Chapter 395 Bloody Sky (Part 2)

Alexander I. Pokryshkin, for the entire Soviet Air Force in the future, this is definitely a great name that is resounding and almost heroic.

In early 1941, when the German army had just invaded the Soviet Union, there were very few Soviet pilots who could survive the bloody sky with their backward fighter planes and their superb air combat skills. The German pilots who had fought a life-and-death battle with the British Royal Air Force's Spitfire fighters were simply monsters for the Soviet pilots who had just started their careers and had just participated in actual combat. A large number of Soviet pilots who lacked actual combat experience and did not have a thorough understanding of the performance of German fighter planes died in the blue sky.

But all this was an exception for Pokryshkin, who was fearless.

When Pokryshkin was studying in an aviation school when he was young, he was called "weird idea" by his classmates. Pokryshkin, who was not bound by rigidity, often put several times more experience than his peers into flight training and learning. As long as he was in the sky, Pokryshkin's various fancy stunts emerged one after another, which was the fundamental source of his nickname.

Training harder than his peers and his outstanding talent in flying laid the foundation for Pokryshkin's survival in the future.

Like almost all of his Soviet aviation comrades around him, Pokryshkin was also deeply surprised and unbelievable when he first heard the news of Germany's massive invasion of the Soviet Union.

Pokryshkin found it very difficult to understand why a friendly country that was still using machines and technology to exchange food and production raw materials from its motherland the day before would immediately launch a large-scale invasion without any signs. During the previous Polish incident, the superiors' propaganda on the friendship between the Soviet Union and Germany once reached its peak. The photo of the Soviet and German generals shaking hands and laughing like brothers in Poland is still fresh in Pokryshkin's mind.

Although it was very difficult to understand this sudden war, Pokryshkin still flew his fighter plane into the life-and-death battle with the German Air Force.

With his superb skills and unique understanding of air combat, Pokryshkin, who was not good at low-altitude combat in his MiG-3 fighter, still shot down several BF109s that had an advantage in quality. Under the extremely complicated situation on the front line and the pessimistic atmosphere, Pokryshkin's heroic achievements were praised by his colleagues and recognized by his superiors.

But as the saying goes, if you walk by the river, you will get your shoes wet. A pilot who dares to soar into the sky to shoot down the opponent's fighter must first be prepared and aware of being shot down by the opponent.

In the most dangerous battle, Pokryshkin bravely dived down to annihilate the enemy in order to cover his comrades' reconnaissance. Pokryshkin, who attracted almost all the attention, encountered intensive fire from the German ground artillery. The barrage of small-caliber rapid-fire anti-aircraft machine guns hit Pokryshkin's plane. Pokryshkin, whose engine was emitting thick black smoke, finally managed to force the plane to land in a forest and survived.

Tired, exhausted, hungry, and hurt

Almost all the negative descriptions that can be thought of are fiercely attacking Pokryshkin, but this determined Soviet aviation ace still stands firm with his tenacious will. After crossing the dangerous front-line war zone on the ground, he walked back to his airport for four days.

This time of surviving a disaster is just the beginning for Pokryshkin, and more exaggerated things are still to come.

In another aerial reconnaissance mission not long after this, Pokryshkin, who was flying alone at great risk to conduct reconnaissance, unexpectedly encountered a four-plane formation of German Air Force BF109 fighters on his way back.

The four German BF109s that finally caught their prey immediately opened their bloody mouths and rushed towards Pokryshkin. Pokryshkin, who knew that he was outnumbered and would die anyway, was straightforward. He just put his mind at ease and pulled the joystick in his hand towards the oncoming German fighter.

In this small-scale air battle where one was against four and the quality was not superior, Pokryshkin fully demonstrated the concept of pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth with his superb air combat skills.

The crazy siege of four German BF109 fighters still failed to stop Pokryshkin's sword. Before being shot down, Pokryshkin forcibly pulled a German Air Force BF109 to take his place, and fell to the ground together with the German fighter that was completely out of control and emitting black smoke.

Compared with the German BF109 that crashed to the ground and exploded on the spot, Pokryshkin, whose flight wing control cable was broken, survived the disaster again with his superb skills. Pokryshkin's plane, which glided and landed on the ground, rushed forward more than 100 meters under the action of inertia.

Although the severely damaged plane was completely destroyed again, fortunately, Pokryshkin, who survived the disaster, was only slightly injured this time, and once again returned to the troops on foot with his own skills.

With this series of air combat experiences before, Pokryshkin is now a very skilled red sky war eagle. The American-aided P39 "Flying Snake" fighter jet, which would later have red stars painted on its fuselage, had not yet been delivered to Pokryshkin. Today, Pokryshkin is still driving a domestically produced MiG-3 fighter jet to meet the enemy.

The continuous blizzards for many days not only made the German Air Force, the invader, unable to move, but also the Soviet Air Force, which was defending the country, was also affected by the snow and was trapped on the airport.

As the blizzards that had been falling for many days finally stopped, the Soviet Air Force, which was aware of the arrival of fighter planes at the same time as the German Air Force, also realized the approaching war. Once the heavy snow stopped, it would definitely mean that the sky would clear up. The German Air Force, which had been suppressed for many days, had no reason to miss this great opportunity to attack again, and what the Soviet Air Force had to do was very simple.

No matter what the German Air Force wanted to achieve, the Soviet Air Force only needed to stop these fascist invaders in the opposite direction.

Pokryshkin, who took off urgently from the rear airport, flew to the battlefield airspace with the first batch of 23 comrades around him. As mentioned in the pre-attack mission briefing, a large number of German attack planes were expected to dance wildly in the sky in front of them.

Realizing that time was running out, Pokryshkin did not hesitate at all. He pushed the joystick in his hand and steered the Warhawk to swoop down towards the German planes flying up and down in the sky. At this moment, the Stukas that were slaughtering Malashenko's Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment had not yet realized the coming death.