Chapter 32: 32, First Air Combat, Bombing The Munitions Depot, Baptism Of War
Aircraft dive downward, at such a fast flight speed, instantly passing through the defensive area of two enemy aircraft.
And during the aircraft’s downward dive, Fang Wen suddenly turned around and operated the machine gun at the tail.
At that moment, in mechanical perception, Fang Wen once again merged with the airplane as one.
But this time the feeling was a bit different; the pilot of the airplane was not himself, giving a sense of being out of control.
Shaking off this strange feeling, Fang Wen concentrated his energy.
He felt like he was the machine itself, the machine gun a part of his body, aiming with the whole.
Once this aiming was confirmed, it fed back to the flesh, making corresponding adjustments.
Immediately, the machine gun quickly adjusted direction, aiming at the airplane on the left side.
That airplane was diving in pursuit, yet it didn’t expect the enemy’s tail machine gun to fire a stream of bullets, accurately shooting toward itself.
There was no time to react at all; bullet marks streaked across the cockpit window, punching a row of small holes in the fuselage.
The Type 3 fighter’s fuel tank was pierced.
Unfortunately, it did not cause a fuel explosion.
The enemy aircraft pilot, seeing the fuel gauge dropping rapidly, immediately stopped the dive.
At the same time, his teammate also halted the pursuit.
This way, there was no need to worry about two annoying guys chasing from behind during the air raid mission.
Fang Wen turned around, exited mechanical perception state, and prepared to conserve energy for better performance at the moment of the air raid.
Shao Sishen, who was piloting the aircraft dive, was completely unaware of what happened behind him, fully focused on controlling the aircraft dive.
The airplane dived from 5000 meters all the way to 2000 meters before he spoke.
“Have we shaken off the enemy aircraft behind us?”
“Shaken off.” Fang Wen replied.
Shao Sishen breathed a sigh of relief and looked downward.
“Fang Wen, confirm the position below now; I can’t guarantee it’s the air raid point.”
“Keep going forward; this is Zhabei District. Continue straight ahead, and at current speed, it should take about one minute to arrive.”
Then the airplane continued forward, and one minute later, the chaos below proved Fang Wen right.
The 9th Division, as the main force of the ground offense, was in the area below, engaging the 19th Route Army in fierce street battles, position battles, and tug-of-war contests.
The 19th Route Army relied on various buildings and temporary fortifications for defense; every building, every street, had combat occurring.
The 9th Division’s army launched attacks under the cover of armored cars, with soldiers hiding behind armored cars to shoot and steadily advancing.
In the rear, several artillery positions were firing artillery fire at the 19th Route Army’s rear depth.
This not only cut off the 19th Route Army’s retreat but also severed connections between defensive positions.
Fang Wen and Shao Sishen took in these scenes.
But the expected air raid did not appear; only a lone airplane circled at 2000 meters altitude.
Due to the gunpowder smoke filling the air, people from both enemy and friendly sides below did not know if this airplane was friend or foe.
“Should we bomb the artillery position or the armored car?” Shao Sishen asked. After this journey of cooperation, he had already acknowledged Fang Wen’s ability.
Fang Wen was also pondering this.
Thoughts raced in his mind, like a flash of lightning.
The air raid plan had gone wrong now; it was very likely that other airplanes had encountered the same as he and Shao Sishen, ambushed by Japanese Army enemy aircraft.
From the current situation, there was only one air raid airplane, with a payload capacity of just two 50 kg bombs, plus a forward-facing machine gun usable for dive strafing.
How to maximize interest and help the ground troops below was crucial.
Through mechanical perception, Fang Wen obtained a clearer bird’s-eye view; although the enemy army was scattered across the area, there were concentration points.
That was at the junction of two artillery positions.
There were military vehicles there, with many soldiers going in and out transporting things.
Could it be a command center or ammunition depot or something like that.
No matter which one, bombing it might have a miraculous effect.
Immediately, Fang Wen replied.
“Look at 45 degrees to the right side; it’s very suspicious there. We’ll bomb that.”
Shao Sishen looked in that direction as instructed and indeed found it a bit strange.
Plus, now operating alone, they must complete the air raid and return to base as soon as possible; he agreed without hesitation.
The airplane set its direction and flew over the target area.
During this process, Fang Wen’s mechanical perception was performing bomb drop calculations.
Based on the airplane’s flight speed, the vertical angle to the target, and wind speed.
He determined that dropping like this would likely land the bomb on the nearby artillery position.
This was not what he wanted.
“Shao Sishen, I think it’s a bit off; trust me, fly once more and make the flight path adjustment as I say.”
Shao Sishen hesitated but agreed.
The airplane circled again, returned to the starting point, and flew toward the bomb drop point once more.
Along the way, Fang Wen gave voice commands.
“Direction 10 degrees left, steady speed flight, keep flying straight, ignore everything else.”
Under Shao Sishen’s piloting, the airplane flew at steady speed toward the bomb drop point.
Fang Wen, with mechanical perception activated, was highly focused mentally.
To ensure both bombs hit, deviation bombing was necessary.
At the instant of approaching the bomb drop point, he pulled the left hand trigger ring, and the bomb on the left side of the belly dropped from the sky.
And in the next second, he pulled the right hand trigger ring, releasing the other bomb.
The two bombs fell one after the other; the first landed in the front courtyard of that temporary building, the second on the building’s roof.
Almost simultaneously, the two bombs exploded.
The front courtyard explosion detonated some ammunition boxes; the one that fell into the building triggered an even more violent chain explosion.
A series of explosions lifted the entire building roof, the surrounding walls shattered into pieces, and it did not stop there—the explosions continued.
It seemed the bet paid off; this air raid bombing had destroyed the 9th Division’s ammunition depot.
Without the ammunition depot, battlefield artillery fire would decrease significantly; only if the enemy transported enough ammunition from the rear could combat intensity be maintained.
Shao Sishen was thrilled: “We succeeded. Let’s go back.”
“No rush. Shao Sishen, have you ever done dive shooting?” Fang Wen suddenly asked with great enthusiasm.
“Done?” Shao Sishen was stunned. “I’ve done it in flight training, but not in actual combat.”
“Isn’t this the best opportunity now? Look at that group of armored cars and the Japanese Army behind them. If you dive over, I think we can score 100 points.” Fang Wen replied.
For some reason, Shao Sishen heard a gaming vibe from Fang Wen’s words.
But he did not refuse.
This opportunity was indeed rare; he also wanted to avenge his aviation team teammates.
Immediately, this time without needing Fang Wen’s commands, Shao Sishen handled the dive adjustment alone.
The airplane selected an open area and dived down from over 2000 meters in the air.
During this process, Fang Wen had long been aiming at the ground, constantly adjusting.
When the altitude to the ground was only a few hundred meters, Shao Sishen first strafed with the forward machine gun at the nose, then during the aircraft ascent, Fang Wen pulled the trigger, controlling the rear machine gun to shoot at the ground.
The 7.92 mm caliber air-cooled MG08 heavy machine gun, at a rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute, poured bullets onto the ground.
The Japanese Army had no time to react.
When the airplane dived through the gunpowder smoke, they even thought it was their own fighter jet; some even took off their hats and waved.
The next second, a rain of bullets swept across.
A horrific path of blood and flesh appeared on the ground, with large numbers of Japanese Army soldiers falling, some wailing in agony.
Because of mechanical perception, Fang Wen clearly saw this scene.
Flesh and blood flying, this phrase—he truly experienced it.
A strong sense of discomfort made him feel like vomiting.
“Are you okay?” Shao Sishen asked with concern.
“I’m fine. Let’s go back.” After Fang Wen spoke, the scene from earlier reappeared in his mind.
For him, this was the first true baptism of war’s blood and flesh; real war was this cruel.
