Chapter 31: 31, Intelligence From The Concession, Air Raid On The 9th Division
For the afternoon’s action, Fang Wen and Shao Sishen had been communicating on the airplane, and even had lunch on the boarding ladder.
Fang Wen graduated from Nanyuan Aviation, trained domestically in a formal program, with a solid foundation, and was also a talented pilot.
Shao Sishen was an overseas Chinese who returned to serve his country, learned flight piloting abroad, and had some military training foundation, making him a key member of the aviation team.
The two of them partnering together produced many common points.
Until 1 p.m., an hour and a half before departure.
Howard ran over holding the radio.
“Fang, listen to this.”
Fang Wen slid down from the boarding ladder and took the radio.
It was broadcasting in English, probably a radio station set up by foreigners inside the concession.
But the content was about the warfare.
Fang Wen and Shao Sishen, who had crowded over, both had good English and listened carefully to the broadcast inside.
These foreigners had actually obtained some intelligence on the Japanese Army and broadcast it publicly.
Shao Sishen’s expression changed, and he raised his hand to call the aviation captain.
“Captain, important situation—the concession English radio station revealed the Japanese Army ground troops’ unit designation and some equipment.”
The aviation captain hurried over.
“What did it say?”
“They said this is the Japanese ground forces’ general offensive: the 9th Division attacking the Jiangwan-Miaohang junction, linking up northward with the Kurume Brigade to besiege Wusong, and southward with the Marine Corps to attack Zhabei.”
The aviation captain’s face grew grave: “Our mission is to bomb the 9th Division and disrupt their steps. Did the broadcast mention the 9th Division’s equipment?”
Shao Sishen smiled, “They made a list and revealed the 9th Division’s entire inventory: 12 Type 41 mountain guns, 36 Type 38 field guns, 12 37mm rapid-fire anti-tank guns, 12 light armored cars.”
The aviation captain nodded and said loudly: “Emergency assembly.”
The pilots gathered around and saw the captain drawing white lines on the ground with stones.
After drawing, he spoke out.
“This is the west bank of the Huangpu River: Wusong above, Miaohang and Jiangwan in the middle, Zhabei further down. Our mission is to conduct bombing around Miaohang.”
Pausing, the captain continued.
“We just obtained some intelligence: the target of our impending air raid is the Japanese Army’s 9th Division. They are carrying a large number of cannons and light armored cars to support infantry attacks. Therefore, for this afternoon’s action, your targets are to select artillery positions and armored cars for attack. Understood?”
“Understood.” The pilots said in unison.
Shao Sishen whispered instructions to Fang Wen: “This time we’re outnumbered by the enemy. We can’t conduct formation attacks in the air—everyone fights independently. The principle is to complete bombing, shoot after dropping bombs, then return to base, and absolutely not give enemy aircraft a chance to encircle us.”
Fang Wen nodded and turned to look at Shao Sishen’s K-47 fighter jet.
At this time, the ground staff were loading bombs onto the K-47 fighter jet, patching the bullet holes on the cockpit, and performing routine inspections.
Fang Wen, acting as temporary mechanic, went over to help and checked if the bombs under the wing were stable.
Unlike future high-tech electronic equipment, this was a mechanical structure: the bomb had several lugs on top connected to hooks on the aircraft belly.
During bomb release operation, the hooks retracted backward, allowing the lugs to disconnect and the bomb to fall freely.
As for detonation, this bomb had an internal mechanical detonation structure; after release, a built-in mechanical device triggered the detonation mechanism upon ground impact.
Therefore, without sufficient impact energy, there was no need to worry about it malfunctioning.
After checking, Fang Wen calmed down and quietly waited for the final half hour.
The aviation captain’s whistle sounded. This time there was no assembly briefing; all pilots boarded immediately.
Fang Wen and Shao Sishen hurriedly boarded the airplane and waited for the fighter jets ahead to take off one by one.
With the engine starting, Fang Wen quietly entered the mechanical perception state to understand the condition of this K-47 fighter jet.
The fuselage was an all-metal low monoplane design.
The wing was a thin chord NACA-style traditional derivative beam metal truss.
Simply put, it was another school of aircraft structure: the low-wing airplane.
Corresponding to it were high-wing airplanes like the Detroit-type civil airliner and Rhein NYP-2: high-wing had high stability and load capacity, low-wing had strong flexibility and maneuverability.
Because the wing was on the lower part, to ensure sturdiness, there were metal brackets under the wing.
The airplane’s landing gear was fixed type, equipped with hydraulic shock absorbers to adapt to various takeoff and landing conditions.
This was the external structure; no problems found. Fang Wen’s mechanical perception shifted to the internal.
The K-47 fighter jet’s engine compartment housed a superior-performing Pratt & Whitney Wasp air-cooled engine produced under BMW license.
It could be said to be the best-performing aircraft engine currently available.
If not constrained by fuselage structure issues, Fang Wen felt the airplane’s performance could be further improved.
While observing, Shao Sishen in the front cockpit said loudly: “It’s our turn. Ready?”
“Ready.” Fang Wen shouted back amid the engine’s roaring sound.
The airplane started, took off after a running start, and flew into the sky.
The 5 airplanes flew side by side at high altitude; the pilots could see each other’s faces and waved greetings before dispersing.
On this mission, life and death were uncertain; as soldiers, they went forth bravely for the country.
The five K-47 fighter jets quietly flew toward Shanghai.
When they arrived over Shanghai more than an hour later, gunpowder smoke had already drifted into the high sky, making the ground below somewhat hazy.
According to the plan discussed before departure, Shao Sishen was preparing to dive down and execute the air raid mission.
“Don’t move yet; we’ve been spotted.” Fang Wen hurriedly stopped him.
“Where?” Shao Sishen immediately tensed up.
“Two in the left rear, heading our way.”
The left rear was Shao Sishen’s blind spot; if the enemy flanked from that position, it would be impossible to detect.
This was also a drawback of not using formation flying: without teammates’ perspectives, solo combat greatly increased danger.
Fortunately, with Fang Wen’s reminder, Shao Sishen accelerated forward, trying to shake off the pursuit of the two Type 3 fighter jets.
“Climb.” Fang Wen suddenly said again.
Shao Sishen, who didn’t fully understand, followed instinctively.
The nose lifted, flying toward the sky.
This climb plunged them into the cloud layer, piercing right through.
As a result, they vanished from the view of the two enemy aircraft.
One side above the clouds, the other below.
Shao Sishen said loudly: “They don’t dare come up.”
“Wait, give me an angle. Shoot if they show their heads.”
Fang Wen was in a state of constant readiness; whether the enemy aircraft was ahead or behind, he had to react and shoot immediately.
This was also a combat shortcoming of the K-47 fighter jet: the onboard machine gun shooting angles were only forward and rearward; if the enemy appeared on the sides, Shao Sishen had to adjust the fuselage angle to respond.
But after waiting over ten seconds, the enemy didn’t come up.
Clearly, they knew how dangerous it was to rashly charge into the clouds.
But a prolonged stalemate wouldn’t work either.
Shao Sishen took the initiative: “Should we dive attack now? Even if they’re guarding below, they won’t catch up.”
“I think so too. Let’s do it.” After agreeing, the fuselage dove down, piercing the cloud layer again, diving toward the ground at even greater speed.
