Chapter 77: Zero War Crisis
Although the 38th Division was dispatched to the south to rescue the Kawabata and Shimamura detachments, due to the Chinese side's bombing of the Xuchang-Xinyang section of the Pinghan Railway and the destruction of the roads along the railway, the Matsuda detachment was unable to rush to the Wuyang front immediately. Therefore, in fact, the first wave of Japanese reinforcements was the 96th Land Attack Plane of the First Joint Air Force of the Naval Aviation, which took off urgently from Xinyang Airport.
Although ordered as a land attack aircraft, the Type 96 Land Attack was actually a naval-developed aircraft.
As early as the 1930s, the Japanese Navy was planning to go to war with Britain and the United States in the future.
The Japanese Navy believed that the navy must have a long-range, shore-based large bomber that could fly directly to important bases deep behind enemy lines when a war broke out, and use torpedoes and bombs to attack enemy ships, ports, factories, airports and other important facilities, striving to significantly weaken the enemy's strength before the decisive battle between the two main forces, so that its main fleet could successfully defeat the severely weakened enemy in the decisive battle.
So in 1934, the Japanese Navy proposed a development task for 9 medium-sized land attack aircraft, requiring that the aircraft be able to bomb land and sea targets 1,500 kilometers away with bombs and torpedoes, and have the flight speed of fighter jets at the time.
According to the mission statement drawn up by the Japanese Navy, Mitsubishi Corporation developed the G3M experimental aircraft in 1935, which had a retractable landing gear to reduce flight resistance, a single wing, and an all-metal single-hull structure.
The G3M passed the navy's acceptance in 1936 and was officially named the Type 96 land-based medium attack aircraft.
The maximum take-off weight of the Type 96 Land Attack Plane is 7642kg, the maximum speed is 350km/h, the maximum ceiling is 7500m, and it can cruise 4000km in one direction with 7 passengers and 800kg of bombs or an aerial torpedo. In addition, it has 3 7.7mm rotary machine guns for self-defense.
The Type 96 land attack aircraft first appeared in China's Battle of Songhu, and thereafter wreaked havoc on the battlefields of central and southern China. However, in 1940, the Type 96 carrier-based fighter that escorted it had insufficient range. As a result, it was damaged from time to time during the bombing of Nanjing, Wuhu, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Changsha, and Guiyang. Its bombing of Chongqing and Chengdu was more like suicide. Therefore, like the Type 97 heavy bomber of the Japanese Army Aviation, it was basically nowhere to be seen in the northwest airspace.
However, with the arrival of the first batch of twelve Japanese test warships in Wuhan in July 1940, the 96-land attack began to become rampant again.
Unfortunately for the Japanese, however, the radar early warning network in the northwest had already been built at that time.
Therefore, even though the Sheng Long Kai and Ying Long A equipped by the Sixth Air Force of the Northwest Air Force were no match for the Zero fighter, the Northwest Air Force could still use small groups of aircraft to intercept layer by layer, luring and attracting the tactic of the Twelve Test Carrier Battle far away from the bomber group, exposing the Type 96 land attack aircraft with extremely weak self-defense capabilities and suffering heavy blows from subsequent Chinese fighter planes.
Even if the 96th Land Attack Force escaped the interception of the Northwest Air Force and reached the bombing airspace, they were faced with the dense artillery fire of the Northwest Army's 88mm Flak36-like anti-aircraft guns with a maximum firing altitude of 10,350m, and the 40mm M34/36-like anti-aircraft guns with a firing altitude of 6,500m to 7,200m, which were produced by the Swedish Bofors Company under license to the Northwest. The 96th Land Attack Forces, which were completely within the enemy's range, could not bomb with peace of mind, let alone have any accuracy.
Therefore, after some back and forth, the Japanese realized that bombing Chongqing and Chengdu was a thankless task, so the targets of the bombing shifted to large and medium-sized cities in the rear controlled by the Kuomintang, such as Guiyang, Changsha, Kunming, Guilin, and Liuzhou.
Of course, in addition to the bombing of Fangcheng, Yexian and Wuyang areas by the First Combined Air Force composed of the Kanoya and Kaohsiung air forces, the Second Combined Air Force equipped with Type 96 and Type 99 carrier-based bombers was also ordered to provide air assistance to the Osaka Division after the clouds densely covering northwestern Hubei dissipated.
The full name of the Type 96 carrier-based bomber is the Type 96 rapid-dive bomber. "Bomb" is the Chinese character for the word "bombing" in Japanese, and rapid-dive bomber means dive bombing. Its prototype is the He-50 designed and developed by the German Heinkel Company on behalf of the Japanese Navy.
However, the He-50 was originally a seaplane version, and due to the float design, the Japanese were not satisfied with its speed and stability.
However, it was unexpected that the performance of the land-based version after the pontoons were removed was very good, so Japan's Aichi Company was introduced to this modified model called He-66. After a lot of copying, it was officially named Aichi Type 94 carrier-based bomber in December 1934.
Starting from 1935, the Japanese naval aviation replaced the original 580 horsepower Nakajima "Kotobuki" Type 2 modified 1 radial air-cooled engine with a more powerful 660 horsepower Nakajima "Hikari" Type 1 radial air-cooled engine, thereby increasing the speed to 307km/h. As a result, this model was officially renamed Type 96 carrier-based bomber.
The Type 96 carrier-borne bomber also played a huge role in the Chinese battlefield after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. However, like the Type 94 carrier-borne bomber, it was an old-fashioned biplane aircraft with fixed landing gear. It could neither meet the growing needs of the Japanese naval aviation nor fight against China's new fighter aircraft.
Therefore, as early as May 1936, the Naval Aviation proposed to study the "Eleventh Test Ship-Bomb" with an all-metal, single-wing structure, a cruising speed of 160 knots and a range of 800km. The Aichi Company, which had made great profits in the production of Type 94 and Type 96 ship-bombs, repeated the same trick.
It is based on the He-70 monoplane transport aircraft introduced by Heinkel Company (therefore, it also has a blood relationship with the Yinglong produced in Northwest China), and borrowed the monoplane, semi-monocoque fuselage structure, elliptical wing and double-spar main wing.
However, the conservative chief designer Gomei Tokuichiro still retained the fixed landing gear to ensure the structural strength of the aircraft to prevent it from disintegrating in the air during a dive. At the same time, dive brake flaps were installed under both sides of the main wing to increase stability during a dive.
In November 1939, this type of aircraft was officially put into service by the Naval Aviation due to its excellent performance of the 1,000-horsepower Mitsubishi "Venus" 43 radial air-cooled engine.
Therefore, the Type 99 carrier-borne bomber can reach a speed of 381.5km/h, and with one 250kg bomb and two 60kg bombs, its maximum one-way range can reach 1,820km.
It also has certain combat capabilities after performing bombing missions. It can be said that except for the American SBD Dauntless dive bomber at the time, no other country had a carrier-based dive bomber with the same performance that could be compared with it.
The rainy weather on the southern front not only blocked the Japanese Navy's Second Combined Air Force, but also hindered the Northwest Air Force's support for Liu Duoquan's First Corps, Sun Lianzhong's Nineteenth Army, Fu Zuoyi's Fourth Corps and other units.
Therefore, the Nanyang Independent Air Force, which was able to concentrate its strength, first showed its prowess on the Fangcheng front.
"Chief of Staff Bai, the Lord has always instructed us to fight with our brains. We should not just fight with the Japanese who have stronger industrial manufacturing capabilities by attrition. We should use the upper echelons against the lower echelons."
In the command room of Nanyang Shiqiao Airport, Colonel Hou Dong and Hou Zigang, who had just taken over as commander of the Nanyang Independent Air Force, obviously had different opinions on the order previously issued by Lieutenant Colonel Bai Jingfeng, chief of staff of the Independent Air Force.
"Besides, Nanyang is not like Sichuan, Yishan, and Longnan. There is no clairvoyance system here. We cannot stop the enemy before they bomb."
"I understand the commander's instructions, but the front-line troops do not have the ability to interfere with the Japanese planes' high-altitude bombing."
Bai Jingfeng, who came from the Northeast Air Force, argued with reason.
"If we allow the front-line troops to suffer losses in the air raid, it will not be a good thing for our army to completely annihilate the Third Division."
Bai Jingfeng emphasized.
"Due to the close-range support, the pursuer unit does not need to escort the bomber unit. Now that it is free, it should actively cruise and detect and block enemy bombing during the cruise."
Hou Dong was furious when he heard Bai Jingfeng refute his previous argument, but Bai Jingfeng was the chief of staff after all, so he couldn't scold him like an ordinary subordinate, so he could only patiently do his job: "As far as I know, although the Nanyang Independent Air Force has some German-made BF109s and BF110s, most of them have been flying for several years, the engines are seriously worn out, and there are not many spare parts left. How can they easily waste flying time for cruising?"
This is one of them: "Also, I cannot accept your argument that close support does not require fighters to be assigned to the bomber units. Facts have proven that the losses of the Japanese bomber units in the early days were due to the lack of escort. The speed of the bombers is not comparable to that of the fighters. Without the clairvoyance system, how can you guarantee that the bomber units will not collide with the Japanese fighter fleet? To put it bluntly, you are murdering your comrades."
Bai Jingfeng's face flushed red all of a sudden: "Commander, I think all these reasons are because you are worried that the BF109 cannot compete with the main Japanese fighter planes, so you are passively avoiding the battle."
Hou Zigang was so angry that his nose was not a nose and his eyes were not eyes, but there was nothing he could do. Who made him put a hat on others just now? It was normal for Bai Jingfeng to put another hat on him now: "You can say that I am passively avoiding the battle, but I want to remind you, Chief of Staff Bai, the primary mission of the Nanyang Independent Air Force is to provide ground support, delay the arrival of Japanese reinforcements, and destroy the Japanese garrison positions to ensure that the Seventh Army successfully eliminates the three surrounded Japanese troops. This is the fundamental mission, and you can't lose sight of the main goal."
Bai Jingfeng opened his mouth to argue, but at this moment, a staff officer shouted outside the door: "Commander, Chief of Staff! Urgent military information."
No matter how big the conflict between the two was, they had to give in to the war. Therefore, Bai Jingfeng opened the door and saw the staff officer who walked in with a serious expression: "Luxing 3rd Squadron urgently reports that a large group of Japanese aircraft were found in the airspace southwest of Xinyang, moving in the northwest direction. The current tracking results are 12 Zero fighters, 7 Type 96 carrier fighters, and 10 Type 96 land attack aircraft. The target is probably the Fangcheng front line."
"Oh shit."
Hou Zigang counted with his fingers and felt something was wrong.
"In 15 to 20 minutes at most, the Japanese will arrive at the bombing area. How many fighter planes are there on standby at the base?"
Bai Jingfeng's face turned pale. "Luxing Team still has 2 squadrons with 4 Thang Long Kai, Fuxing Team still has 3 squadrons with 6 BF 109, and Suixing Team still has half of them at home."
The Jupiter Squadron was equipped with the BF110, but sending this type of fighter-bomber to the battlefield would be like sending food to the Zero Fighter. Therefore, Hou Zigang selectively forgot Bai Jingfeng's report: "Order the Luxing Squadron and the Fuxing Squadron to take off in batches. The Japanese are used to our losses, so we may not be able to disperse them. So we have to fight hard this time. All the fighter planes that take off will be assembled and divided into two batches to go to the war zone. I will take off personally to command them."
"Commander, let me go."
Bai Jingfeng grabbed Hou Dong.
"You're new here and you don't have much experience, so I'll go up and you can give the orders from below."
Having said that, Bai Jingfeng did not give Hou Zigang a chance to refuse and rushed out first. Before leaving the door, he turned back.
"Commander, perhaps you are right. We should leave behind a contingency force."
"You can't say it's all wrong, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to spot the enemy plane in advance this time."
Hou Zigang nodded at Bai Jingfeng.
"Come back alive, and we'll discuss this again then."
