Chapter 32: Aerial Entanglement (Vote and Collect)
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Sun Xiang descended from the plane and refueled. The airport was bustling with activity, ground crew members were nervously fueling and loading ammunition onto fighter jets and bombers that were about to take off.
Fifteen minutes later, a large number of planes took off from Madrid, which was the first time Sun Xiang saw such a large mixed fleet in Spain, 25 I-15s and 20 SB-2 bombers.
Most of the drivers were Soviets, and the Russian coming out of the radio made Sun Xiang's head ache. Except for the laughter, he couldn't understand anything else, which really made him rack his brains.
As the bombing was carried out in daylight, planes flew as high as possible to avoid enemy detection and 30 minutes later the planes arrived over the target.
Fighter planes circled on high alert, bombers poured out in a steady stream, and Sun Xiang watched as 20 bombers dropped bombs at ground targets in an impressive display.
The ground shook with continuous explosions, flames shot up in all directions, and black smoke covered the earth. This is a shocking scene that even Hollywood blockbusters can't replicate. Originally, there were still sounds of gunfire on the ground, but as soon as the bombers dropped their bombs, nothing could be heard anymore. It seems that bombers were indeed the decisive force of the air force in World War II! With such intense bombing, it's no wonder that during the Battle of Britain, London was almost flattened, it's really too terrifying.
The bombing is complete, and even the fighter jets don't need to go back and strafe with machine guns. The entire ground battlefield is charred black. Sun Xiang returns with a complex mood, accompanied by the aircraft group. This mission has not even allowed the fighter jet group to fire a single bullet so far.
Unfortunately, such smoothness was abnormal. Less than 2 minutes after the return flight, as many as 30 CR.32 Arrow planes emerged from the clouds.
This sudden blow left Sun Xiang with no way out, as the language barrier made it impossible for him to inform his teammates of the enemy's situation, and he could only prepare himself to meet the enemy ahead of time.
Fortunately, among these Soviet soldiers, there were some astute people who saw Sun Xiang's plane pulling up in altitude and immediately followed him in pulling up in altitude. After all, they also knew that Sun Xiang was the current star of aerial combat in Madrid.
This time in the encounter battle, the Republican army was not without resistance. The Soviet SB-2 bombers had a strong survival ability, they were very fast, and when they saw the enemy attack, they did not hesitate to return directly.
Relieved of the burden of bomber escort, I-15 squadron encountered a newly formed Italian Air Corps, 16th "Cricket" Group, consisting of three squadrons: 24th, 25th and 26th Squadrons, led by Major Tarsisani.
Interestingly, Joaquín García Morato, the Spanish ace who had been defeated twice by Sun Shan in aerial combat, was also in this squadron. He led the famous "Blue Patrol" squadron, an all-Spanish flying unit.
The dark mass of planes swooping down from the sky is indeed very visually impactful, the CR·32 arrow-type fighter can be said to be the absolute backbone of the anti-government forces in the Spanish Civil War, the pride of Italy, compared with the I-15 and I-16, the firepower system of this plane has been a headache for Madrid, the 12.7mm machine gun on their planes has a longer range than the Soviet-made planes' 7.6mm.
So before the I-15 squadron had even entered range, the opposing cluster had already begun dense fire.
Sun Xiang and more than a dozen planes following him struggled to gain altitude, two of the planes that had not reacted before were already hit by intense gunfire, the explosion sounded like it suddenly awakened the remaining planes, which began to frantically climb and counterattack.
Quick-reacting Sun Xiang and others also manipulated the plane to kill into the enemy's machine group. As soon as the opponent's plane entered the shooting range of its own machine gun, it pressed the machine gun firing button without hesitation, and the trajectory of bullets in the sky was clearly visible like fireworks!
At this time of group air combat, it is even more impossible to expose the back to the opponent. The four 7.6mm guns on Sun Xiang's aircraft seat sprayed out dazzling flames. An enemy CR·32 that had just finished shooting and was about to evade was hit, its engine caught fire, and it immediately dived towards the ground.
Behind him, Yi-15 also made a gain. Sun Xiang took advantage of his smaller turning radius and made a rapid inside cut, biting onto an enemy plane and opening fire, watching as the plane was hit and fell in flames.
Sun Xiang's series of reflections and achievements suddenly caught the attention of the enemy commander, Major Tarsicio Fagnani, who immediately abandoned his target and turned to pursue Sun Xiang.
Sun Xiang, who had already learned of this motive from the virtual screen in front of him, ignored the pursuit from behind and took out his tactics to deal with Lieutenant Ryder. A set of strange flight routes always made it impossible for Farniani's aiming circle to lock onto himself. Relying on the agility of his own plane, he shot down another enemy plane that appeared in his aiming circle.
Fania's eyes were blazing with fury as she chased after Sun Xiang!! However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hit Sun Xiang. Several times, she almost bit him, but he dodged her with his strange flight path.
Sun Xiang, with an airplane behind him, almost completely squeezed out the maneuverability of his own plane. When performing some tactical movements, you could even hear the sound of "Ka La Ka La" from the plane! Constantly shaking the fuselage irregularly, looking for all possible targets to attack, soon the third and fourth planes were shot down, and the balance of victory was gradually restored.
The Soviet pilot's blood was stirred up, and the Russian captain with a big beard led the I-15 squadron into battle. When he saw one of his own planes being shot down, he rammed his own plane into the pursuing CR.32!!!
This desperate and crazy fighting method forced the plane to abandon its almost-won victory. Soon, the pilots of the I-15 squadron discovered an urgent problem!
They were on an escort mission, the I-15 aircraft had a range of only 470KM! Flying to the Cordoba area almost consumed half of their fuel, and more than ten minutes of air combat left them with less than half of their fuel. The fuel was not enough to support them to finish this air battle and return!!
The enemy's 16th "Cockroach" Aviation Regiment obviously wanted to take advantage of this, as the range determined victory in a situation where aircraft performance was not superior, and dogfighting would force the I-15 into disarray.
Sun Xiang had to retreat while fighting after shooting down the 4th plane, no one expected to encounter such a stubborn sniper! Listening to the Russian roar on the wireless radio, Sun Xiang was anxious and confused.
Fortunately, the brave Russian commander also adopted Sun Xiang's strategy of fighting and retreating, and the front line slowly moved from the enemy-occupied area towards Madrid. Planes were occasionally shot down in the sky. Under the relentless pursuit of CR.32, the loss ratio of both sides changed again, with 13 I-15s and 19 CR.32s remaining.
Sun Xiang due to previously maintaining a mysterious plane for some time, fuel consumption is greater compared to his teammates.
Pennsylvania finally could not withstand the pressure, put down Xiang Sun and turned to attack other targets.
Sun Xiang also launched a full-scale attack in time, and after both sides lost two more planes, the 16th Squadron was the first to bear the loss and choose to retreat. The losses in this air battle were too great, with both sides losing more than ten fighter jets, and the losses exceeded 50%!! Moreover, in the final stage, the Russian's crazy tactics were also one of the reasons for the enemy's choice to retreat.
