In the small cabin, Sun Rui pulled the joystick and drove the pirate fighter jet from high altitude to low altitude. His cockpit is full of instruments, but his vision is pretty good.
The cockpit canopy of the Corsair fighter is pulled back, leaving no obstructions on the left and right sides, including a complete piece of glass above the pilot's head.
This allowed Sun Rui to easily see the outside world through the glass. He and his comrades immediately saw the Zero fighter entering the battlefield.
Although the Corsair and the Zero are both piston propeller-type fighter jets, the two aircraft are technically no longer products of the same era.
The standard Rong 12 engine installed on the Zero fighter has a maximum horsepower of only 950 horsepower, which is not at the top level among engine outputs in the world.
The Twin Wasp air-cooled radial engine installed on the Tang Empire's Corsair fighter jet has an output of up to 1,850 horsepower - almost twice the engine output of the Zero fighter.
This is actually not the scariest thing. The scariest thing is that this engine also has a water and formaldehyde injection system, which can make the plane fly faster in a short period of time.
In fact, there is no need to look at the engine parameters. Just from the fuselage and canopy, you can see how huge the technical gap between the two aircraft is.
The Corsair fighter jet adopts a buried rivet structure, making the fuselage surface smoother and the body structure stronger.
At the same time, the cockpit cover of the Corsair fighter jet adopts one-piece molding technology. The entire cockpit is composed of only four pieces of glass, giving the pilot a better field of vision.
Looking back at the Zero fighter: its rivet structure is very primitive and the technology is backward. Only the cockpit canopy is made of 20 pieces of glass, and the pilot's field of vision is severely limited.
The pirate fighters that had not participated in the war were waiting for the possible Zero fighters. They received a reminder from the destroyer fleet. The radar of the Tang Army had long discovered these targets trying to enter the battlefield.
With the support of early warning, the maneuverability advantage of pirate fighters is reflected. They climb to a high enough position in advance and wait for their prey to come to their door.
Sure enough, the Zero fighter jet soon appeared in their field of vision, followed by the pirate fighter force and began their hunting.
Controlling his fighter jet, Sun Rui pointed the nose of the aircraft at a Zero that was preparing to chase a Stuka dive bomber.
He quickly approached the target, and suddenly among the boundless blue sky and white clouds, a pirate with its nose painted in bright yellow roared and bit into the Zero.
The altitude was 5,400 meters, the flight was in good condition, and there was no abnormal sound from the engine... Sun Rui confirmed that everything was normal with his plane, and used the optical sight in front of him to circle the helpless enemy plane.
The place where the sky and the earth meet is very far away. In the narrow flight cockpit, Sun Rui can clearly feel the slight bumps. He held the joystick with both hands, and out of the corner of his eye passed a moving instrument pointer.
The pilot of the Zero fighter also saw the enemy aircraft approaching rapidly above him. He couldn't care about the slow Stukas. He could only deflect to the left, trying to avoid the thunder's edge.
With a slight shake of the control stick, Sun Rui got used to the response speed of the aircraft as it dropped rapidly. Then he bit his opponent as hard as possible and cut into the escape route of the Zero fighter.
In order not to be shot down by Sun Rui, the Zero fighter began to sway from side to side, and Sun Rui did not hesitate, carefully following the opponent's swing, and occasionally checking to see if there were any enemies following behind him.
Details determine success or failure on a chaotic battlefield. Sun Rui was the first pilot to land a Stuka on an aircraft carrier. After he changed to a fighter pilot, his fighting style was quite cautious, which was obviously different from that of Air Force pilots.
Because the ace pilots of the Air Force often have access to the most advanced fighter jets, their fighting style is even more fierce. Navy pilots are relatively conservative because they always feel that their aircraft are... "about the same" as their opponents.
Suddenly, Sun Rui felt danger. He immediately pulled the control stick, causing his plane to give up chasing the enemy plane and instead turn rapidly to one side. In the earphones, the eager voice of the wingman followed closely: "Avoid! Avoid!"
The pirate fighter jet, known for its speed, still responded quickly at an altitude of nearly 3,000 meters. With Sun Rui's pull, the pirate fighter jet suddenly gave up its flight path.
The sudden roar of the aircraft engine swept over him, and the tracer bullets fired from diagonally below rubbed Sun Rui's wings and flew higher into the sky. It was a Zero fighter covering its lead aircraft, trying to sneak attack Sun Rui from the blind spot below.
Sun Rui was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and circled back to the battlefield again. He let go of the lead plane and bit the enemy's wingman in turn.
"I'll cover you!" came the reminder from our wingman in the earphones. At an altitude of about 3,500 meters, the two pirates rushed towards the target again, one behind the other.
Increasing the output and making the engine rotate faster, the four-blade propeller burst out with surging power. As he drove the pirate fighter, Sun Rui could only see the Zero fighter flying directly in front of him.
The opponent swayed from side to side and climbed up, denying Sun Rui a chance to aim and fire. Sun Rui recklessly narrowed the distance between the two planes, trying to find an opportunity to fire.
In the sight on the pirate fighter jet, the Zero fighter was swinging from side to side, trying not to get into a position where Sun Rui could fire.
"So smart!" Sun Rui muttered through gritted teeth while adjusting his flight path and closing the distance between the two parties, stroking the fire button with his fingers.
I glanced at the altimeter and saw that the altitude was now close to 4,000 meters. At this altitude, the Zero fighter's performance could be maximized.
The performance of the Corsair aircraft is completely superior to that of the Zero fighter above 4,500 meters, so if the opponent continues to climb, Sun Rui's advantage will continue to expand.
Obviously the other party is also aware of this. Any aircraft from any country that fights against the Tang Empire's fighter jets at high altitudes and high speeds will not end well.
So when the altitude reached 4,500 meters, the two Zero fighters began to stop climbing. They suddenly separated on the left and the right, trying to get rid of the pirate fighters that had been following them.
Of course, Sun Rui couldn't let go of such an opportunity. He caught up with the plane on the left and shouted loudly in the communication channel: "I'm on your left and you are on your right! Bite them! Fire when you have the chance!"
In this kind of fighting process, judging the enemy's method to get rid of his pursuit can be regarded as a very important attack method. If you can judge the enemy aircraft's movements in advance, you can take the initiative.
Should we continue to the left or change to the right? Sun Rui squinted his eyes and stared at the Zero fighter swaying left and right in the crosshairs of his sight, constantly guessing in his mind.
If the opponent dives, he will not be able to escape Sun Rui's pursuit behind him. The Zero fighter's slow dive speed is a complete waste of altitude advantage. If the opponent dives too fast, it may even disintegrate itself.
This is a design flaw of the Zero fighter, and the pilots of the Tang Empire are very aware of it. Therefore, Sun Rui did not consider that the opponent would enter a dive at all, and certainly did not guess that the opponent would suddenly climb up.
Relying on his own engine power advantage, if the opponent climbs up, it means that the distance between the two sides will be narrowed. Sun Rui will have countless attack windows. If the opponent chooses this way, he is simply seeking death.
In fact, when facing the pursuit of pirates, the only chance for the Zero fighter is to maneuver horizontally... As for whether hovering is effective or not, only God knows.
The opponent will definitely look for opportunities to get rid of being bitten, instead of enduring the pressure of being chased. So Sun Rui stared at the shaking enemy plane, constantly guessing the direction the opponent would choose.
right! When he saw the opponent's plane suddenly move sharply to the left, Sun Rui subconsciously gave his own direction in his mind. In fierce air battles, both sides would often subconsciously fire a feint to buy time for the next change.
Because of this, when the opponent moved significantly to the left, Sun Rui immediately realized that the opponent was preparing to move to the right to escape his pursuit.
Sun Rui, who thought he had guessed what the other party was thinking, immediately steered his plane to the right and took a position in advance to wait for the other party to crash into his trap.
"You're the one waiting for me!" When he saw the opponent's plane quickly turned to the right after deflecting to the left, and really hit it head-on, a proud thought flashed through Sun Rui's mind.
The next second, Sun Rui pulled the trigger, and the four 20 mm caliber cannons spurted out tongues of flame. A row of tracer bullets rushed forward, drawing four beautiful arcs in the sky until they passed through the enemy plane. The fuselage didn't even stop.
In just an instant, the fragile fuselage of the Zero fighter shattered in the sky. It didn't even emit smoke, it was just penetrated by a few rays of light, and then turned into fragments.
At a speed of nearly 500 kilometers per hour, the Zero fighter's fuselage was already at its limit. The 20 cannon shot through the support structure, and the entire aircraft was instantly torn into pieces by the airflow.
In fact, the best weapon to deal with the Zero fighter is the 12.7 mm caliber machine gun: that thing has intensive firepower and a lot of ammunition, and the damage effect is completely sufficient for the Zero fighter. Using 20 guns is actually a big deal. But the Tang Empire has a good tradition of 20-caliber guns, and the pilots are very skilled, and they don't even bother to use 50-caliber machine guns to torture food.
With a beautiful maneuver, Sun Rui avoided the fragments of the Zero fighter scattered in the air and the wings like falling leaves. Sun Rui turned his head and looked at his wingman. Under the pursuit of his wingman, another Zero fighter was fleeing in embarrassment.
(End of chapter)
