mesbooks Chapter 562: Air Battle of Xuzhou
Chapter 562: Air Battle of Xuzhou
Jinan Airport,
After five consecutive days of almost 24-hour air transport,
The airport has stored 300 tons of fuel and a batch of various bombs and supplies!
Shen Hui can finally take action!
As the 1nd Flight Squadron Leader of the 2st Air Attack Group,
Shen Hui’s mission is to seize air supremacy in the area north of the Yangtze River, consume the Kuomintang Air Force’s manpower, and at the same time train pilots!
There are currently 331 pilots and 275 ground crew members stationed at the entire Jinan Airport!
而第2飞行大队在济南机场部署了AR96侦察机8架，ME262战斗机27架！对于这种喷气式战斗机来说，作战半径只有550公里，也只能部署在济南！
The problem now is that the production of aircraft cannot keep up with consumption, and there are far more pilots than aircraft. Many pilots are clamoring to go to the front line!
Shen Hui plans to launch a surprise air strike on Xuzhou Airport today. In the past few days, the Huaye side has reported many times that planes at Xuzhou Airport take off every day to bomb and attack troops. And according to reconnaissance, there are more than 50 enemy planes at Xuzhou Airport. This is definitely a target worth an air strike!
He divided the planes in Jinan into two formations, each consisting of two reconnaissance planes and 2 fighters. At the same time, he transferred 12 B10 bombers from the second squadron from Jinzhou Airport!
At 8 o'clock in the morning, after a brief mobilization, planes took off the runway one after another and flew towards Xuzhou!
The first formation was led by fighter squadron leader Gao Bangming. Jinan is very close to Xuzhou. Only 40 minutes after takeoff, they arrived over Xuzhou. Moreover, the formation's twelve fighters had climbed to an altitude of 9000 meters!
In air combat, occupying high altitude means occupying a favorable position, which makes it easier to take the initiative!
A voice soon came from Gao Bangming's earphones.
"Captain, we have spotted enemy aircraft at 5000 o'clock, approximately meters above the ground to the left. Twenty-one of them!"
"Dive free attack!" Gao Bangming had a smile on his face, but he was very happy in his heart!
The scream of the engines tore through the clouds. The 12 ME-262 jet planes in the formation dived down from an altitude of 9000 meters like a silver lightning, and the Junkers jet engines under the wings continuously spewed out blue-gray tail flames.
Below the clouds, a group of B-24 bombers from Chiang Kai-shek's Air Force was slowly passing through the gaps in the clouds, while the ten escorting P-51D "Mustang" fighters were hovering on its flanks like a swarm of bees.
Gao Bangming tilted his head and looked over. These Jiang Jun planes were still climbing. It seemed that they had just taken off from Xuzhou Airport.
Twelve fighter planes, like birds of prey, suddenly dived downwards at an astonishing speed! They were like arrows shot from a bow, cutting through the sky with fierce momentum.
As the distance to the target continued to shorten, the tense atmosphere became more and more serious. The gun muzzles of the fighter planes began to spit out angry flames, and a string of shells whizzed out like raindrops. These shells dragged long tails of flames, streaking dazzling tracks in the gray sky, like burning chains of fire.
Instantly, deafening explosions rang out on the battlefield. Three fighters and two bombers were hit by intensive artillery fire and instantly caught fire. Thick smoke billowed out of the fuselages, and they were like birds that had lost control, pulling long black smoke columns and staggering towards the ground.
The Kuomintang army's planes began to accelerate and turn to evade!
The two sides immediately started a melee!
While the 1st formation was fighting fiercely, the 2nd formation rushed towards Xuzhou Airport.
When they arrived above the airport, there were still more than twenty planes parked on the runway!
On the ground, the Kuomintang pilots ran towards the plane in panic, trying to get it into the air quickly!
Four reconnaissance planes dived down first, using 12.7mm aviation machine guns to fiercely fire at the enemy planes on the runway!
Dense bullets poured down like raindrops. The enemy planes on the runway were instantly covered in flames and smoke, and metal fragments flew everywhere.
The bullets created dusty gullies on the runway, and the fuselage of the enemy plane was riddled with holes and billowing black smoke. The entire airport runway fell into chaos and panic, and the enemy pilots quickly hid in the air-raid shelter with their heads in their hands!
The rest of the fighter planes circled in the air, guarding the sky to prevent any other enemy planes from making sneak attacks!
At this moment, there was another buzzing sound in the air.
The ten bombers that took off from Jinzhou Airport finally arrived over the airport.
The bomber quickly locked onto the ground target.
The hatch opened and a string of bombs were thrown out!
On the runway, a devastating explosion sounded!
The entire airport was soon engulfed in flames!
On the ground, Major General Xu Kang, director of the Xuzhou Air Force Command, looked pale. As one of the three major air force commands in the country, the Xuzhou Air Force Command has a fighter squadron, a bomber squadron, a fighter squadron and a reconnaissance squadron under its jurisdiction, and manages six airports including Xuzhou and Nanjing!
However, Xu Kang should bear the main responsibility for today's air strike, because a US-aid detection radar with a detection range of 150 kilometers was installed on Yunlong Mountain near the airport!
However, when the radar unit reported that a group of planes were flying from the north, Xu Kang made a misjudgment. He thought it was a group of planes from the Peking Air Force Command. He even ordered his men to communicate and contact the Peking Command to confirm!
Because he had no idea that the Communist Air Force had already entered Jinan!
When the Beiping Command Post finally confirmed that the aircraft were not sent by them, Xu Kang felt something was wrong and hurriedly ordered the planes at the airport to take off to meet the enemy.
But it's too late now!
After the plane took off, it was discovered by Communist planes before it climbed into position!
Xu Kang's face was pale, as pale as a piece of thin paper, lifeless. Although it was early winter and the cold air was everywhere, beads of sweat kept rolling down his forehead, one after another, like beads that had broken off the string.
He held the report tightly in his shaking hands, staring at the words on it, his body shaking uncontrollably. Every word in the report hit him hard in the heart like a heavy hammer, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
Today, the Xuzhou Air Force Command suffered a devastating blow, including the air battle, and lost as many as 45 aircraft of various types! And less than ten aircraft successfully escaped!
This number was like a bolt from the blue, striking Xu Kang's soul. You know, the entire KMT Air Force only had a total of more than 500 aircraft that could fly normally. But on this day, in the area he was responsible for, nearly one-tenth of them were lost at once! This was undoubtedly a double blow to the already tight KMT Air Force.
Xu Kang's hand reached for the pistol at his waist with difficulty. He opened the holster with trembling hands, took out the pistol and pointed it at his temple.
After hesitating for a while, he finally pulled the trigger!
After a crisp gunshot, a body was lying on the ground! Perhaps, death was the best relief for him!