Chapter 307: Interception Success, Enthusiasm Of Hangzhou Citizens, Pressurized Cabin Technology
A spectacular scene was unfolding in the sky over Hangzhou City.
Four Chinese fighter jets were engaged in combat with the Imperial Japanese Navy bombing formation, holding the opponents back and preventing them from advancing to bomb.
Despite the disadvantage of 1 to 5, they did not retreat but fought bravely.
Through brilliant flying technique and aircraft performance, they managed to contend with several times the number of enemy aircraft.
This greatly excited the people in the Hangzhou area.
Some bold citizens watching from outside ran back to their homes and air-raid shelters to explain the situation.
“The Japanese planes are blocked. Four planes took off from Jianqiao Airport to fight them. It’s very exciting, and they’ve shot down three. Go take a look.”
“Really? Just four planes and they can hold them back?”
“Really, I saw it too. So impressive.”
“Let’s go, we’ll go out and watch together.”
More people emerged from their hiding places and air-raid shelters, looking toward the sky.
The aerial combat was still ongoing. Through the extremely skilled flight harassment by Fang Wen piloting the Shrike Hao, the entire Japanese bombing formation had fallen into chaos.
The original V-shaped formation had fighters at the front, with wings providing escort, and bombers at the rear under protection.
But after Fang Wen piloted the Shrike Hao to continuously weave through the formation harassing and engaging, the formation was completely disrupted.
To stop Fang Wen’s actions, part of the Japanese fighter escort team detached from their original positions, creating defensive vulnerabilities for the previously protected bombers.
This was the opportunity Fang Wen wanted. While piloting his plane to tangle with the enemy, he sent an encrypted telegram order, instructing three pilots on standby to take off.
The three Il-16s waiting at high altitude in the distance received the order and immediately acted, targeting a bomber without fighter escort.
The high-speed approaching Il-16s, like the grim reaper, sealed the fate of that bomber.
It had no chance to evade and was blasted by the 20mm autocannon shells from the three Il-16s, exploding into fragments.
A total of five Type 97 carrier-based bombers had come to bomb Hangzhou, but they hadn’t even entered the city and had already lost 2.
Fang Wen’s objective was clear: target the bombers specifically. As long as the Japanese Army dared to continue flying toward Hangzhou, the remaining 3 would continue to face attacks.
This situation finally made the lead captain of the bombing formation hesitate.
Continuing the bombing was no longer worth the cost. If there were more losses, the entire aviation team could not bear the responsibility.
For this reason, he had no choice but to decide to return to base.
Immediately, the Japanese Army bombing formation began to return to base under the lead plane’s guidance, and the several Type 96s chasing Fang Wen also turned back to rejoin.
Watching the bombing formation turn around and depart, Fang Wen let out a long sigh of relief.
Before all this was achieved, his mind had been in a state of high concentration and tension. Even with such outstanding performance, he was not certain he could stop the enemy’s bombing.
After all, fighter jets were still in their early development stage, and in high-intensity air combat, some problems became apparent.
After the previous battle, the Shrike Hao’s autocannon payload had been used up by more than half, and due to prolonged continuous firing, the autocannon barrel had overheated and developed some issues.
If the battle continued, Fang Wen could not guarantee the autocannon would remain usable.
Moreover, to perform high-difficulty flight maneuvers in air combat, the Shrike Hao and Il-16s had not carried auxiliary fuel tanks, leading to insufficient fuel after continuous high-difficulty maneuvers.
Besides these, there was another reason why Fang Wen decided not to press the attack.
That was not to pursue a cornered enemy. After all, his side only had 4 fighter jets. If the enemy desperately counterattacked, Fang Wen was unsure if his subordinates would suffer losses.
Under this consideration, he issued an encrypted telegram order to merely tail them from afar without launching further attacks.
Under the tailing of the 4 Taishan fighter jets, the Japanese Army bombing formation that failed to complete the bombing flew toward Hangzhou Bay until it passed the coastline, then Fang Wen led the team to return to base.
The four fighter jets returned to Hangzhou and landed at Jianqiao Airport.
Fang Wen parked his plane and was the first to get down, but he went to check on his subordinates’ conditions.
The three pilots pushed open their cockpit canopies and came down one by one along the boarding ladder.
But their conditions were not good.
Du Jiahua and Shao Deqing had nosebleeds, while Zhai Xiaojun not only had nasal bleeding but also dizziness.
It seemed Fang Wen’s worries were correct. His pilots performing those dive-loop maneuvers had too high a burden on the human body, and their bodies had still suffered damage.
Unlike him, they did not have supernatural ability-enhanced physical fitness, so under high-intensity flight operations, they had pushed too hard.
At this, Fang Wen frowned.
Airplanes of this era, evolving from biplanes to monoplanes, had changed from open cockpits to enclosed cockpits, but that alone was not enough.
High-speed flight and high-altitude maneuvers required better protective measures.
That was pressurized cabin technology.
It seemed this technology needed to be applied to Taishan’s planes as soon as possible.
On this, Fang Wen thought to inquire with his friends in the European aviation circles about pressurized cabins.
At that moment, the airport manager came running over.
“Regimental Commander Fang, people from all walks of life have spontaneously come to bring you gifts and thanks, thanking you for protecting Hangzhou.”
Fang Wen was surprised. He didn’t expect the HZ citizens to react so quickly. They had just come down from the sky, and thanks had already arrived.
This also touched Fang Wen a little. Such enthusiasm made his desperate battle with the Japanese Army in the sky worthwhile.
Immediately, he went with the three pilots to the airport gate to meet the HZ citizens.
Because it was a wartime key airport area that could not be entered casually, he only thanked them at the entrance for their concern, accepted their hastily written thank-you banner, and persuaded them to leave.
After these people left, Fang Wen immediately called from the airport office.
The call was to the office established by Taishan Airlines in Hangzhou.
This office was originally for selling airplane tickets and some passenger services, but now with Fang Wen’s arrival, the director had been replaced by someone from Taishan Airlines’ wartime logistics management office.
This wartime logistics management office was specially established by Taishan Airlines for the war to meet the Independent Regiment’s needs.
Fang Wen called them to arrange for a doctor to come over.
Half an hour after he ended the call, people from the Hangzhou office arrived.
Sun Debiao drove up, with an unfamiliar man in the car.
Fang Wen at the main gate had the guards let them through, and the car drove in.
After parking, Sun Debiao asked with concern, “General Manager, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Du Jiahua, Shao Deqing, and Zhai Xiaojun have some physical issues and need checking.” Fang Wen replied.
Sun Debiao introduced the man beside him: “This is the national medicine master Sun Yehua I invited, from Fenglin Town in Wenzhou area, from a famous traditional Chinese medicine family lineage.”
Fang Wen looked at him, dressed in a long gown, very traditional attire. “Please, sir, check on them and see what’s going on.”
“Treating illness is my duty, let alone for you air heroes. Where should I examine them?” Sun Yehua replied.
Immediately, Fang Wen took him to the dormitory, where Sun Yehua set down his small medicine box and performed the four diagnostic methods on the three.
After a series of questions and checks, he made his diagnosis.
“The three have bloodshot eyes and nasal bleeding. It’s from high-altitude flight causing blood vessels to surge, blood flow to accelerate, and small vessels to rupture under pressure. No major issues for now; they just need rest to recover on their own.”
Hearing this, Fang Wen felt relieved and had Sun Debiao send him back.
Before leaving, Sun Yehua said proactively, “General Manager Fang’s patriotic heart impresses me. In the current situation, even we medical practitioners should do something for the country. If there are patriotic actions in the future, may I be informed? If I can participate, it would be an honor.”
Sun Debiao smiled and said, “We have that. We’re establishing a wartime surgical hospital in Wuhan to treat frontline wounded soldiers’ severe cases. We’re preparing five medical teams to rotate to the frontline. If you’re willing, we can discuss details later.”
Sun Yehua agreed without hesitation. He hadn’t expected that calling a doctor would add one to the medical team.
Watching Sun Debiao and the others drive away, Fang Wen returned to the dormitory, checked on the three pilots, then entered his own room and took out the telegraph machine.
He wanted to send a telegram to Europe to discuss pressurized cabins with his friends in the European aviation circles.
Time passed bit by bit, and in the following days, no air raids occurred in Hangzhou.
Not just Hangzhou, even the air raids on Nanjing paused for two days.
This was very strange. Everyone judged that the Japanese Army might be preparing a larger-scale offensive.
Two days later, an encrypted telegram from mainland Japan was sent over, received by the 24-hour military telegraph operator at Jinan Airport and forwarded intact to Fang Wen.
The encrypted telegram from Yoshida could only be decrypted by Fang Wen. After decoding, the original text was.
【Recently, the Luchuan and Kisarazu aviation teams launched multiple air raids on Nanjing, Hangzhou, and other places. Due to interception by Chinese pilots, losses were heavy, almost all elite pilots eliminated, and Luchuan aviation team captain Ishii Yoshie committed seppuku.】
So that’s how it was.
After five years, the first large-scale air combat was won by China. The Imperial Japanese Navy suffered heavy losses, with the aviation team captain dying in disgrace by seppuku.
In other words, after learning this lesson, they would rotate other aviation teams to continue air raids on China, and they would be more cautious then.
At this, Fang Wen felt vigilant. Over these years, he had seen too many despicable acts by Japanese in wartime. After losing in the air, they would surely find ways to weaken from other aspects.
As for how the Japanese side would act, Fang Wen hadn’t figured it out yet.
But he must prepare defenses.
However, Jianqiao Airport was not Jinan Airport. Fang Wen had no control over security here, so he could only have the three pilots stay vigilant and prohibit going out.
Meanwhile, the telegram from Europe also came back.
Regarding Fang Wen’s inquiry about pressurized cabins, those friends in the aviation circles were also very interested.
Their reply mentioned that in Europe, both Britain and Germany were researching this area. After all, pressurized cabins could reduce pressure on pilots in high-altitude flight, increase combat intensity, and were a great aircraft improvement.
But in actual research, neither country had achieved results.
The United States had some developments.
It was heard that Boeing’s laboratory was also researching pressurized cabins and seemed to have made some progress.
Fang Wen was very interested in this.
He had a friend at Boeing: Neil Toledo, who had once traded tung oil for airplanes with him.
Neil Toledo had now returned to the United States and, relying on his business achievements in China, had been promoted and received a raise at Boeing Company.
This guy still owed Fang Wen engines worth tens of thousands of US dollars. Later, Fang Wen obtained 1710 engines through Al Capone’s mafia and hadn’t contacted him since.
Now, this account could be settled.
Fang Wen smiled and sent a telegram to the United States.
United States, Las Vegas.
Here, it had become paradise. Trains and airplanes brought all sorts of tourists, who could choose gambling, entertainment, delicacies, and more ways to relax.
Such wonderful and indulgent life, in the 1930s, was considered deviant by tradition. No one would think of doing it in everyday life.
But in Las Vegas, everything was normal. People dropped their disguises and enjoyed brief, unrestrained pleasure here.
It was Taishan Paradise that sparked all this ahead of time, also making Las Vegas prosper early.
Therefore, Taishan Paradise Company was now the foremost gambling and entertainment enterprise in Las Vegas. The local city hall needed to consult with Taishan Company on many matters.
Managing all this was Taishan Paradise Company’s Zhao Jiu, Al Capone, John Harvey. Under their joint management, the company developed steadily.
Zhao Jiu handled the casino and paradise operations.
Al Capone handled business dealings with gangs everywhere, as well as profit distribution for gang gambling halls everywhere.
John Harvey, as legal advisor, not only handled company legal issues but also maintained good relations with politics, occasionally bringing gifts to visit.
All this was decided when the company opened and continued now, making the three very admiring of Fang Wen’s original design.
During this time, news of the war in China also reached their ears, and all three were very concerned.
Especially Zhao Jiu, whose thoughts often turned to China, concerned about the battle situation in Shanghai.
The telegram from Fang Wen made him feel he could finally do something for China, so he acted very proactively.
But Boeing Company was not easy to enter, and Neil Toledo was unwilling to see anyone connected to Fang Wen.
On this, Zhao Jiu explained the situation to Al Capone.
For the former mafia boss, there were many ways to achieve it.
Thus, on the way to work, Neil Toledo had a small accident that prevented him from going to the company, and he was then “invited” to a nearby residential building.
Zhao Jiu, waiting in the residential building, sneered at Neil Toledo.
“Neil, do you want to betray General Manager Fang?”
Hearing this, Neil Toledo suddenly felt a chill.
He recalled the tung oil for airplanes dealings back then, and everything he saw afterward.
That man went from nothing to Asia’s aviation giant, not just clever and bold.
Why had he, a natural strongman, opposed him out of greed.
Look at the current situation: the other party hadn’t even come to the United States, yet all sorts of people were willing to work for him.
Thinking of this, Neil Toledo regretted his foolish decision even more and quickly said remorsefully.
“Please tell Fang, I’m willing to pay for my actions. How much compensation does he need?”
“Money isn’t what the general manager wants. The engines you promised him back then were never delivered.”
Zhao Jiu sneered and opened the door. Al Capone came in from outside.
“Later, this man got engines for the general manager and became our collaborator in the United States. You’ve missed too much.”
Matching Zhao Jiu’s praise, Al Capone made a standard mafia gesture. Two subordinates lifted Neil Toledo.
Terrified, Neil Toledo struggled desperately and begged, “No, please. Give me a chance to atone. I can definitely do it.”
“Stop.” Zhao Jiu halted the mafia’s action and whispered in Neil Toledo’s ear, “The general manager wants something else this time. He says you definitely have a way to get it. Of course, if you can’t, I can make you disappear.”
“I definitely can. Please tell me what it is?”
“Pressurized cabin technology. I hear your company’s laboratory is researching it.”
“Okay, please let me go. I will definitely get the technical data.”
After getting the desired reply, Zhao Jiu smiled, untied Neil Toledo, and sent him out.
After Neil Toledo left, he and Al Capone smiled and burst into laughter.
Now, they no longer needed to do illegal activities themselves; what just happened was just a show.
Of course, if Neil Toledo really didn’t cooperate, they would use harsher methods, but they would absolutely not be the ones acting.
After they let Neil Toledo go, he immediately returned to Boeing Company and explained to his superior that he was late due to personal matters.
Then, he began inquiring internally at the company. After some investigation, he really learned some things about pressurized cabins.
On this, he immediately reported to Zhao Jiu and then sent a telegram to China.
