War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 770 The Air Battle Hastily Ended

When the white light completely faded, Wei Ran looked around subconsciously, but found that he was sitting on a truck, and there were many planes parked around the truck.In the carriage, there are more than a dozen people busy checking their equipment.

What kind of people are these.
Wei Ran looked around, but found that apart from a man about 40 years old in the middle of the front, the remaining soldiers in one-piece flight suits were younger and younger.

Some of these overly young soldiers are kissing the photos they hold in their hands, some are gnawing on carrots they don’t know where they came from, and some are talking nervously with their eyes closed.

Before he could look down to see what equipment he had on him, the truck stopped with a creak.Those too young pilots immediately jumped out of the truck and ran to their respective planes.

As the flow of people jumped to the ground, Wei Ran waited for a while, and the last one ran to the side of the only remaining fighter.

It wasn't until this time that he had the time to look at the equipment on his body, the half-new one-piece flight suit, the brown leather flight cap and a pair of windproof glasses. Parachute bag.

Looking at the fighter next to him, with an open cockpit, Soviet green paint, and patches on the skin, he recognized it as an I-16 fighter jet just by looking at it.

In the seat next to him, the middle-aged man was driving the same type of fighter jet, the only difference was that on his wing, a sentence "Defend the great Stalingrad with your life" was handwritten in red paint. !"

"Victor, don't be in a daze, hurry up and get ready! Our compatriots in Stalingrad are still waiting for us!" As the middle-aged man spoke, he quickly jumped onto the wing and climbed into the cockpit.

After recovering, he quickly climbed into the cockpit and sat down, fumbling to start the plane.

Fortunately, the control system of this plane and the An-2 plane that he only knows is not bad, and both are rear three-point landing gear, which means that there is not much difference in the way of taking off. The only thing that makes him uncomfortable is only It's just that the open cockpit is really scary.

After he put on the goggles, the middle-aged man next to him had already steered the plane onto the rough runway and started taxiing to take off.

"Victor, it's your turn! Remember to keep up with Captain Ninel."

On another plane on the other side, the pilot waved to Wei Ran and reminded him on the radio channel.

Gritting his teeth, Wei Ran steered the plane onto the simple runway, pushed the accelerator to start a run-up, waited until the speed was about the same, slightly pressed down the direction stick to lift the tail, and then increased the accelerator again.

Gradually, as the speed increased, the howling wind in the ear became more and more intense. Wei Ran glanced at the dial he had just found, and Wei Ran gently pulled the steering rod, and the nose was slowly lifted. began to climb.

At this level, it was much easier until the battle started. Under the control of the steering stick and throttle, the fighter he was driving flew to the left side of Captain Niell's plane and played a serious role in the battle. His role - wingman.

Glancing at the beating altimeter, Wei Ran tried to glance at the ground with his head.

As far as the eye can see, although the sparkling Volga River and the green forests and farmlands are beautiful, they cannot compete with the steaming smoke from the distant city to attract more attention.

Gradually, more and more planes behind them took off one after another, forming a loose formation among each other, while climbing the altitude, they narrowed the distance to the city of Stalingrad.

Not long after, the city in the gunpowder was left behind, and Wei Ran also experienced the indescribable sense of brain shutdown at the moment when he saw the ruins of the Kremlin in Stalingrad.

What he didn't expect was that the aftereffects brought about by this skill task were stronger than the previous ones. Although it was only for a short moment, he could feel that his ears, nose, and even the corners of his eyes seemed to flow out. Blood, and even breathing, became extremely difficult.

Rubbing his nose vigorously, when Wei Ran put his hand on the steering rod again, he already felt extremely familiar.But even so, he still didn't have any confidence and confidence in the next battle.

Just at this time, the two sides of the German machine gun battle also appeared in front of them, and they immediately changed their formation and greeted them in groups of two or three!

However, the speed of the opponent's enemy plane is much faster than theirs, and the weapons equipped are far more powerful than the only 4 machine guns on their plane.

It was only a short-lived exchange of fire. Wei Ran, who participated in the air combat for the first time, did not seize the opportunity to fire at all. Instead, he watched the enemy planes staggering past him, and watched several planes beside him get shot. Then it began to fall towards the Volga River on the surface!
Relying on his inexplicable muscle memory, Wei Ran slammed the steering stick to the left, controlled the plane to turn, and looked for the opportunity for a second firefight.

After only one round of firefights, when he formed up with the lead plane with the slogan written on its wing again, the other wingman had already lost its trace.

"I'll distract him, Victor, take the opportunity to fire!"

On the radio channel, Captain Ninel had not even finished speaking, and had already climbed up in an instant with his flexibility, almost completely exposing his muscles and belly to the opposite enemy plane's cannon that had also completed its turn!

"Fuck!" Wei Ran was taken aback by this desperate attack, and immediately manipulated the nose of the aircraft to aim at the fighter and started strafing.

However, almost as soon as he opened fire, the German fighter plane and the fighter plane driven by Ninell overhead began to roll towards the side at the same time, each dodging the bullets flying towards him.

Pulling the steering lever to the right, Wei Ran bit the plane that was still rolling and dodging, and waited patiently for the opportunity for the nose of the plane to fit into the fuselage of the opponent's fighter.

At this critical juncture, Ninel's fighter jet rushed out obliquely from below, brandishing a Fire Serpent mixed with tracer bullets, and easily enveloped the wing and cockpit of the German fighter jet.

Glancing at the rolling and falling plane, Wei Ran gritted his teeth and ran to the side of Ninere's fighter jet to accompany him, while nervously watching the surrounding situation, looking for enemy planes that might appear at any time.

This time, Wei Ran became the prey. Just as he was bypassing a small cloud, a plane flew past on his left, and started shooting at him.

Almost subconsciously, he pressed down the joystick to lower the altitude, but at this moment, two more planes started to dive towards him from a slightly higher altitude on the right hand side!At the same time, the conspicuous barrage also swept across the wing of the fighter he was driving!

Hearing the terrifying sound of dense bullets passing through the wing, Wei Ran, who was in the air battle for the first time, also became ruthless, continued to press down the direction stick and began to dive towards the ground.

At the same time, the fighter plane driven by Ninel seized the opportunity, bit one of the enemy planes chasing Wei Ran from behind, and pulled the trigger to cover the dense barrage.

"Victor! Climb! Turn left and level!" Ninel yelled on the radio.

Almost subconsciously pulling the joystick according to the other party's request, Wei Ran discovered that an enemy plane had already appeared obliquely above Ninel's back.

"Niniel, be careful behind you!"

Wei Ran only had time to remind him, and then he pulled the joystick violently to raise the nose, and vented all the depression accumulated in this muddled empty field to the fighter jet that was diving towards Ninel.

In the barrage of four machine guns, the fighter that was about to find a position to bite Ninel was enveloped in it in an instant. Behind Wei Ran, the last German fighter jet was firing!
The noise of the engine, the noise of the machine gun firing, the whistling wind, all of these could not conceal the nosebleed smile on Wei Ran's face - he finally managed to land a plane!
However, before the smile on his face disappeared, he suddenly felt that the plane below him seemed to be out of control, and when he subconsciously turned around, Wei Ran's heart skipped a beat.Because he clearly saw that the vertical wing and horizontal wing of the tail of the plane he was driving were all incomplete!Not only that, but even the skin of the tail has several bullet holes!
Before he could report the situation on his side, a cluster suddenly appeared in the clouds directly in front of him.

"Niel, my plane is out of control." Wei Ran tried his best to calm himself down, pressed down the radio and began to report his situation.

"Seize the opportunity to skydive" Ninel's order was still extremely simple, but the fighter jet he controlled rushed towards the enemy plane without hesitation.

Glancing at the sparkling Volga River below him, Wei Ran gritted his teeth but did not rush to jump off the plane that was still climbing. Instead, he took out the camera as quickly as possible and pointed the lens at Ninel's pilot. of that plane.

In the constantly shaking footage, in less than ten seconds before and after, the plane piloted by Ninel sprayed out four fire snakes again.

However, without any warning, the four fire snakes died down again, while Niner suddenly raised the nose of the aircraft, and without hesitation, crashed into an oncoming German me109 fighter jet!
The moment Wei Ran pressed the shutter, he clearly saw a fleeting collision between the two planes that were turning in one direction at the same time.

The unobtrusive fireball disappeared in a flash, and one of the wings of Ninel's fighter jet disintegrated in the air, and the nose propeller of the German fighter jet that was evading was also turned into splashing fragments.

Hastily put away the camera, Wei Ran unfastened the seat belt that fixed his body, and kicked hard to get away from the out-of-control fighter jet.

At the same time, he also saw that the fighter plane that had lost its propeller was still trying to maintain its posture, but the fighter plane driven by Ninel had already spun and fell to the ground with its nose down!
Amid the whistling wind, after a short period of free landing, Wei Ran's parachute automatically opened under the control of the vacuum gauge, and his descent speed also slowed down.

It wasn't until this time that he finally saw that Ninel finally jumped out of the out-of-control plane, and opened a white round umbrella not long after.

Look at the German me109 fighter jet that lost its propeller, but it has already run to the top of its head at this time, and it seems that it is still trying to control its flying posture.

Finally, look at the puff of smoke blasted by anti-aircraft guns at a higher place, Wei Ran is both fortunate and regretful.He was glad that he finally did not die in the air battle, but regretted that his first air battle was over after only persisting for such a short time.

Indeed, long before using the metal book, he had calculated that if it was an air battle, the metal book would definitely teach him something.

But he didn't expect that at most, that book only taught him how to fly a plane, but it didn't teach him how to fight.Or to put it more bluntly, he thought that even if there was no way to fight for 300 rounds, he could always rely on technology and German aircraft to have a few decent dog fights.

But in fact, what just happened at high altitude has almost completely broken all his self-righteous plans.

In his wild imagination, Ninel, who was the closest to the ground, landed first, and even people and umbrellas were swallowed up by the vast forest on the surface.

Taking this opportunity, Wei Ran seized the time to look at the landscape under his feet.Just based on the city shrouded in gunpowder and the winding Volga River on the opposite bank, he can already be sure that unless there is a strong wind, he will definitely land on Goronid Island in this era.

He stretched out his hand and gently tugged at the parachute above his head, knowing that this kind of round parachute could not be controlled by human beings at all, he simply seized the time to remember the direction where Ninel landed, and then focused on the plane that was about to make an emergency landing. On German fighter jets.

(End of this chapter)