New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

In an office, Ron is taking on his new assignment.An adjutant of General Arnold took him into a small office, handed him a file, and told him: "You look at this file first, and then General Arnold has a new task for you."

Ron nodded, took the documents and sat down at the desk, opened the file bag, and checked the documents inside.

These materials are all related to a new type of fighter jet that is famous in later generations.This kind of fighter is the p-51, which was later hailed as the king of fighters.Perhaps the parallel space is different from the original time and space. The p-43, which was supposed to enter the army at the end of 51, was here several months ahead of schedule, and entered service in the first half of 43.

But this great aircraft is also the same as in the original time and space, its performance was not outstanding when it first entered the field, and it was even far from outstanding.It was first provided to the British as a foreign aid model. According to the British who first used it-it was a scam.Although its range is by no means comparable to that of the short-legged aircraft that can barely fly over the English Channel, and its low-altitude performance is also good, the use of laminar wings and a good streamlined body make it low-altitude The speed ratio is also surprisingly good, and the four guns with a firing speed of thousands of guns are also very popular with the British.But it's still a rip off, as it can't be used to escort bomber convoys.

What is the fundamental mission of a fighter?There are only two fundamental missions of fighter jets, that is to kill the enemy's bombers, or to prevent the enemy from killing their own bombers.As for fighting the enemy's fighter jets, this is just a means to complete interception or escort missions.If a fighter jet cannot complete this most fundamental task for some reason, no matter how powerful it is in a one-on-one duel, it will only be eliminated.For example, Ri himself's Zero War, if you talk about the challenge, in the hands of a veteran, the old version of Zero War 21 is definitely better than the later improved version of Zero War 52.However, Ri himself quickly replaced Zero War 52, which is more powerful in singles, with Zero War 21.The reason is that Ri himself found that Zero War 21 could not complete these two most fundamental tasks.

Because the speed of Zero War 21 is too slow, when the enemy launches an assault on the bomber group it is protecting, it is difficult for it to intercept the opponent.And when it intercepts enemy bombers, it is difficult to get rid of the entanglement of enemy fighters. (When a p-38 is rushing towards the bomber, there is no need to worry about one or a few Zero War 21s in the direction of six o'clock. Anyway, they are slow and cannot catch up. But a Zero War 21 is rushing towards a bomber When an American bomber is in the air, if there is a p-38 following behind, it will be really stressful-they will catch up in the blink of an eye, and then wash it off with a dense rain of bullets before it can open fire on the bomber. Bath) Therefore, Ri himself has worse heads-up ability, but the faster Zero War 52 replaced the lighter and more flexible Zero War 21. Unfortunately, Zero War 52 is limited in speed, and the problems faced by 21, Well, basically for 52, there is no solution.

A similar situation was encountered with the p-51, which was first supplied to the British.The engine used in the earliest p-51 was very weak (basically the same as the old p-40), and there was no exhaust gas turbocharger installed.This caused the high-altitude performance of this aircraft to be very poor. When it reached above 5000 meters, when it encountered the German bf109, it was hard to cry.But the Western Front is different from the Eastern Front. Here, whether the British or the Americans, when will the bombers fly below 7000 meters?As a result, the sad p-51 either struggled to climb above 5000 meters, and then became disabled because of the rapid drop in engine horsepower, and then became the Iron Cross of the German pilot; Carnage and dry anxiety.What?German bombers?In 43, Germany was on the Western Front, where else did this species exist?

As a result, although these sad p-51s were replaced with four 50mm rotary guns that were much stronger than the six .20 machine guns in the original time and space, their fate of being left out did not change.They were either sent by the British to the second-tier team to train pilots, or they were used as long-range ground-to-ground tactical attack aircraft.If the British hadn't replaced it with the Merlin engine used by the Spitfire, it might have been the same as the predecessor's p-39, and in the end it could only go to the Russians to work.

As for the Americans, ever since the p-51 was branded as cheating by the British, even my own father looked down on it.Fortunately, there is another place that is very suitable for it, and this place is Myanmar!

Since the Japanese army occupied Myanmar, the last channel for foreign materials to be imported into China, the Burma Road, has been completely cut off.Without the assistance of the allies, the situation of the Chinese national government is getting more and more difficult.In order for China to continue to support it, it is necessary to open up a new material channel, so a legendary route was born.This is the hump route.

The hump route is perhaps the most important air route in the world. For a long time, this route has been the only channel connecting China to the world. Without this route, China may be like Tsarist Russia in the last war , shed blood and fell before victory came.This route is the last umbilical cord that maintains China, an ancient country with a serious lack of hematopoietic ability.

But the Hump route is also the most dangerous air freight route in the world. Military transport planes loaded with supplies take off from India, then cross the snow-capped Himalayas, and finally reach Yunnan, China.There are mountains as high as 7000 meters on the route. Although the C47 transport plane can fly over from a higher altitude when it is empty, but when it is full of aid supplies to China, its maximum flight altitude will not exceed 5000 meters . (It is not acceptable if they are not fully loaded, because they have to carry the fuel for the return journey by themselves) This makes these heavy transport planes have to bypass the snow-covered peaks from the valleys all the year round.

The airflow in the valley is extremely unstable. Sometimes the severe wind shear can make the fully loaded transport plane take the big roof continuously in the air, and sometimes the high wind at the mountain pass can even make the plane flying at an airspeed of more than 300 kilometers retreat relative to the ground.But this is not the most frightening thing. The most frightening thing is—sometimes the valley that was still sunny half a minute ago will suddenly be shrouded in thick fog, and the visibility will quickly drop to zero. Pilots can only rely on instruments and maps to fly blindly.When the weather is fine, when the plane passes through the valleys that this route passes through, the pilots can clearly see that the bottom of the valley is shining with silver light everywhere.Those lights are the way forward -- they're the wreckage of planes that crashed on that route during previous missions.Throughout the war, thousands of transport planes and many more airmen died in these deserted valleys.Most of the remains of the martyrs are still buried there.

The danger of the Hump route comes not only from nature, but also from the enemy.In order to bypass some mountains that are really impossible to fly, the transport planes must make a large bend.This curved route is drawn on the map like the shape of a camel's hump, hence the name of the hump route.The position at the top of the hump extends into Myanmar, where two air teams of the Japanese Army Aviation are stationed.

Due to insufficient range, the p-14 fighter jets of the US Tenth Air Force and No.40 Air Force (Flying Tigers) were unable to escort the transport aircraft all the way.Therefore, the transport aircraft unit suffered heavy casualties under the interception of Japanese fighter jets.The maintenance of the hump route is also becoming more and more difficult.

At this critical moment, the p-51 of the long-range voyage appeared on the stage, and her arrival was like the crimson dawn, about to drive away the terrible long night.

That's what everyone expected.Shouldn't it be? .As for Ri himself, there are only some outdated Ki43 fighter jets.The maximum speed of these enemy planes is even less than 500 kilometers, which is more than 51 kilometers worse than the maximum speed of the p-100, and it is not even much faster than the cruising speed of the p-51.Shouldn't killing such an opponent be like cutting melons and vegetables?

However, one month after the escort started, everyone's glasses were shattered—the much more advanced p-51 was beaten to pieces by the backward, old-fashioned ki43.Their performance in combat is even far inferior to the old p-40 fighters.

Yes, the pilots who participated in the war described her like this in the data: at low speeds, she is as stupid as a duck, turns much slower than the p-40, and the climb is not very good.What's more terrible is that when turning, she is prone to unilateral wing stall, and there is no sign before the stall.

Ron put down the information gently, he already had his own judgment in his heart.

At this time, the young adjutant came in again. He glanced at Ron and said, "If you finish reading, come with me. The general wants to talk to you."