August 1939 Nomonhan
"Damn! Damn! What is that plane? Is it really a Japanese military plane?!"
Lieutenant Petrakov of the Soviet Union, holding the control stick of the I16, shouted. Several enemy aircraft appeared from between the clouds far above the platoon, turned around and began to dive at an incredible speed, attacking from above the rear of the platoon.
The platoon's wingmen immediately dispersed to evade, but Lieutenant Kleinev's plane was hit.
The Soviet Mongolian Expeditionary Brigade, to which Lieutenant Petrakov belongs, was dispatched to bomb the Nomonhan camp illegally occupied by the Japanese Army. The Soviet Union had air superiority. Normally, it would have been a simple job, like going shopping. Normally...
"Lieutenant Semkov! Lieutenant Krainev has been taken down! We'll gain some altitude and shoot down the enemy plane. Follow me!"
With the poor quality of the radio, he doubted whether his wingman had received his message, but he pulled back on the control stick, believing that he had. There was no reply from the wingman.
Chasing a diving enemy is a foolish plan. The enemy is going faster than you, and if you lower your altitude too, you risk being outmaneuvered by the enemy.
"What about the other platoons?"
Looking around, it seems that other platoons are also under attack. This time, 18 I16 platoons and 24 bombers are taking part. At Nomonhan, the Soviet Union is now gaining air superiority. By installing bulletproof steel plates behind the cockpit, the 7.7mm machine gun of the Japanese Type 97 fighter is no longer able to inflict fatal damage on the pilot. The fuel tank is self-sealing, so fires rarely occur even if it is hit directly. There was no way that this I16 would be shot down by a Japanese aircraft.
He could see friendly planes descending, spewing smoke. It seemed like several planes had been killed in the first encounter.
"No orders from the captain yet?"
If there was an attack from enemy aircraft, it would not be surprising if the squadron commander had given some kind of instruction. Listening carefully, all he could hear from the radio was a louder noise than usual.
"Damn it! This crappy radio! It's broken at a time like this!"
He yells abuse at the poor quality of his country's industrial products. Lieutenant Petrakov gains altitude and follows the enemy plane that attacked him earlier. He can see the Japanese flag on the enemy plane, so it must be a Japanese military plane. However, it's an aircraft he's never seen before. It's a little larger than the Type 97 fighter planes he's faced up to now, and its speed is completely different. Also, the main landing gear wasn't extended. It seems that Japan has also been able to put retractable landing gear into practical use.
The enemy plane made a steep dive, then twisted its fuselage and began to climb rapidly. It was an incredible speed and maneuver. If this I16 tried to perform such a maneuver, the wings would not be able to withstand it. First of all, there is no way that an ordinary pilot could withstand such a movement.
The Japanese planes climbed rapidly, and reached an altitude of about 6,000 meters before him, who had already started to climb. They then rotated the plane from upside down to take over the airspace behind him.
"No, we can't escape! Are the Japanese fighter planes monsters?"
The I16's maximum speed was about 460km/h, but the enemy plane was clearly traveling at over 600km/h. When it made the dive it must have been traveling at over 800km/h.
"That's impossible! What is this?"
Its performance is incomparable to any Japanese military aircraft up to now. Was there really an aircraft with such high performance in this day and age?
--
"As expected. This 11th prototype fighter is..."
Captain Makimura, the squad leader, was flying at an altitude of 8,000m with three platoons, a total of nine aircraft, to intercept 24 Soviet bombers and 18 fighter planes. They flew while being hidden in the clouds to avoid being spotted by the enemy aircraft.
The fighter that suddenly appeared was the 11th Experimental Fighter, being developed by the Imperial Japanese Space Force. It was a new type of air superiority fighter, the project for which was launched in 1936. It had a total length of 10.80m, a total width of 10.55m, an engine output of 2,800 horsepower (7,000m), a maximum speed of 800km/h (8,200m), and six swept-back propellers, designed to maintain transonic speed at the tips of the propellers without generating shock waves.
"Charlie Brown to Woodstock. Bandit position 50km to 11 o'clock, approaching at 4,800m altitude at 400km/h."
Patrol aircraft Charlie Brown A radio call comes in , the voice of the Type 98 radio, which was only recently made official in 1938, is very clear. The voice is automatically encrypted by the radio and decrypted when received. There was a slight delay compared to conventional radios, but the voice was very clear and there was no possibility of it being intercepted by the enemy. Incidentally, "bandit" means enemy. The commander's hobby was that often used English. The troops were familiar with it because it somehow felt academic, but the army and navy ridiculed them as "rice-crazed."
"This is Woodstock. Understood. We will now begin intercepting."
If your speed is700km/h and your enemy's is400km/h, your relative speed is 1,100km/h. If the distance is 50km, you will meet your enemy in less than 3 minutes.
"Bandit spotted below and to the left. All units, commence attack."
Makimura told all the planes to start the attack. The nine planes in the squad, each in their own platoon, aimed for the enemy and dived turning around. The enemy has not yet noticed.
Attack enemy aircraft formations at speeds of over 800km/h. The speed difference between the enemy aircraft is over 400km/h. With such a large speed difference, it was impossible to aim and machine gun bullets were unlikely to hit. However, a revolution occurred with the installation of Type 99 radio sight on the 11th prototype fighter.
The Type 99 radio sight uses a built-in G sensor and gyro to detect the turning angular velocity and inclination of the aircraft. The radar attached to the wings detects the distance and relative speed of the enemy aircraft, and an electronic computer instantly calculates the enemy aircraft's future position. The reticle of the sight moves according to the calculation results, and the gunner simply places the enemy aircraft in the center of the reticle and presses the machine gun button.
Makimura's three planes set their sights on the enemy's rightmost fighter squadron and launched an attack. He somehow managed to get the rapidly approaching enemy planes in the center of the reticle and pressed the fire button. Then, a total of six 12.7mm machine guns mounted in the wings fired, and the enemy planes were sucked into the main wings. After that, he tilted the control stick slightly to the right to avoid colliding with the enemy planes and escaped downward. He couldn't confirm the results yet.
As the aircraft twists and begins to climb, following the rest of the platoon, the pilot experiences tremendous acceleration.
"Beep beep beep"
A warning sounded, indicating that the 9G turning limit was approaching, and the accelerometer indicated that the force was exceeding 8G. Normally, this acceleration would cause a lack of blood flow to the brain, leading to a blackout and fainting. However, Makimura's legs were tightly fastened in the G-suit, and blood was still circulating to his brain.
They then turned around and climbed to an altitude of 6,000m and moved on to the next attack.
"Charlie Brown to Woodstock. Six Bandits confirmed missing."
They shot down six of the 18 fighters, a decent first hit considering their squad was down to nine.
Then he immediately moves on to the next attack.
Among the nine planes, one plane performed particularly beautiful and dynamic maneuvers. It is Lieutenant Asano's plane from Makimura's platoon. While the basic strategy was hit-and-run, the series of maneuvers, from attack to evasion and back to attack, are as passionate as an Andalusian dancer, and as graceful as a traditional Japanese dance. One by one, the Soviet planes are shot down helplessly, like a boy lost in awe of something fantastical, fascinating, and dangerous.
After a few attacks, all the enemy fighters had disappeared from the sky. It was only five minutes, a nightmare for the Soviet fighter squadron. But the nightmare was not over yet. All that remained were the bomber squadrons. Seeing their escort fighters being shot down one after another, the bombers gave up their attacks and began to retreat. Then, nine 11-Shi fighters began their attack on the bomber squadron.
The enemy was a Tupolev SB-2 bomber. It had a rear gun turret, which made it more dangerous than a fighter in some ways. However, the rear gun turret only had one 7.62mm machine gun, and it could not gain much elevation. For the 11th prototype fighter, shooting down this bomber was child's play.
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"Damn! Almost all of the escorting fighter planes have been destroyed! We can't do this! We'll drop all our bombs and retreat!"
The squadron commander of the Soviet bomber squadron ordered all planes to retreat, but the only one that quickly dropped its bombs and began circling was his own squadron commander.
"What are you doing? Is there no radio reception?"
He called out several times, but there was no response. It seemed the radio wasn't working. After a while, the other planes, noticing the squadron leader's retreat, began to retreat one by one. However, the formation became disorganized and scattered. The planes that got separated from the group were quickly beaten by the 11th Experimental Fighters.
Some of the planes had broken wings, others had fires coming out of their engines, and they crashed one after another.
"The escorting fighters were wiped out so easily! What the hell is up with those Japanese planes?"
"It's no good, the enemy is too fast! The machine guns can't hit them at all!"
"Left engine is on fire! Shut down the engine. It's no good! The fire won't go out!"
"Damn! It's the devil! The devil has appeared! That's not something a human could do!"
Ten minutes after the battle began, only nine 11th Experimental Fighter were in the sky.
"We have confirmed that all Bandits have been shot down. We are now returning to base."
Fifteen minutes after the end of the battle, Charlie Brown guided them to an Imperial Japanese Army airfield built near the present-day city of Hulunbuir.
"This is ground control. You are cleared to land. Approach from the west."
Although it is called an airfield, it is merely a grassland compacted by trucks and marked with markers. Around it, you can see barracks such as work sheds and accommodation.
On the ground, members of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Corps were awaiting for the return of the 11th Experimental Fighter.
"All nine planes returned. Isn't it good that none of them were missing?"
"Even so, isn't it too early to return? Maybe he didn't even encounter the enemy?"
"Maybe he got scared and ran away and didn't come back?"
The Army and Air Corps were not happy about the new Space Force fighter planes achieving such success. When the Nomonhan Incident first broke out, the Japanese military had overwhelming air power. However, after the beginning of autumn, the Soviet military aircraft gained an advantage over the Japanese aircraft due to the introduction of improved I-16s and hit-and-run tactics that took advantage of their speed. Meanwhile, the Space Force sent in the 11th Experimental Fighter to test a new aircraft in combat. While they were fighting for their lives, they were testing a new aircraft. Moreover, it seems that all the pilots were new to battle. This battlefield was also ridiculed quite a bit.
"Who does the Space Force fight against anyway? Aliens?"
"It's just His Majesty's joke. He plays the military as a hobby."
"Hey! That's disrespectful."
Members of the Army Air Corps mocked him.
After landing, 1th Experimental Fighter taxied into the parking area, and the nine planes stopped in an orderly line. Ground maintenance staff rushed over and set up ladders next to each cockpit. Then the pilots climbed out.
As the rest of the squadron looked on, the nine Space Force pilots walked across the grassland, lined up in front of the squadron commander, and removed their flight caps and goggles.
The way she removed her flight cap and goggles was cool and flowing, yet somehow dignified. And from the flight cap, her long, beautiful lacquer-colored hair spilled out like in slow motion. The local team member there saw something sparkling that should not be visible.
"Captain Makimura and nine others of the Imperial Space Force's 23rd Air Squadron have just arrived!"
The air force commander and other local personnel stared at the pilots with grim expressions on their faces. Who would have imagined that all the pilots flying the new aircraft were young women?