() As early as when the U.S. military proposed to the Soviet Union to invite a delegation of Soviet pilots to the United States for a goodwill visit, the Soviets made a request to understand each other’s fighting styles so that they could cooperate with each other in the future. To put it more clearly, the Soviets

What this means is that if the Americans want to understand the Soviet Union’s experience in fighting the Germans at low altitudes, they must exchange it for the Americans’ experience in dealing with the Soviets at high altitudes.

At that time, General Arnold solicited opinions from many people on this issue, including LeMay and Ron.

It is said that General LeMay said this when faced with this problem.

"Are you saying that letting the Soviets understand our tactics will cause problems in the future? I don't think it will be a big problem. After Germany is defeated in the future, the Soviets will also be able to learn from the Germans they captured.

Get what they want. Moreover, our advantages are based on comprehensive technological and national strength advantages. Don’t the Germans understand our tactics now? But what can they do? The Soviets in the future

There won't be any difference.

You ask me whether I support this exchange? I don't support this exchange, and of course I'm not opposed to it. Because we actually don't really need experience in close-range ground attacks. We have enough heavy bombers to bomb the Germans directly back.

Stone Age. I guess after we landed, the ground troops would complain about us destroying all the bridges and roads.

Apart from being blown up and interfering with their march, there is nothing major to do, because at that time, what they face is just an army with stone axes... You ask me if it is

Do you think Germany can be defeated by bombing alone? Isn’t that even a question? Isn’t it as obvious as lice on a bald man’s head?”

Ron, on the other hand, answered General Arnold like this.

"General, this is how I see it. Our advantage at high altitudes is hard to shake. Because the Soviets cannot make bombers and fighters as good as ours. They are inferior to us in technology and national strength. This advantage cannot be shaken by tactics.

. But the Soviets also have an advantage that can threaten us, and that is their ground forces. Their ground forces are much stronger than ours at least for now. And their air force - to be honest, I think they should be called Army Aviation.

Team - and Army

With close cooperation, it can effectively attack tactical battle targets such as artillery groups, fortresses, and the opponent's marching columns, assembly points, material storage and transfer points, etc., directly supporting the advancement of ground troops. If we have to face such an army in the future,

I don't expect that our ground troops can withstand these animals... and showing them our superiority at high altitudes and showing our muscles will also help maintain peace after the war. So I think this deal is good for us

More advantageous."

Finally, General Arnold approved the exchange plan. Therefore, the high-altitude exercise became the highlight of the exchange. After a series of low-altitude exercises, the high-altitude project was put on the right track.

The high-altitude project is arranged like this.

The first project is to become familiar with the aircraft. The Soviets will fly American fighter jets suitable for high-altitude combat for general flight training at high altitudes. Or they will fly on an American heavy bomber to experience the attack training process of heavy bombers.

The second project is a high-altitude confrontation between fighters and bombers. Soviet pilots will have the opportunity to personally fly the aircraft and face dense box formations of bombers.

Now, project one is about to start.

Early that morning, before the fog on the runway had completely dispersed, a group of Soviet pilots arrived at the airport early. At this time, there was a row of P-47 fighter jets parked on the tarmac.

This is not the first time that the Soviets have seen this type of fighter jet. Among other things, they had seen this kind of aircraft when they first arrived at the "Reverse Cross" a few days ago. But when they first saw this thing,

The Soviets didn't like it very much. Damn it, this thing is also called a fighter jet? Look at this, look at that fuselage, it's as thick as a barrel. Look at that figure, it's like, well

It’s like what Comrade Varya will look like in another 20 years. (What? You don’t understand this? Well, the figure of a Russian woman is similar to that of Coca-Cola. It’s just that the figure of a young woman is like a Coca-Cola bottle, and the figure of a middle-aged woman is like a Coca-Cola bottle.

Coca-Cola can) Or, in other words, this plane looks like a big nai bottle with a set of wings.

When they heard that the empty weight of this thing was as high as 5 tons and the full weight was close to 9 tons, the Soviet pilots shook their heads in their hearts. How stupid would such a heavy thing be to fly in the air? Although the F6F

The existence of the machine tells them that heavy things are not necessarily stupid, but the f6f is not that heavy either.

However, those Americans like this kind of aircraft very much. They even claim that this is the most powerful fighter jet in the United States, and it is the invincible king in the high altitude. This makes the Soviets full of expectations for this ugly-looking fighter jet.

.

According to the scheduled procedure, this experience flight will have an American pilot as the lead aircraft and a Soviet pilot as the wingman. Before taking off, Ron called everyone together for a meeting. Although the flight manual had been distributed to the Soviets before, Ron

En still took the trouble to explain to the Soviets what to pay attention to when flying the P-47.

After the meeting, everyone organized as scheduled and started preparing for the flight.

The first group to take off was Ron and Valia. As soon as they got into the cabin, Valia was surprised. The space in the cabin of this plane was luxurious. The seats were also very high. Sitting on them was like riding a bicycle.

It's the same as on an airplane. Unlike some airplanes, the pilot can only expose his head and his whole body is buried inside.

This arrangement makes the pilot's field of vision very good. As an ace master, Varya naturally knows how important this is to air combat.

After starting the engine, the plane began to taxi on the runway. As the speed gradually increased, Ron gently pulled the operating lever, and the huge plane began to fly off the ground.

Following Ron, Valia's P-47 also took off. This aircraft was just as Valia had predicted at the beginning. It was very clumsy, and its climb rate was obviously not high. Moreover, the operation response at low speed was also poor.

Not very good.

"At low altitude, this guy can't beat the F6F." Varya secretly labeled the P-47 as a low-altitude waste.

However, after a period of climbing, the altitude exceeded 5,000 meters. Valia was surprised to find that the aircraft's climb rate had hardly dropped much. At this altitude, if the P-39 had been replaced, the climb rate would have dropped long ago.

It was a complete mess.

Ron took Valia to continue climbing. When they reached 7,000-8,000 meters, Valia discovered that the performance of this aircraft had completely surpassed the MiG-3 she had flown.

"At such a height, it can still perform like this. This is really an amazing machine."

Finally, Ron took her to climb to an altitude of 10,000 meters in one breath. By this time, they had flown out of the troposphere and reached the stratosphere. Since 75% of the mass of the atmosphere was already under the plane, the color of the sky changed.

The color also began to change from azure to a deep blue that was almost black. The sunlight was stronger than below, but on the dark blue sky, stars could be faintly seen twinkling.

"Okay, now let's do a hover without losing altitude." Ron said.

At such high altitudes, due to the thin air, the efficiency of the wings is much lower than at low altitudes. When circling, if you are not careful and the circling radius is a little smaller, you will lose altitude.

"Okay." Valia replied. Valia had experienced the hovering of the P-47 just now at low altitude. Overall, it sucked. But this is also expected, you can't expect a

A 9-ton fat man can lift himself up on his toes and dance ballet. At high altitudes, the hovering performance will definitely drop further. But considering the monster-like engine of this aircraft, maybe its hovering performance at high altitudes is still good.

Ron tilted the wings gently and began to circle. The wingtips drew two long tracks in the thin air at high altitude. Varya followed, and she noticed that the radius of this turn was even larger than the relative radius.

The P-47 is much smaller than the MiG-3, which is much lighter. Valia understands that the performance of such a heavy aircraft should be entirely attributed to its powerful engine.

"American aircraft designers are so lucky," Valia couldn't help but sigh. "With such an engine, they can use the weight as they wish. Look at this aircraft. It's so heavy.

Such a degree. If the Soviet Union could also have such good engine technology, Soviet designers would be able to design much better aircraft."

After completing a 360-degree circle, Ron will take Valia to experience the greatest advantage of the P-47 - dive.

"No aircraft can compare with the dive of the P-47." This was the praise for the P-47 that Valia heard most from Americans. But after the dive began, Valia did not immediately feel the P-47.

How good is the dive of the 47.

"The acceleration during the dive is not too high. At least in this section, many aircraft can keep up with it. Of course, if they can fly to this altitude."

But after a while, Varya realized how terrifying the P-47's dive was. She stared closely at the speedometer, watching the needle on the speedometer swing wildly.

"It's already 750 kilometers, and this plane doesn't really vibrate much!" You know, if it were replaced by the Soviet La-5fn, at a speed of 650 kilometers per hour, it would vibrate as if it was falling apart. If it dives

At 700 kilometers per hour, it will definitely fall apart.

At this time, the reading on the speedometer has reached 850 kilometers per hour. Valia now needs a strong willpower to restrain himself and allow himself to continue to dive with the crazy Yankee instead of immediately changing from the dive state.

go out.

"Attention, now I will perform a barrel roll for you, you don't have to follow." Ron's voice came from the radio, and you could hear that he was still very relaxed at this time.

Ron gently pushed the rudder and started to pull the stick at the same time, and the aircraft began to make a downward barrel roll. Varya wanted to follow suit, but she still hesitated, so her fighter plane immediately rushed to Ron

The front has gone.

"Okay, now make it flat and move a little softer."

Valia carefully leveled the plane. Her face changed slightly. At a speed of 850 kilometers per hour, this plane could still complete some more intense maneuvers relatively flexibly. This was really unscientific. Valia

Leah thought, if she was flying a fascist plane just now, biting Ron's six o'clock tightly, and then Ron did a barrel roll like that, what would be the result?

There is no doubt that if the fascist plane tried to make a barrel roll at such a speed, its wings would immediately break into two pieces. If it did not make such a barrel roll, it would crash like it just did.

Go in front of others and become a living target.
Chapter completed!