The 385 Bomber Brigade was the first customer of the "Reverse Cross". On 7 February, they moved to Nellis Air Force Base and began preparations to conduct a series of confrontation drills with the "Reverse Cross." Obviously, these rookies are quite interested in this kind of thing, and as soon as they arrived at Nellis Air Force Base, they didn't have a good rest, so they began to wander around, and their virtue didn't look like they were here to train, but like they were here to travel in a group.

But the first project they learned was really like traveling, and this project was - recognizing airplanes.

First of all, these rookies were taken to the hangar to see the treasures of the "Reverse Cross".

"This is a Japanese zero battle, super flexible, but you're going to Europe, and you can't see this anyway, so let's come and see this."

A docent took the group of rookies to shuttle through the hangar, stopping in front of a certain plane from time to time to explain, which really looked like a museum tour. It's just that the content of his explanation is still very different from that of ordinary museums.

The narrator stopped in front of a plane with a big, thin tail with an air-cooled engine. Obviously, this aircraft is the object of his explanation.

"This is the German army's FXSTXTM aircraft gun has also been mounted on this guy, + one + book + read + novel xstxt The power of that thing, hehe, as long as it hits a few shots, even if it is a sturdy thing like B-17, it will be finished immediately."

A group of rookies immediately chirped around, and some couldn't help but stretch out their hands to touch it.

"Don't move! Take a good look at what it looks like, especially on the front! The most common tactic used by the Germans was to attack head-on. Remember its frontal features - a thick nose with a slightly up-up wing under the wing! As soon as you see this thing, concentrate your fire on it, it is much more dangerous for you than the BF109! ”

After saying this, the rookies quieted down. So the narrator continued his explanation:

"The roll of this kind of aircraft is quite good, and the acceleration is absolutely first-class, but the high-altitude performance is a little worse, and the hovering is also very average. Because they are circling, the most common action they use to dodge the bombers' self-defense fire when they attack you is barrel rolling, which they do quite quickly, as you can see in a movie. ”

In this way, the narrator led them past one plane after another, stopping from time to time to explain. Finally, he came out of the hangar with the gang. He raised his wrist to look at his watch, and said to the rookies:

"Well, it's time for lunch, so I'll take you to the cafeteria. Take a break after eating well, and I have classes in the afternoon. ”

After a while, the group arrived at the door of the cafeteria. It just so happened that Boynton came out of it and saw the docent, so he said hello by the way: "Ron, you are so inactive in eating." ”

……

The afternoon class is to watch short films, which is not fun to watch, but serious training. However, if the morning training is about watching planes, the afternoon content becomes plane guessing. First, they were divided into small groups to watch all kinds of enemy planes fly from far and near from different angles, and then suddenly it was pitch black on the screen, and then the instructor asked questions. The first is the most primary, such as:

"How many planes were there?"

"What are the types of aircraft, and how many are there?"

When rookies face these questions, they are often at a loss, and then they start to answer in a daze, in fact, their answers at this time are not so much what they see, or what they recall, but what they guess. It also brought them all kinds of painful memories.

Because, once the answer is wrong, the instructors' unique punishments will follow. What was punished for eating food made into a stool-like shape, and what was standing upside down and looking at the back questions until you got it right. There are many kinds of things. This training lasted a whole afternoon. finally waited until the end of the training, and the rookies were dizzy and colorless. But when they returned to the dormitory, they found that every corner of the dormitory was plastered with photos of all kinds of enemy planes, at different distances and from different angles.

"Oh my God, it's all these things! I want to throw up when I see this! A rookie complained.

"This isn't a fucking hell!" Another rookie should be in harmony. But he didn't know that this wasn't really hell yet. In fact, their journey to hell has just begun, and even the journey to hell has just begun.

The next two days were still this kind of training, but the intensity of the training was advanced, the short films became shorter and shorter, even as short as a second or two, but the number of planes on the screen increased, and the types became more and more complex. Even the problem has progressed.

"Which plane in the video will be the first to come into range?"

"Which plane in the video poses the greatest threat to us?"

Later, it went on to:

"What are the fastest and slowest planes in the short film compared to us, and what is the shooting distance and advance amount?"

After four full days of such training, the rookies finally waited for the day when God played for real. The commander of the 385 Bomber Group mobilized the excited rookies:

"Tomorrow is going to meet the bastards who have been playing us like monkeys, brothers. Those SB didn't have cowhide coaxed and said they were going to beat our poop out...... Grandma's, cheer me up tomorrow and let these bastards eat all the shit they spew! ”

At the same time, the "reverse cross" side is also setting the tone for tomorrow's drill.

"We're going to be rookies tomorrow and it's not a problem to beat them." Ron smiled and said, "The question is how far we should go, you know, they're all kids, and we can't give them too much at once, the first one is too heavy, and maybe they're all stupid." After the fight, they reflexively trembled when they saw the Iron Cross, but it was not our goal. ”

"But those guys are a little unconvinced of us at the moment, these guys really think that they can fly around at the level of a rookie like them, and if they don't teach them a hard lesson, when they get over there, won't they all have to become medals to the Germans? So, I advocate that you really teach those boys a lesson. "Bad boy McGaia's murderous statement.

"I don't agree, those who fly in the sky have to be a little arrogant, if we completely defeat their arrogance, then they will be useless. That's not what we're here for. Ours leaves room for them to grow," Ron looked at and said it was Boynton.

"This degree is not easy to control, if it is light, the butt does not hurt, it does not have a long memory, and if it is heavy, it will be directly disabled."

To tell the truth, Ron also thinks that this degree is not easy to master, Lao Tzu said, "If you govern a big country if you cook a small fresh", it means that governing a big country, grasp the proportion is like cooking a small fish, the fire is a little bigger, it will be burnt, small and uncooked, give a little more salt to be salty, give a little less to light. Although Lao Tzu is talking about governing the country, Ron now deeply agrees with this sentence. Fortunately, the commander of 385 was very interesting, and provided him with the expectations of those rookies a long time ago.

"According to the information over there, those rookies want to play 1.5:1 with us." Ron briefed everyone on what he had learned, "This is their private opinion, and they are threatening to defeat us in public. ”

"Cut, these rookies don't know how many pounds and taels they have, and they want to play 1.5:1 with us? Dream the fuck! ”

"They also believe that at least three-quarters of their aircraft will be able to return home safely after breaking through our interception and completely destroying the intended target. According to the set, tomorrow they will send 24 bombers, and we will send 20 fighters to intercept. Let's talk about it, how many planes will be left for them? ”

"It's too much to keep one, but it's not good to keep one more, I think it's okay to leave half of them to finish dropping bombs, and then let them have a quarter left to go back, right? What do you think? ”

"I think it's good, so that they can realize that they are still far behind, but they can effectively attack the target. You can also maintain a little bit of self-confidence. Ron, what do you think? ”

"Well, let's just try it. However, pay attention to all of you, you must not accidentally kill those rookies. Ron laughed.

"They? Let's practice again. ”

……

The next day, February 11, 1943, the first confrontation drill began.

The 385 bomber group of 24 bombers formed two box formations (a successful tactic that had already been popularized among bomber units) and was flying at an altitude of 7000 meters. These four-engine heavy bombers pulled a long silvery-white trail high in the air, like a stream flowing in the sky. But Seaman knew that this kind of beautiful scene was not a good thing. This means that the fighter can find itself at a great distance. Seaman was the top machine gunner on the B-17 of the 385 Bomber Group, and he knew that although every comrade was confident in this battle, everyone was not sure about it. On the European battlefield, it is said that the exchange ratio between the bombers of the Army Aviation and the German fighters is very favorable, but the "reverse cross" is composed of trump cards, and they are all rookies.

Just in front of the bomber group, where He-Man could not see for the time being, a group of fighters was already eyeing them. (Bombers are much more visible than fighters)

"Hey, Ron, they're pretty well-formed."

"Hehe, it's a fart if you don't get hit when you're not in a tight position, daddy, I can bet on you on a bottle of Scotch whisky, and as soon as we attack, we can make their formation fall apart in the first round."

"Poles, only break up one box in the first round, and save the rest for when they return."

"Yes, sir!"

Ron smiled, he knew that his subordinates had a lot of problems, but after going to heaven, they actually had no problem enforcing battlefield discipline.

"Alright, line up and prepare for the assault!"

Eight Spitfires painted in white and black Iron Crosses and 12 F4U in the same paint job began to assemble and prepare for the assault.

The rookie nightmare begins.