Over the base.
Two blocking balloons are raised in the east, south, west and north directions.
Every two blocking balloons are connected in series by a two-hundred-meter-long iron chain, with a cone-shaped weathervane floating in the middle of the chain.
The cone-shaped wind vane is one of the aircraft targets. When the target is finished, the number of rings can be accurately viewed from the wind vane.
The distance between each two cone-shaped weather vanes varies from six, seven, or eight kilometers, and the heights of the four wind vanes are also different, 600 meters, 700 meters, 800 meters, and 1,000 meters.
This kind of target placed between two balloon cables looks easy to hit, but it is actually very difficult because the arresting balloon is erratic in the air. At present, the cable rope is fixed somewhere on the ground. During the war, the cable rope is fixed on the car. On the aircraft, the balloon moves with the movement of the car, which can effectively intercept low-altitude raids by enemy aircraft.
Several iron chains trembled in the air like long snakes, making a rattling sound, making it more difficult for the target fighters.
During the Battle of London, such balloons could be seen everywhere in the sky over London. They were mainly used to prevent German fighter planes from attacking at low altitudes. The effect was especially good at night.
On the ground, more than a dozen professional target shooters hold large hydrogen balloons and release the balloons into the air from time to time after the fighter jets are in place, which can disrupt the pilot's line of sight and increase the difficulty of target shooting.
In this way, the viewing angle is better.
After Kato took off, the throttle was pushed to the bottom, the control stick was pulled back, and the fighter climbed at full speed at the maximum angle of attack.
The climb speed of the P40 was 585 meters per minute, and it reached an altitude of 1,200 meters in two minutes. Kato pushed the stick, flattened the stick, and the fighter plane changed its rear pressure stick and pedaled the rudder. All actions were done in one go, and the fighter plane performed a sensitive and beautiful side roll. , began to fly around the four targets.
There was applause on the ground.
The weather is clear today, and the fighter planes are flying and shooting at a low altitude. Audiences on the ground can see clearly without using binoculars.
According to regulations, after the fighter plane climbs to 1,200 meters, it can fly around four targets before shooting. This is to accumulate the speed and energy of the fighter plane, increase the difficulty of target shooting, and improve the viewing experience.
Letting the wingman of the target shooting team take off to command is also to increase the viewing angle. The wingman can guide the target shooting aircraft to attack the balloon rising from the ground. After all, in most current air operations, at least two aircraft formations are dispatched to cooperate.
The fighter plane flies slowly and has high target accuracy, but it will inevitably increase the time. If you exceed the time limit, you will be penalized. The gain outweighs the loss.
Therefore, if you want to win the competition, you must complete precise target shooting at high speed, which can reflect the true level of the pilot.
Fighters are fleeting on the battlefield, and enemy planes cannot fly slowly and wait for you to fight.
The P40 took off first. Moritaka Nakasa, who was directing the target shooting, switched the airborne call to stand-alone communication: "Kato-kun, the four wind direction targets are fixed and will not run away. You can put them at the end to hit, or you can choose the opportunity to fire, but the ground is rising. Try not to let go of the balloon.”
"Hai!"
Kato accelerated around the four wind targets in a circle to increase the energy of the fighter. He flipped the weapon selection switch with the middle finger and ring finger of his right hand to control the catchment, leaving only the two 0.5-inch Browning machine guns under the nose of the aircraft.
Each fighter plane has 500 rounds of bullets, using tracer bullets. Purple indicator bullets will appear at the last 50 rounds. The target practice ends when the bullets are fired. Whoever has a higher hit rate has a greater chance of winning.
"Duoduoduo..."
Kato first attacked the cone-shaped weather vane between the two balloons on the east side closest to him. He fired when he was 200 meters away from the target. The trajectory of the bullet was slightly advanced because the wind would cause the target to shake.
The firing distance of Japanese pilots is different from that of European pilots. European pilots like to fire within 100 to 150 meters. This distance has a high hit rate and the bullets are more lethal.
Japanese pilots like to fire at around 300 meters, mainly because they think it is better to strike first. Another major reason is that the Japanese aircraft's fuselage protection is relatively fragile, especially when approaching, Japanese pilots are not willing to fight with rough-skinned Europeans. Fighters fired at each other at close range.
At this time, in late spring, the south wind blows slowly and the wind on the ground is light. However, the wind vane cone head at 1000 meters in the air is blown up and points to the north. Attacking from the east to the west, the target has the largest impact area, and the number of points that can be scored is relatively small. That's the most.
The red tracer bullets were very dazzling in the sky with a blue background. As soon as the tracer bullets sprayed out and hit the target, Kato rolled sideways at a small angle to avoid the cone-shaped weather vane coming towards him, turned quickly in a small radius and then accelerated, the fighter jet flew at the closest distance. Flying towards the cone-shaped weather vane on the south side, because he had just made a complete circle and observed that on the ground below the west side weather vane, there was a balloon first released and rising slowly.
Then every ten seconds, a large, bright balloon was released from different locations on the ground.
It will take some time for the balloon to fly into the air. During this period, first knock off the cone-shaped weather vane on the south side to shorten the time.
"Duoduoduo..."
Kato fired again and fired a burst. The tracer bullet hit the target on the south side and then he pressed the lever right. The P40 rolled 45 degrees to avoid the wind vane, without slowing down, and rushed towards the west wind vane.
"Dive to increase speed and kill the balloon first."
Nakasa Moritaka shouted loudly.
After hearing this, Kato put the putt without hesitation, the P40 dived, accelerated, accurately calculated the advance amount of the balloon's rise, fired in bursts, and hit the target.
"Snapped!"
After the balloon burst, a plume of red smoke flew into the air.
There was a burst of applause on the ground. The pilots were all smart. Kato's shooting was accurately controlled in advance, so he used fewer bullets.
During World War II, all pilots flew balloons.
Balloons are the best target for pilots to practice shooting advance. Compared with fixed targets or targets towed by aircraft, balloons can better train pilots' shooting skills and concentration. Of course, they are also the most difficult and can only be used by high-level pilots. For practice, novices playing balloons are a waste of gas and bullets and a blow to their self-confidence.
The position of the balloon is erratic under the influence of the wind direction, and the shooting advance must be accurately determined. If there is a slight deviation, the balloon will float away, and it will be difficult to catch up and explode under the influence of the air flow of the fighter plane flying over.
After Kato succeeded in the attack, he pulled the stick and flew upside down, accelerated, fired with a burst of fire while the plane was flying belly-up, and hit a balloon behind him. Then, during a 180-degree roll downward to a belly-down roll, he reached another balloon. Above, the action was clean and neat, firing a large deflection angle shot with exquisite up and down bullet trails. After leaving a rain of bullets, the fighter rolled to the bottom of another balloon.
"Snapped!"
The red bullets hit the balloon and burst into red smoke, which was very gorgeous.
P40B/C/The Tomahawk jumped up and fired, causing a burst of cheers on the ground. It hit a balloon again, exploded, and red mist floated out.
After pulling up and jumping, Kato pushed the stick, pressed the stick, and pushed the rudder. From the corner of his eye, he watched the roller recover when it reached 360 degrees. A huge balloon appeared exactly 150 meters in front of him.
Kato opened fire without hesitation.
This time the advance was slightly off, and the red tracer bullet flew past the balloon, forming a parabola and falling to the ground.
A yellow bullet casing was spit out from the bullet chute, shining in the sun, and fell to the ground.
"oh……"
"Snapped……"
The audience on the ground first let out bursts of regret, and then applauded Kato's wonderful 360-degree roll.
Kato put into full play what he had learned in his life, practicing all air combat techniques such as left turn, right turn, small pirouette, large pirouette, inverted flight, left and right roll, 180-degree roll, 360-degree roll, pull-up jump, and bounce avoidance. After hitting 4 cone-shaped wind direction targets, 9 more balloons were shot down. After firing 500 rounds of bullets, the fighter plane landed steadily and exited the cabin amidst the applause of the audience.
Reporters from various countries rushed to interview Kato...
After Kato landed, the staff on the ground immediately began to recover the four cone-shaped weather vanes, and counted the number of targets Kato hit under authoritative supervision. They kept it secret for the time being. After the Chinese Gong Yeti completed the target practice, the results of both parties were announced at the same time. The winner will be determined based on the final quantity and quality of target shooting.
While the four cone-shaped weather vanes were still in the air, Zhou Zhihan already knew the number of targets Kato had hit through the transparent helmet:
On the south side wind cone, Kato fired 78 tracer bullets and hit 44 of them;
The cone-shaped weathervane on the east side fired 75 tracer bullets and hit 40 of them;
On the west side of the weather vane, 82 rounds of tracer bullets were fired and 47 were hit;
On the north side of the weathervane, 79 tracer bullets were fired, and 51 hits were made.
A total of 310 rounds were fired, with 182 hits.
190 rounds left, 9 balloons hit.
Kato's performance was already very good in the eyes of pilots on the ground, but in Zhou Zhihan's eyes it was just average. Kato's ability to grasp timing and shooting skills still had big flaws.
Zhou Zhihan piloted the P40 fighter plane to take off first, climbed to an altitude of 2,500 meters and hovered, assisting Gong Yeti in target shooting.
When the staff on the ground replaced the four cone-shaped wind vanes and lifted them into the air, Gong Yeti piloted the P40 and began to climb into the air at a high speed. After reaching an altitude of 1,200 meters, he circled around the four cone-shaped wind vanes. Suddenly, the nose of the aircraft faced a big blow. The horn climbed upwards rapidly, leaving spectators on the ground confused.
After knowing that the targets to be shot today were cone-shaped weather vanes and balloons, China and Japan had already formulated their own tactics.
Compared with European fighters, Japanese fighters have slightly less power and lighter fuselage weight. Most of them are low-wing-loaded fighters. Their advantages are stable circling angular speed and small stable circling radius. Therefore, Japanese pilots generally like to implement angles in air combat. Tactics, use agile circling ability to quickly seize advantageous attack formation.
After a few days of training, although Kato knew that the P40's hovering ability was not as good as the Zero Fighter, he had already formed the habit of angle tactics, which made it difficult for him to switch to diving to increase speed in a short period of time.
Moreover, in order to make it easier for the audience to watch during target practice, the height of the target will definitely be limited and is not suitable for diving. Therefore, after comprehensive consideration by Nakasa Moritaka and three others, they finally decided to implement angle tactics. After all, under the current conditions, target shooting that can be used by all countries The methods are all there, and at most they are just adding some tricks to the original ones. When the base military announced that there were more balloons being released on the targets, they were more determined to use angle tactics.
Most European fighter jets have thick fuselages, surging power, obvious dive performance, and slightly less dexterity in hovering. Most of the tactics performed by the pilots are to lift to high altitudes, dive to increase energy, and launch fierce attacks. It is a wide-open and wide-open strategy.
Since the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the Chinese Air Force has been using Western fighters, and the pilots are more suitable for dive tactics.
After Gong Yeti completed a circle around the four targets, he began to release the first balloon on the ground according to regulations. He still raised the fighter plane to an altitude of 1,600 meters and quickly recovered. With a side roll, he reached the 1,000-meter east balloon. Above the cone-shaped weathervane, it accelerated from the side and dived at a small angle to accumulate energy. When it was still 150 meters away from the weathervane, it fired a burst. Before the tracer bullet hit the weathervane, it quickly pulled the lever to avoid the cable. The fighter continued to dive at a smaller angle and pounced quickly. At the target 700 meters high on the south side, after another burst, the fighter recovered from the dive without losing speed. It rolled instead of circling with a 45-degree roll, quickly turned the nose, and fired a burst from close range, destroying the second target. The rear lever of the released balloon made a pull-up jump. The fighter jet instantly rose 70 meters. It caught up with the first balloon and fired and exploded. It accelerated and pulled up to the side of the 800-meter cone-shaped weathervane on the north side. Attacking from a distance, the tracer bullets flew and almost all hit the target. Then there was another jump, and the fighter plane reached an altitude of 1,000 meters.
The audience on the ground cheered in unison.
Gong Yeti's speed-increasing method of diving resonates more with Western pilots. He hit three weathervanes and exploded two balloons like lightning. Not to mention the hit rate of the weathervanes, only from the way, speed and sharpness of his attacks. Far better than Kato.
Gong Yeti made a 90-degree roll, pushed the stick, and the fighter jet dived at a small angle to increase speed, and rushed towards the third rising balloon. His eyes swam between the balloon and the sight, and fired a burst.
