It is a common tactic to make the attack aircraft swarm turn during flight, and nothing is surprising.

What I want to say is actually before this.

At about 4:50, when he knew there was an enemy ship in the southeast direction, and the seaplane had not yet found the enemy's aircraft carrier. When Bai Zhizhan was hesitating whether to ask the carrier-based aircraft to prepare for the attack in advance, a reconnaissance aircraft flying from the southeast direction dispelled his hesitation.

It was an enemy's carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft!

Although I did not see the enemy plane, the flight altitude of the reconnaissance plane was not low and it was night, but if you could hear it, the lookout also concluded that it was an SBD.

After receiving the report from the lookout, Bai Zhizhan took a breath of air conditioning.

Fortunately, the reconnaissance plane did not detect the warships on the sea.

It must be admitted that it is indeed luck.

Before this, Bai Zhizhan told Zhou Yongtao that he hoped to complete the attack preparations as soon as possible to ensure that the carrier-based aircraft could be launched after dawn.

Zhou Yongtao asked the aviation department staff for inquiries about the situation and said that it was too late to prepare at 5 o'clock.

The reason is that the flight decks of the "Paijing" and "Longjiang" have long been cleared, and the carrier-based aircraft are all inside the hangar. Because the wind is too strong, it is impossible to prepare on the flight deck. The preparation work can only be completed in the hangar as much as possible, and the time it takes to occupy the deck is greatly shortened.

In addition, there are no carrier-based aircraft on the flight deck, so the takeoff operation is more efficient and takes less time.

It used to take 1 hour, but now half an hour is enough. There is no need to send the carrier-based aircraft to the flight deck in advance.

That's right, when the SBD flew over, the 11th Special Mixed Fleet was still under light control.

Of course, the appearance of that SBD also proves that in the southeast direction, there is at least one enemy aircraft carrier in the waters reported by the seaplane.

But, it is impossible to tell which fleet it is.

However, that doesn't matter.

When the reconnaissance plane flew away, Bai Zhizhan immediately issued an order to let Zhou Yongtao deal with it himself and prepare the carrier-based aircraft that carried out the first wave of attack missions.

That is, after 5 o'clock, we received a reconnaissance report from a seaplane in another direction.

It was a seaplane sent to the northwest.

Because the fleet has been sailing southwest, the seaplane has almost been directly north of the fleet.

The seaplane sent a report claiming that it was discovered an enemy plane flying from the west, and it was also concluded that it was a single SBD that was performing reconnaissance missions.

Only a few minutes later, another seaplane in that direction sent the same report.

Obviously, 2 seaplanes cannot make the same mistake.

All of those SBDs flew from west to east, about 200 kilometers away from the 11th Special Mix Fleet, and they definitely did not come from the enemy fleet in the south.

In the northwest direction, there is also an enemy fleet!

The key is that the enemy fleet is not too far away.

The reconnaissance aircraft must be in charge of the reconnaissance mission after dawn. Even if it sets before dawn, the flight distance at night should be shortened as much as possible.

Bai Zhizhan did not hesitate at all and immediately asked Zhou Yongtao to adjust his deployment.

After the first wave of attack aircraft take off, the second wave of carrier-based aircraft was immediately sent to the flight deck and then launched one by one after the preparation was completed.

Waiting for investigation report?

Bai Zhizhan is not so stupid.

The pilots of the seaplane carried by the "Xuhai" have rich practical experience and are not allowed to fly the seaplane and fly westward.

Perhaps, the enemy fleet will be discovered soon.

Even if not, it doesn't matter.

It is so close that there is no need to investigate in advance.

According to Zhou Yongtao's arrangement, the second wave of aircraft group was in squadrons and had slight differences in course, that is, the attack was launched through reconnaissance and search.

Because each squadron leader's landline has a remote voice radio station, and the working distance is about 200 kilometers, as long as one squadron discovers the enemy fleet, it can use other squadrons near the voice radio station. There is no possibility of missing the enemy fleet because the aircraft cluster is too concentrated.

If you want to say it, this is a new tactic summarized by the pilot after the widespread equipment of remote voice radio stations.

Of course, the premise is to have a carrier-based aircraft with a long enough range.

Although it has not been tested in practice, the feasibility and value of this tactic have been proven in confrontational training.

It is influenced by this tactic that the Imperial Navy attached more importance to the range of carrier-based aircraft, which led to the larger and larger carrier-based aircraft.

The first wave of attack aircraft began to take off before 5:30.

By 5:45, the second wave of attack aircraft was sent to the flight deck, and within a few minutes, it flew away from the aircraft carrier one after another.

If you want to say it, two waves of attacks were launched almost at the same time.

At that time, a report was received from the seaplane sent by the "Yanhai" and it was confirmed that the Bran Fleet had been discovered in the southeast direction.

The key is that there are two fleet aircraft carriers.

Given the situation at that time, even if the seaplane did not report, there was enough reason to believe that the Bran fleet was likely already preparing for the attack.

From a time perspective, the attacks initiated by the 11th Special Mixed Fleet may not arrive in time.

In other words, the Bran fleet might be able to launch an attack in time!

In addition, the seaplane lost contact after sending the telegram, which made Bai Zhizhan even more worried.

As long as you seize the time, the Bran fleet can send dozens of carrier-based aircraft within an hour, enough to form an attack aircraft group.

To this end, Bai Zhizhan made temporary adjustments, leaving a squadron of fighter jets to strengthen the fleet's air defense.

Don’t forget that both enemy fleets sent reconnaissance aircraft before dawn, or carrier-based aircraft!

It can be seen that Cunningham and Spree had already guessed that Bai Zhizhan was nearby, otherwise it would be impossible for the carrier-based aircraft, which was not enough, to perform reconnaissance missions.

Bai Zhizhan didn't know much about Cunningham, but he knew Spoo very well.

In his opinion, if Spoo concluded that the 11th Special Mixed Fleet was nearby, he would definitely prepare for attack in advance and launch an attack immediately after receiving the report from the reconnaissance aircraft.

That's right, the second attack aircraft group had only 5 squadrons in total, including only 1 fighter aircraft squadron.

Including the first attack aircraft group that dealt with the Bran Fleet, the 11th Special Mixed Fleet dispatched 88 carrier-based aircraft in succession, and 16 fighter jets were arranged to perform air defense missions.

As for the recycling of carrier-based aircraft that return, there is no need to consider it for the time being.

In Bai Zhizhan's opinion, it is safe to use 40 carrier-based aircraft to attack the Newland fleet, not to mention sinking, at least it is a sure thing to damage the "Entertainment".

In any case, the Newland Fleet has only one aircraft carrier.

16 "Suhu Bi" and 16 "Pili" can be divided into two batches, launching two all-round attacks on the "Fengjin".

However, what Bai Zhizhan did not count was that Spoo would let all fighter planes take off, and at that time they were all near the 61st Special Mix Fleet.

The result is that the eight escort "Xiaotian" have to face 28 air-defense "wildcats".

What Bai Zhizhan did not expect was that the distance between him and Sp was less than 200 kilometers!

For the carrier-based aviation force, this distance is almost a bayonet!

After the carrier-based aircraft was launched, it was too late to form a group, and when they were flying north, they encountered enemy fighters, and the tactics arranged were not useful at all!
Chapter completed!