The Rise of the Third Reich

Because the excitement of sinking the aircraft carrier did not last long, Major Shigeru Itani discovered that his German good friend Hersmann had a crow's mouth - this is of course a European saying, and crows do not symbolize bad luck in Japan.

But Itaya Shigeru, no, the entire Japanese naval aviation should use parachutes.

When Shigeru Itani flew up the bomber on the Comet ship after dropping the bombs, he suddenly discovered that the era of the Zero fighter had passed. Because there are still many American F4Us and F6Fs in the sky - this was impossible in the past. When the dive bombers have finished their work, the Zero aircraft should also have wiped out all the American F4Fs.

But this time... the air battle is obviously still going on!

"Major! There's an American plane above!"

Itaya Shigeru heard the panicked voice of bombardier Yamada. He quickly looked up and saw an American aircraft that should be an F4U diving. From its angle, it looked like a dive bomber!

However, the target of this F4U was not Itaya Shigeru's plane. It passed two to three kilometers in front of Shigeru Itaya's plane like lightning and dived quickly, obviously intending to attack the Japanese aircraft below.

Itaya quickly looked down and saw a Zero-52 doing an S-shaped evasion. Unfortunately, it still failed to dodge the F4U shells and was smashed into pieces on the spot!

"See you at Kudanzaka!" Shigeru Itani muttered in a low voice, and continued to fly the plane to an altitude of 5,250 meters - this altitude is the airspace where the "Comet"'s engine can exert maximum efficiency, and the speed of the plane can be as high as 580 kilometers. / hour, it is said that this speed can get rid of most American fighter jets...

"Major, an American plane is chasing us!" Shigeru Itani had just turned on the plane's power when bombardier Yamada shouted again.

Chase? Can you catch up?

Shigeru Itani looked back and his face immediately darkened. It was an F4U. According to Hirschman, it could fly at a speed of more than 700 kilometers per hour!

At that time, I thought it was the crow mouth talking nonsense, but now it seems to be true!

Itaya knew that he couldn't compete with speed, he had to compete with maneuverability...but he was flying a dive bomber now! Fortunately, the dive performance of the Comet aircraft is still good.

He gritted his teeth, pushed the joystick all the way, and started diving again. The F4U also followed, but it was a fighter plane and had no speed brake. It couldn't follow for long before it had to let Shigeru Itani go.

"Onboard!" Another cheer came from Shigeru Itani's headphones, and then bombardier Yamada shouted: "Your Majesty, Major, we have sunk another American aircraft carrier!"

Another one...but there are many more in America! Shigeru Itani suddenly had a negative thought that the US aircraft carrier could never be bombed.

However, this negative thought soon dissipated, because Itaya Shigeru had no time to think wildly, and his plane was bitten by an American plane again. This time it's an F6F!

Itaya knew that it was impossible for his plane to get rid of an F6F, and the current altitude was not high enough, so there was no room for a dive. The only way is to rush into the anti-aircraft firepower network of the American ships' anti-aircraft guns on the water, and use the American anti-aircraft guns to throw off the American aircraft.

However, Little Hirschman's curse was still in effect. When Shigeru Itani flew his plane close to an American battleship, which was probably a heavy cruiser, the ammunition fired by the American's 127mm high-level dual-purpose cannon actually exploded near his plane. As if it had eyes (the radio proximity fuze was activating its power), Shigeru Itani's plane shuddered violently for a few times, and then became difficult to control. Apparently something had been hit by shrapnel.

"Major! The plane was hit!" bombardier Yamada reported crying.

"Baga!" Shigeru Itani cursed. At this time, he found that his plane had passed over the American warship, so he said, "Yamada-kun, you go parachuting!"

"Major, I didn't bring a parachute..." Yamada almost started crying when he answered.

"Baga!" Itaya yelled, "Don't cry! The emperor's soldiers are not afraid of death! Emperor, get on board!"

When he shouted here, he suddenly remembered that he had brought a parachute, so he reached out to open the cabin cover, unbuckled his seat belt, climbed out quickly, and then parachuted...

The parachute opened smoothly and fell smoothly, with no one or anything shooting at him. But when Itaya plopped into the warm water near the equator, he suddenly remembered something terrible.

It seems to be far away from the First Mobile Fleet! Moreover, the Japanese naval aviation seems to have no tradition of sending seaplanes to salvage and rescue pilots who have fallen into the water... How should I return to the Akagi aircraft carrier?

"Man, are you okay?"

When Shigeru Itani was anxious, someone suddenly spoke to him, and they were still speaking in English!

He quickly looked around and saw a scene that he would regret for the rest of his life - it turned out that he was not the only one in the water, but there were many "British and American ghosts" who looked similar to little Hersman, all wearing life jackets in the water. Floating.

At this time, someone had discovered that Itani was a Japanese soldier and started shouting.

"It's a Japanese devil!"

"catch him!"

"Don't let him get away!"

"Beat me first if I catch you..."

"Baga, you devils!" Itaya understands English. He is a naval officer. When he heard that the Americans in the water were about to beat him, he immediately became angry. I am a samurai of the emperor and will be afraid of you. Thinking of this So I reached into my waist to touch the knife, but it was empty. Then I remembered that I had given the knife away...

…

When Shigeru Itani was beaten, Lieutenant Colonel Kazuichi Takahashi, who directed the air strike, had already flown the plane to an altitude of 5,000 meters. He was lucky and was not targeted by the American plane. However, he did not fly away immediately, but was checking the sea below - he was counting the results.

The three American aircraft carriers on the water either burned into a fire ship or were sinking. It seemed that they were hopeless. Two of the three cruisers were also destroyed, and one was blown into two pieces and sunk. The other one also became a fire ship, and even if it didn't sink in the end, it would become a hull. There is only one 10,000-ton heavy cruiser with strong anti-aircraft firepower (the USS Wichita, which has 8 127mm high-level and flat dual-purpose guns, 24 40mm anti-aircraft guns, and 18 20mm anti-aircraft guns). Although it is also on fire and smoking, it looks like The damage doesn't appear to be serious.

However, the results of having three aircraft carriers and two cruisers were not bad, but Takahashi Takahashi's brows were tightly knitted. Because he has discovered that the plane fight in the sky is not over yet.

And the Zero fighter was not at the upper hand, but was in a hard fight!

Takahashi thought: "If it weren't for the Comet's high-speed penetration capability, today's battle would have had a different outcome, right?

Is the era of the invincible Imperial Japanese Navy really coming to an end? "

Just when Takahashi Heichi was thinking wildly, the voice of "God of Thunder and Explosion" Murata Shigeharu came from the airborne radio.

"Takahashi-kun, there is a group of US military aircraft in the southeast of the battlefield. They are probably P51s!"

This should be the P51 flying from Panama! Takahashi Kyuichi knew that this was another opponent that gave the Zero fighter pilots a headache. At least on the European battlefield, the German Fokker Zero D did not dare to fight against the P51 at an altitude above 5,000 meters.

"Gentlemen, the attack mission has been completed. Now evacuate the battlefield." Takahashi knew that he could not be caught up by these fast and powerful P51s, so he quickly issued the order to retreat.

But what happened next was beyond Takahashi's imagination. The American P51s were so unforgiving that they followed the retreating Japanese fleet, as if they wanted to find the location of the Japanese aircraft carrier through tracking.

"Your Excellency, Commander, the commander-in-chief of the first attack wave, Takahashi Kazuichi, reported that the attack was a great victory, sinking 3 aircraft carriers, 2 heavy cruisers, and damaging 1 heavy cruiser. However, our aircraft suffered more losses..."

On the Akagi aircraft carrier, Keizang Furumura, chief of staff of the First Mobile Fleet, was frowning and reporting the news of the victory to Jisaburo Ozawa.

"Furumura-kun, is there any bad news?" Ozawa asked, looking at Furumura who was frowning more and more.

"Your Excellency, Commander," Furumura replied, "Takahashi also reported that about 100 P51s arrived near the battlefield before the first attack wave retreated, and then followed our retreating fleet all the way."

"They want to find us?" Ozawa Jisaburo shook his head, "But the Americans should know our general location."

"Your Excellency, Commander," Furumura said, "perhaps the Americans want to launch an attack?"

"Are you using P51?" Ozawa Jisaburo asked.

The current location of the First Mobile Fleet is carefully selected and is basically on the edge of the attack circle of US military aircraft in the Panama Canal Zone. Aircraft such as P51, B17, B24 and B25 are obtainable, but dive bombers and torpedo attack aircraft that can really pose a greater threat to surface ships are difficult to obtain, unless... the Americans have it again What a new long-range attack aircraft!

"Your Excellency, Commander, the P51 can also carry bombs for attack... On the European battlefield, the British often use the P51 to carry out sea and ground attack missions." Furumura said with some worry, "In addition, the Americans had already used the P51 in early 1942. Started developing remote control gliding bombs.”

"Send out all the Zeros, and then ask the Germans to send out the Fw-190T." Ozawa did not dare to take it lightly and immediately gave the order for the fighter planes to take off. "in addition……"

Ozawa had just finished speaking when the communications officer of the First Mobile Fleet suddenly shouted: "Your Excellency, Commander, a reconnaissance plane has discovered a US aircraft carrier! In North San Juan Bay in the Caribbean! The number...at least 3, all It’s a large aircraft carrier!”