Captain Saburo Shinto can be called the elite of the Japanese Imperial Sea Eagles, this 29-year-old naval captain is a graduate of the 60th class of the Etajima Naval Academy, and before becoming a pilot, he has served on light cruisers, battleships, and even submarines.

There is an interesting rumor among his companions about why he chose to become a pilot, because in the Japanese Navy only pilots can have long hair, because long hair can help offset some of the impact on the head, and Shinto Saburo joined the air force in order to keep a beautiful part. Some good people really asked Shinto about this, but the other party admitted it without hesitation, and proudly showed off that when he was questioned by the military police on the streets of Tokyo, as long as he showed his identity as a pilot, the other party would immediately nod his head as if he was a different person.

At present, this flying elite of the Imperial Japanese Navy is leading 12 subordinates and escorting 28 Navy Type 96 land bombers to carry out an attack on Chongqing, the capital of the Chinese government. This is the second large-scale operation of the Twelfth Combined Air Force of the Imperial Japanese Navy stationed in Hankow this month. The last time such an all-out sortie was on 13 September, when the lead plane was still Shinto, and the result was a landslide victory for the Japanese Navy, with at least 27 Chinese planes shot down according to the pilots' reports, while only two Japanese planes were slightly damaged, and one had a broken landing gear and overturned during landing. While establishing brilliant results, the 12th Air Force also set the first record for battle losses of this new type of fighter.

"Fujiwara, I hope you don't mess me up again this time." Thinking of this, Shinto turned his head and looked at the rear of the landline, as the wingman of the lead team, Fujiwara Kihei second-class air Cao was closely following the side of the long plane at this time, the distance between the two sides was so close, Shinto could even see the oxygen mask and goggles on Fujiwara's face.

"Watch the distance! Unit Four! Shinto was taken aback by the wingman's recklessness. hurriedly made a stern gesture towards the other party in the cockpit, warning the other party to keep a distance.

In this group of fighters, only the detachment leader (squadron leader) Shinto and the three detachment sergeants (squad leaders) still retain the 96-type air 1 radiotelephone equipped with the original aircraft, which can theoretically realize real-time radio communication between various aircraft within a range of 90 kilometers, but in fact, because there was no concept of electromagnetic compatibility at that time, this kind of radio performed very poorly in actual combat, because of the interference of other electromagnetic signals on the plane and the engine noise in the cockpit, most of the time, the pilot could not hear what the other party was talking about, and many pilots claimed to use this kind of thing。 It's better to open the cockpit canopy and yell directly at the opposite side.

Since most of the operations carried out by the troops during this period were long-distance operations, the pilots asked the ground crew to dismantle the radio station because it was really useless except to increase the weight in vain. In the end, only the leader and the team commander kept the radio, as they needed to keep in touch with the base, and although there was a problem with the instant communication of this thing, the long-range Morse code communication was okay.

The radio equipment of the Japanese naval aviation has always been a tragedy, and the pilots often communicate with each other only with gestures and clipboards. The commander also had to carry flares and flares with him, making it feel like he was back in World War I. The Japanese Navy still calls it for radio silence, but in fact, it is not because the radio equipment is too bad, but it can be said that the sea and air combat raids can still be passed. Land bombing, radio silence, scumbag.

Seeing the gesture of the team leader, Fujiwara finally reacted, and the fourth machine lowered its speed a little and slowly opened the distance between it and the long plane.

"It's really uncomfortable." Shindo watched the wingman return to its original position, and then turned his gaze back from the window.

Usually people think. Anyone who flies the latest model of fighter should be the elite of the army, but this is not the case, in the Zero fighter unit led by Shinto. Except for a few commanding officers and middle-level backbones, the rest are basically rookies and young eggs with no combat experience.

Because the various combat units of the naval aviation are not subordinate to each other, the pilots are all a carrot and a pit, and every old bird has been carefully cultivated by the captains of the various air forces for many years, where will they be willing to let you draw out key veterans to form new units. Therefore, most of the pilots of these experimental units deployed in the early stage were newcomers who were stationed in the mainland and had no actual combat experience.

The navy may have other calculations, because the old pilots have the habits they have developed in the previous models, and they may have some limitations in exploring the tactics and tactics of the new models, on the contrary, rookies who are like a blank sheet of paper can give full play to the performance of this new type of aircraft, and it is easier to sum up valuable actual combat experience from it. In this regard, the air forces of all countries are mostly the same, and the units equipped with new models often select some newly formed units, and only after the various technologies are mature, do they begin to replace those old elites one after another.

The Zero Type 11 Fighter piloted by Captain Shinto was just finalized in July, and this year was the Imperial Age 2600 used by Japan, and only the last two digits were taken, and the Japanese Navy named it the Zero Ship Fighter, and it can be seen from this number that the Navy has placed great expectations on it.

Before the aircraft was finalized, even with the addition of prototypes, the whole of Japan had produced a total of less than 70 Zero, and the navy had transferred 15 of the pre-production models to the Chinese battlefield early, which shows how eager the Japanese navy was to push this kind of aircraft into service.

The number of the Zero Type 11 is A6M2a, which is quite different from the famous Zero Battle 21 in history. Compared with the A6M2b, which is improved on the basis of it, although the engine used in both is the same, because the body structure of the 11th is thinner, both the maximum speed and the dive speed are greatly limited. And because the wingtips cannot be folded yet, beyond the width of the aircraft carrier lift, this so-called shipboard fighter cannot be equipped with an aircraft carrier at this time, and can only perform land missions.

Shinto is not the only commander of this Zero Combat Unit, because there is also a captain captain in the air force at the same level as him, Yokoyama Bao, and now half of the twelve Zero Battles he leads are subordinates of the Hengshan Detachment. Shinto and Yokoyama are the same students of the 26th class of the Japanese Navy flight students, and they have a deep friendship, so since they were transferred to the 12th Space, the cooperation between the two sides is very tacit, because Yokoyama was one term earlier than Shinto in the Naval Academy, so in most affairs, he often follows Yokoyama's opinion. The two flight squadron commanders used to lead the troops alternately, until after the air battle on 13 September, Shinto began to faintly suppress Yokoyama, after all, in addition to paying attention to seniority, the navy also attaches great importance to combat exploits.

This operation was seen by the air force as a continuation of the previous battle, and the Japanese insiders lurking in the Chongqing government reported that although the Chinese air force was partially injured, it still retained considerable strength. Therefore, the commander of the 12th Combined Air Force, Hasegawa Osa, after consulting with Major General Onishi Hiroshi Onishi, the chief of staff of the 1st Combined Air Force, obtained permission to carry out an operation with the goal of annihilating the remnants of the Shina Air Force, and the Zero fighters, which were the main force of the operation, were allowed to be dispatched in their entirety.

However, when the plan was implemented, the Japanese only had thirteen fighters at their disposal, because one had already been scrapped after the last operation, and another was waiting for replacement parts because the wing was damaged during training, and it was impossible to count on it for a while.

Out of a superstitious idea, the list of personnel for this sortie is still those on 13 September, and the Japanese Navy actually pays more attention to the so-called martial arts than the army, and these pilots who have won the battle are regarded as being protected by the god of war, and this time the sortie will certainly be as smooth sailing as the last one.

For this operation, the Zero Combat Force deliberately re-stationed at the Japanese Army's forward airfield in Yichang, which is less than 500 kilometers away from Chongqing, and the Zero Combat can get more time in the air. In order to have enough time to hunt and pursue the enemy forces they might encounter, the naval aviation still carried auxiliary fuel tanks under the fuselage, so that the maximum range of the planes was increased to 3,000 kilometers, enough to make three round trips between Chongqing and Yichang.

In order to attract fighters from the Chinese Air Force, the Japanese army also specially formulated a decoy plan, the 13th Air Force under the Second Air Force would send 28 Navy Type 96 bombers to cooperate with this operation, and these bombers would indiscriminately bomb Chongqing, so as to induce the Chinese Air Force to dispatch, and then the battle would be resolved by the Zero Battle ambush at high altitude, and the remaining elite part of the Chinese Air Force would be annihilated in the sky over Chongqing.

This plan seemed to be perfect, and even Captain Saburo Shinto, who was implementing it, felt that he was very sure of success.

At noon on 21 September, the Japanese Naval Air Force led by Shinto flew to Chongqing, the capital of Chongqing, and the weather conditions over Chongqing were good that day, only some broken clouds were at high altitude, and the huge mountain city below was seen from the cockpit, and the bomber group was lowering its altitude and began to enter the bombing route. (To be continued.) )

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