Empire Conquest
Chapter 349 - 345 Pure Aerial Combat

Chapter 349: Chapter 345 Pure Aerial Combat

It must be admitted that the nickname "Barbarian Bull" really lives up to its name.

At 8 o’clock, when they were spotted by the 41.2 Subsquad’s seaplanes, more than half of the escort fighters had not yet taken off. The key point was that these fighters had taken off with full tanks of fuel, which meant that they could remain in the air above the fleet for several hours at least.

If it were Frey, he would definitely have kept these fighters behind.

When that seaplane was shot down, it was only about ten kilometers from the "Lek." Plus, the weather was clear, so the pilot must have seen the "Lek."

What was more crucial was that the seaplane had already sent out a telegraph.

Furthermore, the seaplane had come from the south, not from the northwest!

All of these signs indicated that there was a Liangxia Empire’s Special Mixed Fleet nearby, not too far away. Perhaps it was the very 41st Special Mixed Fleet that had not revealed itself before.

Upon discovering the "Lek," the 41st Special Mixed Fleet would surely launch an attack.

Within two hours, the aircraft from the 41st Special Mixed Fleet would arrive. What use was it to withstand the thunderous blow of the Bai Zhizhan and kill Liu Xiangzhen?

However, Hal evidently hadn’t thought that much.

By 8:15, the last "Wildcat" fighter executing the escort mission had left the "Lek," and almost at the same time, the "York" dispatched its last fighter.

At this moment, the crew members of the two carriers were still busy.

Following Hal’s orders, the first to be brought up to the flight deck were not fighters, but SBD "Dreadnoughts."

They were not sent out to attack but to carry out reconnaissance missions.

Seemingly learning from the Saiyi Navy’s lesson, the Newland Navy no longer used the slow TBD for reconnaissance missions, but instead tasked the faster SBDs with this crucial role.

It can be said that the Newland Navy was the first to take this initiative.

Because dive bombers only had two crew members, it placed a heavy burden on the pilots during reconnaissance and search missions, making them easily fatigued.

However, at 8:25, the "York" sent a report that its position had been exposed when a Liangxia seaplane was shot down within a distance of less than fifteen kilometers.

Even at this point, Hal had not changed his orders.

After 8:35, the SBDs tasked with reconnaissance began to take off from both carriers.

They flew south.

At this time, Hal had not yet received the report from the rear and was unaware that a Liangxia Heavy Cruiser had sent out a telegraph from the south.

If he had known, he would immediately have dispatched all remaining ship-borne aircraft.

By 8:50, the crew members of the "Lek" and the "York" began to bring fighters onto the flight deck to prepare them for takeoff.

According to the plan, each carrier dispatched 8 F4Fs.

Although 8 F4Fs had previously been sent out for air defense tasks and 12 F4Fs had been dispatched for escort missions from each ship, after the additional air defense fighters were removed, there were still 8 F4Fs remaining on the "Lek" and 6 F4Fs on the "York."

At the time, Hal did not let these fighters take to the skies.

What was fatal was that he even prioritized these fighters after the bombers and torpedo bombers.

It seemed Hal felt that with as many as 32 F4F Wildcats, air defense was not a significant issue, so there was no need to continue increasing the number of air defense fighters.

In addition, if the previously sent out SBDs found the 41st Special Mixed Fleet, an immediate attack would be necessary.

Then there would also need to be arrangements for fighters to provide escort.

Undoubtedly, Hal was a bit too confident in the performance of the F4Fs.

Perhaps in his eyes, the F4F "Wildcat" was the best ship-borne fighter.

This recognition was also related to the Zero Fighters of the Saiyi Navy.

The Newland Navy had already acquired a batch of Zero Fighters and had compared them with the F4F Wildcats. The conclusion was that with the proper tactics, the F4F could outperform the Zero Fighter.

Therefore, taking on the Liangxia ship-borne fighters, which couldn’t even beat the Zero, naturally wasn’t a problem.

According to the Newland Navy’s pre-war understanding, even if the F4F couldn’t completely dominate the Xiaotian in the air, it could still fight on par with this fighter, which replaced the Typhoon.

The first shot of the aerial battle was fired above the Special Mixed Fleet 43, with the ship-borne fighters of both sides squaring off.

F4F Wildcats deployed by Frey faced off against 8 Xiaotian fighters dispatched by Liu Xiangzhen.

The Wildcats battled the Xiaotian.

Although there were twice as many Wildcats as Xiaotian fighters, and the performance of the Wildcats was not bad—overall a bit better than the Typhoon—the numerical advantage did not translate into battlefield superiority. In front of the Xiaotian, the Wildcats were significantly inferior.

Speed, rate of climb, dive stability, steady turning angular velocity, instantaneous turning angular velocity, and so on—there wasn’t a single aspect in which the Wildcats were superior to the Xiaotian fighters.

Even in firepower, these F4Fs were not as good as the Xiaotian.

The F4Fs from Newland’s Special Mixed Fleet 18 came from the Sunset Ocean Fleet, all of which were early models, only equipped with four aviation machine guns on the F4F-3.

The F4F-4, which was equipped with six aviation machine guns, had only recently gone into production, and all that had been produced were with the East Ocean Fleet.

The battle commenced at 08:50.

Within a short ten minutes, literally just two exchanges, 9 F4Fs were shot down, while the Xiaotian sustained no losses.

Strictly speaking, two F4Fs actually collided while evading, and only 7 were brought down by the Xiaotian.

Around 09:10, the battle above Special Mixed Fleet 43 officially came to an end.

All 16 Wildcats were shot down, with 3 Xiaotian fighters injured, one of which crashed on the way back. The other two made forced landings after returning to the fleet.

However, another battle was about to begin.

The Attack Aircraft Group deployed by the Special Mixed Fleet 21 at 07:45 had been in flight for one and a half hours and had already reached the outskirts of Special Mixed Fleet 18.

Although divided into two squads, with a total of 16 Xiaotian fighters undertaking escort duties flying out last, they took advantage of their faster cruising speed. These fighters overtook all the torpedo bombers and bombers en route, with one squad even advancing tens of kilometers ahead.

This was the classic "offensive escort" tactic.

Put simply, the escort fighters would actively seek out the enemy’s anti-air fighters, aiming to eliminate the enemy’s anti-air fighters before the bombers and torpedo bombers arrived.

If arranged properly, it could also pose a substantial threat to the enemy’s anti-air warships and disrupt the enemy’s anti-air formation.

This tactic was only suitable for use when one had a performance advantage.

Which escort tactic to use depended on the actual situation.

Typically, a squadron leader-level commander would lead a squadron of escort fighters to scout ahead, understand the enemy’s situation, and then make arrangements.

Now, leading this squadron was the Imperial Navy’s top ace, Wei Chengwen, who had made a name for himself in one battle during the Flame Sea Battle.

However, his mission wasn’t just to deal with the escort of the Attack Aircraft Group.

According to the plan, he also had to locate two fleet carriers to guide the bombers and torpedo bombers that followed.

Don’t forget—the bombers and torpedo bombers deployed by Special Mixed Fleet 21 couldn’t afford to waste fuel.

Relative to this, the fighters were in a much better situation.

If the fighters could locate the enemy’s carriers, allowing the bombers and torpedo bombers to launch an immediate attack, it would save a considerable amount of fuel.

For this reason, squadron leader Wei Chengwen was involved in the first wave of the attack, rather than staying with the fleet to perform the more critical air defense mission.

In fact, without an ongoing attack, air defense patrol could be exceedingly dull.