New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

"Sit down and talk." General Arnold raised his head from a pile of documents, signed it, and handed it to the adjutant, casually speaking to Ron.

"Yes, General!" Ron sat down in a chair.

"What do you think of the situation in Myanmar?" General Arnold asked directly.

Ron knew that his answer might be critical, so he thought it over for a while, and then replied:

"General, I think the poor performance of the p-51 has more to do with tactics."

Having said that, Ron paused for a moment, quietly paying attention to the general's reaction.However, General Arnold didn't respond any more, so Ron had no choice but to continue talking.

"Obviously, in Myanmar, we are using our weaknesses against Japan's strengths. The p-51 is a high-speed fighter, and its laminar wings make it unmatched in high-speed performance. But there are gains and losses , its low-speed section performance is also affected. But the battles in the battle reports I saw basically took place at low-speed sections below 250 miles per hour (about 400 kilometers). At this speed, Ri himself Any kind of aircraft is better than the p-51. Therefore, the emergence of this unfavorable situation is not because the p-51 is not good, but because we have made a mistake in tactics. Our tactics should be Engage the enemy at high speed."

"However, Ron, our plane is performing an escort mission. The transport plane flies very slowly, and the escort fighter jets cannot fly too fast." General Arnold raised his doubts.

This issue is also within the scope of Ron's consideration.Ron knew how General Doolittle used the p-51 correctly in Europe later, which defeated the Luftwaffe in one fell swoop.Doolittle's tactics can just solve this problem.So he replied in a leisurely manner: "General, I have a new idea. Maybe we can do this..."

a week later……

At an airport in Assam, India, the concrete runway glows blindingly white under the strong tropical sun.Looking around, the scenery in the distance, whether it is a snow mountain or a forest, seems to be fluctuating like a layer of water.

"mmt, today, I'm afraid it's more than 100 degrees (Americans are used to using Fahrenheit. One hundred degrees Fahrenheit is about 37 degrees Celsius)." Ron stood under a tall palm tree, with his shirt open, holding a stick in one hand. Ice cream, with a fan in the other hand.While shaking his fan wildly, he complained.Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and he felt like the ice cream in his hand was about to melt.

"It's okay, Colonel. Today's maximum is 5 degrees. It's not bad. It's only May, and in two months, the heat will reach 120 degrees (about 49 degrees Celsius)." A person standing next to him replied the young officer.

"Fortunately, by then, I should have gone back." Ron thought to himself.He turned his head and looked at the young officer who was talking to him just now. That guy was the liaison officer sent to him by General Bissel of the Tenth Air Force, and his name was Brian.I don't know how long he stayed in India. His face was tanned by the sun. Although it is not as good as an authentic African, it is comparable to that of an African-American.

At this time, the sound of an engine came from afar—after a while, a C-47 transport plane appeared in everyone's field of vision.

Through the binoculars, Ron could clearly see that the transport plane was in an unusual condition - one engine had apparently stalled, easily seen by the stationary propeller.

As the plane flew closer and closer, more details became clearer and clearer through the fixed high-power telescope: the plane had obviously been attacked, with many clearly visible bullet holes on the fuselage, and even more on the vertical tail. It was riddled with holes and it was horrible.

The plane wobbled towards the runway and landed slowly.The wheels landed on the runway and jumped, then quickly stabilized, and finally the plane stopped firmly at the end of the runway.

The cabin door opened, and a person rushed out, shouting something in a language that Ron didn't understand very loudly.Then, the ambulance drove over immediately.Ron also jumped into the jeep and said to the driver, "Go and have a look."

When Ron came to the plane, several medical staff were carrying a stretcher off the plane.On the stretcher lay a Chinese man in a flight suit, who had passed out.Ron saw that he was soaked in blood from the thigh down.

"It should have been shot in the thigh," Ron thought. "Considering the location of the Japanese base, after being shot, he still needs to fly for at least an hour and a half, including mountains and valleys. It's really nice to be able to persevere." not easy."

The captain was obviously not the only one injured on the plane. Just after he was carried out, three more wounded were carried out one after another—all of them were injured by the Japanese plane.The last thing to come out was a body—a 12.7mm machine gun bullet had hit him in the chest, killing him instantly.

After the wounded and dead bodies were carried away, the passengers on the plane began to come out one after another.Ron was taken aback by how they looked.

These people are all naked, most of them only wear a pair of close-fitting shorts, and a few of them don't even have shorts!They staggered off the plane, everyone had white lips and trembling bodies, and Ron could hear the clucking of their teeth from about ten meters away.

"Damn it! What's going on! What do these people do?" Ron asked.

"They are all recruits sent from China." The young officer named Brian replied.Probably because he was used to such situations, he seemed careless.Seeing that Ron's face was still full of doubts, he continued to explain:

"When they get here, we will provide all their supplies, military uniforms, weapons, training, etc. Their original military uniforms will be replaced here. So 'peanuts'——is theirs. President, as General Stilwell has nicknamed him—just before they get on the plane, strip them naked to save the next uniform."

"However, flying at high altitudes is very cold. The cabin of the C-47 is not pressurized and sealed. When flying to a high place, the temperature inside can drop to more than ten degrees below zero. Aren't they afraid of freezing to death? At least one must be prepared for them. Army blanket?" Ron asked, pointing to a guy with pale lips and blue face who was shivering under the scorching tropical sun.

"We have military blankets for them on the plane, but, to be honest, the military blankets are not very effective. Besides, this plane is not ours. It belongs to some Chinese airline. This can only be counted These guys are out of luck. But don’t worry, most Chinese people just need some sun and they’ll be fine in a while—they’re as easy to feed as cattle.”

In fact, as Brian said, after a few minutes of basking in the warm Indian sun, the group of cattle-like recruits gradually warmed up.At this time, a large Dodge truck drove over, and a Chinese man in American military uniform got out of the car, and said a few words to these people—his dialect was very heavy, and he spoke very quickly.So that Ron basically didn't understand anything except the word "Ge Laozi"-then these recruits climbed up the truck one by one.Then the truck drove away.Ron noticed that from the beginning to the end, these recruits were silent, like a group of animals that could not speak.

For a period of time after that, the airport became very busy, and more than a dozen C-47s landed here one after another, each of which was scarred and full of Chinese recruits who were half frozen to death.

"The route passes through the vicinity of Myitkyina, where Ri himself has an air force base. The route is under the direct threat of enemy planes." While Ron was carefully inspecting the landing C-47, Brian asked him from the side Explaining, "Fortunately, the firepower of Ri's plane is not strong enough. Ki43 only has two .50 machine guns, and the power is far inferior to our .50. Otherwise, the loss will be even greater."

"Ever tried bombing an airfield to paralyze the enemy?" Ron asked.Many people think that it is a matter for fighter jets to seize air supremacy, but in fact, it is more efficient to use bombers to wipe out enemy fighter jets on the ground in many cases.Just like when the Germans launched the Barbarossa plan and raided the Soviet Union, the first step was to use bombers to raid the Soviet airport.During that campaign, the Soviets lost thousands of planes, most of them blown up at airfields.

"Colonel, we have launched two attacks on Myitkyina Airport, but the effect was very poor." Brian replied, "Japanese fighter jets have very low requirements for runways, and they only need a very simple runway to take off. This kind of runway , Repairing is faster than bombing! Every time our bomber just lands on its own runway, the Japanese planes over Myitkyina can take off again. There are dense rainforests near the Myitkyina airport, and the Japanese Airplanes, oil depots, etc. are hidden nearby, and they cannot be found from the air. The attack has no effect at all, and the loss is not small. In addition, Ri himself has the support of the local people - just like the 14th Air Force in Yunnan That way—there are Japanese air defense lookout posts everywhere, and it is difficult for us to achieve the effect of surprise attacks. So later, we rarely actively attacked Myitkyina Airport."

Ron knew that what Brian said was true.It is true that a mere attack on the runway cannot have any long-term effect without destroying the enemy aircraft.The battle situation in Guadalcanal Island vividly illustrates this point: Even if it is bombarded by battleships, the airport runway can still be repaired quickly.And Guadalcanal made another point, that is, how easy it is to hide a few planes from the reconnaissance planes in the rainforest area.

"Bryan, go and get in touch with General Bissel, give me four P-51s, and give me three old birds. I want to fly to Myitkyina to see for myself."

"Colonel, the general has received orders from General Arnold that you are not allowed to take part in combat flights."

"Did I say that I'm going to fight the Japanese? I can assure you generals that if the Japanese don't come to me, I will never fight them...or else? Just say, I need to fly to China , I need a P-51 and three escorting P-51s—as far as this route is concerned, I feel that flying a P-51 by myself is much safer than taking a transport plane.”

"Okay, but Colonel, I don't guarantee that General Bissel will agree."