Chapter 495 Storm Bird (Part 1)

This is a very interesting idea. Most fighter pilots on the Western Front are veterans who graduated from the Eastern Front "Aviation School" and have multiple records of shooting down aircraft, but there are many inexperienced new trainees in the jet aviation team. Because from the equipment and test flight conditions over the past few months, pilots with medium experience are the least ideal in flying jet aircraft. Some of their manipulation techniques and habitual movements on propeller aircraft are incompatible with the requirements of jet flight, and are even completely wrong. Even if the technicians and instructors explain and emphasize them many times, the operating movements formed under the subtle influence still cannot be corrected, and the accident rate is surprisingly high. However, new trainees are different: they obey the instructors and technicians' instructions and remember them firmly in their hearts. Whatever is said above is what they are, and they master the skills quickly - the most beautiful paintings can be drawn on a blank piece of paper.

As for ace pilots with more than 50 victories, their rich experience can ensure that they can calmly switch to flying jet aircraft and exert their full potential.

Therefore, the first question for jet pilots was very funny: "Is there such a device: a powered aircraft can fly without propellers, and fly faster than a propeller aircraft?"

Many people chose no, and some chose yes - they were given priority to be recruited as jet pilots, because they had no solid impression of the propeller field. After getting off the biplane trainer, they went directly to the jet (two-seat trainer version) under the guidance of the ace pilot instructor, and they were able to master the relevant technical essentials quickly, and even thought that the plane should be driven like this. However, this batch of students can only be used to deal with bombers head-on. There are only a few perverted guys like Marseille who are good at using high-altitude deflection angles to attack in Germany. Most veterans choose the BZ tactic - the Me-262C is not only much faster than the B-17F, but can also fly higher.

The instructor version is equipped with 20mm MG213, which uses precise ballistics to fight the enemy, and the student version is equipped with 30mm MK108, which uses high power to serve bombers - as long as more than 4 rounds are hit, heavy four-round bombers like B-17 are basically finished.

This implies a very helpless and cruel training process. According to tactical requirements, the novice pilots Me-262C take off and attack the bomber fleet head-on under the guidance of the instructor. The closer the distance, the better. There are bulletproof glass in front of the cockpit and bulletproof steel plates in the back, which can defend against the 12.7mm machine gun bullets of the Americans. You can pull up and detach and return to the base in the shortest time after using up the ammunition. If you really can't find it or are not sure about landing, just find a safe place to parachute as much as possible, and don't worry about the plane - that's what the armament department should worry about. Garand believes that a pilot who has completed basic training can become a skilled pilot after participating in 8-10 actual combats - anyway, the Americans on the other side also train bomber pilots in this way.

The whole process was a defensive operation. Even if the German pilots were shot down, they had a high chance of surviving. However, if the American crews were shot down, they would either die or be captured. There was no third way out. From a cost perspective, a 4-engine bomber can make 7-8 fighters. Adding the losses during transoceanic transportation, shooting down a 4-engine bomber is basically equivalent to winning 10 fighters. If they still can't win at an economic cost of 1:10, then the Third Reich would not have to fight this war.

This is the war economics that Hoffman emphasized to Jeschonnek after he became the commander-in-chief of the Air Force. It is another cruel and potentially successful high exchange ratio tactic. The cruelty of "survival of the fittest" is undoubtedly effective, but it does work.

Now most of the new German pilots are "trained" in the Eastern Front Aviation School, and those who perform air defense missions on the Western Front are veterans. The exchange ratio is amazing. The rapidly growing air defense combat results over the past six months have made it difficult for the British and American strategic air forces to move forward, and even unsustainable.

In addition to the Stormbirds, Jeschonnek also reported that 500 high-altitude fighters were prepared, all of which were new Fw-190A8 series. After the Bf-109 basically withdrew from the air defense on the Western Front, the A8 series and Bf-219 took the lead, and the former was the main force.

Compared with the original model, the A8 series has been completely improved: it uses the BMW801E engine with a standard power of 2,000 horsepower and a GM-1 injection system. At an altitude of more than 7,000 meters, the engine power can be significantly improved by "taking drugs". At the same time, the weapons are replaced with 4 20mm MG213 cannons and the armor defense of key parts is strengthened.

With the R2800 engine as a reference, BMW tried to install an exhaust gas turbocharger on the BMW801 engine. The laboratory had a product but the effect was still mediocre. Mercedes-Benz had achieved success with the DB series engines, but the Ta-152 fighter with a liquid-cooled engine would not be finalized until at least September, and would not enter mass production until the New Year of 1944. Therefore, the A8 cannot be simply regarded as a transitional model. On the contrary, it should be the main model before the Ta-152 entered service. The combined production of the Focke-Wulf Company and its authorized factories averaged 1,000 aircraft per month, the largest output among all types of German aircraft (the total output of German domestic aircraft in April 1943 was 3,408), completely overwhelming the 800 Bf-219 and 400 He-218 per month, and more than the total output of five types of aircraft including Ju-98/Ju-188/Ju-290/Combined Attack Aircraft/Ar-372 combined.

500 Fw-190A8s are not valuable, but the pilots who fly these aircraft are valuable - the least among them is 7 battle results, the most is more than 100 (the higher one excludes the Stormbird), the cumulative number of kills of all pilots is added up. Ten thousand, British and American pilots can be considered aces if they have 5 kill records. Here, the standard for ace is 50 aircraft - a full 10 times.

At 15:14, the American fleet had arrived in the skies over Hanover and was constantly attacked by anti-aircraft fighter jets along the way. However, the huge fleet remained unmoved and continued to move forward. However, there was also some other news. Kamhuber, who was in charge of overall command, received the report: The US military dispatched new escort fighter jets, numbering around 100.

He sneered: "It seems that the Americans have also come up with new things. I don't know who is more powerful."

"I bet the Americans will be so surprised when they see our Stormbirds that their eyes will fall down." Garland laughed. "These new aircraft are probably the P-51s mentioned in the intelligence report. I don't know about bombers." Has it been replaced by a B-29?"

He guessed correctly. These aircraft were newly put into service. After being equipped with British Merlin engines, their performance was greatly improved. They could provide full escort for the bomber fleet. Unfortunately, they had just been put into mass production. In addition, the British and American The air routes between the two aircraft are blocked, and the number is far from enough. Otherwise, the Eighth Air Force will completely replace the escort aircraft this time - changing the P-47s to P-51s.

As for the B-29s that Garland wanted to see, there were not a single one this time. Most were B-17s, and some were Lancasters - this was the force that the British had gritted their teeth to draw out. This kind of heavy-duty The bombers suffered heavy losses when bombing the Azores and their numbers dropped sharply. However, Portugal took advantage and began to equip a large group of Lancasters.

On the command plane at the head of the large U.S. military formation, Brigadier General Curtis LeMay, who served as the commander of the Fourth Bomb Wing of the Eighth Air Force, was flipping through the navigation map and then carefully checking the terrain below. Berlin had surpassed the hyperbola common to the British Air Force. The positioning system method became less and less useful the further away it was. Fortunately, the experienced navigation officer made up for this flaw. In addition, there were few clouds today, so it was very convenient for observation. He sighed: "It's really a good weather for bombing."

The sergeant major in charge of navigation turned to him and asked: "Sir, if we fly straight, we will reach Berlin in 20-25 minutes. Does the fleet need to turn and take evasive action?"

Li Mei shook her head: "Don't waste time, fly in a straight line, and give the P-47s as much time as possible to stay in the air."

This time the mission of the Eighth Air Force was clear: to bomb Berlin and destroy Berlin landmarks including the Chancellery, the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, the Victory Column, the Berlin Cathedral, etc., in retaliation for the New York air raid. Considering that Berlin was the area with the densest German anti-aircraft firepower (second only to the Azores), LeMay not only personally led the expedition to command, but also mobilized the largest number of bombers and escort fighters.

In the past, the Eighth Air Force used to flexibly schedule its routes during daytime bombings, attracting German air defense fighters to misjudge in order to avoid real attacks and attack virtual ones. However, Germany soon adopted an independent defense zone system. Air defense fighters were only responsible for dealing with one area and did not need to Blindly carry out cross-regional reinforcements. With the rapid increase in the number of German fighter jets, each air defense zone can maintain more than 400 fighter jets. The total number of air defense fighter jets on the entire Western Front exceeds 4,300 and is still growing rapidly. It can attract dozens of motorized aircraft to move around. Berlin's key air defense zone can usually gather more than 600 aircraft. This density greatly exceeds that of the same period in history, and has also resulted in the lack of effectiveness of British and American strategic air strikes.

Taking into account the large number of anti-aircraft fighters in Berlin, Li Mei hoped to use straight flight to buy the P-47s an extra 10 minutes in the air. Their maximum range after adding auxiliary fuel tanks was only 2,200 kilometers. If they flew to Berlin on a regular route, they would have to turn back directly. , there is no way to guard at all, and the effect will be completely different after 10 more minutes.

At 15:15, an air defense siren sounded in Berlin, and shrill sirens rang in the streets. Hofmann hid in the bunker under the protection of the standard guard.

"Head of State, the number of US military aircraft fleet has been reduced to just over 1,200 aircraft, of which more than 100 bombers have returned and been shot down."

"Let's go and fight, I believe you." Hoffman thought for a while and then added on the phone, "I'm in the air-raid shelter, I'm safe."

"That puts us at ease."