Zhou Wen did not expect that just a few words with Mr. Situ on the side of the ship would solve the problem that he had been worried about but could not find a solution for the time being.
When Zhou Wen came up with the idea of establishing an air commando team, he knew that there was a hurdle that he couldn't overcome. That's the problem of aircraft and pilot attrition.
Since it is a war, of course battlefield losses cannot be avoided.
Fortunately for infantry and special forces, Zhou Wen can supplement battlefield consumption by establishing a series of reserve force systems. What's more, with the current tactical thinking of the mercenary group, it is absolutely impossible to compete head-on with the large Japanese army. As long as you don't make mistakes in tactics, the loss of soldiers in a battle will not be too great. This was also proven during the Songhu Anti-Japanese War and the Great Wall Anti-Japanese War.
But the Air Force is different.
Even if the future air commandos of the mercenary group also adopt the idea of special tactics and will not compete with the Japanese, the problem is that the situation in the air is more complicated.
With the current strength of the mercenary group, a variety of reconnaissance methods can be used on the ground and the convenience of communication equipment can be used to learn the Japanese army's movements in advance. It is difficult to encounter the enemy head-on without knowing anything.
In addition, the mercenary group will occupy the favorable location, people and people for the future war of resistance in Shanxi. The terrain is familiar, the people's sentiments are familiar, and flexible guerrilla tactics and special tactics are used, so the consumption of soldiers will not be too great. Coupled with the establishment of a complete set of reserve forces and an advanced training system, as long as the logistics are guaranteed, elite soldiers and generals can naturally be continuously replenished.
But the Air Force is different. There are no radar satellites now. Once the aircraft is in the sky, it can only rely on maps and visual inspection. The identification between the enemy and ourselves requires flying at a visual distance to detect each other. Sometimes, even under the cover of clouds, the aircraft of both sides are very close. Hard to spot. This brings about the unpredictability and contingency of air combat.
Another thing is that although the current mercenary group beats the Japs, it is like a grandfather beating his grandson. That is because Zhou Wen has mastered the equipment and tactics of the Japanese army and has an understanding of the historical trend. All the tactical ideas of the mercenary group The weapons and equipment are trained and fought against the weaknesses of the Japanese army. Naturally, every battle can achieve miraculous results.
But the Japanese aviation force is different. One is that Zhou Wen himself does not understand air combat, and he has little understanding of the equipment and tactics of the Japanese aviation force during World War II. He only remembered one Zero fighter that later became world-famous, but more detailed information was obtained from some fragmented memories of his previous life.
But he knew that Japan's aviation training during this period adopted an elite route, focusing on cultivating ace pilots. This is somewhat similar to Zhou Wen's mercenary group's idea of building an army.
It’s just that the Japanese Air Force’s elite route later encountered a crushing defeat against the U.S. Air Force’s sea of man (sea of machines) tactics.
The so-called evil tiger is also afraid of a pack of wolves. No matter how experienced you are and how high your driving skills are, they will not challenge you one-on-one. I, the American soldiers, always like to challenge you in a group. You can shoot down one, two, or even eight of my ten, but can you still dodge my attacks from twenty or thirty in turn?
It's a bit like Zhou Wen leading a mercenary group to fight against the Japanese army. Maybe you can win once or twice, but the consumption of soldiers each time makes you more and more unable to succeed, until in the end you can only use temporary Recruited soldiers are also sent to the battlefield, and failure is inevitable.
But the problem is, even if the Japanese are like this against the United States, they have an overwhelming advantage against the Chinese Air Force.
The training is better than you, there are more ace pilots than you, the logistics support is better than you, and the training system is beyond your reach. How can you compete with little Japan?
Even Zhou Wen himself couldn't guarantee that his cousins Wang Chengming and Zhang Jie would be able to compete with those ace pilots in Little Japan after studying in Germany for a few years.
Moreover, if the tactics are wrong or bad luck strikes, and your air commando team encounters a large group of Japanese aircraft as soon as they take off, the ending will be quite unhappy.
The countermeasures Zhou Wen took was to make up for the lack of quantity and quality. He just wants to take advantage of the information gap brought by his previous life and find ways to buy the best-performing aircraft in the world.
But no matter how good the aircraft is, it still needs people to operate it, and there will inevitably be losses of the aircraft and the pilots.
The planes were okay, Zhou Wen planned to buy as many planes as possible before the war broke out. He estimated that it would be quite good for a small and concealed field airport to be able to ensure that two squadrons, or eight fighter jets, were put into combat. But you can buy dozens of airplanes as reserves. Even if conditions permit, it is completely acceptable to buy hundreds of aircraft and hide them in the mountains for reserve.
But the loss of pilots is difficult to replace.
According to what his cousin Wang Chengming recently reported in a letter, Zhou Wen estimated that it would be quite good if he could fool a dozen Jewish pilots into returning. This must be taken into account that some of them are probably older pilots. Because Zhou Wen knew that a few years ago, Germany had banned Jews from entering important units and departments of the country, including the German Wehrmacht.
Therefore, Zhou Wen estimated that it would be an ideal situation for the mercenary group to finally complete the establishment of two flying squadrons. Moreover, one or two air commanders with certain combat experience are needed to direct the operation.
But even if a dozen pilots can fight, even if you adopt aerial guerrilla warfare, how long can you last?
As for the mercenary group setting up an aviation school on its own, that is something Zhou Wen can only think about, and is not realistic at all. This is not something you can do if you have money.
Therefore, the problem of supplementing pilots has been bothering Zhou Wen. In the end, he could only rely on his Buddhist luck. He thought that there must be a way to reach the mountain, and he first established the aviation team.
As a result, Mr. Situ now gave Zhou Wen a road, and it was a broad and straight road without even turning.
Think about it, under the call of Mr. Situ and the North American Overseas Chinese Donation Association, how many overseas patriotic young people will enthusiastically sign up to join the flying club? If each phase can recruit about a hundred people, and the training period is two years, it will still take almost four years until the full-scale war of resistance breaks out. At least three batches of trainees have graduated, which means they can provide 300 pilots to the Chinese Air Force. And there are about a hundred people added every year.
Calculated based on this number, before the outbreak of the Pacific War, Mr. Situ's flying club alone could support nearly 800 pilots in the country. The support for the domestic Anti-Japanese War would be too great. At least it would guarantee the first few pilots after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. Years ago, the Chinese Air Force was able to maintain a certain level of combat effectiveness.
