New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

() Clark Gable tried his best to control the machine gun, and shot at the enemy planes that were coming straight down.But the speed of the enemy plane was so fast that the speed of the machine gun's rotation was already insufficient, and the bullets fell behind the enemy.

"Damn, these guys are so fast!" he complained.

Clark Gable was not the only one who complained that this damn German plane was too fast, and it wasn't even just Americans. Some German pilots also complained that it was too fast and difficult to control.For example, Frank, just now he aimed hard at a B-17, trying to hit it directly.However, the main control surface of this kind of aircraft is all on the tail, which caused its cao control response not to be very good. Opportunity to have your name inscribed on the Memorial of the Fallen.

After missing the first target, Frank saw a second target.But the damn plane was too fast, and before he could turn the nose of the plane to the target, it rushed past again.

After missing several targets in a row, Frank found that he had rushed out of the air phalanx of the American bombers.He really wanted to turn around and attack again, but at this time, he found that his plane had already run out of fuel, and because the longitudinal wing surface was too small, it was difficult for him to change the plane from a dive to a climb.Even due to the attack when trying to attack the enemy plane just now, the dive angle was too large and the speed was too high.At such extreme speeds, the compression effect of the airfoil made controlling the airfoil so ineffective that he could not even level the plane.

Although he is a rookie, Frank also knows that he is in an extremely dangerous situation: the speed of his plane is close to 850 kilometers per hour.Continue to dive like this, and it will hit the ground straight and straight in a short while.

Frank stared closely at the altimeter whose pointer was flying like the blades of an electric fan, 4000 meters, 3500 meters, 3000 meters... He wanted to detonate the explosive bolt at an altitude of 1400 meters to blow off the plane from the connection in the middle of the fuselage , allowing the rear fuselage with the engine to land safely on the ground through a parachute that opens automatically.

When the altitude dropped to 2500 meters, the speed of the plane had also risen to 1100 kilometers per hour, and the plane began to tremble violently.The plane shook so badly that Frank couldn't even get his finger to the blast bolt's start button.In the violent shaking, the left wing of the aircraft broke first, and then the entire fuselage disintegrated.

Due to the lack of aerodynamic research, this time, Frank, who finally succeeded in engraving his name on the Memorial (if there is such a thing), did not know that the violent vibration he encountered was called "sound barrier".

The so-called "sound barrier" refers to (sonic barrier) is a physical phenomenon, when the speed of an object (usually the (that) aircraft) is close to the speed of sound, it will gradually catch up with the sound waves emitted by itself.As a result of the continuous superimposition and accumulation of sound waves, shock waves will be generated, which will hinder the acceleration of the aircraft.

On the one hand, severe shock waves will damage some structures of the aircraft (especially the wings). On the other hand, when the flying object is about to fly close to Mach 1 (the unit of sound speed), the air rushing in front cannot pass through the aircraft as usual. The body spreads out, so the gas accumulates around the flying body, generating extreme pressure, and also triggers an invisible air vortex, commonly known as the "death vortex", which is also called the sound barrier. If the fuselage is not specially reinforced Even if it is processed, it will be smashed into pieces in an instant.Frank's plane would suddenly disintegrate in the air for this reason.

It wasn't just one pilot who suffered Frank's fate.In addition to him, there were three other pilots who suffered the same tragedy as Frank because of too high a dive angle and high speed.

On the whole, this maiden attack by the SS air force was not particularly successful.A total of 24 planes attacked, and 4 planes were lost first due to mechanical accidents during the ascent.Then 5 more planes were killed in the attack along with 4 enemy planes in the collision (one plane knocked off one tail fin of the enemy plane, but the enemy plane did not crash).Then four more planes disintegrated in the air because the dive angle was too large to pull up.Of the 4 remaining aircraft, another was lost due to a malfunction while using the explosive bolt.In the end, only 11 of the 24 young men who set off came back alive.

After paying such a price, they only shot down two b-17s during the rocket attack stage, plus 4 that were later knocked down by impact.Their final result was 6 enemy bombers.

This result is not ideal, especially the loss ratio when attacking unescorted bombers is even more unsatisfactory.If this force belongs to the Air Force, then the Air Force will be so distressed that its intestines will break.But this unit belonged to the SS.The fanatical SS never cared about the death of a few rookies.

Of course, after the attack is over, summing up lessons learned is still indispensable.When the day's fighting was over, both sides summed up the battle.Moreover, both sides attach great importance to this battle.

……

"During this attack, a group of young heroes emerged from our ranks. Their exemplary deeds are impressive and worthy of study by the people of the whole country. The head of state was deeply moved after learning about their deeds. He told me that it is these The young man gave him the courage to overcome all difficulties. The Fuehrer asked me to tell you that he believes that with such heroic fighters as Xiang, the Third Reich will surely win the final victory."

At the summary meeting of the [-]st SS Air Force, Propaganda Minister Goebbels unexpectedly appeared.

Along with Goebbels was Hermann Göring, commander of the SS air force.

Marshal Goering announced that he would award the Iron Cross to those who died with the enemy planes.Such an honor made some youngsters jealous.

After round after round of speeches by the big leaders, the meeting was able to return to the real important topic - summarizing experience and lessons.

"Lieutenant Husserl, you participated in this operation, what do you think we need to improve in this operation?" Colonel Thomas said.

"Hello, Commander! Hello, Mr. Minister! Hello, Sir!" Husserl was quite flattered to be able to speak in front of such big figures as Goering and Goebbels.He stood up and saluted and greeted those senior officials again and again.

"This lad shot down a B-17 with a rocket," Colonel Thomas explained to Goering and Goebbels.

"What a boy!" said Goering. "What a boy! Take it easy and tell me what you think."

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander!" Husserl immediately stood at attention and stood upright.

"Our attack still has some...some problems. For example, we are too easily affected by clouds and things, and we are prone to getting lost. There is also...the problem of insufficient coordination. For example, after we took off, we did not Being able to form an overall formation caused us to fail to form a joint force when attacking, resulting in a drop in attack efficiency. In addition, there were also problems with the attack line we chose, and our dive angle was too large, which also brought unnecessary losses. I think we should improve in these areas in the future." Husserl was a little nervous at first, but then his expression became clear.

"Young man, very good!" Goering praised the boy again, and it seemed that he admired him very much.

"How do you think we can solve this problem?"

"Your Excellency, Commander, I think we should have more training time. Otherwise, these problems will be difficult to solve."

"Very good, very good, we will consider it." Goering responded sincerely.

……

After the meeting, Goebbels asked Goering: "Are you planning to increase the training time of these pilots?"

"How is this possible? The war is so urgent, how can we waste too much time and supplies on these disposable supplies? However, it is possible to consider using them in good weather as much as possible."

……

Almost at the same time, the daily routine meetings of the US military were also going on.It's just that compared with the relaxation of the previous few days, the atmosphere of this meeting is a little more serious.

"Everyone has seen the briefing just now. The Germans have adopted a brand-new combat weapon and adopted a new combat method. What do you all think?" General Doolittle saw that everyone put down their hands. asked after the information.

"General, let me talk first." Li Mei said.

"Judging from the information just now, the weapons used by this new aircraft are rockets. The higher the density of our aircraft, the greater its threat. So I was thinking, can we Increase the distance between the bombers a little. Of course, this will reduce the self-defense capability of the bombers when encountering conventional interception. So whether this approach can be adopted, I still need to listen to General Rowan's opinion. In addition, at this time During the attack, the enemy planes have obviously begun to collectively intercept us by ramming. We need to consider how to deal with the enemy’s ramming tactics. Finally, there is a technical problem. The speed of the enemy planes is too fast, and the speed of the machine guns cannot keep up. We A self-defense weapon that spins faster is needed."

Li Mei mentioned Ron in the speech just now, and Ron followed him to speak.

"The bombers could be spaced farther apart. I'm sure the Germans don't have the capability to launch a massive conventional intercept in the near future. At the same time, I agree with General LeMay about new self-defense weapons. I think this weapon should have Longer range, to adapt to the expansion of bomber spacing, the rotation and pitch of this weapon should be driven by electricity to ensure a higher rotation speed. We should set an indicator as soon as possible and let the country get this thing out."

"In addition, I noticed the peculiar climbing method of this aircraft, and I have some conjectures about it. Based on these conjectures, I came up with a new escort tactic. It's just that I need more fighter jets..."