Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 410, Chapter 408: Dive Bombing by Horizontal Bombers, Taierzhuang Amidst Flames

Their eyes met, as if they could penetrate all the noise and reach the deepest part of each other's souls.

As their feelings for each other deepened, they communicated in a silent language, every subtle movement filled with passion and tacit understanding.

Ultimately, when all emotions converged into an irresistible force, they seemed to merge into each other's worlds, becoming an inseparable whole.

That moment was not the end; like waves, it was a new beginning.

At 10 p.m., Fang Wen drove back.

He went out for medical treatment and now looks radiant.

Isabella, who accompanied him, looked rather tired.

When the car stopped outside the airport dormitory, Gong Xiuneng was the first to walk over.

"Commander, there are two telegrams for you. Since we don't know how to contact you, we can only wait for you to return."

Fang Wen calmly got out of the car: "Oh, I'm going to see a doctor."

"How is it? Is everything alright?" Gong Xiuneng asked with concern.

“It’s alright. I’m fine.” After saying that, Fang Wen whispered to Isabella in French, “You should go back and rest.”

Isabella nodded, got out of the car, and left.

It's just that his walking style is a bit strange.

Gong Xiuneng asked in surprise, "What's wrong with her?"

Fang Wen was speechless. This Taoist priest practiced virginity training, and he couldn't easily explain it away.

He chuckled. "She's tired. By the way, what did the telegram say?"

Gong Xiuneng turned around and said, "They were all sent from Xuzhou, about tomorrow's bombing and the bombs. The telegrams are all in the room."

bomb?

Fang Wen and Gong Xiuneng went into the dormitory room and picked up the telegram paper to check it.

The first document came from the forward command post.

Today's battle dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese forces at Taierzhuang. An air raid is planned for 10:00 AM tomorrow, with the aim of achieving further success.

The second telegram was from Captain Gao.

Soviet pilots found your bombs very unique and wanted to learn more about them, which they might send back to the Soviet Union. If their headquarters were interested, they might purchase your bomb production technology.

Fang Wen was overjoyed. If the Soviet Union was willing to buy it, it would be a recognition of his military products.

But now, we have to finish the Battle of Taierzhuang before we can talk about anything else.

It's 10 p.m. now, and there are still 7 hours until the next round of operations.

We need to make preparations in advance.

He then assembled the crew members, but not Isabella, and began loading ammunition and carrying out maintenance work.

The warehouse door at Nanchang Airport opened, and the bombs stored inside were carefully loaded onto a forklift by ground crew and transported to the aircraft.

Subsequently, Fang Wen and the mechanical team carried the bomb from the rear door of the aircraft into the cabin, and then turned the control lever to raise the ammunition rack in the bomb bay under the fuselage, and installed the bomb on it.

After making these arrangements, Fang Wen started the aircraft engine and conducted a comprehensive inspection of the Hengshan-1 aircraft.

During the inspection, a problem was discovered.

There is a crack in the weld of the internal keel at the right wing joint of the aircraft.

That was due to the aerial drift during the day. The high-intensity flight maneuvers subjected the keel to stress exceeding the preset critical value, which led to the internal structure cracking.

If the problem is not detected, there is a possibility that the wing may break during subsequent flights, leading to a crash.

Fang Wen opened the maintenance hatch at the wing connection of the aircraft, crawled inside to pretend to inspect it, and then immediately called the engineers and technicians from the mechanical team.

"I just checked and found that there is a problem with the keel here; there are cracks at the welds."

The two engineers were shocked. Having been involved in the entire aircraft manufacturing process, they knew how serious a problem with the keel could be for the aircraft.

"General Manager, is it possible to perform temporary repairs?" an engineer couldn't help but ask.

“Give it a try, go get the tools,” Fang Wen replied.

Immediately, the technicians retrieved maintenance tools from the storage compartment at the rear of the aircraft, and Fang Wen personally crawled into the wing maintenance opening to carry out emergency repairs.

The wing contains ventilation ducts and oil lines, so welding tools cannot be used indiscriminately.

Before welding, Fang Wen specially found several wet clothes to put on the pipe network before starting the welding.

Sparks flew as the crack was repaired by welding.

However, this did not guarantee stability, so Fang Wen brought in fasteners to reinforce it.

He then climbed out of the maintenance hatch, started the engine, activated the mechanical sensing check, and finally confirmed that the weld was secure.

Then he spoke up, "No problem."

The mechanics breathed a sigh of relief.

As the night passed, the sun rose again, peeking out from the distant horizon.

At 4:50 a.m., all crew members were already on board the plane, ready for takeoff.

Fearing that, like last time, the Japanese army would learn of the air raid in advance and target them, Fang Wen decided to set off earlier.

He started the engine, controlled the plane to accelerate, and took to the sky.

After the plane reached high altitude, Fang Wen was relieved to confirm that there was no problem with the keel.

While piloting the plane, he kept glancing at Isabella in the co-pilot's seat.

After a night's rest, she had recovered and was using a magnetic compass to determine her course.

Six days later, she will return to Spain to fight for her country and her faith.

And I am doing the same thing.

We may not cross paths again for a long time.

The two tacitly agreed not to mention what happened last night, choosing to preserve it as a fond memory.

Clearing his mind, Fang Wen said seriously, "Isabella, confirm that the flight path is correct."

“The course is correct. We are still 500 kilometers away from Taierzhuang,” Isabella replied calmly.

Fang Wen raised his voice: "Attention all crew members, today's bombing, like yesterday's, has no predetermined target. Similarly, we will not have an escort formation, and we may even be attacked by Japanese warplanes. Everyone must remain highly vigilant and work together to complete this bombing mission. Is that alright?"

All members answered in unison, "Yes."

After giving the pre-battle pep talk, Fang Wen stopped talking and focused on piloting the plane.

The others remained silent.

Time passed slowly, and after a two-hour flight, the plane arrived over Fuyang.

That was the location of Taishan Airlines' first self-owned airport, which is now closed due to its proximity to the war zone.

Many people in the city also evacuated to the west.

Fang Wen felt a pang of emotion, but tried not to think too much about it as he flew the plane.

Thirty minutes later, the plane flew over Xuzhou and arrived over Taierzhuang.

Fang Wen activated his mechanical senses and observed the situation in the entire area.

The first is the feedback from the radar equipment.

At the edge of the radar's detection range, 300 kilometers to the north, there were 20 aircraft signals reporting back.

More Japanese warplanes may arrive, perhaps even more than 20.

Clearly, the Japanese suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Taierzhuang yesterday, prompting them to increase their air support efforts.

These Japanese warplanes were likely primarily Nakajima Type 97 fighters, with a top speed of 450 kilometers per hour.

It's a typical fragile fighter jet that puts all its stat points into speed and has absolutely no defense.

The fact that the Hengshan 1 easily destroyed two aircraft yesterday is proof of this.

But they are moving very fast and should arrive in Taierzhuang in 40 minutes.

Currently, only Fang Wen, piloting a Hengshan-1 fighter jet, has arrived ahead of time over Taierzhuang. The fighter jets that departed from Zhoujiakou Airport are slower and will probably not arrive at the battlefield for another hour.

That means that 20 minutes after 40 minutes, the Hengshan Type 1 aircraft will be in great danger. It must complete the bombing and return flight within 40 minutes to avoid being surrounded by 20 Japanese warplanes.

After making his assessment in the air, Fang Wen looked down at the ground.

Yesterday's longitudinal bombing belt caused the 59th Army to advance and tear apart the Japanese positions. They are still fighting the Japanese on both sides.

The Japanese army, now divided into two parts, was trying to recapture the deep bombing zone while fighting against various factions of the National Army within the encirclement.

The fighting was extremely fierce, with some positions even seeing battles fought on opposite sides separated only by a wall.

Fang Wen pondered where to deploy his limited ammunition to maximize its effectiveness.

The Japanese artillery positions must be eliminated.

The Japanese tanks, though few in number, became an important tool for infantry to launch counterattacks.

Solving these two objectives will significantly reduce the equipment gap between the two sides and also lower the casualty rate of the National Army soldiers.

Immediately, Fang Wen set his sights on the Japanese positions to the west, where there was a mortar position.

In the street fighting at Taierzhuang, heavy artillery had lost its effectiveness; instead, mortars played a significant role on the battlefield.

The short-range but high-rate-of-fire mortars continued to put pressure on the surrounding Nationalist army.

Fang Wen chose the spot with the highest density of mortars.

There were dozens of mortars firing continuously.

Once Fang Wen identified the target, he immediately gave the order.

"Begin preparations, right bomb bay, awaiting command to drop bombs, base load 1."

The bombardier from the mechanics team quickly scrambled down, maintaining a watchful stance, his right hand gripping the bomb-launching lever tightly.

The plane adjusted its position and flew toward its target.

Since there was no enemy threat, Fang Wen used dive bombing to ensure accuracy.

In his hands, even a level bomber can be made to perform dive bombing maneuvers.

The Hengshan-1 swooped down from the sky, like a huge shadow looming over everything.

The Japanese soldiers below did not notice at first, but by the time they realized it, the plane had already reached bombing altitude.

Altitude 1500 meters, dive angle, lead calculation.

Fang Wen used his extraordinary mental strength to complete the manual calculations for bombing and issued the order at the optimal time to drop the bomb.

"bomb."

The prone bombardier pulled the lever without hesitation.

Through the observation device, he watched a series of dark shadows flash by, below which was the Japanese mortar position.

Five napalm incendiary bombs fell, rapidly hurtling towards the mortar position with their diving momentum.

The first incendiary bomb exploded next to the pile of ammunition boxes, sending a yellowish-white cloud of fire, filled with gelatinous fuel, soaring into the sky and splashing onto everything in the area.

The burning flames ignited the entire box of 70mm Type 97 mortar shells, turning it into a storm of flying steel.

There was also scattered napalm adhering to the Japanese artillerymen's uniforms, the woolen uniforms instantly carbonized, and their skin curled up into charred scales under the 3000℃ high temperature.

The second and third incendiary shells precisely covered the observation positions of the artillery positions.

The Japanese corporal, who was lying behind a sandbag and observing with binoculars, was engulfed by a wave of fire behind him. The flames passed through his body and seeped into the bunker passage.

The entire bunker was engulfed in high temperatures, causing the observation lenses to shatter in the heatwave and the glass to vaporize under the extreme heat.

One by one, the fiery figures ran wildly through the tunnels until they turned into blackened humanoid figures of charcoal.

One of the fire-breathing figures rushed into a pile of mortar ammunition, crashing into a wooden crate full of fuses, triggering a secondary explosion.

Two more mortar shells exploded in the center of the mortar position, causing the steel barrels of the Type 94 mortars to soften and bend under the high temperature.

The entire area was engulfed in a hellish inferno.

Meanwhile, Hengshan-1 had already taken to the sky and begun searching for its second target.

Based on his mechanical perception, Fang Wen identified his second target.

Those were three infantry guns.

(Japanese Type 92 Infantry Gun)

Although this thing is not as good as European infantry guns of the same caliber, it was widely deployed to the troops and posed a great threat to the infantry due to its portability and rate of fire.

Japanese artillerymen towed it to the alley entrance and established a horizontal firing blocking point.

These short-barreled guns continuously fired at the advancing Nationalist troops, and the shockwaves and shrapnel from the explosions of the howitzer shells turned the open area into a death trap.

If this problem isn't solved, the troops simply won't be able to advance.

The problem was that there were Japanese blocking positions in front of the three infantry guns, and the machine guns and rifles on the positions blocked the scouts who tried to get close.

It's fair to say that ground troops are finding this situation extremely troublesome.

Now, Fang Wen is going to solve this problem from the air.

He controlled the Hengshan-1, hovering in the air to determine the dive direction, and then issued another order.

"Begin preparations, right bomb bay, awaiting command to drop bombs, base load 1."

The same order as last time excited the bombardiers.

He waited motionless, ready to become the one to carry out the revenge.

The planes swooped down, and this time, the Japanese ground forces were prepared.

The soldiers on the position turned around and raised their guns to fire.

At this point, the plane was still at an altitude of over 2000 meters, and the bullets they fired were completely ineffective.

Even if a few bullets hit the belly of the plane as it continued to dive and decrease altitude, they would only produce sparks.

Their bullets struck the specially designed armor plates of the Hengshan-1 and the gunboat, and were once again blocked.

At this moment, Fang Wen, inside the cockpit, finally issued the command.

"bomb."

At the command, the bombardier pulled the lever.

Five more incendiary bombs fell, landing on the three infantry guns and the surrounding Japanese positions.

The crimson flames that exploded instantly swept across the entire area.

The Nationalist troops on the perimeter were stunned by the scene!
The Japanese positions they had been unable to breach for a long time were now engulfed in flames, and Japanese soldiers covered in flames were running around the battlefield.

The veterans immediately realized that a valuable opportunity to attack had arrived.

No one knows who first shouted the slogan "Brothers, charge!" and one by one, figures rushed out from the hidden places in the ruins and charged towards the Japanese positions.

This time, no bullets came, nor did any infantry shells fire at a terrifying rate of fire.

They rushed to the edge of the inferno without any hindrance.

Faced with the scorching heat, the soldiers dared not approach until the flames gradually subsided before daring to enter.

The sight of charred remains on the ground was unbelievable even to the veterans.

"Goodness, this weapon is terrifying. Luckily, it's the one we use."

"Yes, I'd rather be shot than experience that."

"Isn't that a bit too cruel?" a new recruit asked.

"You brat, whose side are you on?" the squad leader roared. "Have we lost few of our men? We're sacrificing six or seven lives for just one Japanese soldier. What kind of nonsense is this?"

The new recruit lowered his head: "Squad leader, I was wrong."

After cleaning up the battlefield, they marched with firm steps into the deeper areas.

Meanwhile, Fang Wen, having ended the second bombing, piloted Hengshan-1 into the sky.

Twenty minutes have passed.

The bombing must be completed within the remaining twenty minutes, otherwise Japanese warplanes flying in from the north will surround the Hengshan Type 1.

He then began to choose a target.

(End of this chapter)