Chapter 468 Caribbean Sea (10)

Before the U.S. fighter jets could gather together, the Axis aircraft group on the opposite side, led by Worrell, adopted the "touch and go" tactic, using the surprise attack to quickly eat up 10 U.S. SBDs, 6 TBFs and 1 F4F before quickly escaping. I only lost 1 aircraft.

This situation made Henry so angry that he roared angrily and spewed out a lot of swear words unconsciously. While commanding the scattered attack fleet to regroup, he repeatedly asked the fighter jets to rush forward to attack quickly.

In terms of speed, the Bf-219 is inferior to the F6F or P-47, but because it slips faster, it waited for the US fighter jets to fly at full speed for 6 or 7 minutes before catching up. Looking at the U.S. planes pursuing them fiercely from behind, a smile appeared on Worrell's lips - now he has successfully led the U.S. fleet more than 60 kilometers eastward, waiting for the U.S. fighter jets to approach and distance themselves from the escorting fleet. At that time, he suddenly divided his fleet into two, with 24 fighter jets on one side and 45 fighter jets on the other. Only 45 fighter jets were seen tightly entangled with the US fighter jets, while the other 24 turned around and pounced back on Henry's main formation like tigers descending the mountain.

The forward-moving F6Fs and P-47s had to deal with the Axis fighters in front of them. The performance and technology of the remaining F4Fs in the attack formation were far from the match of the Japanese and German fighters. Although they resisted desperately and tried to use the Saatchi scissors tactics, this thing The Bf-219 had already learned a lesson from the small-radius cut-in tactic, and now it was completely seeking death. In just 3 minutes, the F4F lost 9 aircraft, the SBD and TBF each lost 6 aircraft, and the Bf-219 only lost 9 aircraft. Got 2 frames.

The SBD was in bad luck today, because Ryunosuke Kusaka believed that dive bombers were the greatest threat to the aircraft carrier, so when assigning fighter targets, it was clearly stipulated that the SBD should be attacked first, then the TBF, then the A20 or other bombers, and finally the fighter jets. .

The attack group was victorious, and the battles between the fighters there were also gradually differentiated. 45 Bf-219s fought against 16 F6Fs and 36 P-47s. Relatively speaking, the performance of the P-47 was slightly better than that of the Bf-219, while The F6F is slightly inferior to the Bf-219, and the numbers of both sides are basically similar, so it can be considered a close contest. The key is that the level of Japanese and German pilots is much higher than that of American pilots. The exchange ratio between the two sides was 6:17, and the US military was completely defeated.

In just a few minutes, the Axis fleet achieved a result of 9:55. Considering that there were 17 high-performance fighters in the middle, the result was quite brilliant. After getting a good start, Woller did not hesitate to fight, but once again led the fleet to escape. He firmly remembered Ozawa's request - take the enemy eastward, as far as possible.

Both sides were chasing each other, and the time was close to 10:30. Lieutenant Colonel Henry finally realized that something was wrong: the enemy intelligence report stated that the Axis aircraft group usually intercepts at 120-150 kilometers. It has been nearly 150 kilometers since the enemy started intercepting. , not even a shadow of the aircraft carrier formation was visible below, and he couldn't help but become anxious. At this time, the formation members also warned him: due to the continuous flight of more than 1,000 kilometers, the waste of time in the middle, and the full-speed maneuver just now to get rid of the entanglement of the Axis aircraft group, the fuel loss was huge, and the TBFs generally only had fuel. There is only 20%-25% left, and the fuel of SBDs is only about 30%. Everyone hopes that he will come up with countermeasures as soon as possible.

What's more terrible is that he doesn't dare to disperse the formation to search. There are dozens of fighter jets staring at him eagerly on the opposite side. He can guarantee that as soon as the fleet disperses, they will be torn into pieces by the enemy. Thinking of this, he finally panicked. While adjusting his course from due east to due south, he sent a report to the mothership, reporting that no enemy aircraft carrier had been found and asking for a solution.

"What?" Fletcher and Cox were shocked when they heard the report from the front that no enemy aircraft carrier formation had been found and that it had been intercepted by fighter jets and suffered heavy losses. They looked at the chart again and again, but they still couldn't figure it out.

At this moment, the second urgent telegram came: the second attack wave that took off at 8 o'clock had also arrived in the Z sea area and launched a search. It also found nothing. It only reported that several Japanese destroyers were salvaging the fallen pilot. Considering that these destroyers Both the enemy and ourselves were rescuing, so the attack planes did not attack.

"Where are the enemy aircraft carriers hiding?" Cox couldn't help but ponder while looking at the chart.

Fletcher knew that he could not hesitate at this time. If he hesitated for a few more minutes, many pilots in the first wave of attacks would probably jump directly into the sea. He immediately issued an order: "Planes with insufficient fuel will go to Venezuela to parachute. Those with enough fuel to return to Puerto Rico will all return to the island - regardless of carrier-based aircraft or ground aviation."

With the same plane and the same distance, returning to Puerto Rico is easier and more fuel-efficient than returning to the aircraft carrier. Fletcher's decision is still decisive enough.

However, it took another 3 minutes for this order to reach Henry. During these 3 minutes, his attack aircraft were shot down by 7 SBDs, 4 F4Fs and 2 TBFs, and only 2 Axis fighters were shot down. After receiving the order to allow the retreat, the American fleet began to retreat in two groups, one heading north and one heading south. When the US military fleet was separated and eager to escape, Woller commanded his men to knock out 3 more F6Fs, 4 SBDs and 5 TBFs, without any damage to himself. Seeing that his men were still pursuing pursuit, he immediately stopped them and said: "The destroyer reported that another group of enemy planes have arrived, and the formation will immediately follow me to return for reinforcements..."

After thinking for a long time, Cox suddenly said to Fletcher: "Sir, do you think the enemy aircraft carrier will sail westward?"

"Westward?" Fletcher was shocked, and he suddenly realized something.

"From what Henry just reported, the enemy did not adopt the previous desperate interception tactics, but instead adopted guerrilla harassment and retreat while fighting - there is only one reason to explain it, that is, there is no enemy aircraft carrier in the east, so the enemy planes can retreat without scruples." Cox pointed to the sea chart and said, "Assuming that the enemy fleet immediately changed to sail westward after its position was exposed, the distance between us would be getting bigger and bigger, so Henry searched nearly 200 kilometers of sea area and found nothing. He had more than 200 aircraft and a large search area. If such a large aircraft carrier formation was really below, it would basically not be missed. The only explanation is that the enemy was not there at all."

"This is the only reasonable and plausible explanation, let Lieutenant Colonel Wallace lead the second attack wave to turn around and search westward."

At 10:39, Wallace's second attack wave continued to search westward from the position of T+100, and even did not bother to attack the Yuguro, which was an obvious target below. Three minutes ago, Waller's fighter formation returned westward. At this time, Fuchida Mitsuo's attack formation had been flying in the air for nearly 75 minutes.

Since Tsukahara ordered a U-turn at 7:15, the mobile fleet has been speeding westward for more than 200 minutes, running a full 200 kilometers. The second attack wave of the US military is still 300 kilometers away from the mobile fleet. The search has made no progress at all. However, since Fletcher ordered to continue searching westward, he could only go west again. He didn't know that a large group of Axis fighters were rushing over more than 100 kilometers behind him. He didn't know that before he found the Axis aircraft carrier formation, Fuchida Mitsuo found the US aircraft carrier formation earlier than him.

At 10:47, the staff hurriedly handed over the telegram. Cox's face changed drastically after reading it, and his hands began to tremble.

Fletcher asked, "What happened?"

"Boise (Brooklyn-class light cruiser) reported that a large group of enemy planes attacked, with no less than 160 planes, 150 kilometers away, and a fast speed!"

"So many? Are they enemy carrier-based planes?" Fletcher was stunned, and then reacted, "Damn, they really changed to sail west..."

Initially, according to Cox's calculation, the distance between the two sides exceeded 790 kilometers, and it would take 4 hours to shorten it to less than 700 kilometers. Given that the range of Japanese aircraft is not as good as that of the United States - the He-218, which is also a dive bomber, is not as good as the SBD, and the Ju-98, which is also a torpedo plane, is not as good as the TBF, and even the Bf-219 is not as good as the F6F. These are almost all public data. The common advantage of Axis aircraft is that they generally fly faster. When fighters escort attack aircraft, they do not need to be too accommodating to the speed, and it is relatively easy to escort. And flying fast means fast speed when escaping, which often determines the success or failure of the attack.

The reason why American planes fly slowly is not only because of the conservative aerodynamic structure, but also because of the generally heavy weight of the aircraft, which makes American planes relatively stronger. Japanese and German ace pilots can achieve a 1:5 or 1:6 result when using Bf-219 to fight American rookies. If the two sides switch planes, the exchange ratio may soar to 1:9 or 1:10. This is determined by different combat ideas and concepts.

However, it is useless to say anything now. In addition to the air defense firepower of warships, the entire aircraft carrier formation has only 32 direct-cover aircraft.

Fletcher turned into a bitter face: "Be prepared for air defense..."

"Enemy aircraft carriers are found!" Fuchida Mitsuo in the air soon saw the huge US aircraft carrier formation, and couldn't help but start counting after exclaiming, "1, 2, 3... 5". Looking carefully, he found that there were 8 light and heavy cruisers and 12 destroyers.

It was the first time he saw an Essex-class aircraft carrier, and there were two of them. He couldn't help but be impressed by the two giant ships, and was even more worried about the production capacity of the United States. These ships were obviously produced recently. The commander was right. Japan was walking on a tightrope every day, and the United States had many opportunities to start over. The only thing they could do was to destroy the enemy at the lowest cost. Fletcher's capital was still strong enough. Seeing the escort warships that tightly protected the aircraft carrier in the middle and continued to spray anti-aircraft fire, Fuchida Mitsuo couldn't help but frown a little. It would be troublesome to rush over directly. He had to find a good way...