Chapter 144: 1944: Jet and Lightning (15)
The height of the attack group is only 40 meters, and because of the curve of the earth, the US radar station on Oahu has not yet detected it, but the radar crew has already found that there are several bright spots floating on the screen -- it is a night cloud of aerial reconnaissance, and their altitude is not low, and they have to show the direction of the attack group, and at the same time, they also undertake the task of turning the attention of the US military from low altitude to high altitude. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info
At this time, the Japanese army had completely mastered the electronic combat of throwing aluminum foil as a jamming radar, but it was rarely used in practice, because it could be inferred in reverse: if a good radar was suddenly jammed, it was most likely that there were enemy planes about to attack, which was not conducive to a sneak attack, but after releasing four night clouds flying at medium and high altitudes, it aroused the suspicion of the US military.
"Is this an enemy plane?" The radar soldier asked the sergeant major next to him.
The latter was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look at the screen, looked at it for a full minute, and found that there were always four bright spots, but their trajectories were very regular -- flying around each other at a large interval, and not going to the core area at all -- the night clouds had received the radar waves of the US military, and knew that they had been locked, and they had been able to completely monitor Pearl Harbor in their current position, so there was no need to force themselves inside, and it was even more confusing to fly around the periphery.
He shook his head: "This is probably our night patrol plane!" β
"Need to verify? I remember that there were never 4 patrol planes before, at most 1, and they didn't fly like that. β
"It's kind of weird." The sergeant major was about to talk on the phone, and the staff officer on duty couldn't help frowning after hearing his report that there were four patrol planes north of Oahu: There are a total of six patrol planes arranged in the whole of Hawaii tonight, how can it be that four of them are concentrated in the direction of Oahu?
He was just about to explain to be vigilant, when a shout broke out in the earpiece: "Enemy plane! Enemy! A large group of enemy aircraft appeared! The height is 500 meters, oh no, it seems that it is still climbing, the speed is 475 kilometers, oh God, it is still accelerating, the course, 194 degrees; number, densely packed, no less than 150 ......"
At this time, the Japanese aircraft group was close to a place only more than 70 kilometers away from the radar station, and even if it was a low-altitude assault, it would inevitably be tracked.
βAlarmοΌβ The piercing sirens immediately sounded, and soon resounded throughout Pearl Harbor!
The US fighter pilots in the duty room were chatting and playing cards, but as soon as dawn someone came to take their place, and then they could go back and rest comfortably.
The anti-aircraft artillery units that reacted quickly reacted 15 seconds after the alarm sounded, the searchlights immediately flashed and they searched for enemy planes in all directions, and the anti-aircraft guns guarding the airfield even roared nervously into the air - under normal circumstances, the enemy would have attacked the airfield first.
Seeing the lights in front of him turn on, and hearing the sound of indiscriminate anti-aircraft artillery in the distance, Xinxiang Yingcheng Zhongzuo, who led the team, squeezed out a trace of ridicule from the corner of his mouth: "You guys are moving too slowly!" As always, unresponsive! β
As he spoke, he took the lead in dropping the flares, and quickly determined his position and ran towards the oil depot by the light - there was no need for them to fight at all, it was Nagumo Tadaichi's idiot who refused to release the third wave of attack groups three years ago! If he had been released then, how could there be so much to do now?
"Formations keep up!"
"It's about to go above the oil depot!"
"Below is the oil depot, the whole army is assaulting!"
"Boom", as soon as the order was issued, Xinxiang Yingcheng took the lead in dropping the 400-kilogram bomb he carried, and then the others scattered to attack.
The Japanese were familiar with the location of the oil depot, and the other defenses at Pearl Harbor could change, but this place did not change much, and it still stood there as it did three years ago, the only difference being that the U.S. military was equipped with more isolation facilities, fire prevention and fire fighting equipment - but this did not change the defect that the oil depot itself was prone to deflagration. The U.S. military did build an underground fuel depot, but the capacity is not large, the total storage scale is only 12% of the total, and the 500 kg semi-armor-piercing bomb can be blasted open, this time for the sake of insurance, several Meteors have changed to 800 kg aerial bombs.
"Torah...... Torah...... Torah ......"
As soon as he received this codename, Chiaki Matsuda almost jumped up with joy: "Sir, the surprise attack was successful!" β
"They've worked hard! The fleet turns, detached! β
After the success of the first wave of surprise attacks, Hori Yiji also had a slight smile on his face: "The mission of the third attack wave has been canceled, the air defense fighters have taken off, and the fleet purge will be completed according to the scheduled air defense plan!" β
He gave three orders in a row, and the staff officers immediately carried them out.
"Lift the radio silence, inform Tsunoda and Tsukahara of the direction of this fleet, and ask the Second Air War to move closer to me, well, just say that the situation in our department is tense, and ask him to support!"
Chiaki Matsuda replied with a smile: There is no tense situation in the support fleet, but the Tsunoda fleet is estimated to run out of fuel if it does not come again, and the commander said this just to give Tsunoda a reminder, hoping that he can reflect on it.
"Onboard!"
The second attack wave also received the signal from the first attack wave, and everyone cheered, and at this time, since the whole line was fighting, there was no need to hide the traces, and under the command of the commander of the support force flight corps, Takashi Jiang Cao, began to pull up and speed up.
"The chief has attacked!"
Tsunoda and Tsukahara also received a code telegram from "Tiger Tiger Tiger", and although it was not clear what it meant, the two were fully aware of it.
However, the subsequent telegram from Horiyoshi asking for the Second Air War to quickly get closer made Tsunoda scratch his head in embarrassment: he was not a fool, and he could read between the lines of the telegram - who was the tense situation? The reverse is pretty much the same.
At 6:04, the first air defense fighter of the support fleet took off, and the pilot was Second Lieutenant Sugida Shoichi, known as the Purple Electric King. He had just been awarded the rank of second lieutenant before his departure, and as a preparatory student at the aviation school who had only graduated for two and a half years, he was not yet 21 years old, and he had only opened the record two years earlier (October 1942), but he was selected for the selection of carrier-based pilots from the land base. After getting on the ship, he showed extraordinary talent, the number of shots shot down increased linearly, especially after the change to purple electricity, his technical ability became more prominent, and he did not fall behind in the fight with ace pilots such as Akamatsu Sadaaki, considering his age and qualifications, it is amazing!
Historically, Sugida Soichi was one of the pilots who escorted Yamamoto's 56 cars and eventually witnessed their downing, but now it is clear that the trajectory of his life has changed dramatically, and he has begun to carry out ship battles and direct defense missions.
Takahashi, the protagonist of "Space Decisive Battle", absorbed a piece of his story: in 1940, Sugita and his friend Kunio Mizushima entered the Maizuru preparatory department, and the training was very hard, and the two teenagers who were only 16 years old couldn't bear to have the idea of escaping, but on the way out, they met a commander and took them to see the new fighter plane-Zero Type (in the film, the commander took Takahashi, who wanted to be a hero and couldn't endure hardships because of his wealthy background, to see the car of a naval ace, with the tail fin painted with downing marks), and then dispelled the idea of desertion, And the commander who inspired him crashed and died during training (the commander died in the film).
Within 15 minutes, all 124 Purple Electric or Gale Modified aircraft carrying auxiliary fuel tanks and rockets have taken off, and the fighters who have been exempted from the escort mission of the third attack wave will join the direct cover force to be responsible for the air defense of the fleet. At this point, all the fighters of the support fleet (including the replenishment and reserve of the two transport ships in the morning) have all taken off, and there are no other aircraft available on the deck except for more than 70 attack planes and more than 20 Caiyun (night clouds).
At 6:23, the sky slowly began to brighten, and the support fleet released all the colorful clouds, and on the other hand, according to Horiyoshi's explanation, organized three wheeled air defense formations: the southernmost was a volley formation with five escort aircraft carriers as the main force, and the light cruiser Niyodo provided forward radar monitoring; In the middle is a camouflage array with 6 escort aircraft carriers and 2 empty transport and supply ships as the core (it looks like the main aircraft carrier force); Finally, Katsuragi and Kasaoki were in command of the two Yunryu-class and two other aircraft supply ships, and the light cruiser Oyodo, which had the strongest communication capability (historically served as the flagship of the Combined Fleet), closely followed the flagship Katsuragi.
When the second attack wave came violently and the support fleet was deployed on all fronts, the air raid on the oil depot by the first attack wave had entered a white-hot state.
One 250-kilogram bomb after another exploded in the oil depot area, piercing the thickened oil storage tank and causing flames.
More than 300,000 tons of various fuels are stored in the oil storage area, of which more than 85% are marine heavy oil, the rest are lubricating oil, gasoline and other oils, and the most important and highest-value aviation fuel is basically stored underground. Heavy oil is as thick as tar and cannot be easily burned most of the time, but when it is actually burned, it will be very difficult to extinguish. In order to achieve the effect of the attack, the Japanese army not only let the ships also carry bombs, but also let some of the Meteors carry incendiary bombs instead, waiting for the heavy oil storage tank to burst and the heavy oil flowing all over the ground before dropping incendiary bombs.
"It's burning! It's burning! β
After driving a meteor, Murata Feicao saw the incendiary bombs dropped by Nakamura in the back seat and ignited the ground, and faced the "rivers of fire" flowing wantonly, he immediately shouted: "It's so magnificent, it's so magnificent!" β
"Boom!" This was a diesel tank that was not directly hit, but was ignited and exploded by the "river of fire", and the instant explosion of air waves not only took away the surrounding US officers and soldiers who were desperately trying to extinguish the fire, but also ignited a mushroom cloud more than 80 meters high.
"Boom, boom!" American anti-aircraft guns opened heavy fire on the low-flying Japanese planes.
Murata, who was very proud just now, was ready to pull up and break away, but he couldn't pull it up after pulling it several times, and the height of the plane was falling hard, and he exclaimed: "Nakamura-kun, the plane has been shot!" β
"Can you fly back?"
"I'm afraid not, the joystick is no longer listening, you can parachute."
"Skydiving?" Nakamura shook his head, "I'd rather die than be a prisoner!" You skydive, you have a son at home! β
"Nope! Before leaving, the commander also encouraged us to fight bravely, what face do I have as a prisoner? Let's go together, shall we? β
Nakamura, who was in the back seat, stretched out his hand and put it on Murata's shoulder: "Murata-kun, Kudanzaka!" β
"Kudansakami!" Murata lowered the nose and swooped towards the ground.
With a "bang", the wounded meteor finally rushed into the US anti-aircraft gun position on the ground and exploded violently, killing the pilot and the US soldiers......