Chapter 72: The Pingjin Crisis!

  Sorry, got stuck in traffic today, just got back, uploaded a bit late

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  Twenty-seven bombers were shot down by Erik's team, four attack groups, each biting one bomber like a hyena tracking prey, refusing to give up until the goal was achieved, three planes alternated cover, main plane attacked, wingman covered, under the attack of 18 12.7mm machine guns, the three 7.7mm of G3M96 were completely useless.

  Andy destroyed the tail of an airplane and then coolly manipulated the control stick, causing the plane to dive at a slanting angle towards the leader of G3M96's squadron. Now Lieutenant Commander Tayanagi was in a very embarrassing situation. This was his squadron's second mission, and during their previous bombing raid on Nanjing, they hadn't even encountered any Chinese fighter planes. Lieutenant Commander Tayanagi had every reason to believe his country's propaganda that the Chinese Air Force was no match for the Empire of Japan - they were slow to react and had low combat effectiveness.

  Tianye Mu now most wants to go back to Japan and break the neck of the propaganda officer. Dammit, on one plane there are 6 12.7mm machine guns, flying speed is almost over 500km, pilots have undergone strict training, Tianye Mu hasn't even seen such a plane, dare they say their combat effectiveness is low? If it's like this then it's all low combat effectiveness, I also want to try it out.

  Gritting his teeth, he maneuvered the plane to dodge a shot. Every time he heard the machine gun fire, Tianye felt like someone was tightly grasping his heart in their hand. The plane didn't shake, and Tianye let out a long sigh of relief.

  17 bombers were shot down, and 10 more are still fleeing. Andy and Eric led four three-plane formations to continue the pursuit, which had now entered Japanese-occupied airspace. The bombers lowered their altitude in an attempt to shake off the F4U's pursuit with anti-aircraft fire, but upon descending, they discovered that their speed was slightly slower, a difference that would cost the Japanese bomber squadron dearly...

  "Come on! Rabbit's feet!" Eric roared, shoving the control stick forward, and the plane dived head-on into the Japanese formation.

  Tianye roared: "Quickly lower altitude!! Entered anti-aircraft artillery fire zone!" "Hey!" "Hey!"

  Several bombers descended to a lower altitude, and the situation was like a large truck and a small car competing in speed. No matter how hard the truck accelerated, it found that the small car was closely following behind it, unable to shake it off completely.

  The machine guns on the tail of the Japanese plane kept firing, but these machine guns could only bring some psychological comfort to the Japanese pilots, because basically the Chinese fighter planes were all outside the range of 7.7 and opened fire, and bombers couldn't engage in close combat with fighters.

  A Japanese pilot, driven to desperation, flew his bomber towards Erik, shouting "Long live the Emperor!!!" The sudden movement of the Japanese plane startled Erik, who hastily pulled up his aircraft. The two planes crossed paths, and the waiting Japanese gunner did not waste this opportunity created by life and courage. A burst of bullets hit Erik's plane, sparks flashing everywhere.

  "Shit!!!! Erik? Erik? Are you okay?" Andy yelled.

  "Drip...drip...drip..." A burst of static on the wireless radio.

  “FUCK！！！” Andy let out a loud curse, his eyes red with rage as he flew the plane towards the nearest Japanese aircraft, recklessly closing in on the enemy's machine gun range, biting down on the tail of the Japanese plane and refusing to let go! Bullets rained down on the Japanese plane, its rear half shredded like a sieve, a deafening explosion rocked the air as Andy detonated the 800KG bomb, the plane disintegrating in mid-air!

  "Avenge Eric!! Kill those Japanese monkeys!!" Andy bellowed.

  "Captain!? Look quickly at eleven o'clock!" Chris shouted.

  Andy turned his head to look at the sky, an F4U plane was dragging black smoke and barely flying in the air. Andy let out a sigh of relief, gritting his teeth and thinking, "That damned Eric scared me to death."

  Erik's face is now dark and gloomy, ever since he came to China, Erik has been invincible, thinking that except for a few people, most pilots' flying skills are not as good as his own. In the eastern land, he is one of the few who have air supremacy, his self-confidence has inflated infinitely, causing Erik to underestimate the courage and determination of the Japanese Air Force.

  In the battle, the side that loses courage will not be favored by the goddess of luck. In the face of the Japanese plane's crazy ramming, Erik was afraid, so he was hit in the radio and tail, fortunately the plane could still barely fly, dragging the broken plane, Erik gloomily withdrew from this aerial battle.

  It has to be said that this greatly boosted the morale of the Japanese army, and more Japanese planes chose to crash into enemy ships. However, losing the element of surprise and speed, the bombers' decision to ram was a mistake. Two planes were torn apart by fighter planes while turning back, and the Japanese mission to bomb Langfang ended in complete failure, with 20 bombers lost.

  Sun Xiang led 12 aircraft to engage in a dogfight with the Japanese Nakajima Ki-97, initially, it was hard to tell which side had more planes. After three minutes of fighting, four planes had already fallen. The commander of the Japanese forces, Lieutenant General Tokugawa Yoshitoshi, personally led the troops. During the bombing of Nanjing, due to Lt Gen Tokugawa's timely retreat, the air forces of both sides did not clash. This was his first confrontation with Sun Xiang!

  Tokugawa Yoshitoshi was well aware of Sun Xiang's position in the hearts of Chinese and American people, and if he could take down Sun Xiang this time, it would greatly boost the morale of the entire Japanese army!! This effect is immeasurable. With a mind made up, Tokugawa Yoshitoshi abandoned his bomber squadron without hesitation and merged with the Chinese aircraft to fight together. He led four planes to attack Sun Xiang directly.

  Sun Xiang didn't dare to slack off, this one move was extremely reasonable, the five planes sealed off Sun Xiang's flight path, and that strange perceptive power of his appeared again, the plane danced on its trajectory, narrowly avoiding machine gun bullets every time, the Japanese pilots were stunned!! The divine flying skills made people worship him with reverence!

  This feeling is great, it feels like being in control of everything. The slightest change in the enemy's movement would present to Sun Xiang the subsequent actions he was about to take, it was very magical, as if predicting the future. Sun Xiang's plane could always react before the opponent changed direction, giving people an illusion that his F4U was dancing with death.

  The two planes crossed each other, and Bogart shot down a Japanese plane. Noticing Sun Xiang's situation, he wanted to get closer to help, but unexpectedly, a string of bullets whizzed past the wing of his own plane, scaring Bogart out of his wits. He put aside his underestimation and focused on shaking off the enemy plane behind him.

  Sun Xiang made a dive, shaking off the Japanese plane's pursuit. Tokugawa spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm, muttering a curse under his breath as he watched the F4U escape from their attack range.

  A narrow escape, Sun Xiang pushed the control stick, and the plane almost made a 90-degree vertical climb, quickly surpassing the Japanese planes. With a cold laugh, the plane returned to level flight. The current altitude was 3,500 meters. Slightly pushing the stick forward, the plane tilted at an angle of fifteen degrees towards the Japanese planes. Sun Xiang slowed down in mid-air, locked onto a Nakajima Ki-97, and opened fire! Hit! Then the plane shook, aiming at the next aircraft, opening fire again! Another hit! After two attacks, he charged into the chaotic dogfight. Sun Xiang utilized his skills to kill several planes in the group, each time taking down one or two enemy aircraft. It wasn't until then that Tokugawa Yoshitomo realized something was off! All the falling planes were Japanese fighters!!!

  Tokugawa immediately ordered: "All units pursue the silver bird emblem plane! Full firepower!! Take him down!"

  The Japanese planes adjusted, and the Fulongjian squadron suddenly felt a slight relief from pressure. The Japanese planes that were chasing them turned around to chase Steve instead. What an opportunity! They quickly caught up with the Japanese planes and shot at them.

  Sun Xiang saw that everyone was rushing towards him, how dare he hesitate! He quickly floored the accelerator, and the F4U shot out like it had been electrified. Tokugawa Yoshimune was embarrassed to find that his plan had been broken by the speed of the plane. A comical scene appeared: an airplane was running in front, followed by a group of planes shooting at it, and behind them was another group of planes shooting at the first group. The mantis found that it couldn't catch the cicada, but instead, the oriole behind was chasing even tighter.