Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 363, 361: Martin Bomber Squadron, Temporary Flight Training

Fang Wen followed the commander to the highway airport.

There, the commander gathered the pilots and ground crew, and introduced them to everyone:

"This is Fang Wen from Taishan Airlines, and also the commander of the Taishan Independent Regiment. You should all be familiar with him, and some of you may have even fought alongside him. Tomorrow's bombing operation will be carried out by him in place of Lao Liu, piloting aircraft number 3005."

Everyone looked at Fang Wen with great curiosity.

Seeing this, the commander disbanded the team and allowed everyone to communicate freely.

A group of people surrounded Fang Wen.

"Commander Fang, I heard that you conducted two very successful air raids in Taiyuan. The reports we've seen here are very brief. Could you tell us more about them?"

"Yes, Commander Fang, we're all in the same boat, fighting the Japanese together. Don't keep any of your bombing tips to yourself."

In response to these questions, Fang Wen replied: "A successful air raid is by no means accidental; it is the result of meticulous planning, accurate intelligence, tacit cooperation, and the fearless courage of the pilots."

The noise immediately disappeared, and everyone listened attentively, hoping to gain something from it.

The following section discusses the key elements that Fang Wen believes modern air force military operations must master.

"First and foremost, intelligence is of paramount importance. We must ensure that we obtain the most accurate information about our targets, including enemy deployments, the location of key facilities, and weather conditions. This requires our intelligence personnel to go deep behind enemy lines and gather firsthand data. Only in this way can we ensure that every strike is precise and minimizes friendly fire."

"Secondly, the plan must be meticulously crafted. From the selection of flight routes to the timing of bombing and the planning of retreat routes, no detail can be overlooked. We repeatedly simulated various possible scenarios to ensure that even in the event of an emergency, we could make rapid adjustments to maintain the continuity and effectiveness of the operation."

"Furthermore, teamwork is key to success. Pilots, navigators, bombardiers, mechanics... everyone in every position is crucial. We conduct joint training regularly to improve our teamwork and ensure a rapid response and coordinated operation on the battlefield. This team spirit is an important guarantee that has enabled us to break through encirclements and complete missions time and time again."

"Of course, there is also the most important point—courage. Facing enemy machine guns, anti-aircraft shells, and other unknown dangers, our pilots never flinched. They carried in their hearts loyalty to the country and love for the nation. This strength supported them as they flew across the line between life and death time and time again, accurately dropping bombs on the enemy."

"Therefore, successful air strikes are not due to any tricks, but to the efforts of each and every one of us, and the sweat we shed. As long as we are united, there are no difficulties we cannot overcome and no enemies we cannot defeat."

As soon as Fang Wen finished speaking, a round of enthusiastic applause broke out around him.

What he said has a complete system, and if it is really implemented, it may not be impossible to build a powerful air force.

However, putting knowledge into practice is not so easy.

The enthusiasm was waning, and everyone was turning their attention to tomorrow's bombing mission.

The commander instructed, "Captain Xie, you should communicate the specifics with Regiment Commander Fang. You must do your best to meet his requests and absolutely not hinder tomorrow's bombing."

After saying that, the commander turned and left.

The officer accepted the order and took the initiative to communicate with Fang Wen.

"Eighth Air Force Captain Xie Yan, hello Commander Fang, I've long admired your name."

Fang Wen shook hands with Captain Xie and replied, "Hello, I know nothing about the situation here, so I'd like to have a good talk with you."

"Your bomber, number 3005, is ahead. Let's talk as we walk." Captain Xie said this as they walked.

停在这里的3架轰炸机，有2架139WC型，1架he111。

These are the only three bombers remaining in the National Air Force.

"Just these three?" Fang Wen asked in disbelief.

"Yes. It seems Commander Fang is not yet aware of our situation."

"I remember that six 139WC bombers were delivered last year, how come there are only two left now?"

"If you want to hear it, I'm not afraid of airing my dirty laundry in public."

Captain Xie recounted the ups and downs of the bomber unit over the past year.

Last year, there were indeed six 139WC bombers. At that time, the Nationalist government had high expectations for these bombers.

The 30th Air Force was specially established, and because the bombers were manufactured by the Martin Aircraft Company, it was also known as the Martin Squadron.

This squadron hired American instructors to train bomber pilots.

Martin Squadron was also incorporated into the Eighth Air Force, which was formerly the Guangdong Air Force and possessed He 111 bombers. This brought together valuable bomber forces.

Later, due to the unstable situation in the north and fearing sabotage by the Japanese army, the bomber squadron withdrew from Shanghai to Nanchang.

During its training mission in Nanchang, aircraft number 3002 experienced a landing malfunction and crashed.

It became the first bomber to die without fighting.

Then the July 7th Incident occurred, and the military situation in the north became urgent. The Eighth Air Force was urgently transferred to Xiangyang to deal with the military situation in the north.

All aircraft, including those from Martin's squadron, flew to Ji'an to assemble and prepare to travel together to Xiangyang.

During this period, Martin's squadron was specially ordered to return to Nanjing to stand by.

Heavy rain poured down that day, flooding the airport runway. But orders could not be disobeyed, and Martin's squadron took off in the rain.

Flight 3006 was the last to take off, and it was already dusk. Coupled with the storm and unusually dark weather, the plane became disoriented and eventually ran out of fuel and crashed.

And just like that, before even seeing the battlefield, the six Martin bombers were reduced to four.

These four bombers, after landing at Nanjing Dajiaochang, soon received orders to bomb Japanese strongholds and supplies at the Shanghai docks, under the cover of other air squadrons.

Flights 3001, 3003, 3004, and 3005 took off at midnight.

Of these, 3005 failed to fly due to mechanical failure and remained at the airport, while the other three Martin bombers failed to complete their bombing mission.

Shortly after takeoff, aircraft 3001 and 3004 crashed into mountains due to darkness and insufficient altitude.

And so, of the six bombers, only two remained by August due to various reasons.

After listening to Captain Xie's explanation, Fang Wen couldn't help but feel a little strange.

As the captain of the Eighth Air Force, why did he treat Martin Squadron with such an attitude? It seemed that he felt a sense of schadenfreude over the various misfortunes of Martin Squadron.

Is it because of conflicts between different factions?
Fang Wen couldn't help but ask, "So, the remaining 3003 and 3005 didn't participate in any actual bombing operations?"

"It wasn't that they didn't. They bombed Japanese warships on the Yangtze River. Because of their good performance, the bombing command ordered 3003 and 3005, along with three He 111s from our Eighth Air Force, to form a bombing squadron to bomb Japanese positions in Shanghai."

Captain Xie recounted an air battle in Shanghai that Fang Wen had never experienced.

At that time, Fang Wen's Taishan fighter squadron took a few days off due to the health of one of his pilots.

It was during this period that the National Air Force carried out a secret bombing operation.

Two Martin bombers and three He 111 bombers took off from Nanjing Dajiaochang, escorted by five Boeing-281s from the Third Air Force.

The Boeing-281 was the export version of the P-26 and a distant relative of the Shrew. These five were among the few low-wing fighters that the Nationalist Air Force was willing to spend money on at the time, but after purchasing these few, nothing more was done.

But this aircraft is indeed the best escort fighter for the National Air Force.

At 3 p.m., the bomber formation and the escort team met in Jurong and headed straight for Wusongkou.

What happened next was the real reason why Captain Xie disliked Squadron Martin.

"At that time, our formation was heading towards Wusongkou. Because of their high speed, aircraft 3003 and 3005 overtook the escort fighters and arrived at Wusongkou ahead of time. They launched a bombing raid ahead of schedule, which resulted in Japanese fighters intercepting them. Relying on their speed advantage, they turned back and escaped, exposing us to Japanese fighters. Although five escort fighters tried to intercept us, it was ineffective. This directly led to one He-111 being shot down and another being damaged and forced to land. Only the He-111 I was piloting returned to Nanjing."

Fang Wen understood. It was indeed wrong. Bombing operations are a collective effort. Acting independently like 3003 and 3005, bombing and then running away alone, leaving teammates and commanders in danger, is a major taboo in the military. No wonder Captain Xie's words were laced with sarcasm.

He also discerned the implied meaning in Captain Xie's words.

That's what we'll do tomorrow; they don't want that kind of terrible situation to happen again.

Fang Wen replied, "Captain, I also lead the flight. The situation you described is absolutely not allowed in the Taishan Independent Regiment. I will be piloting 3005 tomorrow. I want to assure you that since this is a collective military operation, I, Fang Wen, will never do anything to disrupt the overall operation."

With this promise, Captain Xie immediately smiled and led Fang Wen to 3005 to introduce the aircraft's situation.

Fang Wen listened attentively.

The Martin bomber had a crew of four.

It has two cockpits, the front one being the cockpit and the rear one being the navigator's cockpit, which also serves as the machine gun aiming and firing control cockpit.

The aircraft also had space inside to accommodate bombardiers and telegraph operators.

The bombardier and telegraph operator were also responsible for operating the aircraft's other two machine guns.

During airdrops, they follow the commands of the pilot and navigator to drop the bombs.

Therefore, to ensure the bombing was carried out perfectly, it was not only necessary to be able to fly No. 3005, but also to have good communication with the other crew members on board.

Therefore, after learning about the various functions of the aircraft, Fang Wen did not immediately begin flight training, but instead talked with the other three crew members.

The three crew members are: Dai Jingxing, Huo Jiamu, and Qi Yang.

Dai Jingxing was the navigator, Huo Jiamu was the bombardier, and Qi Yang was the communications officer.

Fang Wen met the three men outside bomber number 3005.

He stated directly, "I will be piloting 3005 for tomorrow's bombing mission. I hope everyone can cooperate well, complete the mission smoothly, and return safely."

The three nodded in agreement. Once the plane took off, their lives would be in the pilot's hands, and they all had that sense of cooperation.

Fang Wen continued, "I'm afraid we'll only be cooperating once more tomorrow. To ensure good communication, I'll set three rules: 1. You must not disobey my orders; you must obey everything I say. 2. I will design a bombing command, and you must act according to it. 3. Time is of the essence; I will conduct an exercise today, which may take a while, until everyone has mastered it before we rest."

Dai Jingxing said, "Commander Fang, we can abide by what you say. Please give the order."

Fang Wen nodded. This is a good start.

He took out paper and pen and wrote down a bombing order.

The content is not complicated, and it even renders the navigator ineffective.

Dai Jingxing was somewhat surprised by this, but he didn't say anything.

Fang Wen then instructed them to memorize the bombing orders until they were all memorized before taking off with the crew.

Although it was only his first time piloting this bomber, Fang Wen acted as if he were already familiar with it.

He easily started the plane, accelerated smoothly, and pulled up the fuselage at the critical speed, taking off into the sky.

Subsequently, 3005 circled in the air, and at each bombing point that Fang Wen identified, he would issue a bombing order.

He also observed the reactions of the two crew members in the cabin to the bombing order.

The monotonous training continued again and again. Fang Wen's task was to get the two people in the cabin to integrate these operations into their body's conditioned reflexes, so as to ensure that no mistakes would occur during the actual bombing.

The entire training lasted for 4 hours. The 3005 made a refueling stop midway. The constant, repetitive, and monotonous training finally achieved the result Fang Wen wanted.

He then landed the plane and announced that he would be taking a break.

The three crew members dragged their exhausted bodies off the plane.

Seeing all this, Captain Xie couldn't help but say, "You really know how to train. This is the first time I've seen the Martin Squadron members so exhausted."

Fang Wen laughed and said, "Anyway, I only fly once a day, so it doesn't matter if I offend them."

"I suspect this isn't just happening today; you trained like this in the Taishan Independent Regiment, didn't you?"

"Pretty much. Military discipline is extremely important; any slackness or disregard for rules will lead to disaster."

"Yes, if Squadron Martin could do what you said, things wouldn't be like this now."

Captain Xie was filled with emotion. No matter how much he disliked Martin's squadron, it was still his unit after all. In just one year, it had gone from 6 bombers to 2, which he regretted.

Afterwards, he took Fang Wen to his temporary residence and prepared a meal with wine and food. The two talked for a long time about military training.

Captain Xie didn't leave until late at night, and Fang Wen then went to sleep under the covers.

(A Martin 139 bomber in flight)
After a night, Fang Wen got up early, washed up, and went out.

Everyone at Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Airport is busy today because of a bombing mission.

Mechanics and ground crew were conducting final checks and loading bombs around each bomber.

Fang Wen then walked over to unit 3005 and spoke with the mechanic who was performing maintenance.

"The fuel line in the right fuel tank needs to be checked. I think there's a problem with the power of the right wing engine, which may be related to the fuel line."

The mechanic exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Let me see."

He moved to the lower part of the plane and opened the hatch.

After a while, he popped out and said, "I didn't find any problems!"

There are definitely problems, as Fang Wen had already determined through mechanical perception.

This kind of fuel system problem will not have a major impact during normal flight, but it can cause the aircraft to stall temporarily when the engine is overloaded during high-speed flight.

Today's bombing operation will likely encounter high-intensity flight conditions. Fang Wen cannot allow this problem to remain unrepaired and cause danger during air combat.

"I'll do it." Fang Wen took the toolbox from the mechanic and skillfully crawled into the machine's belly.

A moment later, he held out his hand: "Bring me an oil pipe."

The mechanic quickly brought the item over and placed it in Fang Wen's hands.

A little while later, Fang Wen emerged, holding a blackened oil pipe in his hand.

It is quite obvious that there is condensed oil inside the pipe, which will affect the oil delivery rate.

"I...I really didn't see it," the mechanic stammered, extremely nervous.

Fang Wen patted the other person on the shoulder and comforted him, "The part buried inside was hard to find. It's all right now."

Just then, a voice came from afar: "Commander Fang, come here for a moment, we're going to have a pre-battle meeting."

Fang Wen looked over and saw Captain Xie calling out.

The crews of all three bombers were heading in the direction he pointed.

Fang Wen also walked over.

(End of this chapter)