New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

Compared with the PA-38 attack aircraft, the PA-47's dive and pull performance is better.In fact this distinction is inherited from their prototypes.As far as the general performance of attack aircraft is concerned, the PA-38 attack aircraft has a very obvious advantage over the PA-47 attack aircraft in terms of performance, that is, the PA-38 has a much longer range .Although compared with the original p-38 fighter, due to the addition of armor and pylons, the weight of the aircraft has increased significantly, which has led to a significant drop in range, but its range is still much larger than the original p-47 fighter, and more What's more, the range of the pa-47 attack aircraft has also decreased compared to the p-47 fighter jet.

This is a huge advantage, which means that with the same number of pa-38 attack aircraft, it can control a much larger area than pa-47 attack aircraft; or it means that the same number of pa-38 attack aircraft can have a longer Battlefield cruising time.This is very important for providing direct fire support against the enemy.In addition, due to logistical considerations, the simpler the model, the easier it is to maintain. There are a lot of p-47s, and there is absolutely no shortage of raw materials for modification, but there are also a lot of p-38s in Lu Hang's hands.If the pa-47 attack aircraft has nothing special to surpass the pa-38 attack aircraft in terms of performance, then the U.S. Army Air Forces will never purchase this aircraft.

The first obvious advantage of the pa-47 is its dive pull performance.This allows it to dive and drop bombs at a large angle like a dive bomber. Compared with horizontal bombing, the attack accuracy of large-angle dive bombs is much higher.For example, the famous Stuka dive bomber can dive and drop bombs at 90 degrees vertically.Its bombing accuracy can be controlled at about 15-20 meters; while the bombing accuracy of horizontal bombers is quite tragic. Take the b-25 medium bomber as an example, even if it bombs at low altitude, the bombing accuracy is above 300-400 meters.

When the pa-47 attack aircraft is also a dive bomber, the bombing accuracy is still not comparable to that of the genuine dive bomber, such as the Stuka or the Dreadnought, but compared with the pa-38, which can only drop bombs horizontally or shallowly, that The accuracy is so high that there is no edge.There will always be times when the USAAF needs to attack fixed, hardpoint targets.At this time, the irreplaceable advantages of pa-47 are revealed.

Therefore, when Ron got the first airport on the European continent, he made a report to his superiors and asked for a few PA-47 attack planes, so that they could be used when they need to strike hard-point targets.

Attacking bridges is now a must for the task of blocking traffic.And to do this job, at least for now, there is no more suitable aircraft than the pa-47.

Yesterday, the bombers of the Eighth Air Force launched an air strike on a railway bridge in France. Although the bombing caused some damage to the bridge, the most critical part of the bridge, the pier, was still intact.For a large industrial country, it is too easy to repair the steel frame of the railway bridge and so on.In Ron’s original time and space, during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Chinese People’s Volunteers sent commandos to attack the [-]st Division of the US Marine Corps and blew up the only railway bridge on the road where the [-]st Marine Corps retreated. The first division can only be captured with nothing.Who knew that the Americans directly used transport planes to transport the damaged steel parts of the railway bridge, repaired the railway bridge in a very short period of time, and rescued the first division of the Marine Corps.

To make it difficult for the enemy to repair in a short time, the piers must be destroyed.But the bridge pier is a very, very strong target, and it cannot be destroyed casually.Obviously, heavy bombers are not suitable for attacking such a target, so the task of destroying this target was handed over to Ron's 21st Attack Aircraft Wing.

"The enemy's air defense situation in the target area is roughly like this." Ron's adjutant Scott was in the war room, pointing at the map, and explaining the combat mission to other officers.

"The bombers of the Eighth Air Force have launched several attacks on the target. The enemy has also deployed a large number of air defense forces near the target. According to the information provided by the Eighth Air Force and the French underground resistance organization, the enemy is here, here, and still There are 88mm anti-aircraft artillery units deployed here. As for the small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery units, because they were not used during the air strikes of the Eighth Air Force, we also lack information in this regard. But what is certain is that this Around the bridge, small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns are absolutely indispensable. We only have six PA-47 attack aircraft, and it may not be a good way to break through. Therefore, we have drawn up such a plan." Scott paused for a moment , going on to explain:

"At about 11 o'clock tomorrow morning, the bombers of the 8th Air Force will bomb the target again. They will enter in two batches from an altitude of 4000 meters and drop their bombs. Our attack aircraft will pretend to be the first batch of bombers. The p-47 fighter escorted by the bomber appeared at a slightly higher position than the heavy bomber. The pa-47 attack aircraft had never shown up in Europe before, and the enemy could not tell the difference between it and the authentic p-47 fighter "Speaking of this, Scott unconsciously showed a little smile, "To be honest, at such a distance, even we ourselves may not be able to tell the difference between the PA-47 attack aircraft and the P-47 fighter jet. When Eighth Aviation After the army's bombers finish dropping the bombs, the enemy's attention will definitely shift to the second batch of bombers that are about to enter the bombing route. At that time, our PA-47 will dive down and launch a lightning strike on the target Attack... This is our plan. Do you have anything to add?"

"The bombs dropped by the bombers will produce a lot of smoke, which will interfere with our dive bombing." Squadron leader Malone said.Tomorrow's operation will be led by him, so he is quite concerned about such details.

"According to the information, the wind force will be three to four tomorrow, so the smoke will be blown away quickly. The impact on the line of sight should not be too great. However, you need to consider the wind deflection when you drop the bomb, Major Malone. I have detailed information on tomorrow's weather here, you can take it to study." Scott replied, taking out a document from the folder and handing it to him.

"Can those authentic p-47s that perform escort missions also be equipped with bombs or auxiliary fuel tanks, and when we dive, let them also do a dive towards the other piers. Their dive speed is higher than ours, any All anti-aircraft gunners will instinctively target them. Let them dive to a height of about a thousand meters to level off and escape. It is also difficult for small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns to hit such high-speed targets. The enemy's small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns will definitely be attracted by them Hold on. That'll give us a better chance of dropping the bomb," broke in Boyington.

"Well, Dad! Your conscience is greatly damaged!" Ron immediately praised him, and then said to Scott, "Scott, send this request to General Doolittle later."

"Of course, what do you mean by following someone and learning! Can you not be affected by staying with a guy like you who has no conscience at all?" Boyington immediately launched a counterattack.

……

The squadron leader, Major Malone, took six PA-6s and flew towards the target with about 47 B-24 bombers of the Eighth Air Force behind and above.Beside him, there are many p-17 fighter jets of other troops performing escort missions.These aircraft have a large auxiliary fuel tank hanging under the belly.From a distance, it looks a bit like the 47-pound heavy aviation bomb hanging under the belly of the aircraft.And about 1600 meters behind him is another bomber formation.

The land slowly unfolded in front of Major Malone, and a winding river still appeared in his field of vision—it was almost here!Sure enough, a few minutes later, a majestic railway bridge appeared in Ma Long's vision.

One after another black roses are blooming in the sky, this is the German 88mm anti-aircraft artillery units on the ground shooting towards the bomber fleet.The artillery fire was quite intensive, but the threat to Major Malone was not great.Because there is no fool who would let the bombers go and attack the fighters first at this time.

According to the rules established by Li Mei at the beginning, the b-17 fleet flew over according to the bombing route without taking any evasive action against the artillery fire, and then began to drop bombs.A string of bombs poured down on the railway bridge.Smoke from the explosion covered the bridge in an instant.One of the bombers in the bomber group was also hit, and the engine caught fire.

As the weather forecast said, the wind below is not small, but after a while, the smoke below is blown away.At this time, Ma Long's formation also just flew over the railway bridge.

The anti-aircraft guns below did not fire at Ma Long and the others. First, the efficiency of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns attacking fighter jets and other targets was very low. Second, there was another group of bombers approaching not far behind, so all the 88mm anti-aircraft guns Busy turning the muzzle to the bombers that are about to fly over.

"Follow me! Attack!" Ma Long shouted, and at the same time pushed the rudder to roll, pulled the bar to dive, and swooped towards the target pier at a large angle of 80 degrees.And the other p-47s with auxiliary fuel tanks also swooped down with him.

The dive flaps of the genuine p-47 fighter are smaller than those of the pa-47 attack aircraft.They accelerate faster in a dive.So these genuine p-47s quickly surpassed Ma Long's pa-47 attack aircraft and flew to the front.

At this time, some small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns by the bridge began to fire at the dived aircraft group.However, most of their firepower was aimed at the p-47s rushing ahead.And those p-47s immediately threw away the auxiliary fuel tanks, began to do various evasive actions, and then quickly leveled up, relying on the high speed brought by the dive, and quickly flew towards other directions.

The speed of these p-47s is so fast that it has even exceeded the angular velocity of the barrels of those German small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns.Therefore, the shells fired by the Germans fell behind them.Malone's PA-47s were all but ignored, and until now, not a single anti-aircraft gun had fired a single shot at them.In fact, it is impossible for the Germans to attack them, because time has not allowed them to turn their guns.

Malone pressed the target pier firmly into the sight, and then pressed the bomb button.