Chapter 613: A Fighting Chance

Flying his Zero fighter, Sato found his opponents above the clouds: forty P-40 fighters of the U.S. Naval Air Corps that had scrambled to meet them. Just as he always did when dealing with American planes, he dispersed his formation to engage the oncoming American fighter group head-on. However, after just the first pass, Sato sensed that these American planes were different from before.

In the early stages of the Pacific War, American pilots were all novices, and it was inevitable for them to be nervous when facing enemy pilots. But the pool of American pilots was simply too vast, and they had a complete training and education system, allowing them to rapidly replace their losses.

In another timeline, as soon as an American fighter pilot became an ace, he was immediately transferred back to the home front to train new pilots. This system ensured that although American pilot losses were heavy, they could always be replenished with even better pilots. To put it simply, America’s top guns all went to the rear to teach the rookies, meaning that the front lines were always filled with novice pilots. But the “novices” America sent as replacements became more skilled with each generation, a strategic replenishment method based on a massive population.

Japanese pilots, however, could not be replenished this way. Far fewer people in Japan had access to aviation than in America. For most Japanese, flying was a distant and mysterious affair. Therefore, Japanese ace pilots could only fight on the front lines day after day. When Japan lost a pilot, replacing him was extremely difficult.

Thus, the analysis must once again return to the level of comprehensive national strength. One should not underestimate the number of cars a country has in peacetime, because it is not difficult to teach a car driver how to operate a tank. By the same token, American farms used planes to spray pesticides, and the number of people who could fly or had been in contact with aircraft numbered in the tens of thousands. This was a vast war potential that Japan simply could not match.

Akado had vigorously promoted the popularization of automobiles in Germany, so Germany’s mechanized army could recruit enough personnel for replenishment and expansion. Through his efforts, compulsory education in Germany had been extended to high school, which provided the German army with a large reserve of highly capable talent. Once these people became soldiers, those who had studied subjects like mathematics and geometry could learn skills like artillery aiming much faster.

When Germany secretly established its own flying clubs, the Treaty of Versailles was still in effect. However, dozens of flying clubs, large and small, had created a reserve of at least 50,000 aviation talents for the German Air Force. After being tempered slightly at the beginning of the war, these pilots became the elite of the Luftwaffe that swept across Europe. Paired with world-leading equipment, they remained the most fearsome air force in the world.

After some research, the German Air Force high command determined a more suitable “blood circulation” method for the Luftwaffe. They regularly rotated ace pilots from various fronts back to Germany to train the novices who were about to become fighter pilots. This not only ensured the combat effectiveness of the elite frontline pilots but also ensured that German pilot training remained advanced and forward-thinking.

But this was a trick Japan still could not learn. Germany’s well-developed education system and the general “mechanical aptitude” of its population were far superior to Japan’s, so the speed at which the two sides could replenish pilots was not on the same level at all. Thanks to Akado’s efforts, Germany’s pilot replenishment rate was now almost on par with America’s, and the quality was even higher.

Sato did not have so many complicated thoughts in his head. He only knew that he had to shoot down these American planes in front of him to create a safe environment for the Japanese torpedo bombers following close behind to strike the American ships. He flew his plane, relying on the Zero’s nimble flight characteristics, and quickly got on the tail of an American fighter.

“Strange!” he muttered to himself. The moment he had locked onto his opponent, he felt that the enemy plane was clearly different from the P-40s he had encountered before. By the time he had adjusted his attack angle, he found that the distance between them had not closed at all; they remained relatively far apart.

It was then that he suddenly realized his feeling had not been wrong. The American planes were indeed different from before—these P-40s were faster! He was unable to open fire, so he could only stick tightly to the American’s tail, hoping to find a suitable opportunity to attack.

It wasn’t that his aim was poor—Sato was considered one of the top dogfighters in the Japanese Naval Air Force—but the cannons on his Zero were too weak. When attacking distant targets, the trajectory of the shells curved severely, making them very inaccurate. What made him even more frustrated was that he only had 60 cannon shells. If he missed with all of them, he would have to leave the battlefield and return to rearm.

Why not switch to a more powerful cannon? That was a question Sato also wanted to ask the Zero’s design department, but the various reasons behind it were beyond the understanding of a simple pilot like him. In fact, Japanese aircraft design had entered a vicious circle, a tragic outcome caused by the classic mistake of “putting skill points in the wrong tech tree.”

Japan itself lacked a solid foundation in engine technology. So when Japan needed a new type of fighter, it could only work with second-rate engines to create a “deformed” fighter that could meet the army’s needs. This made Japanese aircraft an anomaly in the history of fighter development, making Japan one of the few major WWII participating nations to go down a design “road of no return.”

The Zero’s engine was underpowered, which made it fuel-efficient. But to pursue flight performance, the weight of the fighter had to be frantically reduced. In the end, Japanese aircraft began to use large amounts of aluminum-magnesium alloy, taking weight reduction to the extreme. This gave Japanese aircraft an extremely low wing loading, excellent maneuverability, and a terrifyingly long range.

But while this allowed Japanese aircraft to experience a brief period of being “invincible” in early 1938, it also led Japanese aircraft design into a dead end. The low-power engine meant the plane had to be light. The light weight led to insufficient structural strength. Insufficient structural strength meant it was impossible to equip more powerful weapon systems. This, in fact, was the Zero’s biggest flaw—the plane had no room for improvement!

If a more powerful engine were installed to increase the Zero’s speed, the plane would disintegrate in mid-air due to insufficient strength. Therefore, changing the engine would also require changing the Zero’s structural design. Changing the structural design would lead to a change in weight. The increased engine power would be partially wasted, and the increased fuel consumption would lead to a decrease in the plane’s range. To put it another way: changing the engine, altering the structure, and deforming the performance curve… how was that any different from designing a new aircraft from scratch?

Therefore, fitting the Zero with a more powerful weapon system was an extremely difficult task. Greater recoil would cause problems with the Zero’s structural integrity. So, Japanese pilots could only endure the curving trajectory from beginning to end, helplessly accepting the fact that their 20mm cannons had a shorter effective range than the enemy’s 12.7mm machine guns.

Sato flew his plane, sticking to the American fighter’s tail. His opponent seemed to know about the Zero’s poor roll rate and was using this maneuver to try and shake Sato off. However, Sato’s flying skills were formidable. He carefully piloted his aircraft, staying on his opponent’s tail at the limit of his range.

Suddenly, he sensed danger—an intuition honed by countless battles on the front lines. He immediately broke off his attack and quickly began a climbing maneuver, which the Zero was good at. Just as he pulled the plane up sharply, a line of bullets swept through the space just in front of him, scaring him so much he almost opened the canopy to bail out.

“Baka!” Sato cursed loudly. He used a high-speed climb to escape the attack from the American plane on his flank. It was only then that he realized the two American planes were using a strange weaving pattern, a tactic that allowed them to find a firing opportunity during a rolling maneuver—the Zero’s greatest weakness—and shoot down the pursuing Zeros.

Sato was lucky because he had changed his flight path at the most dangerous moment. But the other Japanese pilots in his formation were not so fortunate. By the time he had managed to shake off the pursuing American planes, he saw that three of his men had already been shot down.

“Baka! Yaa! All units, attack! Fight to the death!” Overcome with rage, Sato’s eyebrows shot up. He violently pushed the control stick, diving his plane back into the fray, searching everywhere for American fighters to shoot down to avenge his fallen comrades. But the increased speed of the American planes made it very difficult for him; for a moment, he couldn’t find a suitable way to attack.

…

At that very moment, an excited American operations officer walked up behind the carrier fleet commander, Admiral Spruance, and snapped to attention. “Admiral! We’ve received a message from Major Hawke’s fighter group! They are engaged with the Japanese and have already achieved five kills!”

Spruance’s eyes lit up. He turned and took the report, scanned it carefully, and then a smile appeared on his face. He handed the document back to the officer who brought it. “There’s nothing to worry about now! We’ve regained the initiative! Send a message to Admiral Nimitz! One sentence: ‘We can fight!'”

On the morning of August 30th, the U.S. Pacific Fleet began to turn to port. Every warship unhesitatingly joined the Second Battle of Pearl Harbor. Every American captain received a short message from Nimitz, containing only three words: “We can fight!”

Published: 2025-09-11T01:45:41.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-01-22T13:21:03.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c613-chance-138629970

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