Chapter 21 Single Engine Return

"He's going to shoot us down!"

"He's coming right towards us! Damn, he's already going over Mach 2, he must be launching missiles!"

"God bless!"

There were screams in the cabin. If it were not for the fact that parachuting was not possible in this compact aircraft, they would have wanted to leave this terrifying early warning aircraft that was about to explode into a fireball.

When the locking sound disappeared, everyone was sweating profusely, and the air traffic controller sat in his chair and actually burst into tears.

Not everyone can endure this kind of experience of escaping death, and they are not so lucky every time. The guy flying the MiG-25 is simply a devil!

Three seconds later, Andre turned off the radar with satisfaction and pulled the joystick to the left. It was time to return!

Having just used afterburner, the fighter plane has exceeded the speed of sound. When it completed this turn, it almost flew out of Hokkaido and reached the sky over southern Sakhalin Island. At high speed, the turning radius would be so large that it would be unacceptable.

Andre continued to use the afterburner. More than half of the fuel in the plane had been consumed, and the performance of the fighter was further improved. Soon, the altitude reached 26,000 meters and the speed reached Mach 2.6.

On the opposite side, facing the height difference, the F-4 fighter jets were flying over, and these American fighter jets could only look at the plane and sigh, unable to reach it!

The MiG-25 put enormous pressure on the Americans. The Sparrow missiles carried by the F-4 fighters could hardly attack targets at an altitude of more than 20,000 meters. And in the current head-on flight at a speed exceeding Mach 3, the hit rate of the Sparrow missiles was almost zero percent.

The only threat to this type of fighter is the Phoenix missile carried by the Navy's F-14 fighters.

Flying over the heads of the Americans in a show of force, and ignoring the intercepting F-4 fighter planes, Andrei this time thoroughly showed off the Soviet Union's military power.

However, apart from worrying about being scolded and punished by Kozhedub after returning, the biggest problem Andrei is facing now is fuel!

The MiG-25 is a controversial fighter jet. In later generations, various experts have given various opinions. Some believe that the combat radius of this fighter jet does not exceed 300 kilometers, and it is even more of an airport defender than the MiG-29. Others say that it is a flying brick with no maneuverability.

If you haven't used it, you have no right to comment. Andre knows that those statements are wrong.

The MiG-25 has sufficient internal fuel and a maximum range of over 3,000 kilometers. Its combat radius with air combat loads also exceeds 1,000 kilometers, which are typical data for a heavy fighter.

Of course, these data are all in the non-afterburner cruise state. For example, in this attack, for a rapid interception mission, the aircraft was flying with afterburner almost as soon as it took off. When it reached the interception point, which was about four or five hundred kilometers, half of the fuel in the aircraft had been consumed. After fighting in the designated airspace for more than ten minutes, there was still enough fuel to support a cruise speed of 0.8 Mach back to the base.

However, people like Andrei accidentally "got lost" over the island country, chasing the F-4's assholes and chasing the E-2. When he came back, he encountered the F-4 fleet with an altitude difference of more than 10,000 meters. When he flew away in a chic manner, Andrei's face turned green when he looked at the fuel gauge.

There are still more than two tons of oil in stock! Hundreds of kilograms of it are still in the bottom of the oil and cannot be pumped out for use. The amount he can use does not exceed two tons!

We are still 800 kilometers away from the base, and this little bit of fuel is definitely not enough!

What should we do? If the MiG-25 is improved in two years and can be refueled in the air, we can call the base and ask them to send a refueling plane. We can still hold on, but now, this trick is impossible.

After turning off the afterburner, the speed began to decrease continuously, but the altitude did not drop much.

The higher the altitude, the thinner the air and the smaller the air resistance. Therefore, if I want to fly back, I must not drop in altitude! Andre reminded himself secretly.

Just like that, I flew for another minute and calculated the amount of fuel in my mind, but I still couldn't return safely!

What should I do? Should I fall into the sea and wait for the helicopter from the base to rescue me?

Of course not! Andre suddenly remembered something. It seemed that if he wanted to continue saving fuel, he could only take risks!

Wearing thick gloves, Andre's fingers were flipping the switches on the front panel. When he flipped the fifth switch in a row, the body of the machine suddenly shook, and then the speed slowed down and the altitude began to drop.

If you look from behind, you can see Andre's MiG-25 fighter. One of the tail engines is still emitting orange flames, while the other engine has no tail flame!

Shut down one engine! Cruise with only one!

This was the method Andre had to use out of desperation. The two R-15 engines were like oil-guzzling monsters. Even without afterburner, the fuel was being consumed rapidly.

The only way is to shut down one of them!

As the power suddenly dropped, the MiG-25 began to lose altitude.

Andre operated the fighter plane carefully. Shutting down one engine could reduce fuel consumption by about 30 to 40 percent. However, if the plane enters the dense atmosphere, this effect will be offset. The altitude cannot be reduced too much!

Fortunately, when the altitude dropped to 20,000 meters, the MiG-25 finally resumed level flight. Looking at the speed indicated by the Mach meter in front, which was around Mach 0.7, it seemed that the cruising power provided by a single engine was still good.

"032, 032, report fuel situation." The voice from the Sokolovka base continued to come through the headset.

As they continued to fly back, the radio finally restored two-way communication. Andre looked at the fuel gauge and said, "032 report, there are still 1.5 tons of fuel."

1.5 tons! Looking at the distance displayed on the radar, it was at least 400 kilometers away. With this amount of fuel, I'm afraid I can't fly back! Kozhidub couldn't help but clench his fists: "032, you are flying the latest fighter jet of our regiment. Even if you die, you have to come back!"

Listening to Kozhedub's howling in the headphones, Andrei felt that he would definitely be scolded by this guy after he went down. Oh, the bureaucracy was so serious.

However, looking at the fuel consumption just now, we should be able to return to base!

"032 received." Andre replied on the radio. He continued to move the switches, turning off various unnecessary equipment to save energy.

The waiting process was full of torment. Kozhedub stared at the radar screen intently, fearing that the plane would suddenly fall down while flying, which meant it must be out of fuel.