dognovel Chapter 50: B-17 bomber, the nightmare of the Japanese
Chapter 50: B-17 bomber, the nightmare of the Japanese
"coming!"
The most dangerous and most difficult part of the RB-17G reconnaissance aircraft is undoubtedly the electric turret under the belly.
Not only does this position have the highest casualty rate in the entire aircraft, but the entire process requires one to curl up in this small space, and even urination requires special equipment.
Imagine flying for hours while curled up in this position.
Once you arrive at the battlefield, you will also have to face the enemy's anti-aircraft fire.
The belly turret was undoubtedly the first to be attacked.
And the enemy often attacks from below.
But this position always needs someone, so Liu Xiaofei, the shortest member of the entire crew, became the "lucky one" and became the anti-aircraft gunner of the belly turret.
When he saw two Japanese Type 3 carrier-based aircraft slowly climbing, he smiled coldly.
I've been crawling here for so long, and finally I can have a real fight.
He controlled the twin-mounted turrets and locked onto one of the Type 3 carrier-based aircraft.
The Type 8 carrier-based aircraft has a very slow climbing speed, climbing only 30 meters per second, which is equivalent to kilometers per hour.
By the time they climbed to an altitude of 3000 meters, six or seven minutes had passed.
When they slowly climbed to this altitude and prepared to attack the RB-17G reconnaissance aircraft, Liu Xiaofei directly taught them a lesson.
"Dong dong dong..."
As he pressed the firing button, two 12.7mm caliber machine guns spewed out flames, and dense bullets flew towards one of the Type carrier-based aircraft.
"idiot....."
Amidst the Fuso carrier-based pilot's terrified curse, dense bullets directly covered his fighter plane.
In an instant, a large amount of blood and flesh sprayed inside the cabin, and then with a loud bang, the fighter plane turned into a fireball in the air.
The pupils of the Fuso-Type 3 carrier-based aircraft following behind shrank after seeing this scene.
However, he did not give up the attack. Instead, he flipped out of the attack range of the belly turret and flew towards the tail of the plane.
At this time he stepped into the death zone.
The machine guns at the tail and one side of the fuselage opened fire simultaneously, and dense bullets covered the wings on both sides, breaking them and causing the slow-moving fighter plane to fall straight down with thick smoke.
After completing the two shootdowns, the pilot slowly left the island city port in the RB-17G reconnaissance plane and flew north.
This scene was obviously seen by the Fuso people below, and the naval officer's face turned gloomy after seeing this scene.
What does this mean? Hit and run?
He originally thought that their carrier-based aircraft could perform well in front of the army's idiots.
As a result, both carrier-based aircraft were shot down in one encounter.
Isn't this a slap in the face of the Army?
At this time, he also felt a burning sensation on his face.
“I heard that the Restoration Army’s fighter planes are very powerful, so get your planes ready.
It's a pity that our Army Aviation didn't participate this time, otherwise it would definitely not have escaped."
"Baga, what do you mean?"
The brigade commander curled his lips in disdain and said, "Literally!"
"asshole!"
The naval officer had no way to deal with the brigade commander and could only stare at the RB-17G reconnaissance aircraft with hatred.
If the fighter planes of the Restoration Army dare to show up, he will definitely let them know how powerful their navy is.
In order to prevent this incident from happening again, the Fengxiang aircraft carrier, which was stationed in the offshore area, launched four Type 4 carrier-based aircraft.
As a pathfinder aircraft carrier, the Hosho was built in the early 20s and began serving in the Combined Fleet at the end of 22, becoming a member of the Third Air Squadron of the First Fleet of the Combined Fleet.
The Fengxiang aircraft carrier is also the only aircraft carrier sent to assist in the battle.
Its full load displacement is just over 1 tons, and it adopts a straight-through deck design. It carries a total of 21 fighter jets, 15 of which are commonly used fighter jets and 6 are spare fighter jets.
Two Type 19 carrier-based aircraft were shot down this time, so the number of aircraft carried was only .
Compared to aircraft carriers of the World War II era, the Feng Xiang aircraft carrier was undoubtedly relatively backward.
But in this era, this aircraft carrier is actually quite good.
The information from the island city was quickly passed to the Second Corps Headquarters.
Gu Zhengyang was a little surprised when he saw this information.
"The Fuso people arrived so quickly? It seems this army came from the Korean Peninsula.
The 19th Division was dragged to the Andong front, so the only one left was the 20th Division.
Have the Fuso people given up their attack on Andong Province?"
It was not difficult for Gu Zhengyang to come to this conclusion.
Fuso mainland is still some distance away from the island city, but if you start from the Korean Peninsula, this time is just right.
"In this case, we can give them a welcome gift first."
Qidong Province is not equipped with many fighter jets. It only has a squadron-sized P-38 heavy fighter jet, which serves as a shore-based aviation force to protect the air security of Donglai Bay.
So if you want to give the Fuso people a gift, you can only ask for help.
"The Japanese 20th Division landed in the island city? We must give them a welcome gift.
Tell Cheng Shijie to send as many fighter planes as possible. The moment they set foot on the land of the ancient country, I will make sure they can never return."
Jiang Hua said in a cold tone after receiving the telegram for help from Gu Zhengyang.
The 19th Division on the Korean Peninsula hid during the day, so the Air Force's repeated attacks had no results, which made Cheng Shijie a little depressed.
However, when he heard that a large number of Fuso landing troops appeared at the port of the island city, he immediately became excited.
Now is definitely the time when the Fuso people are at their weakest. All the personnel and ships are crowded in the port. Aren't they just waiting to be bombed?
"Pass on my order. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Bomber Aviation Brigades will attack in two batches, equipped with high-explosive and incendiary bombs. Let the Fuso people know how powerful we are.
The 1st Fighter Aviation Brigade can simply dispatch squadron-sized fighter jets in batches for escort."
Currently, the First Air Force has a total of three bomber brigades, each equipped with 17 B-93G heavy bombers, and the three brigades have a total of 279 bombers.
This range is fully capable of carrying a full load of 5.8 tons of bombs.
Even if we calculate based on an average of 5 tons of bombs per bomber, one trip can carry 1395 tons, or nearly 1400 tons of bombs, which is enough to give the landing Fuso army a hard time.
As Cheng Shijie's order was issued, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Bomber Aviation Brigades all took action.
An hour later, B-17G bombers took off one after another from 17 military airports in Beire Province.
The 1st Aviation Brigade will complete its assembly over the Zhili Strait and head straight for the island city port.
The entire journey is over 600 kilometers, and including the time for takeoff and assembly, it can be reached in three hours.
Four hours is not enough to load and unload a regiment-sized group of soldiers, equipment, and supplies.
If all the personnel, equipment and supplies of a fully staffed 20th Division are to be unloaded, it will take about three days, and that is still the fastest.
If it was a division of the Fuxing Army, it would take a week just to unload.
Because a motorized infantry division of the Fuxing Army already has a lot of heavy equipment, not to mention a mechanized division.
So when the vanguard of the bombing formation arrived, the 20th Division of the Fuso Army in the port was still unloading personnel and supplies, and the port was also full of requisitioned merchant ships.
This vanguard group of aircraft was none other than the P-38 Lightning heavy fighter jets that took off from the Donglai Bay shore-based airport.
As a twin-engine heavy fighter known as the Twin Demon during World War II, its performance is undoubtedly excellent.
In the early stages of the Pacific War, if it weren't for the P-38, the Eagle Sauce would probably have been defeated by the Zero.
This was also one of the few fighters in the early days that could fight against the Zero.
It was also the fighter plane that shot down Yamamoto's vehicle.
In this different time and space, this twin-bodied demon can still emit dazzling light.
Forty P-40 Lightning fighters formed a dense formation and flew towards the port.
The three Type 3 fighters on patrol were the first to be attacked. (The three fighters in the second patrol)
The twin demons swooped down from over 5000 meters in the air.
The Type 3 carrier-based aircraft was caught off guard.
When the 20mm cannon and four 4mm machine guns spewed out flames, one of the Type 12.7 carrier-based aircraft was directly blown up in the air.
The other two Type 3 fighters were not much better off, although they had already reacted.
But facing the P-38 Lightning swooping down from above, they had no way to avoid it.
Because their speed is too slow.
Although the P-38 Lightning is a heavy fighter, its maximum speed in a dive can exceed 600 kilometers per hour, reaching 640 kilometers per hour.
This speed is also one of the important factors that allows Lightning to compete with the Zero fighter.
The maximum speed of the Type 241 carrier-based aircraft is only kilometers per hour, so it is normal for it to be beaten.
The explosion of the Type 3 carrier-based aircraft also gave a warning to the Japanese in the port.
"Baga, they're here! Why are there so many of them?"
Major General Yoshito Takagi, commander of the 20th Brigade of the 39th Division, changed his expression drastically after seeing this scene.
No one could remain calm when seeing dozens of P-38 Lightning fighter planes flying towards them in dense formation.
This number also scared the rear admiral next to him.
"Damn it! How come the Renaissance Army still has so many fighter planes in Qidong Province? What are those idiots from the Northern Frontier doing?"
Faced with swarms of P-38 fighter planes flying over, air defense alarms rang throughout the port.
The Japanese were not unprepared. They had deployed dozens of anti-aircraft cannons and machine guns in the port, which were all the anti-aircraft weapons of their 20th Division.
This is because it was collected from the Korean Peninsula after being bombed there.
Otherwise, their 20th Division would not be equipped with anti-aircraft weapons at all.
As a heavy fighter, the P-38 Lightning fighter is powerful and has a bomb load capacity of 1.4 tons.
Two of the three squadrons had their bellies and wings loaded with various bombs and rockets.
However, they did not attack the Fuso army on the dock, but instead launched a dive attack on the ships docked in the port.
At this time, 93 B-17G bombers of the st Air Brigade, which were the first batch of bombers, also formed a dense formation and appeared over the island city.
The dense swarms of bombers flying at an altitude of about 3000 meters were extremely spectacular at first glance, leaving the Japanese people in the port stunned.
Only then did they realize what a formidable opponent the Renaissance Army Air Force was.
The 20th Division was naturally very familiar with this scene, because they had been bombed once, and they did not expect to encounter it again even after running to Qidong Province.
It was precisely because of their familiarity that their pupils were filled with fear.