“…… After completing the mission, if there is not enough fuel to return to the fleet, fly to the east of Foot Island and make a forced landing, and then patiently wait for rescue. Remember to me that you are the most valuable asset of the Imperial Navy, and each of you is irreplaceable......"

Sitting in the cabin, Liu Xiangzhen's admonition still echoed in Zhu Huasheng's ears.

In order to boost morale, perhaps because he felt that something should be said before the first battle of the carrier-based air force, Liu Xiangzhen shouted to all the pilots with a fleet radio.

The fleet broadcasts using high-frequency radio stations, and the working distance is only a few tens of kilometers, so that the fleet's whereabouts will not be exposed.

Zhu Huasheng is very strange, because in his impression, Liu Xiangzhen is not the kind of person who talks a lot.

Everyone's evaluation of him is: people don't talk much.

Of course, the moment he sat in the cabin, Zhu Huasheng threw these distracting thoughts out of the clouds and restored the true colors of a captain.

He was the captain of the 2nd Group of the 1st Carrier Air Wing, while the other group leader was Shenpu.

Soon, Zhu Huasheng completed the preparations before take-off, and then started the engine with the assistance of the ground crew and entered the hot car stage.

He flew a "Exocet" torpedo attack aircraft.

In fact, whether it is the Imperial Navy, or the Narrow Navy and the Nuland Navy, the commanders of carrier-based aviation almost always fly torpedo planes.

There's nothing strange about that.

Although the torpedo machine is the bulkiest and the slowest, it has the largest space in the engine room, and it is generally a three-seater, with a crew member dedicated to navigation, bomb dropping, and transmission.

One more person can greatly reduce the burden on the commander.

In addition, torpedo aircraft generally had the longest range among carrier-based aircraft of their generation.

If the torpedo or bomb is not hung, but the auxiliary fuel tank, the torpedo function can fly more than 1,000 kilometers, so it is most suitable for carrying out command tasks.

In the past training, the captain's landline was generally attached to the auxiliary fuel tank.

Only this time, it was an aviation torpedo that was hung.

It's not that Zhu Huasheng doesn't need to command, but there is no need to wait for the referee team to make a judgment after completing the attack, as in the exercise.

In fact, this is also a test faced by Zhu Huasheng.

Don't forget, he studied aerial reconnaissance, not a professional pilot, and only began to learn to fly at the age of 30.

When it comes to flying ability, Zhu Huasheng is definitely not as good as a rising star.

Of course, he has a big-picture view that rising stars don't have, a well-rounded tactical mindset, and more experience than any of the younger generation of pilots.

In fact, this is also a major feature of the Imperial Naval Aviation.

From the group commander downwards, as long as the commanders who fly carrier-based aircraft to carry out combat missions, without exception, all are "elderly" officers over the age of 35. At this level of squad leader, almost all of them are "middle-aged" officers around the age of thirty, and the ones around the age of twenty-five are junior pilots.

However, the cause of this phenomenon is not deliberately done by the Navy, but is influenced by objective factors.

Don't forget, in the twenty years after the end of the war, not to mention large-scale wars, there were not even a few conflicts, and they were basically in a state of putting horses and swords into storage, and the result was that many talented soldiers did not get the opportunity to perform, and the difficulty of promotion was similar to ascending to the sky.

Not to mention ordinary officers and soldiers, Bai Zhizhan and Liu Xiangzhen have been fighting for 20 years, and they have been mixed from captain to colonel.

With the flames of war reigniting, the opportunity for soldiers has arrived!

Soon, the five-minute hot car time was over.

Because there were catapults, the bulkiest torpedo attack aircraft took off first, followed by dive bombers, and finally fighters.

The key is that the fighter does not need to eject.

As long as the aircraft carrier reaches a speed of 30 knots and does not sail with the wind, the "Typhoon" fighter can fly off the deck under its own power.

The main reason is that the reliability of the catapult is not high, and the maintenance interval and service life are not long.

If possible, catapults should be used as little as possible.

The ground crew pushed Zhu Huasheng's landline to the ejection point, hung up the towing rope, and then the take-off guide gave Zhu Huasheng a thumbs up.

This is all in place, sign language that allows takeoff.

Zhu Huasheng was not in a hurry, and he didn't need to be in a hurry, because his wingman had just been dragged to the ejection point, and the ground crew was still fixing the towing rope for him.

After checking the instrument again, Zhu Huasheng typed ready sign language to the take-off guide.

Then, the take-off director squatted to the left lunge, his right hand went around his back, and his left hand stretched out his finger in the direction of the bow of the ship, making a shooting motion.

This is the standard action of "Walk You".

Of course, if it is on the right side, it is reversed, that is, the pilot must face the pilot and point to the bow of the ship, that is, the direction of the sortie.

As the brakes were released, the Exocet was bounced out.

More than ten seconds later, Zhu Huasheng's "Flying Fish" was still climbing, and his wingman had also lifted into the air.

In the next fifteen minutes, 12 Exocets, 14 Wasps and 12 Typhoons on the flight deck will be lifted into the air.

A few kilometers away, carrier-based planes on the "Longjiang" were also taking off one after another.

According to the rules of the Imperial Navy's carrier-based aviation, that is, the often said "whoever discovers will attack" combat principle, the first round of attacks was carried out by the 1st Carrier-based Aviation Wing as the main force, the commander of the 2nd Group was responsible for combat command, and the 1st Group was only responsible for assisting.

To be on the safe side, Major Shenpu, the leader of the 1st Group, will remain on the carrier.

Due to the limitation of troops, the second round of attacks will definitely have to be carried out by the 2nd Carrier-based Aviation Wing, which will also be in charge of combat command.

In this way, only when the third round of attacks is launched, it will be Shenpu's turn to fight.

With the current situation, that is, the time, there is basically no possibility of launching a third round of attacks, and it would be nice to be able to launch two rounds of attacks before dark.

More than 10 minutes later, Zhu Huasheng led the carrier-based planes of the second group to take the lead in flying eastward.

Soon, the fleet of the 1st Brigade caught up. There were still twelve fighters, only four fewer dive bombers and two more torpedo attack aircraft.

After a few more minutes, Zhu Huasheng and the others flew over the Second Air Task Force.

Eight fighters, 32 dive bombers, and 36 torpedo attack planes dispatched by the "Hengjiang" and "Linghe" have been assembled.

Instead of waiting, the fleet is flying eastward at a slower pace to save valuable fuel.

In previous exercises, this was often done, that is, they joined forces in formation during the flight and then launched an attack on the enemy fleet together.

It's just that whether it will work in real combat is another matter.

Because of the need to undertake the task of air defense of the fleet, the 2nd Carrier Aviation Wing did not dispatch many fighters.

If we look at the number of bombers and attack aircraft, it is actually the 2nd Carrier-based Aviation Wing that acts as the main force.

Four aircraft carriers, two carrier-based aviation wings dispatched thirty-two fighters, fifty-six dive bombers and sixty-two torpedo attack aircraft, for a total of one hundred and fifty aircraft.

However, like the mobile fleet, the task force did not immediately launch a second round of attacks.

It's not that I don't want to, but I can't!

After an all-deck sortie, it takes more than an hour to complete the hangar-to-deck turnaround and attack again in an all-deck sortie.