Before dawn, the Soviets' airfield was busy, and one fighter plane after another was already lined up on the runway. Although the visibility on the runway was not good compared to the influence of the morning fog, the Soviets took off one after another.

The thickness of the mist in the early hours of the morning was not large, and when the plane climbed to a height of more than 50 meters, its effects were already imperceptible. The Soviets then lined up and climbed to an altitude of about 2,000 meters, and now they can't climb any higher, because any higher they will fly into an area full of sunlight, and the strong sunlight will illuminate their planes brightly, while the ground is still dark, so that people can see them from a long distance. So having reached this height, the Soviets tightened the throttle, leveled the planes and began to fly in a northwesterly direction.

After flying for about an hour, the group gradually lowered its altitude to about 100 meters, not so much to continue hiding in the shadow of the Earth - now that the sun had risen, it was impossible to hide. It is because it is not far from the US military airfield, which is equipped with a warning radar, and only by reducing the altitude can we use the radar detection blind spot caused by the earth's curved surface to avoid radar detection and achieve the effect of a surprise attack.

According to the deployment before the exercise, the armored forces assigned to them should have launched an attack by this time. Now the Americans should be preparing to take off the plane, and their runways are already parked with fighters and attack aircraft that are preparing to take off.

Sitting in the lead P-39, which was now very close to the US airfield, Valia shook her wings, signaled the fighters behind her to change formation, and then continued to reduce the altitude to about 30 meters. The P-39s who followed her also changed their formation from Kuban racks, which were suitable for air combat, to columns more suitable for ground attacks. At the same time, a team of F6F, which had been far behind them, also began to accelerate.

Soon, directly in front of Valia, the airfield runway of the Americans appeared. As the distance quickly approached, she could see a group of A-20s forming a formation, as if they were ready to take off at any moment.

"Attack! Attack! Wreck them all on the ground! Valia shouted, aiming at an A-20 that was about to take off and opened fire.

It's a pity that this is just an exercise, and the P-39's 37-mm gun is loaded with empty cartridges. Therefore, Valya's favorite sight of the enemy planes being in flames churning, fragments flying, or even breaking into two cannot appear. However, Valia was sure that in the attack just now, she had hit at least two enemy planes with her 37-mm guns.

Valia pulled the lever, and the nose of the P-39 quickly rose up. The P-39 is a very unique fighter that, unlike other fighters, has an engine that is not in the nose but in the middle of the fuselage. This makes its center of gravity configuration completely different from that of ordinary fighters, and the reaction of raising the head when pulling the rod is particularly fast. Rookies who are not familiar with this kind of aircraft are most likely to make the mistake when flying this kind of aircraft is that the lever is too strong, resulting in the nose tilting too fast, and the aircraft has too much angle of attack and causes stalling.

However, in the hands of veterans, this feature is no longer a flaw, but an advantage. The P-39 doesn't climb very well, but because it raises its head quickly, it can easily complete a small diameter vertical somersault. Just like now, Valia quickly completed a vertical somersault with her wingman and entered the attack course again.

At this time, Valia suddenly discovered that there were only A-20 attack aircraft on the side of the runway of the Americans, and there was not even a single fighter.

"Where have they gone?" Valia furrowed her eyebrows, and began to think that there might be other variables in the matter.

……

Ron was halfway to the airport of the Soviets with a group of P-51s, which was now not far from the Soviets.

"The airfield was attacked, the airfield was attacked by the Soviets!"

"Dizzy, just thinking about stealing other people's machines, I didn't expect that people are also foxes, and stealing chickens is also a good hand. was robbed of the first move, and it is estimated that it will be a complete defeat. "It was Ron's intention to let the A-20s stay on the airfield and prepare for the sortie, because Ron felt that with his sixteen P-51s, he would definitely make the Soviets' planes unable to fly, and when the time came, as soon as the reconnaissance planes sent out found the target, these A-20s could swagger and eat meat.

Just as Ron was annoyed, another voice came over the radio.

"Enemy armored units spotted!"

Needless to say, there must be nothing left on the airfield of the Soviets, so it is better to go directly to attack their armored forces. Anyway, in order to hit the airfield, the fighters of the "Reverse Cross" were all hung with bombs and rockets.

"Turn to enemy armored targets!" Ron broke the radio silence and gave the command.

……

Ron's instructions to break the radio silence were too short for the Soviets to perceive. After all, the instructions were too brief, and radio surveillance technology at that time was rudimentary.

There were no more targets to hit on the Americans' airfields, but Valya's sense of unease grew stronger. Where did the fighters of the Americans go, the question is getting heavier and heavier.

"Perhaps, they are now going to attack our armored forces? In fact, the American fighter can be used as an attack aircraft just as well! The thought popped into him. Valia shook her head violently, as if trying to get the thought out of her head. But even if she rushed to the armored forces now, it would probably be too late, and the range of the P-39 did not allow her to fly there again.

Valia thought for a moment and ordered: "All F6Fs fly to Area B, P-39s return and refuel!" ”

The F6F has a greater range and can also fly over armored forces for a short stop, providing protection for ground forces for a period of time.

Eight F6Fs turned to Area B, while Valia began to return with the remaining P-39s.

But at this moment, she heard a voice on the radio: "Our army has been attacked by enemy air, where are the fighters?" ”

……

When Ron arrived at the spot pointed out by the reconnaissance plane with 16 P-51 fighters, he saw a yellow dragon rising from the ground from a distance. It was a long marching column, tanks, armored vehicles, and Dodge ten-wheeled wagons, one after the other driving on the unpaved roads in the exercise area.

"Priority to hit tanks and armored vehicles with rocket eggs!" Ron gave the order. So the 16 P-51s quickly changed into a column and swooped down in the direction of the highway towards the convoy.

The anti-aircraft fire of the convoy also began to shoot at Ron them.

Ron first attacked the two tanks at the head. A 20-mm cannon could not destroy a target like a tank, but under the wing of Ron's P-51, there were also 6 rocket counterweights for exercises. Ron knocked them all out in a simulated launch. The accuracy of the rocket's hit is not high, so even at close range, Ron can only rely on this salvo to ensure a hit.

After completing the firing action, Ron rolled 45 degrees to the left, and with a lever, the plane pulled a diagonal somersault to the upper left. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ron threw away the counterweight hanging under the wing.

At this time, the attacked armored troops began to drive off the road and drove into the nearby wilderness, trying to avoid the attack of American fighters. And the fighters of the US military were not so easy to get rid of, they took turns whizzing down and firing heavily at the convoy.

……

The F6F sent by Valia failed to help the armored forces, and by the time they arrived, Ron had already completed the attack on the armored forces on the ground and was on his way back.

A day later, the photograph from the camera gun was read out:

All 12 A-20s were destroyed on the airfield, and in the course of the attack on the airfield, one Blue P-39 was judged to have been shot down and five others were found to have been injured.

In the BLU armoured force, 21 tanks and armoured vehicles were destroyed, and 40 trucks were destroyed, which is just over 50 percent of the number of vehicles owned by this unit.

According to the previously established rules, Red wins. However, both sides were not satisfied with their performance in this battle. So, in their respective conference rooms, the meetings that investigated problems, found gaps, and found ways started again.

……

"This time it was mainly my responsibility to go wrong. I underestimated the initiative of my opponents. In fact, after getting along with those guys for so long, I have understood that they are all animals full of attacks, but I still ignore the possibility that they will take the initiative to attack, and I only want to yin others, but I am yin by others. I think maybe I took advantage of it too much and let my guard down. In the conference room of the "Reverse Cross", Ron was sincerely self-critical.

"What the captain said is right, in fact, not only the captain, but also ourselves, I'm afraid we have some such problems."

"After being away from the battlefield for a long time, bullying rookies here all day long, the result is like playing chess (in this case) with McGaia, the more you play, the worse your level becomes."

"Cut, I seem to be some kind of international master, not a stinky chess basket? The last time I faced that Russian one-eyed, wasn't he killed to the brim? It's not necessarily better than me! McGay was immediately unconvinced, "Besides, people have also said that the two of us are about the same level. ”

"That's not dragged down by you, if you hadn't played chess with a stinky chess basket like you for half a year and got infected with your stink, even if you couldn't play that Soviet, you wouldn't have lost so badly! I can't play chess with a guy like you again! Even if you go down with yourself, it's better than with you! ”

"Well, I wish you to be the next Dr. B (the character in Zweig's "The Story of Chess" who has been playing against himself for a long time and is eventually schizophrenic)!"

"Okay, don't mess around, we're discussing!" Although the crooked building is almost already a "reverse cross" tradition during the discussion, it is a bit of a problem to still crooked the building after suffering such a big loss. Ron was even wondering if it was time for a rectification campaign.

But fortunately, the subsequent discussions are back on track. Towards the end of the meeting, Boynton made another suggestion:

"Ron, you see, if you stay away from the battlefield a little longer, you may have a problem with your mentality. Can you talk to the above, let our people take turns to serve as short-term technical advisers to various combat units? ”