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At 4:15, each ship informed the flagship Katsuragi by light signal that the second attack wave was ready.

The huge fleet was about 515 kilometers from Pearl Harbor, and Horiyoshi did not hesitate to give the order to attack. The second attack wave, with a total of 164 planes, still carrying bombs and rushing toward Pearl Harbor, focused on US airfields and various aviation installations.

Horikichi studied in depth the whole situation of the first Battle of Pearl Harbor, when the mobile unit took off about 400 kilometers from Pearl Harbor, first, because the planes were not as fast as they are now, and their performance was poor, so they were more sure of a surprise attack when they were closer; Second, although I knew about Pearl Harbor at the beginning, I still lacked the certainty of success, and it was more conducive to the assault to get closer.

This time he chose to strike at a distance of 150 kilometers farther than last time, because there are a number of advantages:

First of all, the situation is familiar, and the tactics of attacking from the north are still fresh in the minds of the pilots (referring to the people who participated in the first assault, of course);

Secondly, the weather is favorable, and it is only late October, and although the North Pacific has turned cold and windy and rough, it is much better than on December 7;

The Japanese army has not only changed its main fighters to new aircraft such as purple electric reform, gale reform, and meteor change, but even has night color clouds (based on color clouds to install German search radar, with a detection range of more than 120 kilometers, not only can detect targets higher than 2 meters on the sea surface, but also detect air aircraft), Germany is using it as a defense early warning aircraft and search and reconnaissance aircraft, but after Japan got it, it became an attack early warning aircraft - open the way in front of the attack group, on the one hand, to help discover the enemy fleet, On the one hand, it assists the aircraft group to avoid the enemy interceptor group.

Finally, the morale was like a rainbow, the first time Pearl Harbor was attacked like a tiger eating the sky, and the United Fleet was fighting a succession before this attack, and the morale of the people was quite high.

There are also many downsides:

The last time Japan and the United States had not formally declared war, the United States was paralyzed and completely neglected to take precautions, and this time it has not only been fighting for nearly three years, but the combined fleet has been hanging around the west coast every day recently, and the possibility of a sneak attack turning into a strong attack is indispensable;

Second, the elite degree of pilots this time is not as good as the first time, aside from the performance of the aircraft, if the pilot level of the first Pearl Harbor Battle is 100 points, the average number of main pilots of the combined fleet in the hands of Tsukahara and Tsunoda can score at least 90 points, and many of the pilots of the first wave of attack groups just sent by Horikichi are novices who have just graduated from the preparatory department, and they have not even entered the gate of the military academy during the first Pearl Harbor Battle, even if most of the officers who lead them are veterans, the average score can only reach 75 points at most- No matter how low it is, you won't be able to complete the task;

Third, I heard that Pearl Harbor is now very well defended, not only is there a large number of planes and antiaircraft guns, but it is estimated that the radar station and other defensive facilities will also be tighter.

After the second attack wave was released, most of the carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier were empty, and the two aircraft carriers were moving closer to the Yunlong class, ready to provide emergency aircraft supplies, and the ground crew, which had been busy for more than 3 hours, struggled to assemble all the reserve aircraft again, Matsuda Chiaki told Horikichi: "The third attack wave is ready at about 6 o'clock, do you need to take off?" ”

"Take off the fighters at 6 o'clock, and the rest of the attack planes are on standby!" Horikichi pondered for a moment, "Wait for the news from the front, and then decide whether to take off or not depending on the situation!" ”

Horiyoshi took great pains to make this tactical arrangement: the first attack wave sent a total of 174 aircraft, except for 4 night clouds, the remaining 170 planes were all targeted by only one - the US oil depot; The second attack wave is 164 aircraft, and the target of the remaining 162 aircraft is uncertain except for 2 Night Clouds - if the first wave fails to complete or only completes the task of destroying part of the oil depot, the second attack wave will take over the first attack wave to complete the mission; However, if the first attack wave is done well, the second attack wave will focus on US military aviation facilities.

As for the third attack wave, he didn't even think it was necessary to send it if he played well in front. This logic sounds very strange, as if it is repeating the mistakes of Nagumo Tadaichi, but careful analysis has great meaning:

First, it was determined that there was no fleet in Pearl Harbor, and the third attack wave, excluding the bombing of land and buildings, was of no value at all, and the loss of pilots in vain - once shot down, it was a loss;

Second, Pearl Harbor, where most of the fuel oil was destroyed, was a dead port, and even if there was any use in keeping the army and facilities, as long as the fuel was cut off, no amount of American troops would be able to jump.

Third, the support fleet attack group and other main forces to blockade Pearl Harbor are much more useful than simply destroying some enemy forces, and must not be consumed in meaningless ground attacks;

Fourth, if the first two attack groups were unable to complete the task of destroying the US oil depots, it shows that there are major problems in the tactics of relying on aviation forces to attack the oil depots, and the strategy must be changed.

Chiaki Matsuda is worried about only one point: if the third attack wave is not sent to attack the US aircraft group, the possible subsequent counterattack of the US military will pose a greater threat to the fleet, after all, they estimate that Pearl Harbor should currently have more than 1,000 aircraft (in fact, more than 1,400, including nearly 1,000 for the Army Airlines, more than 400 for the Hainan Airlines, and nearly 200 for the Hainan Airlines to use escort aircraft carriers to train carriers), it is difficult to completely destroy it by the second attack wave, but Hori Yoshikichi did not care about it after the story: "Counterattack? Okay, come on! See how many crews of the US military are still in exchange with us? This time I will be generous, I will not take the oil tankers and the Americans to consume, I will take the aircraft carriers and them to consume! See how much energy they consume! ”

It sounded arrogant, but he knew that this was Horikichi's true thoughts.

The support fleet has a total of 2 Yunlong-class fleet aircraft carriers, 2 Chitose-class light aircraft carriers, 5 escort aircraft carriers, 6 escort aircraft carriers (10 aircraft-carrying aircraft, 7,000 tons of oil-carrying special aircraft carriers), and 4 aircraft carriers converted from large fast tankers (it looks like aircraft carriers, but except for water reconnaissance, the rest of the aircraft have no ability to take off at all). The escort aircraft carrier was desperately built, and even the Yunlong class began to be used as a consumable.

With more than 400 aircraft from three army flight divisions on standby in the Midway direction and more than 300 carrier-based aircraft in the form of parts on many transport ships, Horiyoshi was only concerned about personnel losses, but he was not afraid of aircraft attrition.

Before the end of this year, Japan still has 2 Giant-class, and at the beginning of next year, it can get a new 2 Yunlong-class, and Guinea can get a lot of Axis class, plus there is a steady stream of Yunlong-class and Axis-class on the slipway, which can't help but give people a feeling - Japan is now wider, and there are more aircraft carriers than the United States!

However, this is not an illusion, after removing the escort aircraft carriers, Japan does currently have more regular aircraft carriers than the United States, and the United States wants to distract the two oceans, Japan can only deal with the Pacific Ocean, and the remaining strength of the Pacific Fleet is simply not enough for the combined fleet to fight - didn't you see that Tsukahara led the fleet to stop 1,000 kilometers outside Panama in the first place, and the US Army Aviation did not dare to come out?

At 4:35, the first attack wave arrived 180 kilometers away from Pearl Harbor, and the attack group had dropped from 1,000 meters to about 120 meters after three consecutive drops, and they would perform a final descent - from 120 meters to 40 meters.

Night formation flight is the unique skill of the elite pilots of Japan HNA, and after communicating with German counterparts, they have mastered many other methods, the most prominent is the lead aircraft following method: there are a total of 3 night navigation lights on the front guide - one on the upper part of the aircraft, one on the belly and one on the rear of the aircraft, if the rear aircraft looks down and sees 2 lights, it means that your height is higher than the front guide aircraft, and you need to further reduce the altitude; If you look up and see 2 lights, it means that your height is lower than that of the lead machine, and you need to pull it up; Only when you happen to see a light at eye level does it mean that the height is exactly the same as that of the lead machine.

However, this has high requirements for the pilot aircraft, other aircraft have the pilot aircraft as a reference, the pilot aircraft can only rely entirely on feeling, once the pilot aircraft does not fly well, the entire fleet may be finished, so the selection and determination of the pilot aircraft is the top priority - all of them are the only old pilots who have achieved the fruits of the Battle of Pearl Harbor.

Before the last descent flight, not to mention 40 meters, it is 120 meters, and the scale displayed on the aircraft altimeter is almost equal to zero. Sea-skimming flight at ultra-low altitude cannot rely on instruments (at least not now), but only on human feelings and experience. In aviation school, in addition to mastering other basic subjects, the last level is to follow the flight, and it is not good to follow the flight, and no matter how good the other subjects are, they can only serve as a land-based or first-line reserve.

Ito, who is not yet 18 years old, has an unimaginable talent for night flying, not only can he follow without missing a beat, but he can even fly a pilot aircraft that others at this age dare not think of (usually 3 years of actual combat experience), and more importantly, when training in the Seto Inland Sea (very calm, with very small waves), he can fly 15 meters high supercritical - which means that most bridges he can drill through the bridge hole.

Behind the talent is an endless stream of accidents: every time there is an ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming training, someone always falls into the sea, and if they are lucky, they can be rescued, and if they are unlucky, they even sink into the sea with the plane and people, especially the attack aircraft with torpedoes pinned their heads to the waistband of their trousers anytime and anywhere when flying at ultra-low altitudes. Even if the casualty rate has always been large, the aviation school training subjects do not dare to simplify. "Space Showdown" is a realistic recreation of Shigeharu Murata crossing the bridge and torpedoing the New York Bridge — it was re-flown out with the whole class, and every time I saw it, the theater was full of standing and cheering audiences. And the preppy students were in tears when they saw it - they fully understood the meaning of ultra-low-altitude flight.

"Attention formations, now perform the last descent, 40 meters in height!"

Gently flicking the control stick, Sato steadily kept the plane at about 40 meters, almost the same as the lead plane, he couldn't help licking his lips, the starry night sky above his head, the rough North Pacific Ocean below, he could clearly feel the water droplets from the big waves splashing on the wings and belly of the plane, Pearl Harbor was close in front of him.

"Attention of the whole army, prepare to break through!"