This is the largest air battle that has occurred in Chinese airspace since 1938.
Nearly 300 Chinese and Japanese fighter planes fought bloody battles in an airspace covering an area of less than 100 square kilometers.
The purpose of the Rendai Flying Group is to survive, while the purpose of the Japanese army is exactly the opposite. It is to strangle the suddenly rising air force of the Rendai Flying Group in the cradle, otherwise they will become a huge threat to the Japanese Army Air Force when they grow stronger.
.
For this operation, the Third Flying Group dispatched two flying groups, the 10th and 11th, including 122 fighter jets including Type Zero, 85 type 97 land attack aircraft, and type 99 light explosive aircraft.
bomber.
Among them, the goal of the 10th Flying Team is Airport No. 1, and the goal of the 11th Flying Team is Airport No. 2.
Their plan was simple, that is, to launch a surprise attack on the two airports. As long as they could destroy most or even all of the two airports and the planes parked on the tarmac, the mission would be considered complete.
It's just that the plan was good, but there were problems when it was implemented.
First of all, what they did not expect was that the number of airports of the Liantai Flying Group was not two as reported in the intelligence, but four. During this period, in order to train the pilots poached from the Central Air Force, all fighters and pilots were transferred to No. 4.
Airport.
Second, Gao Hongming installed radar stations around Liantai County. The Japanese aircraft were detected by the radar station as soon as they approached Liantai County. Within a few minutes of their arrival at Airport No. 1 and Airport No. 2 for bombing, fighter planes taking off from Airport No. 4 had already arrived.
arrive.
Nearly two hundred fighter planes were entangled and fighting with each other in the sky. There were roars and roars everywhere. From time to time, streaks of hot fire flashed across the sky. From time to time, fighter planes were blown up in the air or fell to the ground with thick smoke.
A Japanese pilot who participated in this air battle wrote this in his memoirs afterwards.
"I entered China since the "China Incident" (July 7th Incident), and I can be considered an old pilot. Three months after the China Incident, the planes of the Chinese people were exhausted, and since then there have been no more flights with the Chinese people.
Large-scale air battles were fought, and in our impression, the sky over China was already dominated by the empire.
However, this impression completely changed from that day. We dispatched two battle groups with a total of 122 fighter planes, including the latest Zero fighter planes, and more than 70 Chinese fighter planes to engage in a fierce battle over Liantai County.
It was also from that day on that I became fully acquainted with the round, milk-bottle-like fighter plane equipped by the Chinese. It was not until later that I learned that its name was the P47 fighter plane.
Even though this fighter is round and inconspicuous, and even a little ugly, its performance is no less than that of the Empire's Zero fighter, and is even superior in some aspects.
What I hate the most is its thick armor. I obviously bit a P47 and even saw more than ten bullets hitting its fuselage, but it was still alive and kicking as if nothing was wrong, and even fired back.
They came over and gave me a shuttle, and half of my tail was shot off in an instant.
If Fujino-kun hadn't tried his best to protect me, I might have stayed there forever that day. Unfortunately, in order to save me, Fujino-kun was hit by a Chinese fighter plane following him, and the Type 96 fighter he was flying was shot into the air.
The explosion made it too late to even parachute..."
Chongqing Zengjiayan Apartment
"Commissioner...Military Command urgently reported that just over ten minutes ago, the Japanese Third Flying Group dispatched more than 200 aircraft to bomb the Liantai airport. The Liantai Flying Group scrambled dozens of fighter planes to intercept. Now
Still fighting fiercely!"
After a while, a voice with a Fenghua accent sounded faintly: "I know, a big tree attracts the wind. Since the Liantai Militia has reached this day, it must be aware of being targeted by the Japanese. As for whether it can survive, it depends on God's will.
"
"Commission...don't we do something?"
"Do something? What do you want to do? What can you do?"
"Yes...the staff understands..."
This largest air battle in China since 1938 attracted the attention of many forces. For a time, countless pairs of eyes were fixed on the small Liantai County. This air battle also concerned the hearts of countless people.
The reason is very simple. Once the Japanese win this air battle, Gao Hongming, who is still in Zhongtiao Mountain, will probably have to prepare for a breakout, because once he loses air support and faces a Japanese army several times his own, he will not be able to defeat him again.
Even though it was powerful, it could not withstand the repeated attacks of 100,000 Japanese troops.
On the contrary, once the Liantai Flying Group wins, the air superiority of Zhongtiao Mountain will fall into the hands of the Liantai Militia. This means that with the air support of the Liantai Flying Group, the Japanese army wants to eat up the friendly Third Army, Eighth Route Army and Liantai Militia.
To form a defensive line, you have to be prepared to chip out a few teeth.
This air battle lasted for more than half an hour before it ended, and the results greatly exceeded the Japanese army's expectations.
In this air battle, 122 Japanese fighter planes, including 32 Zero fighters, were shot down 87, and the remaining bombers, including Type 96 land attack aircraft and Type 99 light explosive aircraft, were shot down 8
, a total of 95 aircraft were lost.
The flying group was shot down 9 aircraft, plus three Stuka dive bombers and a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber were blown up by the Japanese on the No. 2 airport apron.
13:95
This was a brilliant victory, and because the battle took place in Liantai County, the pilot was rescued immediately after our fighter plane was shot down.
On the other hand, although most of the Japanese pilots did not have the opportunity to parachute, even those who were lucky enough to successfully parachute all became prisoners of the Liantai militia.
After the results of the air battle were announced, it caused a sensation across the country.
"Boss...good news...good news..."
Deputy Chief of Staff Left hurriedly walked into the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and loudly said to the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Commander Liu, Political Commissar Ping and others who were discussing the matter: "Boss, Lao Liu, the news just came from the Liantai Militia.
Hours ago, the Japanese army sent more than 200 aircraft to fly over Liantai County, intending to blow up the airport and aircraft of the Liantai militia.
The Liantai Flying Group immediately dispatched more than 70 fighter planes to fight. The air battle lasted for more than half an hour before it ended. Guess what? The Japanese suffered a big loss this time. More than 200 fighter planes were shot down on the spot, and more than 90 of them were shot down.
The Liantai Flying Group itself only lost 13 aircraft, which was a great victory in the air battle!"
"Really, that's great!"
The deputy commander was so happy that he slapped the table.
"Lao Liu and I were worried about the situation of Gao Hongming, the 386th Brigade and the Third Yunnan Army. We didn't expect that a great victory would come so suddenly!"