how de fok
ok a float plane on water takes much longer to take off than one on land since water causes more friction and the floats cause more drag
so they had to climb to their altitude and catch up with them .... but ok lets assume the jap plane was ifront of them.... so after the climb she was close to them and didnt have to catch up so much.... but that would mean she is atlow speed compared to them ... they can just turn around and book it while she flys level trying to gain speed or does a shallow dive to gain speed even faster but by the time she has the same speed as the recon plane the recon plane should be long gone....