type 127 anti-aircraft guns are the only air defense weapons of the Kaga aircraft carrier.
As for the Showa anti-aircraft artifact, the jewel of human industry, the Type 96 25mm anti-aircraft gun, which has the reputation of being able to defend against nine out of ten air defenses, is still under development.
It is expected that mass production will begin in early 33 at the latest.
Looking at the Kaga aircraft carrier getting closer and closer, Gao Zhihang aimed his crosshairs directly at the huge red dot on the deck, and the 30-round 70mm rocket magazine on the belly popped out.