In the air battle on March 15, if the Axis Navy was the first to discover the enemy fleet, it would definitely try every means to play its cross-platform advantage. However, the US military suffered consecutive defeats and lost too many high-quality pilots. Except for the flight tops who served as instructors who were proficient in completing this tactic, it was difficult for other ordinary pilots to control it, and the imitation result was worse than normal. In the end, the Shipbuilding Committee gave up its efforts to transform the Essex class in fiscal year 1945, and still focused on building traditional batch products, trying to achieve tactical advantages with quantity.

The reconnaissance intelligence telegram received by Mitchell was the bait fleet sent by Ozawa. It has two Heiqie-class escort aircraft carriers, two battleships with fierce air defense firepower, one is the Richelieu, the other is the Tirpitz, three Rhine-class escort aircraft carriers, and two Porcupine-class regional air defense cruisers and eight Hedgehog-class air defense destroyers.

The overall configuration perfectly meets the requirement of 40% of the force, which makes Mitchell believe that the first wave of attacking Puerto Rico in the morning should have taken off from this fleet. Now that the attack will only encounter a few air defense fighters at most, so he believes that the attack group that takes off from Puerto Rico can complete the mission.

Of course, Mitchell still had the necessary vigilance. He did not believe that the German army would dare to attack Puerto Rico with just such a little force. He believed that there should be an axial aircraft carrier group in the other farther waters, so he sent carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft to carry out the search mission.

"The bait fleet was discovered. So far, we have not discovered the US fleet." When the staff informed the news, there was silence in the bridge of Zeppelin. Everyone knows that the situation is developing to a very unfavorable level. Not only was the enemy first discovered, but it is still unclear whether the US fleet exists.

"It is estimated that the US attack wave will come soon, so that the bait fleet will change its course and move eastward at full speed. The original bait fleet will return to the attack aircraft to land in our team." Ozawa pondered for a moment and issued a new order, "The reconnaissance aircraft expands its search targets, and it is necessary to find out the strength of the enemy!"

"The first attack wave has been fully released, including 48 fighter jets and 126 attack aircraft." At 7:38, the aviation staff reported the enemy situation to Mitchell, who only nodded slightly and had not yet responded to it with a relaxed attitude.

There are more questions he needs to think about: According to the pre-war deployment, after all fighter planes are released at 8 o'clock, the fleet will start returning north. The current enemy situation is very good from the initial estimate. The fleet not only cannot return north, but also always pay attention to searching for other fleet main forces in the axis.

"Prepare the second and third attack waves. If the enemy's main fleet is not found at 8:30, the second attack wave will continue to be deployed in the target attack that has been discovered."

The staff behind him were surprised: There have been two waves of aircraft involved in the attack of the German fleet, and more than 400 aircraft have been launched. The commander is still worried that there are not enough aircraft?

Hewitt could understand Mitchell's concerns: Although the Air Force sent more than 200 aircraft, most of them were heavy bombings of 4 rounds, and the anti-ship effect was not ideal. To effectively fight, it was necessary to rely on the BTD attack aircraft sent by the fleet. However, the 126 aircraft could have a great difference in quality. Judging from the situation of multiple battles, there was a large difference in quality between the US pilot and the axis. On the premise that the number of battles was basically the same, the battle loss ratio of the offensive battle (referring to the US attack group vs the axis battle group) was usually between 5:16:1. Considering that the one side was shot down and died or disappeared, the other side had the possibility of being salvaged, the actual crew loss was between 7:1 and 8:1. This is a very terrible ratio, but it is also a ratio that has to be accepted.

Although the results reported by the US military pilots themselves are very good, it does not mean that there are no smart people on it. Ingram and Clark are very sensitive to the analysis of numbers and results. Mitchell's feeling is also very strong, so he doesn't think that 400 aircraft are sure of it now.

The blazing steel whirlwind had completely flew above the decoy fleet. The fleet deployed by Ozawa showed violent momentum when facing a large group of US land-based aircraft: at a long distance, 9 twin 128mm anti-aircraft guns of Richelieu sprayed violent shells, and raised a fire curtain on the way of the enemy group's flight. This was a fierce artillery fire of the same level as the air defense tower. At the medium-range position, 108 fighters were divided into two echelons in front and rear, and suddenly aimed at the enemy planes that were scattered by avoiding artillery fire.

The German fighter jet equipped with the new BMW901 engine has now been upgraded to ultra-purple electric and super-strong wind, with better speed and climbing efficiency, and carried more ammunition. Four 20mmmg213 aimed at the huge and clumsy b25\b29 and shot it suddenly. The latter desperately pressed into a steel array, and fought back with a 7mm heirloom, and the escorted p47n and p51d tried their best to intercept it together.

Of course, the German army is very familiar with this style. Wasn’t the tragic anti-aircraft attack on the Western Front such a routine? For veterans who have basically switched from the Air Force, fighting such a battle seems to be more exciting and direct than fighting with the US Navy.

As for low altitude

Relying on the fleet's air defense firepower, those abnormal dense arrays, now even our planes dare not pass by. There are more than 20 dense arrays below. In addition, the 40mm Bofos, which is more than hedgehog-thorned, has long been an absolutely forbidden airspace that cannot be touched.

One plane after another fell from the air, and the warships below increased their speed to the highest level. While desperately fighting back with the air defense weapons in their hands, they desperately avoided bombs falling from the sky.

With a "boom", an aircraft finally threw a 1,000-pound aviation bomb on the front deck of Tilpitz. As a result, a small amount of black smoke emerged. The entire warship was almost unscathed, and its speed and direction had not changed at all. The bombs thrown on the Richelieu were the same. Two bombs were eaten on the front and rear decks, and there was nothing else to do except to report a more violent counterattack.

It would be fine if you could not penetrate the battleship. A bomb hit the Huqiu. The pilot was full of hope to open the opponent's belly. Unexpectedly, the Huqiu armored belt that endured the bomb stubbornly resisted such a bomb, except for the slightly distorted runway deck, which had no effect.

"Damn, what kind of aircraft carrier is this? Why is it so hard?"

"This must be the British armored aircraft carrier!"

"Damn British!"

"And the damn Frenchman!"

The pilots cursed fiercely in the air

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