Chapter 304: Aerial Duel Over The Qiantang River Skies, Imperial Japanese Navy Airplanes With Superior Equipment
August 1937.
Many countrymen did not expect the situation to change so drastically.
Starting from the Japanese Army’s uprising in Beiping in July, in just one month, many places in North China fell, and Shanghai also faced attacks from Japanese Navy troops.
The Japanese Army, which had been planning for several years, naturally reacted more swiftly and fiercely against the National Government that had been fighting a civil war.
This shift turned the strategy originally focused on the north toward Shanghai.
Just like five years ago, the National Army once again gathered in Shanghai.
They were not completely without progress; at least the army equipment had improved somewhat, and the air force had been established.
But under the infiltration of Japanese spies everywhere, those few military secrets could not be concealed at all.
One day in mid-August, multiple Japanese Navy bombing formations raided airports in Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Cao E, and other places.
The intent was to destroy the air force strength near Shanghai and Nanjing in one go.
In response, National Air Force units across various places immediately took off to engage.
Fang Wen, who had just arrived at Jianqiao Airport in Hangzhou, also immediately set off with the pilots of the Fourth Air Group to meet the enemy.
Jianqiao Airport, pilots of the Fourth Air Group quickly ran outward.
Fang Wen and the three pilots from Taishan Independent Regiment Aviation Battalion 1 also ran outward together.
The situation was urgent; according to intelligence, the enemy might arrive in ten to fifteen minutes.
They had to take off immediately, or they would be bombed.
But the airport runway had only two strips, which could take off at most two aircraft at a time.
Captain Gao discussed with Fang Wen while running.
“Regimental Commander Fang, the anti-aircraft guns arranged in Hangzhou are only six, probably unable to delay the Japanese bombing formation. We two take off first, tangle with them in the air to buy takeoff opportunities for the others.”
Now with the establishment of Fang Wen’s Taishan Independent Regiment, these military personnel like Captain Gao preferred to address him by military rank.
Fang Wen responded: “No problem.”
Captain Gao immediately arranged the takeoff matters; the Huo Ke San he piloted and the Shrike Hao piloted by Fang Wen entered the two runways respectively and flew into the sky.
After takeoff, Fang Wen maintained speed parallel to Captain Gao’s airplane, and the two made brief hand gestures to communicate.
In this air team, Captain Gao partnered with Fang Wen; out of affirmation of Fang Wen’s technology and experience, Captain Gao volunteered to be the wingman, with Fang Wen as the lead aircraft.
Their target was the area east of Hangzhou, the direction from which the Japanese Navy bombing formation coming from the sea surface would appear.
A few minutes later, the airplane arrived at the Qiantang River side in the Hangzhou suburbs.
A bombing formation came head-on.
The six 20mm anti-aircraft guns of the anti-aircraft battalion on the riverside below immediately opened fire.
These autocannon shells were too sparse to pose much threat to the bombing formation.
Even the passing bombers dropped a few bombs; although they did not destroy any anti-aircraft guns, they silenced half of the firepower below.
It looked like the bombing formation was about to pass through the anti-aircraft zone and head to Jianqiao Airport in the city center of HZ.
This kind of thing had also happened five years ago.
But at that time, the Japanese Army piloted Type 3 carrier-based aircraft, carrying small bombs for bombing, which was not much of a threat.
Now, their airplanes had been fully updated, even more advanced than the Army’s fighter jet models.
Looking at those airplanes, relevant intelligence surfaced in Fang Wen’s mind.
The escort fighter model was Type 96 carrier-based fighter.
It was the Japanese Navy’s first all-metal monoplane fighter.
The bomber model was Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft.
It was in the same series as the Army Type 97 dive bomber that Fang Wen’s team had shot down over Nanyuan.
This showed that the Japanese Navy had completed the full transition from biplane to monoplane.
Regarding this, Fang Wen felt some pressure; after all, it was a new model—would it overly counter the Huo Ke San type of biplane in performance?
For this reason, he decided to probe first with Captain Gao.
The two harassed near the bombing formation as agreed, neither approaching nor leaving, maintaining a certain distance.
Their flying techniques were both very good; the Japanese bombing formation could not shake them off at all.
This situation made the Japanese bombing formation somewhat passive; plus, with only two enemy aircraft, two Type 96 carrier-based fighters immediately detached from the escort team and came to kill Fang Wen and the others.
This was just what Fang Wen wanted; he wanted to better understand the actual situation of this new fighter jet.
Immediately, Shrike Hao and Huo Ke San split to both sides, each picking an opponent, engaging in aerial dogfight.
Fang Wen picked the one on the left; the opponent still adopted the Japanese Army pilot’s combat habit, charging straight in.
In an instant, Fang Wen seemed to see the ferocious face of the pilot in the enemy aircraft.
This bayonet-style air tactic was unique to the Japanese Air Force.
Just like their advocated bushido spirit, draw the knife and charge to fight, die if you die.
That’s why there were so-called simple styles of swordsmanship like battojutsu and iaijutsu.
In contrast, when it came to martial arts competition, Chinese people never foolishly charged forward; various techniques were the characteristic of Chinese martial arts.
Fang Wen was the same.
He would not hard-clash with the Japanese fighter jet to see whose luck was worse and got hit by bullets first.
Just as the opponent rushed over, Shrike Hao’s fuselage suddenly sideslipped, dodging the enemy aircraft by shifting the fuselage.
Facing this situation, the Type 96 carrier-based fighter reacted better than the Type 95 biplane and immediately tried to turn to pursue.
But his technology was far inferior to Fang Wen’s; just as he adjusted the fuselage to turn, Fang Wen had already circled to the opponent’s side wing.
As the nose turned, a fleeting shooting opportunity appeared; in mechanical perception state, Fang Wen completed the lock on the enemy aircraft without needing the crosshair sighting device in front of the cockpit.
He immediately pulled the 20mm autocannon trigger lever.
The 20mm autocannon, which could serve as an anti-aircraft weapon, spewed deadly flames toward the enemy aircraft less than five hundred meters away.
The opponent seemed to sense the threat of death and desperately adjusted the airplane angle, trying to dive downward to evade.
But his reaction was still too slow.
From judgment to actual operation, Fang Wen’s autocannon shells had actually been fired for three seconds.
These three seconds decided his fate.
The nose section was instantly torn apart, and the propeller providing aircraft power was blown away.
Then the second burst of autocannon shells hit the aircraft belly, detonating a small bomb hung on the belly.
Instantly, the entire airplane exploded and disintegrated in the air.
In one exchange, Fang Wen cleanly eliminated the opponent, once again proving the strength of the Chinese ace pilot.
Through this engagement, he also gained some understanding of the Type 96 carrier-based fighter.
Actually, it was not as dangerous as he thought.
Although it was a monoplane, its flight performance, flexibility, and other aspects were not very good.
If it had to be compared, it was like the unupgraded Shrike Hao, that is, the P-26 fighter.
As the United States’ first-generation monoplane fighter, it was equipped to the Army Aviation Corps five years ago, with many defects.
The Type 96 carrier-based fighter was the same.
Its engine horsepower was too small, similar to the unupgraded Il-16 and P-26 by Fang Wen, with a flight speed of only about 380 kilometers, even slightly inferior to the Huo Ke San in level flight.
And its maneuverability was not that good; even the pilot still maintained biplane driving habits.
Therefore, in the subsequent air combat, since the enemy fighter escort team needed to protect the bombers, if the Huo Ke 3 fighters good at level combat launched strong attacks, the opponent could not evade and instead lost the space advantage it should have.
In an instant, Fang Wen made a judgment on this air combat.
He looked toward Captain Gao.
As the strongest pilot in the Fourth Air Group, Captain Gao, piloting the Huo Ke San against the Type 96 carrier-based fighter, was not at a disadvantage.
He deeply understood what Fang Wen said: in air combat, better to discard face and dogfight than to clash head-on like bayonets; thus, he actively evaded the opponent to perform tail-chasing tactics.
The opponent, facing this tactic, could never find an engagement opportunity and did not dare to return to base exposing the back to the enemy, becoming very passive.
Finally, Captain Gao seized an opportunity when the opponent relaxed, shooting the enemy aircraft’s rear with the machine gun.
The machine gun’s power was not as strong as the autocannon; the enemy aircraft spewed black smoke, trying to return to base alone to escape, but was tightly pursued by Captain Gao, crashing into the Qiantang River under continuous shooting.
The 2 vs 2 battle ended in complete victory for the Chinese side.
This also let the Japanese bombing formation know the opponent’s strength.
They did not dare to send more aircraft; sending too few risked the same fate, sending too many would affect the overall safety of the escort formation.
This delicate situation allowed the two airplanes to hang near the Japanese bombing formation, providing precious takeoff opportunities for the following teammates.
A few minutes later, aircraft from the Fourth Air Group and Taishan Airlines Aviation Battalion One took off one after another.
Fang Wen and Captain Gao split into two, each leading their subordinates to form new combat formations, launching an attack on the Japanese bombing formation.
The Japanese bombing formation currently had 20 Type 96 carrier-based fighters escorting, covering 5 Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft for bombing.
The Fourth Air Group took off with 10 aircraft, Taishan Airlines Aviation Battalion One plus Fang Wen made four.
The gap between the two sides was not large.
No words needed, the group air combat unfolded.
The two fighter formations launched an assault on the Japanese Army.
The opponent, to protect the bombers, could only engage passively.
The Taishan side used team collaborative combat, in groups of 2:2, mutually supporting, regardless of skill level, always 2 vs 1.
Enemy aircraft bitten by Fang Wen and the others immediately faced grim prospects.
Results appeared quickly: 2 enemy aircraft shot down by Taishan Airlines Aviation Battalion One.
The battle situation immediately became 18 vs 14; although the Japanese side still had a slight numerical advantage, the successive losses had made the situation passive.
At this time, the bombers had chosen to withdraw, dropping all carried bombs to escape faster.
These bombs fell on the Qiantang River and both banks in the Hangzhou suburbs, creating bursts of smoke and water waves; apart from large numbers of dead fish floating on the water surface, there was no greater destruction.
With the bombers returning to base, the Japanese Army fighter escort formation became even more ferocious, trying to block the National Air Force from pursuing the bombers.
This group combat, if they went collectively berserk, was truly hard to deal with.
Suddenly, the Chinese fighter formation was held back.
Only Fang Wen’s side still had a chance to break through with aircraft performance and flying technique.
Fang Wen issued orders to his subordinates via encrypted telegram order.
Du Jiahua would go around with him; Shao Deqing and Zhai Xiaojun would continue to tangle with the Japanese fighter jets.
The pilots who received the order immediately executed.
Shao Deqing and Zhai Xiaojun’s fighter jets took on the Japanese fighter jets’ frantic attacks, continuing to evade their sharp edges and engage in dogfight.
Du Jiahua quietly veered off to rendezvous with Fang Wen; their flight direction was behind the theater of operations, and the Japanese fighter swarm could not intercept them for the moment.
After breaking away from the theater, the two airplanes circled around and chased the five Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft.
This bomber was Japan’s first-generation carrier-based bomber, with a payload capacity of about 1.5 tons, threatening to ground forces and ships.
Even more destructive than the Type 97 glide bomber.
This time, Fang Wen wanted to at least down one to teach the Japanese Navy a lesson.
He and Du Jiahua accelerated in pursuit.
Flight speeds surged to 470 km/h and 430 km/h.
The opponent was a large model; even after dropping all carried bombs, its speed was still only about 380 km/h, far inferior to Fang Wen and the others.
With a speed difference of nearly a quarter, the distance between Fang Wen and the bomber group grew shorter.
The bomber group without fighter cover was a flock of lambs waiting to be slaughtered; as long as they caught up, Fang Wen believed he could easily shoot them down.
Seeing they were about to be caught, the bomber group finally reacted.
They began to scatter; at least one could be attacked while the others escaped.
In response, Fang Wen issued an encrypted telegram order to Du Jiahua to pursue the nearest one, while he chose another and chased after it.
The modified Shrike Hao erupted with astonishing speed, closing in on the enemy aircraft.
In mechanical perception state, he clearly saw some situations of the enemy aircraft.
In the airplane’s three cockpits, the machine gunner in the rear manipulated the only 7.7mm machine gun on the aircraft back, firing blindly.
At this distance, bullets from a machine gun of this caliber drifted away without even approaching Fang Wen’s airplane.
The fear of facing death made the three Japanese pilots in the cockpit show despair, clearly seen by Fang Wen in mechanical perception state.
But this earned no mercy.
Fang Wen’s face turned cold; this bomber, who knew how much blood of countrymen and soldiers it would stain in the future—better dead now.
He accelerated, flying directly into the blind spot of the opponent’s machine gun, aimed at the midsection of the airplane, and pulled the autocannon trigger.
Countless autocannon shells poured out, first blasting the entire cockpit to pieces, then an explosion occurred, flames erupting from the middle of the airplane, splitting it into two and scattering.
With this Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft eliminated, Fang Wen searched for the other three.
Those three airplanes had already reached the seaside; Fang Wen detected from the radar detection device that many flying objects appeared on feedback from the sea surface side.
It seemed he could not continue the pursuit.
He immediately returned to base; on the way back, he encountered Qi Baoqian who had finished combat, and the two formed a temporary combat team, returning to the original battlefield.
The battle there had also ended; the Japanese fighter formation responsible for blocking, seeing the bombers escape, also dispersed.
This counter-kill operation thus concluded; the two formations’ aircraft groups flew back to Jianqiao Airport and landed.
