Chapter 340 Western Reporters Running Fast
An hour later, the six aircraft participating in the operation finally entered the refueling area set up by the Air Force in advance.
Under the guidance of the operator, the pilot quickly saw the IL-78 tanker ahead with red and green navigation lights flashing.
Aerial refueling at night is definitely like dancing blindfolded on the tip of a knife.
If the docking fails, the refueling drogue may even be torn off.
This thing itself is fine, but the fuel warning lights of several aircraft have been on for a while. If they can't refuel, they will definitely not be able to fly back to the Lingshui base.
Fortunately everything went smoothly.
All successfully connected.
The UPAZ-1 refueling pod equipped with the IL-78 began delivering fuel to the six aircraft at a rate of approximately 1,600 liters per minute.
Wang Wei’s heart that had been hanging just now was finally relieved.
Since the belly auxiliary fuel tank was replaced by a photo reconnaissance pod, its fuel capacity was the least optimistic among the entire mission formation. It could only last about 10 minutes at most before it started to receive fuel.
Now it’s finally continued.
"Yuejiang 12, I happened to take a photo of you when you threw the auxiliary fuel tank into the middle of the opponent's fleet. I will give you a souvenir after you get back."
Unit No. 21 came over the radio The voice of the pilot in the back seat.
That is, the JH-7 that followed him and flew over the opponent's fleet.
This was not part of the initial mission plan, but the two pilots of aircraft No. 21 used to be the main force of the East China Sea Fleet aviation force. They often had various "friendly exchanges" with the Air Self-Defense Force and discovered each other during the mission. I often let the F4EJ backseat pilot, who was doing nothing most of the time, take photos with a camera to collect evidence, so I built one for myself.
The only flaw is that this camera, which is mainly used to take pictures of the Self-Defense Forces, is from Olympus.
“Thank you, it’s very memorable.”
“Yuejiang 12, you threw two auxiliary fuel tanks at their fleet?”
Always listening on the radio channel Tang Yiping, who stood but never spoke, suddenly asked.
"Ah...yes, Commander."
Wang Wei gave the explanation he had already thought of:
"I carry one less auxiliary fuel tank than you guys, so in order to reduce To reduce the fuel consumption on the return trip, I threw away the two empty auxiliary fuel tanks, so as to reduce the resistance."
It is impossible to fool Tang Yiping with this kind of nonsense.
Even if it is really necessary to throw away the auxiliary fuel tank due to insufficient fuel, doing so at ultra-low altitude will only increase the risk.
But he decided not to expose this little trick.
China's aviation force has been held back for too long without any results.
Originally, it would have been fine if it had always been in this state, but at the beginning of this year, the Air Force suddenly started a big operation in Kashmir.
As one of the few people who know the inside story, it is understandable that the young men of the Naval Aviation are itchy.
It's just the auxiliary fuel tank, it's not like two bombs were actually dropped.
With such a shameful thing, the Royal Navy's first thought is definitely to cover up the matter and make peace with it. There is absolutely no reason to make a big show of it.
Of course not in China either.
The current overall trend in relations between China and Europe, including the United Kingdom, is to warm up. This kind of thing may be a big deal for the military, but at a higher level it is just a minor episode.
Although it was a pity, Tang Yiping felt that it was a lot more balanced when he thought that Deputy Commander Zheng, who shot down the MiG-25, was not publicly publicized.
After the aerial refueling was completed, everyone returned to normal level flight.
The next 40 minutes of the return journey seemed extremely dull compared to this exciting night, so much so that it was a bit boring.
However, for Seward and Spencer on the Royal Cruise Ship, the real exciting part has just begun. After experiencing such an incident, although the dinner party on the top floor was still going on, most people no longer had the excitement they had before.
The two reporters who had already confirmed that they had got the explosive information had long forgotten about the big shots on the ship. After filling their stomachs with a few bites of food, they went as fast as possible. He returned to his apartment at a very fast speed.
After the frightening 30 seconds ended, the entire fleet fell into a headless state for nearly an hour.
It was not until recently that the huge fleet began to gradually turn around and sail south.
The aircraft carrier Excellence recovered 4 Sea Harrier fighter jets from two directions, but did not take off new aircraft to pursue the Chinese aircraft that left -
Technically speaking, this Simply because the Sea Harrier, which can only fly at a maximum of about 900km/h when loaded with bombs, is impossible to catch up with the opponent's six supersonic aircraft in retreat, so there is no need to make useless efforts.
But from a journalistic perspective, this kind of thing can be interpreted in ten thousand ways.
As for which one to use, it depends on the judgment of the media...
"What did you just take pictures of?"
In the living room of the suite, Spencer asked excitedly as he took out the laptop he had brought on board and turned it on.
“At the beginning, it was a plane approaching the aircraft carrier. What happened behind it...it was too chaotic. I wasn’t really sure. I was taking pictures based on instinct.”
Next to Seward said as he took out a roughly square memory card from his camera.
“But we’ll find out soon.”
Then he lightly slapped Spencer's stretched out hand away:
"I'll do it myself. You're so careless. If you break it, you'll be in trouble. This is SanDisk's new card. I'll spend it." I paid 1,600 pounds to buy it, and the editor-in-chief actually said that he could only reimburse me half of the cost at most..."
This CF card with a capacity of up to 16MB was absolutely amazing in 1997, although In total, the camera can only hold about 30 photos of average resolution, including the camera's internal storage, but it's more than enough for most paper media.
“Look, this is the first plane. It almost wiped the deck and flew over the Excellence...”
“This is the one behind us that is closer to us. I I even captured the missiles under its wings, my God..."
Seward's voice trembled slightly.
Having a background in the writing business, she is actually not very good at taking pictures, but today, for some reason, this camera seems to be like a divine help. More than half of the 30 photos are of great news value.
“You even clearly photographed the emblem and serial number of this aircraft. I think the editor-in-chief must like this photo very much.”
Spencer also praised next to him , "The one nearby is 81193... I think maybe I should find an expert to explain the meaning of this group of numbers after I go back."
"No, we can't wait until we go back."
Seward shook his head and said that this was too slow:
“We will get the first draft out tonight and send it back to China via satellite network, so that the editor-in-chief can finalize the main tone of the report...”
< br>The Guardian, where the two work, is not a neutral media, so many reports must make choices.
"Wait a minute..."
Spencer next to him suddenly said, and at the same time, he reached out and held Seward's hand controlling the mouse, pulled the photo back to the front, and then enlarged it:
On the screen was the Chinese aircraft just flying over the aircraft carrier.
"Look, the man standing next to the fence on the Excellence..."
"This..."
The resolution of digital cameras in this era is not yet supported. With this degree of amplification, the two could only guess from the opponent's uniform that this might be the fleet commander Rear Admiral Alan West.
"Inna, do you think he was calm and composed at the time, or was he panicked?"
Spencer, who retracted his hand, asked in a half-joking tone.
Seward glanced back at him:
"Well...it depends on whether Major General West supports the Conservative Party or the Labor Party..."
( End of chapter)