Hiroyoshi Hanabusa stood on the wing of his A6M2 briefly prior to entering the cockpit. He had yet to see action since the outbreak of the war. Having seen his fair share since the war started with China it made him the most experienced pilot in the flight he was put in charge of. It seemed someone was out to rob him of his glory when his name came up to fly CAP over the Zuikaku on the very day they raided Pearl Harbor. He should have been leading the flight. "Sir! Is there an issue?" Yelled out one of the deck crew. The Captain realised he was still standing on the wing, he saluted and climbed in.
A few hours later and their flight was returning from a raid on Commonwealth positions that were holding up the Japanese advance. At this stage in the conflict they had all but secured air supremacy, or so they thought.
"Are there meant to be more friendlies making a raid soon?" Daisuke Osaragi asked himself as he spotted two dots over what he was certain was friendly lines. It was in fact two enemy Gladiators, making their way back to their lines after being seperated from a portion of their flight. The two Zero pilots had no knowledge of more planes in the area so they approached with full throttle having every faith in their superior aircraft.
Osaragi was the first to engage, firing well placed shots into the lead Gladiator, their return fire was sporadic and appeared to miss, though the young pilot felt the pedals vibrate inexplicably.
In the meantime two more aircraft flew out from the clouds not far from the dogfight that was ensuing below. Hanabusa noticed them but was too engaged with the Gladiator to pay special attention that moment. "Two P-40's, wherever did they get their hands on those out here?"
The lead Gladiator had turned to face the Captain. He opened fire and the return fire could have proven effective if Hanabusa did not anticipate it and managed to avoid the bulk of it. Meanwhile Yoshima Ogawa flying one of the Val's joined in the action helping the flight leader out.
The second Gladiator and Osaragi flew past each other, Osaragi going under the nimble bi-plane.
Daisuke Osaragi was in such haste to get on the tail of the Gladiator that he missed sight of the enemy planes bearing down on him at top speed. He thre his plane into a reverse manoeuvre and received a vicious attack from a British monoplane.
The hail of bullets made his job much harder and he missed the mark by a long shot. He recovered however and this time he was right on, the bi-plane succumbed to the bullets, smoke spewing out the engine and gradually lost altitude until crash landing right near the line.
Meanwhile the two newcomers had switched their attention to the Japanese dive bombers and they gave them an awful beating, both pilots aiming at the same aircraft. The rookie, Fusata Ichikawa got off his first combat shots and even managed some light damage to the enemy Spitfire.
As the Spitfire flew past, the rookie's rear gunner Saito Takumi put a well placed shot into the last flying Gladiator and it too plummeted into the ground below. (Val not pictured)
The gunners were keeping up the pressure.
Osaragi had finally turned around again into the oncoming British fighter, who was flying expertly but we'll placed rounds stopped him short even after surviving Osaragi's fire he couldn't withstand Hanabusa's, the ace's cannons ripped into the enemy plane and down he went.
"Fantastic" thought the two pilot's, "only one left"
To be continued...
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