Chapter 225: So It’s The Zero After All
Two hours later, Jinsha Ridge Airport Affiliated Hospital.
White walls, white bedsheets, the air filled with a strong smell of disinfectant mixed with a faint bloody scent.
The ward was so quiet that only the faint “beep beep” of instruments and suppressed breathing could be heard.
Pilot Zhang Tao, who had just awakened from a coma, was weakly half-reclining on the hospital bed.
His head was wrapped in thick bandages, with a streak of blood seeping from the edge of the bandages, congealed into dark red.
His left arm was in a cast, hung high up, his face drained of color, lips cracked and dry.
On the IV stand beside him, transparent fluid was dripping one drop at a time through a thin tube into his body.
Despite his extreme weakness, he mustered his spirits and struggled to recount today’s encounter bit by bit.
Su Yaoyang, Doolittle, and Cheng Rufeng stood solemnly by the bedside.
They had just finished visiting another critically injured pilot after surgery—that pilot was still in the intensive care unit, not yet out of danger.
“Zhang Tao, get some good rest. Taking care of your body is the most important thing.” Su Yaoyang looked at his subordinate’s miserable state, his heart aching, his voice unusually gentle.
“Commander…” Zhang Tao struggled to sit up but was gently pressed back by Cheng Rufeng’s hand on his shoulder.
“Lie still, don’t move!” Cheng Rufeng’s voice was low and hoarse. Looking at his comrade who had come from Kunming with him, his eyes reddened. “Say whatever you need to say lying down.”
Zhang Tao gasped a few times, his gaze sweeping over the anxious and solemn faces of the three officers. He knew what they most wanted to know.
“Commander… Instructor Doolittle… Squadron Leader…”
Zhang Tao’s voice was hoarse from weakness. He licked his cracked lips and began to painstakingly recall today’s air battle.
“Today… our four-plane formation… at three thousand meters altitude… was carrying out the routine patrol mission to the northeast as usual… At first, everything was normal…” His eyes began to drift, as if he was back in that scene from today.
“Suddenly… just as we flew through a layer of clouds… more than ten Japanese planes, like… like ghosts drilling out from the clouds, suddenly pounced on us! Their speed… their speed was terrifyingly fast!”
“We were completely caught off guard…” Zhang Tao’s breathing quickened, his eyes filled with hatred. “Little… Little Ma’s plane… was hit on the spot… I only saw his plane belch a huge plume of black smoke, then… then it nose-dived… Not even… not even a chance to bail out…”
Cheng Rufeng’s fist clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.
Little Ma was also a soldier he had personally trained, a skilled and cheerful young man.
Su Yaoyang and Doolittle’s faces grew even darker.
Zhang Tao’s voice carried a tremor: “We… we tried to climb and disengage… but… but those Japanese planes… were… too bizarre…”
He seemed to struggle for the right word to describe it, finally shaking his head powerlessly: “Their turns… turning radius was extremely small… unbelievably small! Our ‘Thunderbolt’ in front of them was like… like a lumbering water buffalo! We couldn’t shake them off at all!”
“We tried to use vertical maneuvers to shake them off,” Zhang Tao’s gaze turned to Doolittle, as this was the standard tactic taught by the instructors for P-47 against agile fighters.
“But… their climb rate… was… astonishingly fast too! Almost… in the blink of an eye… they bit our tails again! In just a few moments… they caught up with us again…”
The ward fell into dead silence, only Zhang Tao’s labored narration echoing.
“We… we fought back desperately… but… there were too many of them… and they were too agile…”
His voice was filled with helplessness. “In the fierce battle… Brother… Brother Li’s plane was also hit… I saw him bail out… but… below was Japanese-occupied territory…”
“In the end… only the captain and I were left… We fought and withdrew… flew back desperately… It was only with great difficulty… that… we escaped back…”
After saying the last sentence, Zhang Tao seemed to have exhausted all his strength, coughing violently, his face growing even paler.
A nurse hurried forward, adjusted his IV drip rate, and gently soothed his emotions.
In the ward, the three commanders fell into prolonged silence, each face extremely grave.
Zhang Tao’s description, though fragmented, had clearly outlined a new fighter with exceptionally superior performance.
After a long while, Doolittle finally spoke slowly, his voice dry and grave: “It’s extremely fast, with an extremely small turning radius, and an exceptionally excellent climb rate…” As an experienced top pilot and engineer, he immediately grasped the core issue.
He looked at Su Yaoyang, his eyes filled with unprecedented seriousness: “Sir, I can confirm this is absolutely a brand-new Japanese fighter we’ve never seen before!
Some of its performance, especially horizontal maneuverability and climb performance, is not inferior to our P-47 ‘Thunderbolt’, and even surpasses it in climb!”
The P-47 “Thunderbolt” fighter was renowned for its powerful horsepower, high-speed dive performance, and sturdy airframe, a typical “energy fighter.” However, it had obvious shortcomings: relatively poor maneuverability and less than top-tier climb rate.
And the Japanese new plane described by Zhang Tao had overwhelming advantages exactly in the “Thunderbolt’s” weakest areas!
This meant that in future air battles, if pilots were evenly matched in skill, “Thunderbolt” pilots once tailed by this new plane would find it hard to shake them off!
Cheng Rufeng’s face was grave. As an ace pilot, he certainly understood what this implied.
This was a terrifying opponent capable of overturning existing air combat tactics! He said gravely: “Looks like the Japs came prepared this time! They deliberately used this new plane to ambush our patrol team, to probe our weaknesses and give us a show of strength!”
Su Yaoyang had remained silent, just listening quietly, his face calm.
But beneath his calm exterior, his mind was churning.
When he heard “extremely fast speed,” “extremely small turning radius,” “astonishing climb rate” combined, a familiar name clearly surfaced in his mind!
He didn’t even need Doolittle’s confirmation; he was almost 100% certain—
This Japanese new plane that caught the “Thunderbolt” off guard and exacted a heavy toll must be that air killer from another timeline’s history, which once rampaged over the Pacific skies and struck terror into Allied pilots—
Zero fighter!
Mitsubishi A6M, “Zero”!
He remembered clearly that in the original history, the Zero fighter entered the Chinese battlefield only in the second half of 1940, achieving overwhelming superiority against the Soviet I-15 and I-16 fighters then equipped by the Chinese Air Force, creating the so-called “Zero myth.”
And now, it was only February 1940!
The Zero fighter had appeared early on the Shanxi battlefield! And directly against one of his most advanced models, the P-47 “Thunderbolt”!
Xiao Tsukasa Yoshio… this old devil had actually gotten his hands on this killer weapon!
Could it be that his own appearance had caused the Zero to enter the Chinese battlefield ahead of schedule?
Su Yaoyang’s guess this time was correct. The history of this timeline had indeed taken a small turn due to his appearance, leading to a regional military force emerging in Shanxi.
Especially since this force possessed considerable air power and had inflicted heavy losses on an infantry division, even capturing its commander.
That was bad enough, but even the First Army commander was transferred away because of him, and continuous fierce battles had nearly wiped out the Sixth Division’s flying squadron stationed in Shanxi—this was tantamount to pinning the Japanese down and slapping them hard.
In response to requests from Xiao Tsukasa Yoshio and Terauchi Hisaichi, Japanese High Command specially transferred the first batch of the latest Zero fighters into service to the Shanxi battlefield, hoping to use this new fighter to severely damage or eliminate the Shanxi militia’s air forces.
This led to today’s ambush battle.
After figuring out that the new fighter in the Japanese ambush was most likely the Zero, Su Yaoyang immediately ordered all flying squadrons to suspend patrol flights temporarily, and all pilots to assemble in the main auditorium at Jiuqu River Airport the next evening.
The next evening, 20:00 sharp.
The largest auditorium in Jiuqu River Airport was brightly lit.
More than nine hundred pilots, including freshly graduated flight cadets who had not yet truly seen combat, and battle-hardened ace pilots with illustrious records, were all gathered together.
Dressed in neat flight suits, they sat quietly in their seats according to their unit formations, filling the vast auditorium to capacity.
No cheers and laughter from graduation ceremonies, no casual banter from daily training. Every face bore an indelible gravity.
Senior pilots led by Doolittle, Cheng Rufeng, Ye Qiyuan, Feng Mingqian, and other unit commanders sat in the front row. Their expressions were especially serious, eyes fixed on the rostrum.
In the center of the rostrum backdrop hung a huge white screen.
In front of the screen, Su Yaoyang stood tall in his military uniform, posture ramrod straight.
Su Yaoyang’s gaze slowly swept over every young or mature face in the audience, taking in everyone’s expressions. Without any morale-boosting empty words, he spoke first in a calm and steady tone:
“Brothers, good evening.”
After the simple greeting, he got straight to the point, his voice clearly transmitted through the microphone to every corner of the auditorium.
“First, I will brief everyone on the battle situation of yesterday’s ‘Thunderbolt’ squadron patrol team ambushed by Japanese aircraft.”
His tone was emotionless, merely stating a cold fact. “Our four P-47 fighters were ambushed by at least twelve Japanese new-type fighters.
In the fierce battle, we successfully shot down one enemy aircraft. But we also lost two shot down and two heavily damaged.
Pilot Ma Jun, Second Lieutenant, and Li Weiguo, Lieutenant, died heroically. Pilot Zhang Tao, Captain, and Wang Dahai, Lieutenant, are seriously injured and currently receiving full treatment in the hospital.”
Every name was like a heavy hammer striking everyone’s hearts. The atmosphere in the auditorium grew even heavier; some pilots close to the fallen comrades silently bowed their heads.
Su Yaoyang paused for a moment to let everyone digest the painful news, then his tone suddenly sharpened.
“We paid a heavy price! And the culprit behind all this is a new type of Japanese fighter deployed to the battlefield!”
He emphasized: “Based on intelligence from our frontline personnel risking their lives, and my analysis of available information, we can confirm this fighter’s official name—」
He said word by word: “Zero fighter!”
“Zero fighter”—this unfamiliar name caused a slight stir among the pilots.
Su Yaoyang gave them no time for much discussion; he signaled the projectionist behind him.
The auditorium lights went out instantly, plunging into darkness. Then, the projector behind the rostrum cast a beam of light, and clear moving images and sound began appearing on the huge white screen!
A top-secret “documentary” on the Zero fighter, “produced” overnight by Su Yaoyang using his “knowledge,” began its premiere.
“To replace the outdated Type 96 carrier fighter and seek air superiority in future wars, the Japanese Navy in 1937 proposed to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nakajima Aircraft Company an extremely demanding ’12-shi Carrier Fighter’ specification plan…”
Accompanied by calm and objective narration, the screen showed black-and-white footage of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries factories and a portrait photo of designer Horiuchi Jiro.
“Ultimately, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ A6M1 proposal won out.
To meet the military’s extreme demands for speed, range, and maneuverability, Mitsubishi’s design team made a core tradeoff that permeated the entire Zero fighter design philosophy—sacrifice all protection for ultimate lightweighting!”
On screen, a three-dimensional view of a Zero fighter rotated slowly. The narration clearly pointed out that there was no armor plate behind the pilot’s seat! The wing fuel tanks had no self-sealing or fire suppression devices!
Seeing this, Doolittle in the front row’s eyes flashed with insight; he nodded subconsciously. As a top aviation expert, he instantly understood the huge risks behind this design philosophy.
Next, the screen played simulated flight footage. A silver-white Zero fighter performed dazzling maneuvers in the sky. Its elegant and deadly horizontal turns, lightning-fast climbs, drew suppressed gasps from the pilots below.
“The Zero fighter has exceptionally superior horizontal maneuverability and climb rate, thanks to its extremely low wing loading and powerful ‘Homare’ 12 engine. Below 4000 meters in mid-to-low altitude, its turning dogfight capability surpasses any fighter we currently have!”
The narration unflinchingly highlighted the Zero’s strengths, even directly comparing P-47 and F4U performance data side-by-side with the Zero’s on screen.
Seeing those stark red comparison numbers, the pilots finally understood why their comrades had been defeated so badly in yesterday’s air battle! The enemy had overwhelming superiority in their weakest domain!
At that moment, the film’s tone shifted abruptly.
“However!”
The narration became resolute: “This design sacrificing everything for ultimate performance also brought the Zero fighter three fatal weaknesses!”
The screen switched. A P-47 fighter was in a high-speed dive, with a Zero hot on its tail.
“First, fragile airframe structure and poor high-speed performance! Due to excessive lightweighting, the Zero’s structure lacks strength and can’t withstand the huge stresses of high-speed dives. Once speed exceeds 500 km/h, its aileron control efficiency drops sharply, making roll performance extremely sluggish! Once in a high-speed dive, it can’t shake off our planes!”
In the footage, the P-47 used its high-speed dive advantage to shake off the Zero, then a large-angle “Immelmann” turn to get on the Zero’s tail!
“Second, zero protection! The Zero fighter is like a samurai without any armor—flashy swordplay but fragile! Our 12.7 mm heavy machine guns: any bullet hitting a vital spot, whether cockpit or fuel tank, is enough to cause fatal damage!”
On screen, a stream of 12.7 mm tracer rounds, like the Grim Reaper’s scythe, easily tore open the Zero’s fuselage. One hit the wing tank; the fragile tank burst instantly, the whole plane turning into a massive fireball!
Seeing this, the pilots below had their eyes light up!
“Third, powerful firepower but limited ammo! The Zero’s two 20 mm cannons are devastating, but each has only 60 rounds! Once depleted, it’s left with two underpowered 7.7 mm machine guns!”
At the film’s end, it summarized a clear tactic against the Zero—”B&Z”（Boom and Zoom）, the famous later “hit-and-run” tactic.
“Never engage the Zero in horizontal turning dogfights! Fully utilize our P-47 and F4U dive speed advantage, powerful firepower, and sturdy airframe! Use altitude advantage for high-speed dive attacks!
If the strike misses, disengage immediately, climb back up, and seek the next attack opportunity! Remember, you’re flying a ‘sledgehammer,’ not a ‘scalpel’! Our job is to smash that flashy ‘samurai sword’ with the ‘sledgehammer’!”
The half-hour “documentary” ended, and the auditorium lights came back on.
Everyone was still immersed in the hugely informative and impactful film content.
After a brief silence, the entire auditorium boiled over like a calm lake into which a giant stone had been thrown!
“So that’s how it is! This ‘Zero’ is just a glass cannon!”
“Exactly! As long as we don’t circle with it, hit it with high-speed dives, it’s done for!”
“Its fuel tanks have no protection! It’s basically an aerial lighter!”
“Damn it! Next time I run into one, I’ll turn it into Swiss cheese!”
The fear, despair, and confusion that had lingered in everyone’s hearts yesterday were now swept away! In their place: clarity of sudden realization, excitement of finding the counter-tactic, and blazing flames of vengeance!
Cheng Rufeng’s eyes gleamed with the cold, sharp light of a hunter.
Ye Qiyuan’s furrowed brow relaxed, his face showing resolute determination. Even the fresh graduates lost their youthful fear, their eyes firm and confident.
Doolittle stood up, turned his head, and looked at Su Yaoyang with a complex gaze mixing shock, admiration, and extreme bewilderment.
That film wasn’t some intelligence from field agents; it was practically the Zero fighter’s chief designer giving them a performance report on the Zero!
He couldn’t imagine through what “intelligence channels” Su Yaoyang had, in just one day, dissected a brand-new enemy secret fighter from design philosophy to performance weaknesses so thoroughly! This was beyond what “intelligence” could explain—it was practically a miracle!
