Chapter 1461 Discovery of the Aircraft Carrier Formation

The most important thing in maritime combat, of course, is to discover the opponent first!

Most of the planes in the Hawaii base have been transferred to the Aleutian Islands, where they want to fight the main force of the island nation's fleet, but they are empty. Now the power in the Hawaii base is empty, but more than a dozen maritime patrol aircraft have taken off. , still no problem.

It was still night, and the VP-6F squadron at the Pearl Harbor base took off with its PBY-5 seaplane.

When the island country attacked Pearl Harbor last time, the water patrol aircraft wing suffered a lot of losses. Except for the three reconnaissance aircraft that went out to patrol the sea, almost all the rest were bombed and sunk at the base.

However, the industrial capabilities of the United States are too strong. They quickly produced a batch of brand-new seaplanes and equipped them with their own troops. Since only the base was damaged, most of the pilots were still intact, so they quickly It's back to fighting. Moreover, the model changed from the original PBY-1 to the latest PBY-5.

From the outside, this seaplane looks like a boat below, which can take off and land on the water, while the wings are high above, and the engine is also the highest, which can avoid being affected by the splash of sea water on the sea.

This is the most produced seaplane in the United States, and it was also famous in World War II.

Now, the pilot Klaus turned on the knobs, and the two Pratt & Whitney R-1830-82s on the top made a familiar roar, followed by Hamilton's standard hydraulic control propellers, and both engines were running normally.

Pushing the throttle stick to the front, reaching take-off power of 1,200 horsepower, Klaus piloted the plane, rolled down the runway, and then got into the darkness.

There are still two hours before dawn, and he can fly to Midway Island slowly and wander around in the nearby waters of Midway Island.

Seaplanes can not only take off and land on water, but also have retractable landing gear, which can take off and land on land. At the same time, it can perform a variety of tasks. It usually patrols the sea and can attack enemy submarines and surface ships by hanging bombs. It can also land on the sea to rescue drowning pilots and the like. It is definitely an all-rounder in flying.

At the same time, it also has multiple crew members. As a long-endurance aircraft, its crew is organized as bombardier/nose gunner, pilot and co-pilot, navigator, radio operator, random mechanic and two waist gunners. At the same time, in order to ensure long-term missions in the forward base, the cabin also has sleeper, kitchen and food storage facilities.

Just as the plane was heading towards Midway, the crew had already started searching the sea.

The night will not affect too much, because it is equipped with a sea search radar. Although the performance is not very reliable, it can already find large ships on the sea. The darkness can just cover it and let it search calmly.

They did not dare to get too close to Midway Island, where it was already dangerous, and at the same time, they also avoided being stunned.

"Flying north, if the commander of the other side is smart enough, they will definitely head north and prepare to intercept our fleet," the captain said.

Claus pushed the control panel, and the bomber began to fly north. At this time, the east was already showing fish belly white.

"The radar found the target. There are a large number of warships 150 nautical miles north of Midway!"

This news instantly stimulated everyone. Klaus raised his head and looked into the distance. On the sparkling sea, he seemed to be able to see ships floating on the sea.

It must be the fleet of the islanders!

"Quick, report to your superiors, we have discovered the island fleet!" the captain shouted: "Come closer, we will continue to observe closely."

As reconnaissance planes, they absolutely cannot rely on radar alone. They must also visually confirm the target, identify the type and quantity of the target, and this process is very dangerous.

As a kind of seaplane, their fastest speed is less than 300 kilometers per hour, and fighter jets can easily exceed 500 kilometers per hour. Once they are targeted by fighter jets, it is difficult for them to escape.

But no one is afraid, this is their mission!

The seaplane approached slowly, and you could see the black smoke rising from the top of the warships, the vortex of the sea water at the tail, and the wide deck plane, which was the main aircraft carrier fleet!

"It is confirmed that the target is the island nation's aircraft carrier formation. There are a total of four aircraft carriers and several large warships." Claus shouted.

At this time, the aircraft carrier formation of the island country was indeed driving on the sea. On the aircraft carrier Kaga, Nagumo Chuichi was contemplating the chart.

Midway was captured cleanly, and their next step was to ambush the American carrier formation! Therefore, in the middle of the night last night, Nagumo Chuichi took a mobile fleet with four aircraft carriers as the core and sailed north, trying to find the main battle of American aircraft carriers.

The Americans will definitely rush back in a hurry. At the highest speed, they don't even have time to turn against the wind and fly more carrier-based aircraft. As long as they ambushed in the opponent's channel in advance, they can easily achieve the goal of ambush.

Where is it good?

"Report, an American patrol plane was found." At this moment, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Immediately dispatch our escort fighter jets and shoot it down!" Nagumo Chuichi said, he stood up, walked to the window of the bridge, and looked at the sea in the distance.

Aircraft carrier formations are not capable of night combat.

The difficulty is not taking off at night, but landing at night. Landing on an aircraft carrier is inherently difficult, and it is even more impossible at night. Historically, there are only Saratoga, Raiders, Enterprise, and Independence. Basically it's training. The actual combat effect is about zero.

Even in later generations, only half of the aircraft carrier pilots have the ability to land at night, so if they want to attack, they will take off in the early morning, and it will be dawn when they return.

During the voyage now, in order to hurry, they did not fly the carrier aircraft, but only focused on sailing north.

But the naval air force is well-trained. Just after the discovery, within a minute, the pilot Jiro Matsushita had already taken off in Zero War and swooped in the direction of the maritime patrol plane.

When it was discovered, the maritime patrol plane immediately turned its direction and returned at the highest speed. Unfortunately, it could not escape the pursuit of the fighter behind it. A few minutes later, a fireball appeared in the air.

blown up!

This was just a small episode in the voyage. Nagumo Zhongichi still raised his vigilance and ordered a dozen fighter jets to fly over his own side, ready to respond to emergencies at any time.