In the early morning, at a location 620 kilometers southeast of Manila, four Zero fighters of the Japanese Army Air Force launched an "encounter battle" with eight Hellcat carrier-based fighters of the US Navy Air Force. At this time, less than 3 hours had passed before the US carrier-based aircraft group ended the raid on the Port of Manila. Due to uncertainty about the location and formation of the US aircraft carrier, the Japanese fighters taking off from various airports in the Philippines did not take large-scale cluster operations, but mainly small reconnaissance formations. On such a sunny day, the sea view was very wide, and the fighter pilots on both sides discovered each other from afar, and the air combat kicked off without any preparation...

In the first two rounds, the American pilots tried to crush their opponents by relying on their number advantage. The "Hellcat" they drove was not only the same as the name of the top killer that dominated the Pacific battlefield in the old time and space, but also a perfect fusion of four basic indicators of firepower, armor, speed and maneuver. It is one of the best piston carrier-based aircraft of this era, and its comprehensive performance is far ahead of the Japanese Zero fighter. However, only two of the eight American pilots had practical experience, and the last time they shot down an enemy plane was eight years ago. Three of the four Zero fighters opposite participated in the Japan-Soviet War. The protracted and fierce war tempered them into fierce, keen and particularly patient "flying wolves". They undoubtedly had a significant advantage in the US Navy pilots.

At the beginning of the battle, four Japanese pilots cleverly avoided the opponent's edge and dragged US fighters into low altitudes as much as possible to give full play to the advantages of their fighters in maneuverability. The US pilots used the valuable experience they gained from the Soviet Russian Air Force to try their best to avoid close entanglement with Japanese fighters. Their "Hellcats" sometimes jumped at high speed and sometimes dived and broke away, and launched a two-machine tactical competition with the Japanese pilots. The fighters of both sides rolled over the sea and air, sobbing, and howling, the sound of climbing and diving mixed with the roar of machine guns and cannons...

After a series of battles, the US fighter jets were both powerful and scored. They shot down two Japanese fighters one after another, achieving a 2-0 victory. The other two Japanese fighters seemed to be fleeing in a panic, but in fact they quietly expanded the reconnaissance range a lot. Not long after, the Japanese pilots saw a gray fleet on the sea, and then decisively sent a telegram to inform the garrison headquarters of the US fleet.

Through the tracking and interpretation of the radio communication signals of Japanese fighter jets, the Americans quickly learned about the exposed position of their aircraft carrier formation. General William Frederick Halsey, the commander of the 1st Pacific Fleet in the United States, was not panicked at all. He quickly adjusted the fleet from the anti-submarine warning formation at night to the air defense formation at daytime, and kept the current course moving south. At this time, the position of the US fleet was more than 2,000 kilometers away from the US bases in Saipan and New Guinea. It is unrealistic to rely on the US land-based aviation forces to provide fire support. At present, only eight carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers are used to resist the counterattack of the Japanese aviation force. Each fighter jet is very valuable. How to use them well is obviously the key to this battle!

At 9:10 a.m., a huge group of aircraft composed of more than 200 Japanese fighter jets rushed towards the US aircraft carrier formation. The dense light spots on the radar screen made the US technicians in the radar control room feel very worried about their fate. However, facing the fiercely attacking Japanese aircraft group, the US fighter jets that took off from the aircraft carrier formation also lined up a strong lineup. Eleven squadrons "Hellcats" and one squadron's ir-39t quickly formed a three-dimensional movement barrier between their own fleet and the enemy aircraft group.

In less than ten minutes, a fierce air battle spread out over the vast sea.

The distance of space can theoretically be infinitely extended, but more than 400 fighters fight head-on, giving people a feeling of crowding. If you are negligent, you may collide with enemy aircraft or friendly aircraft. Among the Japanese aircraft group, the number of escort fighters and bombers is about 3 to 2. About half of the fighters are Zero fighters that are popular among Japanese aviation troops, while the rest are Type 97 fighters and twin-engines with relatively weak comprehensive performance.

The other heavy fighter jets were installed, except for those zero-war pilots piloted by experienced pilots, and the other Japanese fighters were not opponents of US fighters. After only one cigarette was fought, the balance of victory and defeat had already shown a clear tilt. Seeing that the escort fighter jets were difficult to break out a passage in the enemy's iron walls, Japanese bombers gave up the strong attack strategy of cluster assault and quickly dispersed to find fighter jets.

A group of Japanese land attacks carrying heavy aviation bombs soon encountered big trouble in front of an intercepting formation composed of 12 ir-39ts. As the leader of three consecutive international air show, Irish carrier-based aircraft are excellent in all aspects to make these Japanese land bombers that fly two years later than themselves. When carrying 1,500 kilograms of bombs, they can only fly at a speed slightly faster than 400 kilometers per hour. Although they are equipped with as many as 7 7.7mm machine guns, they are like toy guns in children's hands in front of Irish carrier-based fighters. After one encounter, four of these land attacks have been shot down. Not to mention attacking US warships, even exhaustion is very difficult...

Another group of Type 96 land attacks carrying aviation torpedoes were unfortunately targeted by several "hellcats" who fell behind during the flight. These old land-based bombers had made great achievements in the war of aggression against China and the Japanese-Soviet War, causing considerable casualties to China and the Soviet Union. However, on the vast sea, their clumsy bodies became an excellent target in the eyes of US fighter pilots. In a few rounds, the remaining Japanese bombers dropped torpedoes more than ten kilometers away from the US fleet and retreated in panic...

By 10 o'clock, the Japanese attack aircraft group had been shot down 47 fighters and 41 bombers, with a loss rate of more than 40%. The US military lost only 21 carrier-based fighters, and another 14 were injured and returned. At first glance, the Japanese Air Force could send wave after wave of aircraft from their land bases, while the US aircraft carrier formation lost one less carrier-based aircraft during sea combat. But at the same time, 60% of the pilots on the shot down were able to survive and return to the battlefield, while the proportion of Japanese pilots survived less than half, and less than one-third of them could return to the blue sky during the war...

The tragic losses suffered by the first wave of attacks did not make the Philippine Japanese army timid. They decided to use the overall advantage of combat aircraft to carry out wheel operations until they destroyed the US aircraft carrier formation or expel them from the Philippine waters.

At 10:50, more than 140 Japanese fighter jets attacked the US aircraft carrier formations that were heading south in two large formations. This time, the Japanese aviation forces changed their attack strategy and escorted fighters no longer had their full strength to entangle US carrier-based aircraft, but instead divided some to attack US aircraft carriers, thereby diverting the attention of US carrier-based fighters and reducing the resistance suffered by their own bombers. As soon as these Japanese fighters entered the range of naval guns, the US aircraft carriers and patrols

The dual-equipped 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns on the foreign ships opened fire one after another. The most prominent role of this large-caliber anti-aircraft gun in air defense operations is to disperse the incoming enemy aircraft groups, making the enemy unable to threaten the surface targets in pre-arranged formations. Next, the 40mm anti-aircraft guns and 20mm machine guns that escort the destroyer also couldn't wait to start shooting, forming a tight defense circle with barrage to prevent Japanese fighter jets from attacking at low altitudes.

Under the joint attack of large, medium and small caliber anti-aircraft guns and cannons of US warships, the Japanese army that penetrated the defense was successively exploded or shot down in zero battles, and the remaining were intimidated by the dense anti-aircraft artillery fire of the US warship groups and wandered around the periphery. Although these Japanese fighters did not pose a substantial threat to US warships, especially aircraft carriers, their direct penetration still had an effect of interfering with the sight of US carrier-based fighter pilots, and some Japanese bombers took the opportunity to find loopholes. In addition to the Japanese army aviation troops stationed in the Philippines, the Japanese naval aircraft carriers anchored in Manila Bay and the naval aviation troops deployed in Luzon Island also sent torpedo bombers to battle.

During the war, the attacks of Japanese bombers began to damage the US aircraft carriers. The "Enterprise", which served as the flagship of the special mixed fleet, was the first torpedo. It first avoided four torpedoes dropped by Japanese torpedoes at a long distance, and then was bombed by several Japanese land attacks. An aviation bomb exploded at its near-side position. The bomb not only had an impact on the hull structure below the waterline, but also injured several sailors fighting on the air defense combat positions on the side. Fortunately, although the "Enterprise" is not the most defensive aircraft carrier in history, it can withstand the invasion from near-lost bombs with its thick armor and tight cabin structure.

With the penetration of the last team of Japanese torpedoes, the sea-air combat suddenly reached its climax. Several US aircraft carriers opened fire with all their might, while maneuvering on the water at large corners. Fortunately, the "solid fighting" of US surface ships did not last long. The Japanese fighter jets that were fighting hard began to turn around and return, and the "Hellcats" who were able to withdraw quickly joined the low-altitude battle. There was no suspense in the confrontation between carrier-based fighters and bombers. The battle quickly turned into training and exhibition matches for US pilots. Some highly skilled pilots even conducted precise shooting of weak parts such as the cockpit and fuel tank of Japanese bombers at a distance of less than 50 meters.
Chapter completed!