Chapter 215 Eight Rules of Air Combat

Chapter 3 will be posted later, sorry!

...

Carter was obviously the most nervous.

While Gallieni was busy looking for the whereabouts of the plane, Carter asked Charles with a pale face: "Major, if the plane falls into the hands of the enemy, will they learn this technology quickly?"

Charles nodded gently, "Machine gun firing coordinator" is not a high-tech, the Germans can know the principle as long as they see its appearance, and it is not difficult to copy it.

Carter sighed and blamed himself: "This is simply a disaster. If the enemy's plane is also equipped with machine guns, it will threaten the entire sky and the lives of pilots..."

Carter thinks it is his responsibility.

"This has nothing to do with you, Captain!" Charles comforted: "This day will always come, as long as we perform the mission, such a thing will definitely happen."

"I know, Major!" Carter replied uneasily: "The problem is that we are far from ready. Last time you asked us to conduct air combat exercises, many people did not take it seriously, and even if they did, they didn't know how to practice. In addition to the tasks that followed, so..."

Charles nodded to show his understanding.

The pilots did not take the drill seriously because of a "die in comfort" mentality:

The First Flight Group has absolute air superiority. They have machine guns while the enemy does not. In this absolutely safe state, they have no pressure. Just verbal orders are not enough to attract their attention.

Some pilots are willing to practice, but that is just a practice. It is difficult for them to enter a war state where it is either you or I.

It is normal that you cannot find the direction of training.

After thinking for a while, Charles slowly said: "The first rule is to observe the position of the sun and try to keep your back to the sun!"

Carter, who was originally depressed and lowered his head, was stunned when he heard this, and looked up at Charles in disbelief.

He has several years of flying experience and has been studying air combat during this period. Of course, he understands what Charles is talking about.

The position of the sun is very important. Facing the sun, you will be unable to open your eyes due to the sun's irradiation. You can only vaguely see the back of the enemy plane, while the enemy can comfortably see the plane under the sun.

Is this the principle of air combat?

"Wait a minute, Major!" Carter, realizing this, stood up and ran to the desk, took the notebook and pencil and ran back, and wrote the word "sunshine" on the paper.

Charles continued slowly: "Second, once you enter the battle, you must attack firmly, and don't have any retreat or escape mentality!"

Carter deeply agreed.

Air combat is different from other battles. Retreating and escaping in air combat often means being bitten by the enemy, which will put yourself in a dangerous situation!

Therefore, there is no turning back, you can only fight to the end.

"Third!" Charles continued: "Only shoot when the distance is very close!"

Carter quickly wrote the word "distance".

There is no doubt about this. Close distance means high hit rate.

Bullets in the air are very precious. There are only 500 bullets in total for the two machine guns. In principle, all bullets can be used up in 30 seconds. If you fire indiscriminately without considering the hit rate, it almost means handing over the chance of success and your own life to the opponent.

"The fourth rule is to keep a close eye on enemy aircraft at all times and predict the opponent's feints!"

Carter hesitated. He did not object to this rule, but it was very difficult.

But Carter immediately realized that this was the focus of the training. It required a lot of training or summing up experience in actual combat.

Then the fifth, sixth, and seventh rules...

Charles said eight rules in one breath. Carter wrote them down in a notebook while looking at Charles in surprise. He could not believe that these valuable experiences were summed up by a person who could not fly a plane and had never participated in an air battle.

Each of these rules is a wise saying and cannot be violated, otherwise there is a high probability that there will be no next combat opportunity.

Finally, Charles said: "You can let the soldiers train according to these eight rules!"

"Yes, Major!" Carter nodded heavily: "I will let them remember these rules..."

"Not remember." Charles interrupted Carter: "It becomes a habit."

Carter understood instantly and answered: "Yes, Major! Not remember, it becomes a habit!"

It's like swimming. It's useless to memorize the key points of the movements. You will still make the same mistakes in the water.

Only by practicing in the water, experiencing it over and over again and slowly correcting it, and turning it into a habitual action can you learn it.

The same is true for air combat. When the enemy's plane dives down on you and sprays bullets, you will forget everything in your mind when you are nervous, and it may be too late to realize that you have made a mistake.

Only by turning them into habits through continuous drills can you make the correct response like a conditioned reflex during combat.

Carter took the notebook in his hand as if he had found a treasure, and then looked at Charles curiously: "Major, you completely... summed up these based on imagination?"

"Most of them." Charles answered flawlessly: "Some of them were seen in the battle of the plane, and some of them were thought of while sitting in the plane."

Charles was referring to the air battle he saw in Antwerp, where he also commanded the battle of the plane, and finally escaped back by plane. These experiences became his perfect excuse.

Carter had no doubt, he exclaimed: "Obviously, you have such a talent, Major!"

In fact, this is not a talent, but the "Eight Rules of Air Combat" summed up by the German ace pilot Polk.

Polke shot down 40 enemy planes in the air battle. During the battle, he summarized and concluded these tactics. Some of the rules are still of great reference value in modern times.

Charles couldn't help thinking: Is it ironic to use German tactics to deal with the Germans?

At this time, Polk was not yet famous. What would he think when he saw the "Eight Rules of Air Combat" summarized by Charles one day?

He would be surprised: This is so strange. They are the same as my ideas. Charles actually summarized them a year ago!

Gallieni probably heard some of what Charles said. He took a break and joked: "I remember that someone said that he had no experience in air combat command and refused to serve as the captain of the flight squadron on this basis."

"I didn't think of this at the time, General!" Charles replied.

This is the truth. Charles can't even fly a plane, so how could he think that he could command a flight squadron.

Now it seems that he can do this job, and no one can do it better than him.

Gallieni smiled and nodded: "You want to say this is your talent? But I admit it!"

Charles was speechless. If it is not "talent", what else can be explained?

(The picture above is Oswald Polk, the father of German Air Force tactics)