Chapter 648 Big Yellow Duck Riding on Face

The increasingly severe anti-armor combat needs faced by the front-line battlefield made the German army realize that the unprofessional dive bombers such as Stuka alone were far from being able to suppress the Soviet army's steel torrent.

The HS-129B-2 ground attack aircraft, which began to be delivered to the front-line air force in May 1942, was the final masterpiece of the German army to suppress the Soviet army's ground steel torrent and the vast sea of ​​T34 tanks.

The ugly HS-129 was nicknamed "Big Yellow Duck" by German pilots because of the large dark yellow paint on the nose.

The main anti-tank weapon of this twin-engine heavy attack aircraft was initially equipped with a MK101 30mm short-barreled machine gun, but this machine gun immediately exposed the disadvantages of too short barrel and insufficient initial velocity after being put into actual combat, resulting in the poor armor-piercing firepower to the point that even a dive attack on the Soviet T34 tank could not quickly destroy it.

In order to solve this problem, Henschel Company submitted two improvement plans.

First, the HS-129B-2 attack aircraft was equipped with the MK103 cannon, which is also 30 mm, but has a longer barrel and higher muzzle velocity, to further improve the armor-piercing firepower.

The second improvement plan is more daring. The BK37 cannon, which was modified from the Flak 18 37 mm anti-aircraft gun, was suggested to be moved to the belly weapon bay of the HS-129B-2 attack aircraft.

Both of the above firepower modifications are designed to be easy to replace the entire weapon kit, and the front-line fighters can be replaced and modified without returning to the factory.

These HS-129B-2 attack aircraft equipped with the latest weapons have basically not fought a decent battle.

Obviously, the unlucky Malashenko has unfortunately become the whetstone for the German Air Force to test the latest toys this time.

The big yellow duck swooped down from the sky directly towards Malashenko and his party, and the dull engine roar of the body even overwhelmed the deafening sound of gunfire on the ground battlefield.

Realizing that something was wrong, Malashenko had just grabbed the radio transmitter at hand and pressed the button, but before he could shout, the first big yellow duck's belly cannon had already sprayed fire.

The powerful MK103 cannon poured out 30mm sub-caliber tungsten core armor-piercing shells. The barrel length of up to 44 times the caliber made the muzzle velocity of these armor-piercing shells as high as 940 meters per second, which could still ensure that the vertical armor with a thickness of up to 00 mm could be penetrated at a distance of one kilometer.

The armor-piercing shells that hit the upper armor plate of the T34 tank at a dive angle of more than 45 degrees almost completely offset the equivalent thickness of the upper armor of the 60-degree inclined hull of the T34 tank, which was proud of it.

These sub-caliber tungsten core armor-piercing shells, which were always difficult to use against the inclined armor of Soviet tanks on the ground and were easy to bounce, finally found their face when they dived straight down from the sky to attack the ground.

In the face of the dive attack from the sky, the only thing left was the 45mm physical thickness armor without angles to rely on. The 30mm sub-caliber tungsten core armor-piercing projectile with abnormal vertical armor-piercing power easily penetrated the upper front armor plate of the T34 tank and poured into it.

The driver and the mechanic at the front of the chassis were the first to die.

The tungsten core armor-piercing body, which still had strong kinetic energy after penetrating the armor, directly cracked the head into a paste. The armor plate with serious quality problems collapsed inward due to the penetration, and almost at the same time, the two people who were close at hand were swept into sieves.

After more than a dozen shells almost all penetrated the armor and poured into the interior of the tank, a terrible metal storm was formed in an instant. The scattered armor fragments and tungsten core armor-piercing bodies tore everything apart before the human brain could react.

None of the four crew members, including the gunner and loader, escaped alive. Just one round of dive attack proved the powerful power of MK103, which was known as the strongest 30mm gun of the German army in World War II.

The T34 tank, which seemed intact on the outside, was like a wild boar that was suddenly shot in the heart while running wildly. After losing control and moving forward for a distance, it finally completely paralyzed and stopped on the spot and died on the spot.

Not only this tank was destroyed by this round of dive attack, but as many as 4 T34 medium tanks serving as the vanguard were killed on the spot because of this round of "Big Yellow Duck Impact".

The frenzied German army not only dispatched the Big Yellow Duck with the MK103 modification kit, but also the Big Yellow Duck with the BK37 machine gun was also put into battle.

The BK37 machine gun, which was far more powerful than the 30mm gun, smashed the poor T34 tanks like a beer bottle. If the German pilots had good gunnery skills and the right angle of entry, they only needed two or three short bursts to destroy a T34 tank.

After a round of dive attacks, the big yellow ducks changed their attack routes at an altitude of 300 meters and began to pull up to prepare for the next round of attacks. The high-speed whistling sound and the strong wind when they flew low over their heads almost made Malashenko unable to open his eyes.

Looking back at the big yellow ducks shaking their butts and turning their fuselages to prepare for another round of dive attacks, Malashenko, who knew that running away on the ground would not work at all, felt sad and extremely annoyed.

The German planes were just shitting on their faces, where were those damn fighter aviation soldiers on their side now! ?

What Malashenko, who was shouting frantically in his heart, didn't know at the moment was that the Soviet fighter aviation regiment responsible for supporting him was only a stone's throw away from the battlefield. Lieutenant Aleryukhin, the ace pilot of the Soviet fighter aviation regiment at the front of the fleet, could clearly see the figures of those rampant German big yellow ducks.

About an hour ago, Lieutenant Aleryukhin arrived at Stalingrad Airport as the vanguard of the 9th Guards Fighter Regiment for emergency support.

Lieutenant Aleryukhin, who rushed to Stalingrad to report, had just stopped his Lager 3 on the runway and jumped out of the cabin, ready to find a kettle to fill up a few sips to quench his thirst, but Colonel Sidnev, the commander of the 268th Fighter Aviation Division who was already in command at the airport, immediately called him over.

Lieutenant Alelyukhin had just arrived at the airport command center and had no time to catch his breath. Colonel Sidnev, who was straightforward, immediately pointed to the battle area marked with a red pencil on the war zone map in front of him and spoke to Lieutenant Alelyukhin in a very solemn tone.

"Our counterattack has encountered trouble, Comrade Alelyukhin. The German invaders have dispatched a large number of bombers and attack aircraft to besiege our ground forces and bomb this area non-stop. Our ground forces need cover, and you will be responsible for leading the team to complete this task."

Although Lieutenant Alelyukhin was only 22 years old at the time and was younger than Malashenko, he was already an ace who had shot down two German BF109s alone and was able to escape by maneuvering under the simultaneous siege of four BF109s. The order from Colonel Sidnev did not make the young face look afraid at all.