Chapter 28: 28, Times Create Heroes, Hangar Interview
The Rhine NYP-2 returned to the skies above Nanjing Airport facing the morning sun.
Although that air combat was tense and intense, it only lasted forty minutes. Including the previous bombing, feint attack, and the round trip, it was just over three hours.
Therefore, it was only a little past eight o’clock now.
Fang Wen, however, felt his body severely exhausted. This was the consequence of overusing mechanical perception.
Pulling himself together, he steadily landed the airplane on the airport runway. The moment the airplane stopped, he finally couldn’t hold on and passed out in the pilot seat.
The three in the cabin were originally still celebrating their safe return, but they found no response from the cockpit.
Howard pulled open the cockpit door and saw the passed-out Fang Wen. The three hurriedly moved Fang Wen out from the pilot seat and rushed him off the airplane.
The returning pilots from the Guangdong Air Force had come as a group to celebrate with Fang Wen. Seeing this scene, they hurried over to help, clumsily lifting him onto a car and transporting him to a hospital in the NJ urban area.
In a daze, he felt he was in a strange place, but he couldn’t open his eyes.
The smell of disinfectant with a strange odor, the smell of sheets sun-dried, and the stinging pain on the back of his right hand all indicated he had arrived at the hospital.
The physical exhaustion made Fang Wen realize that this ability consumed his physical strength. It seemed he needed to maintain a habit of long-term exercise to improve his physical fitness and have more time to use his abilities.
This state lasted an unknown amount of time, but he finally couldn’t resist the heavy sleepiness and fell into a deep sleep.
Until light appeared in the darkness, and the next day’s sunlight woke him up.
Those discomforts were completely gone, and his body had returned to normal.
Fang Wen propped himself up from the bed, but found an IV needle inserted in the back of his right hand.
“He’s awake, go tell the doctor.”
Fang Wen looked up and saw two nurses in white standing at the door talking.
One of them quickly left, and the other came in, asking with concern.
“Are you okay?”
“I feel fine. Can I be discharged?” Fang Wen replied.
“No, the doctor has to check first. He’ll be here soon. I heard you’re from the airport. Yesterday, airplanes from the airport went to Shanghai. Can you talk about what happened then?” The nurse shifted to the air combat midway, surprising Fang Wen. Had it already spread to Nanjing in less than a day?
“This, I can’t say. After all, it’s a military action.” Fang Wen politely refused.
The nurse was a bit regretful and didn’t ask further. After a short while, another nurse brought the doctor over.
The doctor checked his pulse and asked.
“What did you feel before passing out?”
“Just exhaustion, completely powerless.” Fang Wen answered truthfully.
“And now?”
“All good, no discomfort.”
“Then get out of bed and walk around.”
The doctor had the nurse remove the needle.
Fang Wen walked two laps around the ward and said, “No problem at all, just a bit hungry.”
The doctor smiled: “Hunger indicates your body has recovered normal demand. It’s probably a reaction after high-intensity activity. No big issue.”
“Can I leave then?” Fang Wen asked.
“Wait a moment. I’ll call the airport and have them come pick you up.”
After the doctor left, he had the nurse prepare some food for Fang Wen.
The nurses brought an iron box, not sure whose lunch it was. Fang Wen was indeed hungry and didn’t care much. Under the nurses’ giggling attention, he finished the whole box of rice.
After eating, the people to pick up Fang Wen arrived.
He followed two air force officers into the car and left the hospital.
In the car, the officer told him some things.
“Fang Wen, you need to be prepared. Higher-ups have called, planning to make you a national hero.”
“Me! Why?” Fang Wen asked in surprise.
“Because you’re the most suitable. No faction affiliation, not anyone’s man, clean background, high flight piloting skills, and spontaneously propagated by Shanghai citizens. In the higher-ups’ words, this is called ‘the times make the hero’.”
The officer’s words left Fang Wen bewildered.
But what exactly was going on?
The officer continued to explain.
By the time he returned to the airport, Fang Wen finally understood the gist.
The cause was that night’s flight, dropping leaflets all over Shanghai. Due to some tricks by Boss Yang, Fang Wen’s name and a small advertisement for Boss Yang’s printing and copying shop were printed on the back.
This made the citizens of SH City aware of a fighter pilot named Fang Wen who had made a patriotic act.
Even in wartime, these citizens with bourgeois traits were still very gossipy, seeking more information about Fang Wen.
But who would have thought, the next day, an intense air combat appeared in the sky, achieving the results of destroying one enemy fighter jet and sinking one warship, boosting China’s morale.
And the participants in this aerial combat included the Guangdong Air Force and Fang Wen.
The Guangdong Air Force was not under the Republic of China central government’s air force control, so relatively speaking, Fang Wen, this participant with no connections, was more suitable as a propaganda figure.
Therefore, right after the air combat ended, several domestic and foreign newspaper agencies’ reporters and radio station people suddenly appeared at the airport.
These people would conduct on-site interview reports with Fang Wen.
The car stopped outside the airport dormitory building.
The officer said solemnly: “This is the ‘times make the hero’ I mentioned. In the game of all sides, you’re the best choice. Hope you can cooperate with the propaganda. Now please go change into a set of clothes. I’ll take you to the hangar to complete the interview.”
“Can I not go?” Fang Wen asked.
“With the current situation, the Japanese side has strong ships and cannons, even dominating the skies. Pessimistic voices among the citizens are emerging. This rare victory result—if you don’t cooperate, it’ll be wasted.” The officer explained seriously.
“Understood.”
Fang Wen returned to his residence in the dormitory building, found a clean civil aviation uniform to change into, and went downstairs.
Downstairs, Howard, the machine gunner, Pan Jiafeng were also there. Then, under the officer’s lead, they headed to a hangar at the airport.
There, it had been tidied up into a temporary interview room. Reporters from various Shanghai newspapers, domestic and foreign, photographers, and radio station hosts were all there.
At this moment, Fang Wen felt like he was back in modern times participating in an entertainment variety show.
He and Howard, the machine gunner, Pan Jiafeng sat in front of the reporters and cameras, posing for photos.
Magnesium lights flashed. After posing in various required postures to complete the photos, the interview began.
A reporter asked: “Mr. Fang Wen, can you introduce yourself? I want to know your most authentic background.”
“Sure. I’m Fang Wen, from Zhejiang Jiaxing. I dropped out of middle school to join the military, entered Nanyuan Aviation School. Later selected to become a China Airlines flight commissioner, working until now.”
The brief self-introduction had the reporters writing on their notebooks with pens.
Another reporter asked: “As I know, your aerial piloting technology is excellent. You successively completed nighttime flight reconnaissance, piloting a transport aircraft for aerial bombing hits, and under all of Shanghai’s attention, escaped pursuit by Japanese fighter jets. With such excellent abilities, why haven’t you joined the air force?”
This question was a bit tricky.
Fang Wen looked at the officer by the side, who had a serious expression and was gesturing no to him.
This clearly meant to refuse answering.
But that wouldn’t be good. Fang Wen thought and responded: “No matter where, as descendants of Yan and Huang, having a patriotic heart is enough. Don’t you think?”
This answer left the originally somewhat tricky reporter unable to press further.
The questions became much milder, mostly about some interesting things from his civil aviation days.
Then, the radio station began the live interview. This was the main event. The interview would be transmitted via radio waves to Shanghai, not only for the citizens to hear, but also for the various countries in the concession to know, and for the Japanese Army to know the details of that air combat.
