() Clark Gable worked hard to control the machine gun and shoot at the enemy planes that were rushing down. However, the speed of the enemy planes was so fast that the speed of the machine gun rotation was no longer enough, and the bullets fell on the enemy.

later.

"Damn, these guys are so fast!" he complained.

Clark Gable is not the only one who complains that this damn German aircraft is too fast. It is not just Americans. Some German pilots are also complaining that it is too fast and difficult to control. For example, Frank, who just tried hard to aim at a

A B-17 wanted to hit it directly. However, the main control surface of this aircraft was all on the tail, which caused its control response to be poor. As a result, Frank failed to aim at the target. As a result, his aircraft missed the target and

He rushed past, and he temporarily lost the opportunity to carve his name on the monument to the fallen soldiers.

After missing the first target, Frank saw the second target. But the damn plane was too fast, and before he could turn its nose towards the target, it rushed over again.

After missing several targets in a row, Frank found that he had broken out of the aerial formation of American bombers. He wanted to turn around and attack again, but at this time, he found that his plane had already run out of fuel, and

, because the longitudinal airfoil is too small, it is difficult for him to change the aircraft from a dive state to a climb. Even when he tried to attack the enemy aircraft, the dive angle was too large and the speed was too high. At such an extremely high speed, the airfoil

The compression effect greatly reduced the efficiency of controlling the airfoil, and it was even difficult for him to level the aircraft.

Although he is a rookie, Frank also knows that his situation is extremely dangerous: the speed of his plane is already close to 850 kilometers per hour. If he continues to dive like this, it will not be long before it hits the ground straight with its head.

Frank stared closely at the altimeter, whose pointer was flying like the blades of an electric fan, 4000 meters, 3500 meters, 3000 meters... He wanted to detonate an explosive bolt at an altitude of 1400 meters to blow up the aircraft from the connection in the middle of the fuselage.

, allowing the rear fuselage with the engine to land safely on the ground through the automatically opening parachute.

When the altitude dropped to 2,500 meters, the speed of the plane had also increased to 1,100 kilometers per hour, and the plane began to shake violently. The plane shook so violently that Frank could not even reach his finger to the activation button of the explosive bolt.

.During the violent shaking, the left wing of the aircraft broke first, and then the entire fuselage disintegrated.

Due to insufficient aerodynamic research, Frank, who finally succeeded in engraving his name on the Memorial to the Fallen Soldiers (if such a thing existed), did not know that the violent vibrations he encountered were called "sound barriers."

The so-called "sound barrier" refers to a physical phenomenon. When the speed of an object (usually an aircraft) approaches the speed of sound, it will gradually catch up with the sound waves it emits. The sound waves are constantly superimposed and accumulated.

As a result, shock waves will be generated, which will hinder the acceleration of the aircraft.

On the one hand, violent shock waves will damage some structures of the aircraft (especially the wings). On the other hand, when the flying object is flying close to Mach 1 (speed of sound unit), the air rushing from the front cannot pass through the aircraft as usual.

The body spreads out, so the gas accumulates around the flying body, generating great pressure and triggering an invisible air vortex, commonly known as the "death vortex". This is also called the sound barrier. If the fuselage is not specially reinforced,

Even if it is handled, it will be instantly smashed into pieces. Frank's plane will suddenly disintegrate in the air for this reason.

It was not just one pilot who suffered a Frank-like misfortune. In addition to him, there were three other pilots who suffered the same tragedy as Frank because the dive angle was too high and the speed was too high.

In general, this maiden attack by the SS Air Force was not particularly successful. A total of 24 aircraft attacked, and 4 were first lost due to mechanical accidents on the ascent. Then 5 more aircraft were lost during the attack.

In the collision, 4 enemy planes perished together (one plane knocked off one of the enemy plane's tail fins, but the enemy plane did not crash). Then 4 more planes disintegrated in the air because the dive angle was too large and could not be pulled up. The remaining planes disintegrated in the air.

Among the 11 aircraft that got off the plane, another one was lost due to a malfunction when using explosive bolts. In the end, of the 24 young men at the time of departure, only 10 came back alive.

After paying such a price, they only shot down two B-17s during the rocket attack stage, plus the four that were later knocked down by impact. Their final result was six enemy bombers.

This result is not ideal, especially the loss ratio when attacking unescorted bombers is even more dissatisfying. If this unit belonged to the Air Force, the Air Force would definitely feel so heartbroken that their intestines would break. But this unit is the SS

The military and fanatical SS never cared about the death of a few rookies.

Of course, after the attack, it is indispensable to summarize experiences and lessons. When the day's battle was over, both sides summarized the battle. Moreover, both sides attached great importance to this battle.

…

"During this attack, a group of young heroes emerged from our ranks. Their exemplary deeds are commendable and worth learning from the people across the country. The head of state was deeply moved after learning about their deeds. He told me that it was these

The young man gave him the courage to overcome all difficulties. The Führer asked me to tell everyone that he believed that with such brave warriors, the Third Reich would surely win the final victory."

At the summary meeting of the First SS Air Force, Propaganda Minister Goebbels unexpectedly appeared.

Also appearing with Goebbels was Hermann Göring, commander of the SS Air Force.

Marshal Göring announced that he would award the Iron Cross to those warriors who died together with enemy planes. Such an honor made some young people blush.

After one round of speeches by the top leaders, the meeting returned to the truly important topic - summarizing experiences and lessons.

"Second Lieutenant Husserl, you participated in this operation, what do you think we need to improve in this operation?" Colonel Thomas said.

"Hello, Commander! Hello, Mr. Minister! Hello, Sir!" Husserl was quite flattered to be able to speak in front of such big figures as Goering and Goebbels. He stood up and saluted those senior officials repeatedly.

"This guy shot down a B-17 with a rocket," Colonel Thomas explained to Goering and Goebbels.

"What a good boy!" Goering said, "What a good boy! Don't be nervous and tell me what you think."

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander!" Husserl immediately stood at attention and stood straight.

"There are still some...some problems in our attack. For example, we are too easily affected by clouds and so on, and easily get lost. There are also...there are problems with insufficient cooperation. For example, after taking off, we did not

Being able to form an overall formation, this resulted in our failure to form a joint force during the attack, resulting in a decrease in attack efficiency. In addition, there were also problems with the attack route we chose. Our dive angle was too large, which also caused unnecessary losses.

I think we should make improvements in these aspects in the future." Husserl was a little nervous at first, but then his statement became clear.

"Young man, that's very good!" Goering praised the kid again, and it seemed like he admired him very much.

"How do you think we can solve a problem like this?"

"Your Excellency Commander, I think we should have longer training time. Otherwise these problems will be difficult to solve."

"Very good, very good, we will consider it." Goering responded sincerely.

…

After the meeting, Goebbels asked Goering: "Do you plan to increase the training time for these pilots?"

"How is this possible? The war is so urgent, how can we waste too much time and materials on these disposable supplies? However, it is possible to consider using them in good weather as much as possible."

…

Almost at the same time, the daily routine meeting of the US military was also taking place. However, compared with the relaxed atmosphere of the previous few days, the atmosphere of this meeting was a little more serious.

"Everyone has seen the briefing just now. The Germans have begun to adopt a brand-new combat weapon and a new combat method. What do you think?" General Doolittle put down his hands when he saw everyone.

asked after receiving the information.

"General, let me talk first." Li Mei spoke.

"Judging from the information just now, the weapons used by this new aircraft in attacking are rockets. The higher the density of our aircraft, the greater the threat. So I am wondering if we can

Increase the distance between bombers. Of course, this will reduce the bombers' self-defense capabilities when encountering conventional interceptions. So whether this approach can be adopted, I still need to listen to General Ron's opinion. In addition, this time

During the attack, the enemy planes have obviously begun to use collision methods to intercept us. We need to consider how to deal with the enemy's collision tactics. Finally, there is a technical problem. The enemy planes are too fast and the machine guns cannot keep up. We

A self-defense weapon that turns faster is needed."

Li Mei mentioned Ron in her speech just now, and Ron spoke after him.

"The distance between the bombers could be wider. I am sure that the Germans do not have the ability to launch large-scale conventional interceptions in the near future. At the same time, I agree with General LeMay on the new self-defense weapon. I think this weapon should have

With a longer range to accommodate the enlarged distance between bombers, the rotation and pitch of this weapon should be electrically driven to ensure a higher rotation speed. We should set targets as soon as possible and let the country develop this thing."
Chapter completed!