Seven Hundred and Sixty-Four Runs More Like

"The snow has stopped. It seems that we are busy today." A Luftwaffe ground crew looked at the weather outside and shook his head in disappointment. In the past two days, the entire sky over the Crimea was covered by clouds and bad weather, so the air force pilots and ground crews got a rare rest time. They played cards in the office and talked about the whole battle situation.

German aircraft have always been in an overwhelming advantage on the Eastern Front. The number and quality of fighter jets are almost more than their Soviet opponents. As for the level of pilots, they are college students killing elementary school students. German planes soaring in the sky never put Soviet planes in their eyes.

Compared with the German fighter force, the pilots who performed the German ground attack missions were hard work. They often have to work overtime, flying the plane to and from the base and the target. They dropped bombs on the target's head, poured out their ammunition, and then returned to the voyage.

However, they often have to face Soviet ground artillery attacks. Sometimes the Soviets even use their rifles and machine guns to counter the German attack planes that dropped bombs at low altitudes. Often, some planes fly back to themselves with scars and bullet holes all over their bodies. In the bases, sometimes the bulletproof steel plates behind the pilots were even embedded with dense bullets.

The relatively new ground attack aircraft of the German army is the Stuka 2 aircraft. This aircraft is a general-purpose aircraft that does not fly fast. It can dive and drop bombs, but it is not as professional as the Stuka; it can carry a large number of bombs. But it is definitely not as many as a professional bomber; its flight speed is similar to that of a Stuka, and its hovering ability is slightly stronger... In short, every feature of this aircraft seems to be not very obvious, it is just very easy to produce.

Yes, it is easy to produce. As soon as this Stuka 2 aircraft was born, it almost affected the entire German industrial system. Many parts of this aircraft are made of scraps left over from the production of fighter jets, and the engines are also second-tier. Mature technology does not occupy the production capacity of any front-line weapons at all.

Inspired by the production process of the Stuka 2 aircraft, the industrial myth of the Odin helicopter came into being, and the famous helicopter manufacturer Frank Elstoner came into being. After half a year of exploration, Germany finally began a large-scale experiment on the semi-automatic production line technology on the King Tiger tank, and Germany has also embarked on the fast track of industrial production.

The Stuka 2 aircraft is like a trainer aircraft, very easy to fly and very smooth to fly. This aircraft has a very good advantage, that is, it is strong. Almost the entire aircraft is reinforced with steel plates and equipped with advanced self-sealing fuel tanks. This is one of the reasons why it can replace the Stuka as the German standard attack aircraft. On the contrary, the stuka is not as strong as the Stuka 2. Although the gap is not big, the battle damage rate of the Stuka 2 is indeed lower.

Although the Stuka is more accurate in bombing, it has design limitations that are difficult to overcome. The bomb load of the Stuka is too small, and it can only carry one large bomb for bombing missions, while the Stuka 2 attack aircraft can carry two of the same bomb,

And can also bring some other small bombs. Similarly, there is nothing commendable about the Stuka except for diving and accurate bombing, and the advantage of the hovering performance of the Stuka 2 attack aircraft allows it to maintain firepower over the target all the time.

Another reason why the German Air Force fell in love with the Stuka 2 attack aircraft is that the Stuka 2 aircraft uses a new type of engine, which is quite fuel-efficient, although it is not satisfactory in terms of flight speed. But its reliability and economy are really hard to refuse.

Of course, there is another place where the Stuka 2 is better than the Stuka, and that is the ease of driving of this aircraft. The piloting tutorial for this type of aircraft is very simple, and novices can drop bombs near the target after simple training. Because the operation of this type of aircraft is so simple, the Air Force usually sends graduate fighter pilot students to the front line directly, so that They first flew this attack aircraft to train for actual combat flight.

Air Force Admiral Catherine called this aircraft a front-line trainer. He even said to his opponents in public: "The design of this aircraft is a feat. Its appearance allows our pilots to learn from the trainer aircraft in the most direct way. transition to a front-line combat aircraft."

"This aircraft saved my life. The Soviets were shooting at me frantically on the ground. I dodged left and right. The bullet hit my thigh and pierced my wing. The Tuka 2 aircraft may never come back.” A German attack aircraft pilot commented on his aircraft: “Let me go back to the front line, yes. But I only fly it, it gives me unlimited confidence.”

Sure enough, some were busy. Just as the pilots were talking about today's fine weather, an officer walked into the meeting room and issued a combat order to support the frontline operations: "The 1st and 2nd attack aircraft squadrons attack, according to The plum blossom q plan drawn up before is to bomb the Sevastopol area. The 14 Stukas of the next squadron will attack with you, well, get ready and take off."

"Go!" The squadron leader stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers. Then everyone started to change their equipment. Some people went to the locker room to change the leather jackets and gloves for duty, and some people started to ask the ground crew to help prepare the fuel and ammunition for the plane. The whole base was busy. In short, for the Air Force, a sunny day means a busy day.

"Get to work! Keep your spirits up!" Pushing each other, a group of young Air Force pilots walked towards their plane carrying their fur hats, goggles, scarves and other things.

Soon, one after another, the Stuka 2 attack aircraft started their engines, the propellers began to rotate, and there was a roaring and buzzing sound over the entire base. On the straight runway, the first plane has already begun to climb, and not far behind, the second plane is also ready for everything.

For the Luftwaffe pilots, this is not the first time they have performed a mission, so it is not so much a fight as it is for them that this kind of flight is just work. Soon these attack planes formed a flying formation in the sky, and then they flew towards the area they wanted to attack like locusts.

On the ground, a Soviet soldier leaned against the trench and looked at the clear sky in the distance. He has been standing here for many days. It can be said that since Khrushchev came to Sevastopol, he has been stationed nearby. Now he is on the edge of a huge crater created by German artillery shells, surrounded by soldiers. Hardworking comrades.

Several Soviet soldiers pushed an old-fashioned Maxim heavy machine gun to the edge of the bomb crater, used the bomb crater as a machine gun position, placed ammunition inside, and dug a passage for retreat behind. They put the excavated soil into sacks and used it as sandbags to reinforce the front of the machine gun position.

"Don't waste your time. The weather is clear now. In less than half an hour, the German planes will fly over." The Soviet veteran leaning in the trench looked at the busy young people and felt deeply for these people. It's not worth the hassle here. These surface positions with little camouflage can be completely destroyed with just two damn German bombers.

The German army had two kinds of attack aircraft, one was the famous Stuka dive bomber, and the other was unknown to ordinary Soviet soldiers. They called the mediocre aircraft "boots", a word with slander and contempt. It's a pity that this kind of aircraft, which they call boots, is not mediocre at all. It has caused more harm and fear to the Soviets than its predecessor, the Stuka.

"Hey, if we don't set up a machine gun here, you won't even have time to cry when the Germans attack in a while." A young soldier obviously looked down on the old and mature senior, and replied with a hint of teasing: "In a while If there are enemies coming up from the side, we can count on you."

"I think it's possible that we won't be able to wait for that time at all." The Soviet veteran sighed and said, "It's not easy to defend here, the main thing is not to look at me, but to look at the bunker over there. If it's there, we're pretty safe, but if it's not there, then we'll have to study the retreat."

The young soldier obviously scoffed at the old soldier's concerns: "Comrade Khrushchev won't let us take a step back, and we shouldn't take a step back. This is a war for the motherland, and we should fight for the country to the end of our lives."

"Believe me, the only thing in this world worth fighting to the last moment is your own life." The veteran raised his head and saw some tiny things appearing at the height of the white clouds in the sky: "Okay, let's not talk about this , damn it, the German planes are coming! Hurry up and take cover! Send the machine guns to the bunker, hurry up! hurry up!"

"You really act like that. How many German planes are coming?" After hearing what the veteran said, the machine gunner felt that he was too afraid of death, so he didn't like him very much. Hearing the old soldier's call to remind him now, he laughed and teased, "If you run first, it will be more similar."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Soviet veteran ran towards the bunker without looking back, as if he was afraid that he would not be able to occupy a position inside. The rest of the Soviet soldiers laughed loudly, but some cautious people looked at the sky. Above the clouds, there were small black dots that were blurred just now, and now German planes could be seen.

"Air strike!" Someone yelled heart-piercingly.