Hermann Graf was by no means a wasted person. Even if Major Herrbach did not warn him, he knew that he was in danger.
At the critical moment, the super ace's skill emerged spontaneously. Hermann did not dive to speed up and escape as Major Dietrich Herlabach said. Instead, he pressed the stick and rolled in the direction of No. 214 Spitfire. Although he couldn't do a nearly 90-degree blade-shaped roll, he could still easily do a side roll of 50+ degrees.
"pretty!"
"pretty!"
The previous beautiful words were praised by Zhou Zhihan. The maneuver of No. 14701 Mei Shi seems to be very simple and stupid, but it is actually a maneuver with a balance of offense and defense, which destroys the shooting of No. 214 Spitfire to the greatest extent. If you plan ahead, you can prepare for the next shift from defense to offense.
The second beautiful sound was praised in unison by Major Dietrich Herlabach, Erich Hartmann and others. Obviously, Major Herabach also thought that Graf's response was faster than the putter dive. Be subtle.
Zhou Zhihan did not give Graf a chance to counterattack. He did not descend too much from the top to continue the attack. Instead, he pulled and pressed the stick and made a quick, small-angle roll turn without losing too much energy. , chasing Red Star No. 9, quickly getting rid of the opponent, and not being entangled with 14701 Mei Shi for one more second.
If it were not for the need to protect Red Star 9, Zhou Zhihan would have at least three ways to shoot down 14701 under the advantageous situation just now, but it would take some time and he would be caught up and entangled by Herabach and Hartmann.
The top priority was to protect the bombers and move forward quickly to meet the Soviet fleet that came to meet them. They would have completed their mission.
Greed is mankind's greatest enemy.
In air combat, attack aircraft adopt an excessive descent attitude from the top in order to carry out rapid fire, often due to the greed of the pilot.
Often in this situation, the attacking side will make a visual misjudgment, thinking that by pushing the stick lightly, they can design the shooting advance and wait for the enemy aircraft rolling in their direction to fall into the trap.
However, in this state, pilots of different levels must respond in different ways.
Ordinary pilots will run into the shooting lead set by the opponent. By the time they discover the trap set by the opponent, they will no longer be able to make corresponding maneuvers.
Zhou Zhihan knew very well that a pilot like Hermann Graf would not send himself to the gunpoint. He must have a purpose for making this "faint move".
If the Spitfire No. 214 shows a greedy side and drops too much due to the advance of the putter downstroke, Graf's 14701 Plum will make a pull-up jump and enter the upper plane, and the Plum will immediately occur. The forward thrust in the vertical direction caused the No. 214 Spitfire to lose the opportunity to attack after passing near the 14701 Mei-type. Instead, it fell into the Mei-type's strike range.
Seeing that No. 214 Spitfire was not fooled, Hermann Graf realized that his back was soaked with cold sweat, his breathing was rapid, and his heartbeat was beating like a war drum.
A few seconds ago, the confrontation between the two sides was as fast as thunder, and the winner was decided in a blink of an eye. Although neither fired, the Spitfire No. 214 was obviously better.
Graf did not rush to catch up, but changed his stance on a flat shot to calm down.
The smokeless battle between Spitfire No. 214 and Spitfire 14701 allowed Major Dietrich Herabach and the others to quickly catch up.
Seeing Spitfire 214 catch up with Red Star 9, Major Herabach ordered: "Attention all combat units, we are now executing a four-machine mobile tactical formation."
"clear!"
After Rossman, Hartman and Schmidt responded, they changed their flight formation from a four-finger formation to a four-aircraft mobile formation.
The founder of the four-machine mobile tactical formation was also Moldes, which evolved from the tactics of the four-finger formation.
After the Spanish Civil War, the air battle of Dunkirk, and the air battle of London, Moldes refined the tactic he invented.
In these three major battles, the four-finger formation showed strong combat effectiveness. However, as the air forces of other countries began to use and became familiar with the four-finger formation, some shortcomings of the four-finger formation became increasingly apparent.
After the London air battle, Molders discovered that when multiple fighter jets form a tight formation to attack, there will be some restrictions on maneuverability. After the air forces of various countries use four-finger formations, the four-finger formations can only fight against bombers, such as bombers. The effect is most effective on transport aircraft, which are poorly maneuverable aircraft.
Oswald Polk, known as the "Father of Air Combat", launched a series of principles of air combat after World War I:
Before starting an attack, make sure you have an advantage;
Attacking with your back to the sun is always the first principle of attack;
Once the attack begins, persist to the end;
Only fire when your opponent is within your aiming range and close enough;
Always keep an eye on your opponent and don't let their tricks fool you;
Regardless of the method of attack, attacking from behind is the first principle of air combat;
When your opponent dives at you, don't try to avoid him, but charge him head-on;
When flying over enemy lines and occupying the line, you must have a retreat plan;
It is necessary to use four or six machines to attack in real time to achieve multiple advantages;
When the battle is reduced to a series of individual battles, multiple fighters should not attack a target simultaneously.
The techniques and tactics of air combat are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and some of Oswald Polk's air combat concepts are outdated. However, the first principle of air combat he said is always to attack with your back to the sun, and the last one has always been a textbook for air combat.
Moldes believes that when attacking, splitting the four-finger formation into two two-finger formations will be more powerful than a four-plane battle.
Of course, there is a big difference between it and the traditional two-aircraft formation working together.
While one two-plane formation attacks the enemy, the other two-plane formation provides defensive "above" cover.
This formation tactic with "above" flank cover is the "mobile four-plane" tactic.
The mobile four-aircraft tactic has greater advantages than the two-way attack method that only relies on increasing the number of aircraft to increase the number of attacks. In the first attack, more powerful and effective firepower is very important.
——
Germany.
Rastenburg.
Hitler's wolf lair.
Headquarters of the German High Command.
Hitler gathered his subordinates together and prepared to announce a surprising news. His face was red and his voice seemed to be much gentler than usual. He delivered his famous indoor speech at the dinner table.
"On the morning of June 22, the largest battle in the world began. Everything went according to plan. We besieged Leningrad on the northern flank, captured Kiev on the southern flank, captured Smolensk in the center, and led to The door to Moscow has been opened by us, the enemy has been knocked down and will never get up again."
"Long live……"
Hitler's subordinates burst into wild cheers...
"Generals and gentlemen, life is a struggle, and war is a natural elimination to eliminate all underdeveloped and inferior races on the earth!
Only we Germans have the right to obtain living space. We will eventually enjoy all the wonderful food on the world’s banquet. All the best materials are only worthy of us Germans. Those inferior nations only deserve to be stepped on by us. …”
Suddenly, Hitler slammed the table hard: "It has been decided that our next target of attack will be Moscow.
Moscow will be destroyed before winter comes, wiped completely off the face of the earth by us. "
After speaking, Hitler waved his hand vigorously in the air, and a piece of hair slipped down.
All the imperial officers present lost no time in standing up, and immediately, there was warm applause, laughter and cheers in the room.
Marshal Göring of the Empire was sitting next to Hitler. His face was red, a cigar was in his mouth, and his slender eyes were shining with the light of a winner.
This time in attacking the Soviet Union, his fighter units achieved remarkable results, laying a solid foundation for the German army to sweep the Soviet army all the way.
From June 22 to the present, Goering's ace pilots have destroyed about 15,000 Soviet fighter jets. This feat has never been done before and will rarely be done again.
This feat made Goering the second leader of Germany, one person above ten thousand people. Hitler even stated in public that Goering would be his successor in the future.
Suddenly, an air force intelligence lieutenant colonel walked quickly to Göring's side with a document in hand.
