Chapter 208: Solomon Checkers

At dawn on June 9, 1916, 120 nautical miles north-northeast of San Cristobal Island, the aircraft carrier Jinpeng Island Flybridge.

The hot and humid sea breeze was blowing head-on, the sun was gathering momentum on the sea antenna, the morning sun was shining, the thin sandy clouds in the distance were shining, and the original black and slimy shadow of the 30,000-ton battle cruiser "Thunder" gradually became clear 1,000 meters away on the port side.

With a cup of steaming coffee in his hand and leaning on the railing protruding from the side of the aviation bridge, the sleepy-eyed Pan Guochen quietly watched the ship's first reconnaissance planes take off from the crowded flight deck.

Before dawn, Pan Guochen saw the flight plan of the mobile unit from Dongfang Gao, and the first few operations were carried out in order:

The first batch of 16 reconnaissance planes, including the aircraft carriers Jinpeng and Saker, each dispatched six ship-based attack planes, the battle cruisers Shining Mine and Haruna, and the light cruisers Fenghua and Yanghua each took off one carrier-based seaplane. The reconnaissance range is 180 degrees due south of the fleet axis, with a radius of 120 to 150 nautical miles.

The first batch of anti-aircraft duty guards, the first batch of anti-submarine duty patrols, 3 ship-based attack aircraft.

The first attack wave, which consisted of 24 ship-based fighters (12 each for the Falcon and Saker) and 27 ship-based attack aircraft (18 for the Falcon and 9 for the Saker), a total of 51 aircraft, headed for the attack on the Kiracilla Air Base on the island of San Cristobal.

In addition, from an earlier report from the Rabaul Theater Command:

The 6th Air Force will take off 27 "Sea Thunder" four-engine heavy bombers from Munda Airfield on New Georgia Island to follow up with the bombing of Kirakira Airfield.

At 6 o'clock, nine "Haixunlei" twin-engine light bombers took off to reconnoiter the coastal waters around Guadalcanal.

This will be followed by a fleet of fighter and patrol aircraft to provide direct cover for the landing ship group, which is slowly moving south along the narrow "trough sea" in the center of the Solomon Islands.

Pan Guochen knew that the curtain had been opened, the gears began to spin, the machine rumbled to start, and his worries could only be worries before they were confirmed.

Taking a sip of Hainan Island coffee, which was overflowing with sucrose and evaporated milk, Pan Guochen's expectant gaze moved up and down the deck full of planes, freeze frames, and scan—in the cockpit of the "Haizhen Electric" fighter jet with the Rising Sun Crane logo painted on the tail fin, Cai Guolan, who was carefully tucking his hair into the flight leather cap, seemed to be unaware of this gaze that was far beyond the scope of friendship and somewhat mixed with guilt......

"I really want to knock her unconscious and throw her into the room and hide."

Pan Guochen covered his face and smiled bitterly, where did this ridiculous impulse come from, he had no intention of delving.

If it were him, he really hoped that he would not let her go to the battlefield again, but Liang Gensheng did not stick to the end...... From another point of view, what is the charm of this woman?

Could it be that when she left the battlefield, that woman was no longer the "she" that Liang Gensheng dreamed of?

A malicious thought came to mind.

Perhaps, like Liang Gensheng, he is just looking forward to something beautiful falling gorgeously in the barrage in the sky, and then satisfying the evil desires of destruction and self-destruction from this nirvana......

The whistle sounded, the signal flag was raised to the top of the mast, and the forward end of the fleet that filled most of the deck was crowded, and the fighter marked by the Rising Sun Crane broke away from Pan Guochen's freeze frame and began to speed up and slide.

……

120 nautical miles away, Mitchell stood side by side with Westland on a tower made of coconut wood and gasoline drums, watching the first reconnaissance planes of Kirakira take off one after another — a total of 12 Handley? Peti V400 and Martin MB four-engine heavy bombers.

"I have a hunch that they're nearby."

Westland's gaze wandered between the planes illuminated by the morning sun and the glowing sea antennas to the east.

"I also have a hunch that their air raid team is flying this way."

Mitchell looked at the fleets that had parted ways after liftoff, and the hand raised to his eyebrows in salute refused to let go.

As a matter of fact, according to the overall plan finalized last night, between 6 a.m. and 6:15 a.m. on the same day, nine Schott 184 pontoon seaplanes will take off from the island's seaplane base to reconnoiter a range of 180 degrees north of Kirakira in coordination with the aforementioned 12 heavy bombers to reconnoiter a range of 150 nautical miles to 350 nautical miles (heavy bombers).

In addition, 12 twin-engine hull seaplanes will also take off at the Rennell Island water base 200 kilometers southwest of Kirakira, to reconnoiter a range of 180 degrees directly north of Rennell, with a reconnaissance radius of 200 to 250 nautical miles.

At about the same time, Task Force 52, cruising 30 nautical miles east of Kirakira, will take off one seaplane from each of the eight battleships to reconnoiter the fleet within 90 degrees northeast of the fleet and within a reconnaissance radius of 150 nautical miles.

Task Force 51, located 50 nautical miles southeast of Kirakira and 40 nautical miles south of Task Force 52, will also take off nine carrier-based torpedo bombers from two aircraft carriers to act as reconnaissance planes, with a reconnaissance radius of 150 nautical miles due east of the reconnaissance fleet.

Obviously, the northeast direction of the East Asian Armed Forces aircraft carrier task force, which was discovered during the day yesterday, was the focus of reconnaissance, and within 90 degrees of the northeast axis of Kirakira, the search range of at least 21 reconnaissance planes overlapped with each other.

"God, my lord is the only one, bless the Chinese to find the 52nd task force first."

Westland clenched his hands into fists and prayed reverently.

Mitchell shrugged: "I think it's 'only' to find it, but I don't think any pilot of a reconnaissance plane would continue to bother searching the south side of the island across the land after discovering such a large fleet of two aircraft carriers." However, if they had rounded the southeast side of the island at night, it was indeed possible to spot Task Force 51 first. ”

"If that's the case, we'll have to pray for the first wave of attacks."

Westland looked resigned to his fate.

The heavy bombers of the reconnaissance team disappeared into the clouds one after another, but the roar of the engines around the tower continued, and the first batch of fighters on duty who were responsible for the air defense task of the base were taking off one after another, a total of 24 fighters of the same type in two squadrons, and then 12 fighters of the same type would take off to the second batch of 24 fighters on duty will warm up on the two runways and stand by, and all of them can take off to meet the enemy within 6 minutes after receiving the alarm.

More than 70 planes of the first attack wave, which had been refueled and reloaded overnight, were scattered and concealed in the vast rainforest around the three runways; except for the large and medium-sized bombers with multiple engines, most of the single-engine fighters and torpedo planes were concealed in improvised bunkers that were sufficient to prevent fire and shrapnel, and the top of the bunkers was camouflaged as much as possible.

The chips had already been thrown, the roulette wheel had already turned, and now we had to wait patiently for the moment when the reconnaissance plane reported the "discovery of the enemy fleet".

……

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