Major Pisanko said: "Comrade Colonel! You change your clothes, and we will go to the airport together now."
Zhou Zhihan glanced at Major Pisanko and saw two soldiers with live ammunition and a second lieutenant behind him.
"Please wait!"
Zhou Zhihan said and turned around to go back to the house to change clothes.
Immediately, the officer and two soldiers followed him in, watching him change clothes the whole time.
Zhou Zhihan knew that this was to prevent him from revealing the secret.
This is not to worry about him, but it is a standard feature of the Soviet army at this time. It can also be said that these soldiers are protecting him.
Zhou Zhihan's heart trembled. This top-secret flight was no small matter.
At 4:30 in the morning, Zhou Zhihan and his party arrived at the airport on the outskirts of Moscow by car.
Airport war room.
A lieutenant colonel officer assigned today's mission to Zhou Zhihan, Pisanko and other fourteen pilots:
Headed to Kiev to perform an important mission and stopped at Kaluga base to refuel.
The military has received news that the German army is preparing a massacre in Kiev. In order to rescue residents and captured soldiers, the military sent secret troops to rescue. The task of 12 pilots including Zhou Zhihan was to cover the rescue in the air. The secret army of hostages.
The lieutenant colonel said that this mission is top secret, and anyone who leaks the secret will be shot to death!
The commander is Colonel Zhou Zhihan, and everyone must obey unconditionally. Those who disobey will be shot.
Zhou Zhihan knew that the current mission assigned by the lieutenant colonel was a smoke screen to deceive others.
The real mission can only be known after takeoff.
On the darkened airport runway, there were fourteen Spitfire fighter jets equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks parked. All fourteen pilots were in place. They were all elites of the Sixth Fighter Force, including Major Pisanko and Soviet hero Yumashev.
The lieutenant colonel who arranged the tactics personally helped Zhou Zhihan enter the cabin, shook hands with Zhou Zhihan and wished success before closing the cabin.
There was a piece of paper in Zhou Zhihan's palm.
When the lieutenant colonel shook hands with him, he quietly left a piece of paper in his palm.
All fighter planes flew blind.
Since there is only one runway at this airport capable of taking off and landing Spitfires and Hurricanes, Spitfire No. 214 took off first and waited in the air for the other thirteen Spitfires to take off one by one.
Zhou Zhihan opened the piece of paper, which was a secret instruction stamped with the seal of General Gromagin.
Sure enough, the task assigned by the lieutenant colonel just now was a deception.
The new tasks are:
After a few minutes of slow flight in the direction of Kiev, we turned around and headed to Pslav. Rush to reach the sky above Puslav before dawn, find the identification mark issued by the secret airport on the ground, land and refuel, and then cover a bomber from there and return to Moscow. The safety of the bomber must be ensured at all costs.
Zhou Zhihan looked at the Spitfires taking off together, and thought to himself, if 14 Spitfires are used to protect a bomber from thousands of miles away, what will be in this bomber?
Secret weapon?
It seems that the Soviet Union does not have any secret weapons at this time, and they do not yet have the concept of nuclear weapons.
Capture a German bomber and then secretly fly to Moscow to hack the aircraft's technology?
This is even more impossible.
The Soviets were not stupid enough to trade 14 Spitfires for one bomber.
Top secret documents?
Top-secret documents can be sent via telegram, so how could it be possible to send 14 fighter jets to escort them?
Who's the big shot in the bomber?
This is very possible.
If this is the case, then who will this big shot be?
Now, ground transportation from Leningrad and Puslav to Moscow has been completely cut off by the Germans. If you want to return to Moscow from these two places, you can only use air routes.
Zhou Zhihan now has no time or thought to analyze what kind of heavyweights will be on board this bomber heading to Moscow.
What he has to think about now is how to lead this secret fighter squadron to the designated location smoothly.
Zhou Zhihan looked at the map.
It is a full 620 kilometers from Moscow to Puslav, and the Spitfire's range is exactly 650 kilometers. It can fly 900 kilometers with an auxiliary fuel tank. It can only fly back after landing to refuel.
Zhou Zhihan frowned. This task was very difficult. What if he couldn't find the secret airport after arriving at the designated location, or if Puslav fell before dawn? What would he do with his 14 planes?
These are all very possible. With the strength of the Germans at this time, they can completely occupy the city overnight.
I can come back, but how should I explain when I come back?
A round trip of 1,500 kilometers and you came back without refueling. How do you explain that? What's even more terrible is that with the tense nerves of the Soviet people at this time, they will definitely think that they are a traitor.
If on the way there, we encountered a German night fighter force, whether it was detouring or fighting, the Spitfire's fuel capacity could not guarantee that it would be able to reach the designated location.
Hitler wanted to occupy Moscow and conquer the Soviet Union before the harsh winter in the Soviet Union, so his night fighter units were dispatched very frequently. On the way there, they were very likely to encounter German night fighter jets. He could lead the fleet around, and the key was fuel. It has to be measured enough, otherwise it can only be an encounter.
Once the battle begins, German fighter jets will swarm in, trying to find Puslav's secret airport to land?
Don't even think about it.
Puslav is only more than 100 kilometers away from Leningrad. At this time, Leningrad was heavily surrounded by the German army and had become an isolated city. In other words, Puslav was not far from the enemy-occupied area and there were many German airports nearby. That's why they had to arrive before dawn.
There is another big problem. Since Puslav is very close to the German-occupied areas, almost all the military airports there were destroyed by the Luftwaffe. What they are going to this time should be a secret small airport. It will take some time to find this airport after arriving. time, and also have to ensure that they are not discovered by the Germans.
I really don’t know what the commander was thinking. Zhou Zhihan secretly complained, why didn’t he just go and pick up the bomber at night?
With his ability, he could completely avoid the German night fighters at night.
Zhou Zhihan then thought that there might be difficulties on Puslav's side, and it was safer only during the period before dawn.
Even if everything went well when we arrived, we found the secret airport after arriving in Puslav, landed and refueled, and then covered the bombers flying to Moscow, but it was already daytime, and they would definitely be intercepted by the Germans along the way. It was destined to be one battle after another. A fierce battle.
But it's useless to think about anything now. Now that we have taken off, we can only take one step at a time. There are too many variables on the road to Puslav, so we can only try to make mistakes.
Zhou Zhihan knew that this might be the biggest challenge he had encountered since time travel.
When the other 13 Spitfires all took off, they formed a 1-shaped formation. Under the leadership of Spitfire No. 214, they flew towards Kiev. The last one to fly in the formation was Major Pisanko.
Zhou Zhihan ordered: "Everyone, open your map box, take out the map, and check the new instructions."
The pilots opened the map. There was a piece of paper in the map, which was an order stamped by General Gromagin: going to Kiev to fight was a stratagem. The real mission had been assigned to Colonel Zhou Zhihan. Everyone followed his order and went to Puslav. .
