"Well, boys, let's see what advice the guys at 'Reverse Cross' have given us." The Commander opened a large folder, glanced at it, and then looked up at the rookies sitting neatly below.

"Well, the first one, the tactical discipline is not strict enough, which is mainly manifested in the arbitrary dodge in the face of the fighter attack. This is the biggest problem that this exercise showed......

Second, they are not calm enough, and they have not really mastered the key points of anti-aircraft shooting......

Third, the deployment and closure of the box formation is too slow, and the pilots are too easily interfered with......"

"Sir, I have a question." Laudrup raised his hand, "At the beginning, the 'Reverse Cross' will come straight at you, and if you don't dodge, it will collide." But as soon as you dodge, you give the enemy a chance to break the formation, what should we do? ”

With Laudrup taking the lead, the following list of questions arises.

"Sir, what do you mean by 'pilots are too easily interfered'?"

"Sir, how can you really master the essentials of aerial shooting?"

"Sir......

"Ah," Lieutenant Colonel Carr laughed, "these are the questions you think for yourself, and if you don't understand them, ask the instructor of the 'Reverse Cross' directly at class tomorrow morning." Okay, it's not too early, let's go back to bed! ”

On this night, the lights were still turned off on time in the barracks, but after the lights were turned off, there were always miscellaneous voices in the dormitories.

"Keane, do you think I would have crashed into it if I hadn't dodged at the beginning?"

"Maybe, but isn't that instructor who flew the fighter plane afraid of death? I think he'll avoid it first. ”

"Well, the more I think about it now, the more I feel that they have been fooled, the fighter is much more flexible than us, and we feel that it is already impossible to dodge the distance that will definitely collide, and it is not necessarily for the fighter. Plus those instructors are so good at their skills, they must be able to avoid it. ”

"That's it, that's it, we were also fooled, and after we dropped the bomb, we kept dodging because we were afraid of being hit by them, and as a result, the formation couldn't be recovered after it was opened."

"If I come back to this hand in the future, I'll collide with him!" Someone said viciously, "As long as I don't crash into the cockpit, I probably still have time to parachute, those who fly fighter jets, hmph, who is afraid of whom." ”

"What if the enemy really wants to hit us with fighter jets?"

"It's not that perverted, is it?"

"It's hard to say, it's said that in the Pacific, the Japanese did just that."

"Hey, we're going to Europe in the future, what do you say about the Pacific Ocean? The Germans aren't so savage, are they? ”

"If you want to say that there have been collisions with enemy planes, I don't know if they were intentional or not. It is said that a B-17 of the 303 bomber group collided with a German plane. ”

"How's it going?" Several voices rang out at the same time.

"The result? The Germans overwhelmed on the spot, and as for the B-17, the tail was knocked off, and in the end it drove back. Someone continued to add triumphantly, "With such a large relative velocity, how easy do they want to hit our cockpit accurately?" In the end, just before the impact, the slightest bump, as if encountering an air current, could make him miss the cockpit and crash directly into the vertical tail. ”

"That's it, who is afraid of these guys!"

Just when everyone was discussing fiercely, an angry voice came from outside the door:

"What time is it! You bastards are still bullshit! Is there still discipline in the head! With discipline like yours, if you go up a few times, you will be beaten down by others a few times! Don't give Lao Tzu an honest ......"

The dormitory was quiet all of a sudden, and Carl stood outside the dormitory, shaking his head with a smile on his face: "These bunnies! ”

……

The next day, the "reverse crosses" found that the state of these rookies had changed significantly. In the past, the instructor always asked the students to answer, but now, the students are constantly asking questions, and even creative questions are often asked. The enthusiasm for training has also increased a lot......

Ron got out of a Spitfire, took the pen and notebook from the ground crew, and carefully finished the registration. At this time, a B-17 bomber also landed on a nearby runway.

Ron handed the flight cap and flight jacket to the ground crew, and walked to the pilot's lounge not far away. This is already his third rise and fall today. The main content of today's training is anti-aircraft fire by self-defense machine gunners.

Just as Ron was about to walk to the lounge, several people ran over panting, shouting as they ran:

"Chief Ron—wait a minute—I, I, we—have a problem."

Ron turned around and saw that it was a couple of machine gunners on the same plane that had just been trained.

A few guys chased after them, they were running from another runway, not close, plus the base is located in the desert, although it is winter, the desert under the direct sun is still very hot. When the men ran up to Ron, they were all out of breath.

After a moment's respite, a machine gunner named Seaman asked questions on behalf of everyone:

"Ron, why is it that I always have a hard time predicting the next move of the instructors, and I always miss when I shoot?"

Ron turned around and smiled at Seaman, the machine gunner who was chasing after him, and said, "That's a good question. Well, you know, the instructors here are seasoned veterans, and they've survived to this point largely because their movements are so unpredictable. And every pilot's flying habits are different. So it's not easy to predict the instructor's next move. However, the instructors' actions must have been purposeful, and it was really difficult to predict them when they detached. But when they're attacking, always keeping their goals in mind may help you anticipate them. ”

"Sir, can you be clearer? Don't give us riddles to guess. Someone muttered.

"Oh well, I'll just say what I think. First, you don't necessarily have to know what the instructor wants to do next, which is difficult. But you have to know what the instructor is doing to pose the biggest threat to your plane. Then use the machine guns in your hands to stop him from making the most threatening moves. Remember, for the self-defense machine guns of bombers, the first goal is to protect the bomber, and not to shoot down enemy aircraft.

Second, in a formation, not only all the planes should be coordinated, but the self-defense firepower on the planes should also be coordinated to form a joint force. But to be honest, it's up to you to figure out how to form a joint force, and I don't know much about this because I came from a fighter background. You can actually work with all the pilots and machine gunners in the team, and maybe you'll have a good idea. ”

……

The day after this conversation, the pilots of the "Reverse Cross" found that the effectiveness of the self-defense machine guns of the 385 bomber group had increased significantly. Although it is still difficult for them to accurately hit these old birds, their self-defense firepower has become more and more effective in interfering with the attacks of the "Reverse Cross". Compared to before, the efficiency of the "reverse cross" attack has decreased a lot, and sometimes once you enter, you will not find a very effective shooting opportunity.

Moreover, a few days later, the "reverse crosses" found that the shooting of this group of rookies actually began to show a trend of cluster cooperation and coordinated strikes. According to Ron's knowledge, the machine gunners worked together to divide and number the airspace near the bomber formations, and assigned them to the machine guns in the corresponding positions, and communicated with each other by radio during the battle. This makes the attack on the 385 bomber group more and more difficult, and if you don't pay attention, even the old birds of the "reverse cross" will "fold their wings" in front of the bomber box formation.

On February 20, the 385th Bomber Group will face a graduation exam - on this day, their bomber group will once again engage in a large-scale confrontation with the "Reverse Cross". Now there is still one day left before this day, and the people of the 385 bomber group are busy preparing for war. But compared to the hustle and bustle before the last encounter, this time, all the people of the 385 Bomber Group, both the pilots and the machine gunners, behaved quite calmly. Because unlike last time, they know what the enemy can do, and they know how far they can deal with it. In this calm, there is a real self-confidence.

"There is calm in every big event. It seems that the 385 bomber brigade has really grown. Looking at the 385 Bomber Group's calm and methodical preparations, Ron let out such an exclamation.

The next day was the same as last time, (there was very little rain in the desert, and there were so many days to fly.) This is one of the reasons why the site was chosen in the first place) This time, all 36 of the 385's existing bombers were dispatched, and the "Reverse Cross" also poured out, and all 41 fighters were on the field. Ron once mentioned to Lieutenant Colonel Karl that if the 385 Bomber Group could withstand this test, they would definitely be able to break the teeth of the German fighter unit in Europe.

Almost at the same time and in the airspace as last time, the two sides began to make contact.

When the "Reverse Crosses" collided head-on again, Lieutenant Colonel Karl's roar was heard over the radio of the 385 Bomber Group: "Keep in formation!" Don't dodge! Laudrup stared at the oncoming F4U, holding the steering wheel steadily, motionless. Even if you do bump into it, I won't dodge it too much. ”

The F4U climbed with a lightweight tie rod just as it was about to collide and skimmed over the side of the B-17......

Forty-one fighters rushed into the box-shaped formation on the left flank, and it was clear that the "reverse cross" was intended to rely on numerical superiority to break through individually. But at this time, the three box-shaped formations distributed in the air in the shape of the finished characters began to rotate, and the formation on the left flank quickly moved to the center of the three formations. If they abandon this goal. Then the plan to break them one by one was thwarted. Until the bombing began, the 385 Bomber Group still perfectly maintained a box formation of 3 zigzags.

When the bombs were dropped, the bomber group was at its most vulnerable, seizing the opportunity, the "Reverse Cross" launched a frantic attack, but the self-defense firepower of the bomber unit still effectively interfered with their attack. And as soon as the bombing was over, the three box-shaped formations were quickly restored.

"It's fucking hard, my claws are numb!" Even the Poles made such complaints.

The outcome of the attack won't be known until the picture is read out, but Ron already has a spectrum in mind. This attack on the "reverse cross" didn't take much advantage, and these guys can definitely graduate.