Empire Conquest

Chapter 505 - 501: Successful Strike

Rockets were definitely a good thing.

Before the introduction of rockets, whether it was the "Xiaotian," the "Vermilion Bird," or the "Thunderbolt," when carrying out air-to-ground strike missions, there was always a bit of regret.

In the words of the pilots, it was that there were not enough bombs to hang!

Often, it was only when an important target appeared that they realized the bombs were gone.

Moreover, large-caliber machine guns could only deal with a limited range of targets and could not completely replace bombs.

Before rockets were equipped, some pilots suggested replacing the air machine guns inside the "Xiaotian" wings with 20 millimeter machine guns to enhance ground strike firepower.

Although there was no technical difficulty, it was not done due to logistics support considerations.

Furthermore, 20 millimeter machine guns were essentially worthless in aerial combat.

As early as last year, the Empire Navy had tested captured Zero Fighters and found that the two 20 millimeter machine guns on these fighters were purely for show. Not only was the rate of fire slow, but also because of the short barrel used, the muzzle velocity was low, making them nearly unusable in air combat.

Interestingly, because 20 millimeter machine guns were too heavy, the Saiyi Navy did not equip the Zero Fighter with large-caliber guns, but instead used medium-caliber air machine guns.

In addition, the ammunition capacity of the machine guns was so meager that they could only fire a few short bursts.

This was the root cause of the Zero Fighter’s severe lack of firepower.

Although the "Xiaotian" was much heavier and sturdier than the Zero Fighter, allowing for the use of longer barrels to increase muzzle velocity and also increasing the ammunition capacity for the machine guns, it would inevitably lead to the fighter becoming heavier, which would also affect the supporting weapons. The comprehensive value was not clear, or rather, the result was not worth the effort.

In fact, just adding a different caliber weapon to an aircraft caused a lot of trouble when aiming.

The reason was simple: the trajectories of the 20 millimeter machine gun and the 13 millimeter air machine gun were completely different, making it impossible to use both at the same time.

This meant that during combat, one had to choose the weapon based on the actual situation and switch with a control.

For experienced veterans, the problem was not too significant. But for rookies, this was a huge issue.

If they couldn’t aim properly or hit the target, even the most powerful weapon was just for show.

In order to enhance the ground attack capability of ship-borne aircraft, especially their sustained combat effectiveness, the Navy Air Force logistics personnel came up with many solutions.

The simplest solution was to add some mounting points under the wings specifically for hanging small bombs.

As for small bombs, there were too many, ranging from 15 kilograms to 150 kilograms, almost everything you could want, and they could even be considered cheap and fine.

The most commonly used were the 50 kilogram and 100 kilogram ones.

All "Xiaotian" fighters had 6 external hardpoints under each wing, theoretically able to carry up to 12 of the 150 kilogram small bombs. If using tandem racks, up to 24 of the 50 kilogram bombs could be carried. However, usually, to reduce takeoff weight and improve maneuverability, particularly when using the ventral mount for auxiliary fuel tanks or larger bombs, the wing-mounted load had to be kept under 500 kilograms.

Furthermore, the wing hardpoints of the new batch of "Xiaotian" increased to 16, although the total external ordnance load didn’t change.

It was at this time that the Empire Navy obtained a batch of rockets from the Army and found that they were ideal for use on tactical aircraft.

During the final stage of the attack on Sai Island, the Navy Air Force conducted live-fire tests with rockets, and both the actual results and pilot feedback were very ideal.

Before the Sai Island campaign had even ended, the Navy placed orders with the munitions factories, and later also purchased a production line.

The use of rockets was not limited to ground attacks.

By the latter stages of the great war, large-caliber rockets were a weapon against small warships and had good effects against large warships as well.

To put it bluntly, the most prominent advantage of rockets was that they significantly reduced the difficulty of attacking ground and sea targets.

Simply put, there was no need for pilots to undergo strict dive-bombing training. Rockets could be used with strafing attack tactics!

Because the difficulty of operation and use had drastically decreased, rocket munitions became very widely applicable.

At that time, rockets were still mainly used on fighters, endowing them with a means of attacking ground targets that was even sharper than aircraft machine guns.

At least when encountering sturdy targets like bunkers, fighter pilots were no longer helpless.

Moreover, compared to using air bombs, the accuracy of rockets was significantly higher.

The key point was that rockets could also be used in aerial combat and were particularly suited for dealing with large targets like bombers. Therefore, a plane equipped with rockets could still execute air combat missions.

The rockets’ excellent multi-use capabilities were the key to their popularity.

The second wave of attacks proceeded very smoothly.

Around 9:30 AM, after receiving the report from the second Plane Group’s commander, Zhou Yongtao made a request again, that is, whether to prepare for a third wave of attacks.

By that time, the first Plane Group had already returned to the airspace above the Fleet, and dozens of ship-borne aircraft were landing in succession.

According to the report, only seven ship-borne aircraft were lost, three of which crashed on the way back, and several were damaged and likely to be scrapped.

Including those that were left behind and didn’t take off, about 80 ship-borne aircraft could be organized to launch a third wave of attacks around 11:00 AM.

Of course, preparations had to begin immediately.

The reason was simple: the second Plane Group would definitely return before 11:30 AM, so the third Plane Group had to depart before then. Otherwise, the launch time would have to be pushed back to after 12:30 PM, effectively delaying by an hour and thus giving the enemy more time to prepare.

Bai Zhizhan didn’t oppose Zhou Yongtao’s suggestion.

Although he was worried about being attacked, especially a surprise attack, up until then, there had been no anomalies detected, and Bai Zhizhan could only believe that the Newland Fleet hadn’t made it over.

Was it deception that had worked?

Or was it because there were only two small carriers, so they didn’t dare to come to a decisive battle?

Perhaps, the deception had indeed played a role.

According to the Reconnaissance Aircraft’s reports, before the attack was launched, the Newland Army on Transfer Island hadn’t been prepared, and they hadn’t even arranged for fighters to take off before dawn.

Crucially, the heavy Bombers deployed on Transfer Island were all neatly lined up on the airstrip!

Even just to increase vigilance, these bombers should have been ready to take off before dawn to search for the possible appearance of the Liangxia Fleet.

All signs pointed to the Newland Navy being caught unprepared for an attack today.

Of course, this wasn’t surprising.

The reason was that two Special Mixed Fleets had sailed for six days at an average speed of over 24 knots, which was one-third higher than the normal cruising speed.

If they had sailed at the normal cruising speed of 18 knots, they would only reach the northwest of Transfer Island two days later, that is, on June 30th.

Naturally, no mishaps could occur along the way.

If there were any issues midway, the arrival time would be further delayed.

Usually, for three Fleets comprising hundreds of ships that were rushing thousands of kilometers, the probability of accidents occurring mid-voyage was very high.

In other words, the Newland Navy might have thought the attack wouldn’t happen until the 30th.

By this logic, on the morning of the 28th, today, the Liangxia Fleet was still 2,500 kilometers away and outside of the reconnaissance range.

From this perspective, the Newland Navy probably set their expectations for the start of combat in early July and weren’t ready to engage in battle on June 28th.