All bombers taking off were equipped with air-dead wind lanterns on their fuselages for navigation.
The Operations Department ordered that all take-off bombers fly in formation within visual distance. In this way, even if they encounter a single or two-plane formation of the "Aerial Freedom Hunter" sent by the Japanese army, the bomber group can still rely on the intensive firepower of the carrier-based gunners. Conduct effective defense.
Due to the incomplete communication on the aircraft, the Chinese Air Force can only use the oldest method to navigate the fleet. After many practices by the pilots, this oldest method can provide the Chinese Air Force with blind flying at night.
Zhou Zhihan couldn't help but feel worried as he watched fighter planes take off one after another, then form a formation in the sky, and disappear into the darkness of the Chinese bombers.
After these two days of fighting, he found that the formations used by the Chinese bomber formations were very rigid and had major flaws. The American instructors gave the Chinese pilots the bomber formations used in the late World War I. These formations were not useful. , it is seriously outdated and has been used by other countries for a long time.
The most disadvantageous thing is that China's bomber fleet has fallen into serious dogmatism.
In order to have a beautiful flying posture, the main content of bomber formation training is formation flying. It is rare to practice a series of offensive modes such as taking turns to attack, cooperating with the attack, and two-plane dive attack.
In order to please the Chinese Air Force, the foreign instructors only asked these bomber formations to train hard to achieve a uniform and pleasing formation. They rarely practiced how to choose appropriate tactics based on the situation of the enemy's position when launching an attack. .
As long as the flying formations are kept beautiful, they can please some officials who don't know how to fly. If the officials are happy, the foreign instructors can get more money. Therefore, the Chinese bomber formations pay attention to the orderliness of the formations during flight and focus on attack drills. .
When a real air attack comes and requires a strong attack by bombers, the bombing formation's attack is still dogmatic. This results in the formation flying very beautifully during the exercise, but when it is really necessary to scatter artillery and aerial bombs on the enemy's head, the flying formation has no control. The disadvantages of not working are obvious.
Because pilots are accustomed to focusing on flying in formation and keeping the formation in order, once they are defended by artillery fire from the enemy on the ground, the pilots will lose sight of one thing and become at a loss.
It seems that not all the American instructors invited by the Air Force are very dedicated. To put it bluntly, they are actually similar to mercenaries, and the technologies and tactics they teach the Chinese Air Force may not be the most advanced at the moment.
Moreover, these foreign flight instructors are generally older and have more conservative skills. Most of their own flying skills are still in the middle and late stages of World War I. Some of them came to China just to hunt for gold, such as Chennault, Huang Panyang, and Huang Xinrui who have made selfless contributions. There are not many flight instructors.
This is why the Air Force Headquarters unanimously requested Zhou Zhihan to serve as the chief instructor. He went to the Chinese Air Force to select the most trustworthy pilots to study abroad!
Obviously knowing that China's bomber fleet has major shortcomings, Zhou Zhihan cannot make changes now, because the bomber flight fleet cannot be changed overnight. Forcing changes now will make the pilots overwhelmed. Although the current flight The formation is very outdated, but it is better than learning a new flight formation all over again, because you will not understand it for a while, and end up being a cat instead of a tiger.
There is also a hidden danger, that is, due to the shortage of aviation fuel, the Chinese Air Force has to reduce the take-off time of escort interceptors. In other words, within the first 40 to 60 minutes, the safety of bombers without escort fighters can only rely on bombers. The machine gunners on the formation came to defend,
For a bomber group, such a defense is extremely fragile.
If you only encounter one or two enemy planes, the firepower composed of the machine gunners of the bomber group can barely protect yourself. However, if you encounter a large number of Japanese attack aircraft, it only takes one or two minutes to resolve all the battles.
But there is no way. The Chinese Air Force is currently short of not only aircraft and pilots, but also aircraft fuel and accessories.
Nowadays, it is difficult to import supplies from foreign countries. Some fighter jets cannot take off once they are missing parts. The only way is to repair the west wall and remove the parts from those fighter planes with poor performance or that have been damaged.
Fifteen minutes after all the bombers take off, all the escorting fighter jets will be ready to depart.
The ground mechanic checked the fighter plane again before departure, and the ground crew brought ladders to help the young pilots enter the plane.
The engine started, the three-blade propeller rotated rapidly, and the blue sky and white sun emblem on the fuselage shone brightly in the firelight.
The young pilots who were preparing to go on the expedition looked solemn and confident. The results achieved by the Chinese Air Force in the past two days made the self-confidence of all pilots unprecedentedly high.
Before the battle the day before yesterday, the young pilots had written suicide notes, and now they were directly modifying the time on the suicide notes.
This may seem cruel, but compared to infantry, it is much more humane.
After every pilot dies in battle, his family receives a suicide note and relics, and receives a considerable pension.
And many of those army soldiers who died in obscurity have become lonely ghosts and beggars in the underworld with no one to pay tribute during the Qingming Festival.
There are many types of deaths, but Air Force pilots are undoubtedly the most heroic, but they are also the ones most likely to leave a heroic name.
Watching the young pilots driving the fighter jets slowly sliding onto the runway, the rookie pilots had a look of envy on their faces. The pilots flying the interceptors were as young as them, but they were already able to fly the fighter jets into the blue sky. It was really enviable. .
Yan Haiwen, who was piloting Fighter No. 2510, and fighting alongside him was Shen Chonghai, who was piloting Fighter No. 2511. Under the red firelight, the two people sitting in the cockpit gave a military salute to everyone present, and then the results began to improve. Taxi forward to prepare for takeoff.
All the fighter planes took off in sequence, and their fuselages were also covered with air lanterns. They formed a combat escort formation at a visual distance.
According to the plan, they would join the bomber group when they entered the sky above Pinghu, Zhejiang, and launch an attack on the Japanese defensive positions when the east just turned white.
After all the fighters took off, Zhou Zhihan took a stool and sat in the middle of the playground, where more than a hundred rookies ran a five-kilometer load of ten kilograms.
These kids have a weak physical foundation and need to be trained hard.
The war is ruthless.
If we don't sculpt them now, they will be beaten by the Japanese when they fly military aircraft onto the battlefield in the future.
The five-kilometer weight-bearing run was completed. Before the rookies could take a breath or drink water, Zhou Zhi, with a cold expression on his face, asked everyone to complete ten groups of twelve push-ups within a time limit. He sat aside and smoked a cigarette, looking at the rookies coldly. Training, an indescribable loneliness spread between his brows.
He didn't even want to know the names of these rookies.
He just wanted to be a lonely person, so lonely that one day, these once familiar faces would disappear forever before his eyes, and it would be best if he didn't feel sentimental in his heart.
