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Text Chapter 765: Wild Waves in the South China Sea (7)

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    September 14, 1938, Balikpapan, East Borneo.

    Second Lieutenant Sasaki got into the cabin of the Type 94 biplane reconnaissance aircraft. As soon as he sandwiched the aerial photo of his hometown Osaka in the gap of the speedometer, the aviation major on the deck ordered the rotation of the ejection arm.  The swinging force at the moment when the robotic arm was unhooked caused the photo to fall.  "Baga." Second Lieutenant Sasaki cursed secretly. He is a very superstitious person. Every time he flies, he must put this photo of his hometown that he took at the front before taking off.

    When he leaned over to pick up the photos and clipped them again, the two comrades also got into the cabin.  When the motor started and the propellers rotated rapidly, the fighter jet under its butt felt like it had been kicked. With the help of the spring-loaded mechanical catapult, it quickly rushed into the void.  Ejection from a warship is more dangerous than an aircraft carrier. Fortunately, Sasaki is an experienced pilot. He has had this experience dozens of times, so he jerked the control stick at the moment of ejection. The lift provided by the wings made the 94th Ship Scout almost touch the sea surface.  Flying up.

    As soon as he got into the sky, he temporarily forgot about the slide of the photo, because he liked the feeling of flying.  Of course, he didn't like this slow, two-wing, three-seater water reconnaissance aircraft. Unfortunately, if he hadn't been kicked out to fly a reconnaissance aircraft with a narrow score difference at Etajima Navigation Academy, he would have become a member of the elite aircraft carrier club now.  Fortunately, with the rapid expansion of the Japanese Air Force, the Third Air Force has put him on the list of backup pilots.

    After the reconnaissance plane slowly climbed to an altitude of 1,000 meters, its vision suddenly became clear.  The mothership Kaohsiung heavy cruiser is cruising seven nautical miles away from the harbor. The black spot twenty nautical miles to the west is the Atago heavy cruiser patrolling the Makassar Strait to protect the flanks of the oil fields. Between the two heavy cruisers, there is  It was accompanied by several destroyers.

    As a fleet sailed out of Balikpapan Port, Second Lieutenant Sasaki couldn't help but laugh and talk loudly with his two companions behind him. They were three British-Dutch Shell ships captured by the Marines disguised as Indonesian guerrillas after the raid on Balikpapan.  tanker and two British merchant ships.  They had been filled with oil and cargo a few days ago, but because the British and Dutch crews refused to cooperate, it was not until today that seamen were drawn from passing Japanese merchant ships to sail them back home.  Sasaki and his partners were very excited, because these five ships and the remaining 220,000 tons of various captured ships would soon be incorporated into the ocean-going fleet of the Empire of Japan, and they would serve His Majesty the Emperor in opening up new territories.

    After watching the fleet leave, Sasaki flew about 45 kilometers west along Balikpapan Bay, seeing the oil storage tanks in the harbor, the long oil pipelines, and the refineries along the way.  They all made him grin from ear to ear. When dozens of nodding oil pumps appeared, he immediately descended. He and his partners excitedly opened the hatch and waved to the Marines and Indonesian guerrillas stationed on the ground.

    After spinning three times in a row, Sasaki pulled up the plane still unsatisfied.  But when the plane jumped into the sky again, a blue figure suddenly broke into the green sea like an elephant.

    "It's China's large water reconnaissance aircraft!"

    Behind him, the lookout who had just been transferred from Hokkaido was a little nervous and shouted to remind the machine gunner who was infected by him and immediately turned his gun.  Sasaki also quickly flew towards the opponent.  As the distance got closer and closer, the lookout who saw the Chinese maritime aircraft for the first time took out his camera and took a picture of this large, double-engine water reconnaissance aircraft with a high single wing and a beautiful streamlined appearance. He was going to take it back to the Naval Intelligence Department for analysis.  .

    But this time his efforts were definitely in vain.  Because Sasaki has encountered this large reconnaissance aircraft many times and taken countless photos.  The Ministry of Navy has also already investigated clearly that this is a Feilian-1 water reconnaissance aircraft (can be regarded as a 1,600-horsepower PBY), nicknamed "Blue Swan", that was installed at the same time by the Chinese Navy and National Guard.  Built by Chengdu Sikorsky Aircraft Company.  Upper monoplane, two radial engines, 22 meters long.  The wing is 33 meters wide, the ship-shaped fuselage, the speed is about 340 kilometers per hour, and it is equipped with four machine guns. The crew is unknown, the ceiling is unknown, and the load is unknown, but the range is very large. According to analysis, it is likely to exceed 4,000 kilometers.

    Without looking at the aircraft emblem, Sasaki knew that this "Blue Swan" came from the Natuna base, because only Natuna in Southeast Asia has 16 of these "Blue Swans" that are the envy of all Japanese pilots. It is said that aircraft carrier aviation  The elites in the team have begun to bet on who can shoot down one first.  But Sasaki hasn't thought about shooting down his opponent yet, because Japan and China are not at war, and this is not Japanese airspace, let alone Baga!  The maximum speed of the 94th Ship Scout is only 270 kilometers/hour, and the opponent's speed is at least 340 kilometers/hour. Even if you want to shoot it down, you can't catch up!  As if to deliberately annoy him, the "Blue Swan" on the opposite side suddenly turned around and flew towards this side after seeing the reconnaissance of the 94th ship. Its huge fuselage was approaching quickly like a hill.

    "Baga! Damn the designer, he actually designed the reconnaissance plane to be slower than a large seaplane!" Sasaki quickly tilted the control stick to the left, trying to distance himself to avoid a collision, knowing that he and the other party would be killed first if they were mounted.  Seeing Sasaki avoid it, Blue Swan was obviously even more proud, shaking its big bellyIt flew south by the 94th ship.  This kind of provocation made Sasaki grit his teeth with hatred. If he had done it before, he would have never wanted to chase him because he couldn't catch up.  But now, in order to protect the oil field and find out the other party's motives, we have to follow him even if the speed is slow.

    The "Blue Swan" in front seemed to be deliberately playing tricks. Whenever it used its speed to get away for a while, it would slow down and circle, pretending to break through Sasaki's interception and go to Balikpapan for reconnaissance. However, when Second Lieutenant Sasaki blocked it regardless of his own safety, another  Accelerate south.  In this way, Sasaki's 94th ship reconnaissance was seventy kilometers away from Balikpapan without knowing it.

    This distance would only take ten minutes of acceleration for the Ninety-Fourth Ship Scout, but it prevented Sasaki from seeing the huge Phoenix bomber group hiding in the high-altitude white clouds.

    116 H-7s flew straight across West Borneo along the rainforest belt north of Singkawang in West Borneo. To ensure that they were not exposed as much as possible, the fleet was kept at an altitude of 6,500 meters. The white clouds provided good cover for the brigade.  But no matter how good the cover was, it could not eliminate the noise of the propellers. When the fleet was about to arrive in Balikpapan, birds were flying around the rainforest around the oil field, and the whole sky was filled with a buzzing noise that penetrated into the mind.

    "Fleet!"

    "Baga! Anti-aircraft guns."

    The Kaohsiung, which had been cruising in the open sea, was the first to discover the aircraft group. The terrifying flowing metal cloud made the Kaohsiung extremely nervous. Captain Takahashi Kazumatsu immediately issued an order to approach the harbor and prepare for air defense warfare.  It has to be said that the quality and reaction speed of the Japanese navy are indeed very fast, but no matter how fast it is, it cannot be compared to the H-7 which has begun to dive at a small angle.

    After a five-minute steep dive of 1,000 meters, the Phoenix brigade quickly arrived at the first bombing target, over the harbor oil depot.  At this time, no matter how stupid you are, you will know the purpose of these bombers!  "Fire!" Captain Takahashi did not hesitate.  Even though he has seen the Chinese Air Force logo on these new bombers, every Imperial Navy officer is willing to pay his life for the Balikpapan oil field.

    ? 4 (one side) 120mm anti-aircraft guns opened fire first, and black smoke immediately appeared in the sky.  However, the Kaohsiung has always believed that even if there is a sneak attack, it should come from the sea, so the destroyers are scattered 20 nautical miles away on guard, and it is 7 nautical miles away from the harbor.  This distance is already the maximum range of the 120mm anti-aircraft gun, so the shells spread very widely after being fired. If there are not enough numbers, the momentum is scary but the actual effect is not at all.

    As soon as the cannon fired, the six destroyers accelerated back.  Even Sasaki, who was attracted and entangled by the "Blue Swan" in the distance, saw the black smoke, and suddenly his eyes were bloodshot and he rushed back like crazy!  "Oil field! That's the empire's oil field! It's the navy's oil field! Baga." Sasaki shouted hysterically, but the 94th ship under him was only so fast, and he could only watch the first batch of eight H-7s open their bomb bays.  , throwing a string of black bombs from under the belly of the plane.

    The H-7 is a four-engine heavy bomber that was finalized last year. It has a maximum unladen range of 4,860 kilometers, a cruising speed of 280 kilometers per hour, a maximum speed of 473 kilometers, and a flight distance reduced to 2,300 kilometers when the maximum bomb load is 10 tons.  Equipped with 10 12.7mm heavy machine guns.  This kind of heavy bombardment, which is comparable to the already installed American B17 bombers, is destined to be shocking when it debuts for the first time!

    With the cooperation of mechanical computers and the guidance of the bombing fire control sight, which the soldiers nicknamed the "demon mirror", strings of bombs began to fall on the unsuspecting Balikpapan Port.  In order to ensure the destruction of the target, in this mission, each H-7 was loaded with 38 250 kilogram bombs (less than ten tons because there are gaps between the bomb racks, the more the bombs are, the more tonnage will be consumed).  And they are all a mixture of high-explosive bombs and incendiary bombs.

    Even with advanced sights, the accuracy of high-altitude bombing was still frighteningly low. Half of the bombs dropped by the first eight bombers fell into the sea.  The rest did not hit the oil depot.  However, the bombs that exploded on the shore still caused terrible damage. Large areas of buildings near the oil depot collapsed, and the oil pipeline leading to the refinery was bombed and then ignited by incendiary bombs.

    Fortunately, heavy bombers do not rely on accuracy, and there is no need for luck in carpet bombing. So when Second Lieutenant Sasaki approached, all six oil depots had been hit by bombs falling like raindrops.  Especially the No. 4 oil depot, because it was not full, the inside of the high-pressure oil tank was full of oil and gas mixture, and a violent explosion occurred after two incendiary bombs penetrated the top!  Amidst the loud noise, the outer wall of the oil depot was more brittle than an egg shell, the mushroom cloud rolled up to a height of more than 700 meters, and the air waves generated overturned everything within three kilometers.

    After the oil depot was destroyed, a large amount of flaming oil rushed into the sea, forcing Captain Takahashi to stop advancing.  Without the threat of heavy patrols of anti-aircraft artillery, the remaining bombers began to bombard refineries and oil fields indiscriminately.  The 250-kilometer high-explosive bomb has a full charge of 60 kilograms of TNT, and the killing radius for unprotected personnel reaches 550 meters. Whether it is a building or a steel refinery, as long as it hits one, it will be destroyed.  What's even more annoying is that because the refinery and oil fields are deep in the bay, the deep-draft Kaohsiung did not survive.Rushing into a shallow bay, even a destroyer might be engulfed by the sea of ??oil fire on the sea.

    "Baga." Second Lieutenant Sasaki finally came back, driving the 94th Ship Scout to bravely rush towards the enemy who was destroying the empire's property.  The two 7.7mm aviation machine guns on the front of the aircraft were aimed at a bomber that had dropped bombs and fired fiercely. But what was annoying was that the bullets clearly hit the wings, but there was only a chance of black smoke coming out, and there was no sign of it falling.  Instead, the bullet fired by the opponent almost hit him.

    Second Lieutenant Sasaki gritted his teeth and flew up and down in an attempt to rush into the fleet, but he was quickly disappointed.  The bombers that had dropped their bombs had formed a dense box formation to protect the wings of their comrades who continued to drop bombs. When Sasaki tried to attack again, dozens of 12.7 mm heavy machine guns fired at him violently at the same time.

    Ten seconds, thousands of semi-armor-piercing incendiary bombs!  The 94th Ship Detective fell headlong.

    The expected air threat did not appear. The Japanese heavy patrol that threatened the most was far away from the bay and could not enter. The hurried Japanese Marines on the ground could not even capture the fighter plane. Huang Guangrui quickly ordered the last 46 bombers to lower to 1,500 meters.  bomb.

    This height also means that Balikpapan is completely finished!  46 bombers lowered their altitude and dropped bombs in rows. From a high altitude, the entire ground was covered with orange fireballs and smoke columns. The most terrifying thing was the incendiary bombs. Oil rushed out from the damaged oil pump mouth and was then ignited.  , like a dozen fire dragons emerging from the ground, the flames spraying up to a hundred meters high.

    The terrible flames and thick smoke made it impossible for the Japanese Marines to rescue, and the Indonesian troops were so frightened that they fled into the rainforest.  When the last bomber pulled up the formation and prepared to return, the Balikpapan Bay under its wings had become a flowing sea of ??fire. The flames and oil ignited the sea surface and burned a Japanese destroyer that bravely broke in but had no time to escape.  , the heavy cruiser Kaohsiung had to retreat 20 nautical miles away.

    The Japanese sailors on the deck were stunned. No one expected that a few hours ago they were cheering for the acquisition of a large oil field. They were glad that the British and Dutch were temporarily powerless and shouted long live the emperor. But a few hours later, the entire Balikpapan became a sea of ????fire.

    Cheeks, burning pain!  ¡­(To be continued.)
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