New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

() "It's not very good. This is its most obvious weakness. And." Ron thought, "Now, although the enemy planes have a great advantage in numbers, the real threat is the eight Ki-44s .As long as these ki-44s are settled, the situation is actually not as bad as imagined at the beginning. And the only possibility for those ki-44s to escape our surveillance and ambush us is that they take off before our fleet arrives , and then stayed there for a long time. The ki-44 is not a fighter with a long range. After a long period of standby in the air, their fuel tanks probably don’t have much fuel.”

"Keep a speed and altitude higher than ki-43, command each other, and use instant actions to avoid the attack of ki-44. The crews that are not under attack accelerate their climb!" Ron issued instructions to the p-51s who were fighting hard.

The so-called instantaneous action refers to changing the flight state of the aircraft through a very short and violent pull or push rod in an instant.This kind of action is sudden and strong, and the flight state of the aircraft changes greatly in an instant, but the total change is small, and the energy loss is relatively small.Of course, doing so requires a high level of skill and physical fitness for pilots.

The so-called technical level requirements actually mainly refer to the pilot's perception and control of the air situation.In fact, in terms of driving skills alone, the flying skills of many veteran pilots are no less than those of super aces. The biggest difference between them lies in their perception and judgment of the ever-changing air situation.A super ace, even in a melee, can have a good grasp of the air around him, know where the enemy plane is, know where his teammates are, and can deduce their next move.That's what makes them super aces different.

Obviously, it is impossible for every pilot to have such qualities.Most pilots don't have that level of attention span.Then, enhancing each pilot's understanding of the air situation through mutual cooperation among teammates has become the focus of air combat cooperation.

In air combat, a basic principle for determining the relative positions of the lead plane and the wingman is to facilitate the lead plane and wingman to observe each other's areas, which are usually impossible to observe by themselves.Now, the attack mode used by Ri's own ki-44 "Zhong Kui" is basically this:

First dive below the American's six o'clock, (for any fighter, this angle is an absolute blind spot for vision.) Then pull up from this angle and attack the American fighter.Since the U.S. military pilots cannot see the position of the enemy plane at this time, it will be extremely difficult for them to grasp the timing when they dodge.At this time, Ron asked the lead plane and wingman to command each other in order to avoid the attack of the enemy plane most effectively.

……

Koga pulled up with his wingman and kept pulling up to a height of about 5000 meters before leveling off again.In the attack just now, he and his wingman swooped down to a P-51 below six o'clock and attacked from there, and as he lunged straight for the P-51, the P-51 seemed to be Unprepared, until he had put it into the shooting halo and was about to fire, the p-51 suddenly slid lightly, just avoiding it from under his gun.

Koga knew that at that high speed at that time, Ki-44's manipulative response would be quite slow, and it was impossible to bite on the six points of others. If he really wanted to do this, it would take only a few minutes. Move, and the pointer on your own speedometer will reverse as fast as an electric fan.

In desperation, Kohe had no choice but to give up this attack, climb up quickly, and prepare for the second dive attack.

"Thank you, brother!" With Christie's reminder just now, Ronald used a light side slip at the most suitable time to thwart one of Ri's own attacks.

Now, everyone has calmed down from the panic when they were just attacked.The situation is actually not as bad as imagined. Ri himself only has 8 ki-44s. Although these aircraft have obvious energy advantages over the p-51 due to their high initial positions, their number is limited and not enough to suppress the climb of all 12 p-51s. And the initial energy of those ki-43s that were originally used as bait was too low, so that there was no way to climb up to hold the American p-51 at once.

In this way, every time the Japanese fighter jets dive down, the American fighter jets that are attacked will maintain their altitude and speed to dodge, while those fighter planes that are not attacked will take the opportunity to climb.After going back and forth in this way, the ki-44s only made a few dives, and found that some p-51s had already climbed to a fairly high position. When the angle is pulled up, it will be attacked by these p-51s that have climbed very high.

"Since ki-43 won't be able to help for a while, it's better to continue to carry out the task of intercepting the transport plane."

……

Faced with such a situation, General Kato resorted to such a trick.

If the p-51 dives down again to intercept the ki-43 at this time, the altitude they climbed up with great difficulty will be lost again. The ki-44s can continue to use the routine of diving-pulling up at a large angle-dive against them.If the American fighter jets do not intercept the Ki-43, but continue to compete with the Ki-44, the American transport aircraft formation that has no fighter cover at all will definitely suffer huge losses.

……

"Don't worry about those ki-43s, get rid of those ki-44s first!" Ron gave the order.Of course Ron knew what would happen to those c-47s without escorts once they encountered Ri's own ki-43.They had no fighter escort and no self-defense firepower of their own.Its flight performance can't compete with fighter jets at all, and there is almost only a dead end.

"But, Kato, do you really dare to bet on this? We have many more aircraft than you. Even if all six C-47s are shot down, it is not a big loss for the U.S. Army Air Forces. But your ki-43 has already wasted a lot of time as a bait before, and now whether it is chasing up to attack or returning after completing the attack, the distance to fly is much longer. This means that after your fleet completes the After the attack of the transport fleet, it will definitely be attacked by more p-51s when returning.... The purpose of this battle is not to send many things over the route, but how to wipe out Ri's own fighter force in the In the air. In order to realize this strategy, we can afford greater losses, but Kato, are you willing to bet like this? Do you have the capital to bet like this?" Ron thought this way when he gave the order.

……

After ki-43 left, "Zhong Kui" gradually fell into a bitter fight.Originally, the initial energy of these ki-44s was not much higher than that of the American p-51s. After a period of fighting, the gap was gradually being bridged.At this time, the quantitative advantage of p-51 began to gradually show.

In fact, what the p-51 shows is not only a numerical advantage, but also a firepower advantage and mobility advantage. The ki-44 side also began to suffer losses.

Less than 43 minutes after ki-2 left, ki-44 began to suffer casualties.Gu He saw lightly that a "Zhong Kui" was hit by a 20mm U.S. military gun, and almost instantly, this "Zhong Kui" was shot into the air.In contrast, the attack of the four 44mm machine guns of the ki-4 and the four 12.7mm guns of the p-51 are really heaven and earth.

Those p-44s that were not entangled by ki-51 began to seize the opportunity to climb, and after a while, they could take advantage of the altitude.Then, it will be the turn of the Americans to play bz (dive attack - pull up at a high angle).

The Ki-44 is an interceptor, its climb and speed can be regarded as quite outstanding among Japanese fighters, but its agility and hovering performance are very average.If someone bz's up, when dodging, the loss of speed will be very fast.And once the speed is lost, the plane becomes more clumsy.Then, needless to say?A dead end.

Therefore, those ki-44s no longer entangled with the p-51, took advantage of the remaining energy advantage, opened a little distance from the p-51, and then began to climb rapidly.

The climb of the ki-44 is quite good. If the p-51 in the hands of the Americans is a b-type or a d-type, then there is no problem at all to climb up.However, these p-51 are all type a.This p-51 does not have a two-stage supercharger, so its high-altitude performance is quite poor (this is why it is not seen by the British).If you climb with ki-44, you may be able to keep up in a short period of time. Once it reaches a height of more than 5000 meters, its engine will not be able to support it immediately, and the output horsepower will plummet.At that height, the p-51a is definitely no match for the ki-44.

"Don't follow too closely, keep a relatively safe distance. But don't get lost." Ron continued to give orders to the fleet.

Ki-44 is a fighter that is difficult to control, but these Ki-44s performed quite well in air combat, which shows that the pilots who fly them are all top-notch pilots.Such pilots are definitely treasures, as long as they can be eliminated, it is worth paying even more.

"Where's the p-14 from No. 38 Air Force?" Ron asked.

"We've reached area 10." A staff officer replied.

Ron walked to the map and observed it carefully.

"Order p-38 to speed up to the third area... order Bugs Bunny formation, Goofy formation, Mickey Mouse formation, vampire formation to bite the enemy and hold them for another 10 minutes!"

"Also, which airspace is the transport plane in?"

"The transport plane has reached the seventh airspace. The Black Knight formation is now in the sixth airspace, the closest to it. The Firefox is in the ninth airspace..."

"Order them to assist the transport aircraft in the seventh airspace. Note that the first goal in air combat is to destroy the enemy!"

Ron put down the intercom and looked at General Bissel.

"Good handling, Ron! This will be a crucial battle. I believe that after this battle, the existence of the 64th Team of the Japanese Army Aviation will just exist."

……

At the same time, the war room of the 64th Squadron of the Japanese Army Aviation

"Order the Koga formation to get rid of the entanglement of the enemy plane immediately and return as soon as possible! Order the decoy formation to abandon the interception mission and return!" Kato issued such an order.

"General? We are in an advantage, why should we return?"

"Our ki-43 is already close to the route of the enemy's transport plane. The enemy's transport plane will appear at any time. Why should we give up interception?"

"We may not be able to find the enemy's transport plane, and the number of enemy planes in the airspace is far more than ours. If we continue to miss the results of the battle, we will fall into the enemy's tight siege. Stop arguing and execute the order!" Kato's tone was abnormal resolute.