New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

() On the night of August 1943th, 8, the conference room of the Eighth Air Force Headquarters was brightly lit, and an analysis of the combat situation on that day was in progress.

"According to preliminary statistics, the fighter force dispatched a total of 3435 sorties today, of which the p-51 and p-38 were dispatched twice on average, and the p-47 was dispatched four times on average, with a total of 133 large and small air battles. Our side was shot down in the air battle p A total of 51 -23, 38 p-16, 47 p-8, a total of 47. Other aircraft were seriously damaged as follows: 51 p-12 were severely damaged, 1 pilot was seriously injured, and 5 were slightly injured 38 p-20s were severely damaged, 8 pilots were slightly injured, 47 p-26s were damaged, and 3 pilots were slightly injured. A total of 58 aircraft were damaged. Permanent loss of 47 pilots and temporary loss of 17 pilots People. According to our incomplete statistics, our results are as follows: we shot down a total of 190 enemy aircraft, including 109 of the bf-136 series, 190 of the fw-54 series, and damaged 315 enemy aircraft, of which bf- 109 of the 170 series, 190 of the FW-140 series, and 5 unknown jet fighters."

A staff officer is presenting the results of the day to the participants.

"The bomber unit dispatched a total of 2115 sorties, dropped 4205 tons of bombs, and bombed 10 enemy airports and two bearing factories. During the battle, 22 bombers were shot down, of which 16 were lost to the enemy's high-speed firepower, 5 43 was lost to enemy fighters. One was lost due to mechanical failure. A total of 16 bombers were damaged on our side, 3 of which were seriously damaged beyond repair. In the air battle, our bomber unit shot down 12 enemy planes and damaged the enemy planes [-]."

In the first day of combat alone, the Eighth Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Forces lost (permanent loss plus temporary loss) 105 fighter jets and 64 fighter pilots.The bomber force also lost 65 aircraft and 306 crew members.Looking at the loss alone, the loss of this day is not insignificant.But in this day's air battle, the Germans lost even more.Everyone at the meeting knew that if such losses continued, the Germans would not be able to hold on for long.Therefore, when the staff officer finished reporting the entire victory, the entire venue was filled with jubilation.

"Okay, don't be busy celebrating yet, the war is not over yet." General Doolittle also smiled, "So, we have to consider how to fight the next battle. Ron, this plan was made by you, you Tell me what you think."

"Okay, sir." Ron stood up, "Everyone, let's imagine that we are the German army, what can we do?"

The discussion started below.

Ron smiled and continued, "If I were me, I would most definitely want to hide the plane and the pilot, so that the factory blows up and I don't care. But Hitler would definitely not agree. If I dare to do this, he will definitely catch me and hang me. So, I have only two options: one is to take off as soon as I see a fighter jet like today - of course, the result will not make much difference ;Another way is to take off after seeing the bomber, which is tantamount to giving up the altitude advantage to our fighters. But if I have to choose the same, I will choose the latter. I think this is not optimistic, but it is also It’s not that I can’t fight at all. It’s a pity that the number of fighter jets in my hand is still not enough, otherwise, I can show them a magic trick.”

"There will be a plane, don't worry, it will be there in a few days."

"Actually, our fighter force doesn't have anything to discuss. It's better to discuss which targets the bomber force will attack tomorrow. I guess there should be no oil and water at the airport tomorrow."

"I think it's a priority to hit jet production plants..."

"I think it's still a priority to attack..."

……

Like the U.S. military, the Luftwaffe is also meeting.Moreover, the military ranks of the people who participated in the meeting were much higher than those of the Americans.The meeting was chaired by Field Marshal Spiele of the Luftwaffe.

Air Force Commander Goering has devoted more energy to political activities in the past two years, and has spent much less time directly managing air force affairs.More often, Kesselring, Spiele, and Richthofen are in charge of the Air Force.Today's air battle took place on the Western Front, which is the domain of Spiele's supervisor.Today's battle report shocked Marshal Spiele.

The results of the German statistics are as follows:

The results reported by various units are that a total of 138 enemy aircraft were shot down in air combat, including 96 fighters and 42 bombers.The German army itself was shot down 296 planes (some injured planes failed to fly to the airport so they were recorded as shot down in the German army's statistics) and another 203 planes were damaged to varying degrees in the air battle.In addition, in the subsequent bombing, more than 80 fighters were damaged to varying degrees, most of which were total losses.

Obviously such a battle loss ratio is unacceptable.If this situation continues, in less than two weeks, the Luftwaffe will completely collapse.This is absolutely intolerable!

"The enemy adopted new tactics in this operation. They took advantage of the range advantage of their fighter jets and dispatched fighter jet units in advance to control the airspace where the bombers were about to pass. If our fighter jets took off immediately like today, they would take advantage of their speed , dragging us around until we run out of fuel, they will pursue them again. At the same time, they will send out a bomber fleet at this time. And our fighter jets are all making emergency landings due to lack of fuel, not to mention intercepting them, it is even very possible They bombed them when they landed."

"So, let's not take off yet, how about we wait until the bombers show up?"

"That can't be done, then our fighters will have to climb against the shells of enemy planes that have a high altitude advantage. Moreover, in the process, we can't counterattack with all our strength, because that will interfere with the climb, and prevent us from attacking before the arrival of enemy bombers." Climb to a sufficient height. The enemy is in a disadvantageous position in the air battle, they can dive to escape, but we can't catch up, because it will also interfere with the climb... Damn, can such a battle be fought?"

"Then how about we divide the planes into two batches?"

"It's useless! We have twice as many fighter jets as others. Dividing them into two batches means that every time we go out, people will be able to fight more and less. Besides, the high-altitude performance of their aircraft is obviously better. If we do this, the result will be the same." It won't be good!"

"Okay, don't complain. Let's talk about what kind of conditions we can get to save the situation." Marshal Spiele spoke.

"Unless we greatly strengthen our strength, the number of our fighters must be more than twice that of the opponent!"

"In the long run, we need a long-range, high-altitude fighter."

"These are not problems that can be solved in the short term. The question now is, what will we do if Americans continue to do this tomorrow?"

"Marshal, then we can only choose between what we did today and the forced climb against the firepower of enemy fighter jets." An officer shook his head helplessly.

"Actually, the best way may be to avoid fighting for the time being. After we have accumulated enough new planes, we will fight back." Another officer timidly put forward his own opinion.

"Let the enemy bomb me? How is this possible? Doing so will affect the factory, and the new aircraft will not be produced!" An officer immediately stood up and retorted.

"Neither the head of state nor the commander will allow it." Some people were shaking their heads.

"Don't talk nonsense," Marshal Spiele was a little annoyed. "The important thing is that we have to decide what to do tomorrow! Should we lift off early or climb under the rain of bullets?"

……

After a period of controversy, everyone basically unified their attitude.That is, if you must face the battle, then choose to climb against the rain of bullets.In addition, everyone also pointed out that to perform such a task, they need a very strong, strong fighter like the il-2.

Marshal Spiele actually knew that this was the only option at present.In any case, climbing while staring at the rain of bullets is better than landing with a large number of enemy planes with superior energy behind them. (If you really can't climb it, you can still run.)

Spiele asked the staff to organize the minutes of the meeting, and then planned to make a call to Goering, and once again asked the Air Force Commander, Marshal of the Empire, the number two man in the Empire for more troops.But Spiele knew that this requirement was likely to be difficult to fulfill.

……

The nights in August are extremely short, and the dawn comes very early.The breeze blows gently, and the ancient European continent is sleeping peacefully in the tranquility before dawn.This is rare tranquility.At dawn, thousands of various aircraft of the US Army Aviation will stir up the whole of Europe like a pot of boiling water, and at night, the bombers of the British Royal Air Force will continue to bring noise and death.Only at dawn can there be such silence.

But everyone knows that the silence is only temporary.As the sun rose as usual the next day, the huge war machine was about to roar again.

In fact, even before the sun rose, the various airports of the Eighth Air Force were already busy.Yesterday, a batch of oversized fuel tanks were urgently produced from a British factory, and they will be hung under the belly of the p-47.In this way, the short-legged p-47 can fly all the way to western Germany.This also means that in Ron's hands, the number of fighters available for combat has risen again.

On the other side of the strait, the Germans are also silently preparing.They spent the night adding thicker armor to the ju-88, bf-110 and fw-190, tomorrow will be an extremely long and difficult day.Almost all of them are praying to God.Not even Hitler.Some researchers told him that they had learned the exact location of the Holy Grail.Hitler believed that the Holy Grail would bring him final victory.