The second round of confrontation drills with the swapped roles had begun, and it was now nearly noon, and the strong sunlight was scorching the airport runway. The fighter planes on the tarmac were also scorched hot, and Valia now really knew how hot the American summer was compared to the Russian summer. In beautiful Russia, no matter how hot the summer is, it will never exceed 30 degrees Celsius, and as soon as you walk into a shade, it will cool down immediately. And in the United States, the summer is just too hot. Now if you walk to the tarmac, crack an egg open and spread it on the wings, in less than three minutes, you will find that the egg is already fried. It's true, Valia has seen the Yankee named Ron perform a wing fried egg for everyone.

The canopy of those planes is covered with a white cloth cover to prevent the cabin from overheating. This was the Yankees' approach, but Valia felt that the usefulness of the thing was actually limited. It's still hot in the cockpit. Therefore, it was impossible to stay in the cockpit and stand by, and Valia and the others honestly waited in the pilot's standby room next to the tarmac, waiting for the order to strike.

According to the regulations, from 6 o'clock in the morning, the exercises began, but until this time the enemy's armored forces still did not appear. Valia knew that this was a deliberate ploy by the Americans to exhaust their troops. In order to prepare for an attack by the Americans early in the morning, the Soviet pilots had breakfast at 5 o'clock in the morning and waited here to be ready to attack at any time. The long wait can make people anxious, which will affect the state of the pilot. Novel.

However, such a small trick is not difficult for the Soviets, and everyone actually has a way to distract themselves. For example, now, in the break room, someone is playing bridge, someone is playing chess. As for Valia herself, well, she was carefully dusting a model of a battleship that some American had given her, made of a very special and extremely hard dark red material. In short, everyone has something to do.

"Comrades, it's time to eat, and only when you're full will you have the strength to teach the Yankees a lesson." Kotin walked in from outside, and a couple of cooks came in with carts. The pilots all put down what they were doing, walked over and took one each, and ate it.

Just then, a shrill siren suddenly sounded. A shout was heard on the radio: "Enemy planes spotted, all sorted!" ”

Valia had only eaten two bites at this time, and when she heard the sound, she immediately dropped the utensils, swallowed the food in her mouth quickly, grabbed her flight gloves, helmet, and a large piece of chocolate and ran away. By the time she ran to her P-39, she was already wearing her flight gloves and helmet. The ground crew also had everything ready.

From the side doors that have been opened (the P-39 is an extremely bizarre aircraft, its cockpit is not pushed backwards like a normal airplane, but from the side, like a car), climb into the plane, start the engine, fasten the seat belt, and then slide down to the runway under the command of the tower.

The cockpit was so hot that the P-39 could not fully open the canopy like ordinary airplanes, but could only open a small window. Valia felt like she was in a big oven, big drops of sweat rolling down her forehead. Fortunately, those A-20s finally flew up, and now it's their turn to take off. As long as you fly to it, it will naturally be cool. Valia pushed the throttle valve to the end, and the plane began to accelerate rapidly, and the wind blowing in through the small window grew stronger.

It's just that the wind hasn't been able to lower the temperature much, it's noon, and the air on the runway is very hot, and the wind blowing in from the small window is also hot, like a bulging out of a blacksmith's bellows. Valia felt the tip of her nose start to tingle a little, and the numbness quickly spread to her entire face.

This was a sign of impending heat stroke, but at this time, the speed of the plane was enough, and Valia gently pulled the lever, and the P-39 took off. As the altitude of the aircraft rises, the temperature in the cockpit finally begins to drop. At an altitude of a thousand meters, the temperature in the cockpit finally cooled. Valia retracted the throttle, leveled the plane, and waited for the rest of his teammates to take off to complete the formation.

Taking advantage of this time, she took out the large piece of chocolate. Chocolate is a good thing, it is high in calories, easy to digest, and can quickly replenish the pilot's energy. Ever since American aid began to appear to the Russians under Lend-Lease, almost all Russian soldiers have fallen in love with this novelty from the United States. (Many friends who don't know much about the effects of chocolate always like to understand the U.S. military's inclusion of chocolate in the list of munitions during World War II as an American GI being too delicate.) This is not true. Valia liked it too, and she even thought that among the three best things the Americans had shipped, chocolate was even ahead of the P-39. Of course, Spam is also a very good thing, but her American counterparts are very adamantly opposed.

Valia had planned to take advantage of this opportunity to eat two bites of chocolate, but she barely ate it at lunch. However, she noticed that the large piece of chocolate wrapped in the foil bag felt very wrong, and it seemed to have completely melted into the liquid.

It wasn't edible, so Valia put down the chocolate and waited for it to re-condense as the temperature dropped, cursing the damn weather in her heart.

After a while, several other planes directly belonging to her formation had finished taking off and, following her, lined up a typical "Kuban shelf" (a composite formation of two twin-plane formations with a slightly lower position and two two-plane formations with a slightly higher position. At this time, the command came from the tower: climb to 2000 meters.

Valia flew a little ahead of the A-20 fleet with her formation, and above her was an upper formation of 8 F6Fs.

It took about forty minutes to fly above the target area, and on this time, Valia picked up the tin foil bag with the chocolate and held it up with his palm to the small window that had not yet been closed. It won't take long for the chocolate to be eaten. She glanced at her wingman, and she saw that Skomorokhov gave her a thumbs up, and then, following her example, she also lifted her bag of chocolates to the small window.

Armored units on the march are the easiest targets to find, as they will kick up a lot of dust as they drive, and this dust will grow so high that it can be seen from a long distance.

Since the armored forces are in front, then the enemy's fighter units must also be nearby. Valia raised her head, carefully searching the sky ahead.

……

Ron spotted their opponents earlier than Valia. This is due to the fact that on the side of Valia there is a group of A-20 attack aircraft, which are several times larger than fighters and are easier to spot in the air. And once they were discovered, based on some superficial knowledge of the tactics of the Soviets, the escort planes must have been above them, and there must have been a formation of fighters behind that group of escort planes. So he took a closer look, and naturally discovered Valia's formation.

How do you intercept it now? There are three options before the Americans.

The first method was to use the advantage of altitude to attack the Soviet planes in the highest position first, peeling the outermost layer like an onion, then taking out the Soviet fighters in a lower position, and finally destroying those attack planes.

This is the safest way of warfare for oneself. The number of fighters on both sides is the same. Playing like this means that you are always in the energy advantage. If you only look at the air combat exchange ratio, this is undoubtedly the best way. It's just that this tactic only attacks the enemy's attack planes at the end, and the attack opportunity gets a certain amount of time to attack the ground forces. To adopt such a tactic, it is necessary to be able to take out the enemy's escort fighters in a short period of time. But considering that the other party is also an ace, how easy is it to solve it quickly?

The second way was to send a part of the fighters to drag the Soviet fighters, and the others to attack the opponent's attack aircraft first. If you have a numerical advantage, this is a good idea. Now, however, it is very difficult to carry out this method, because if there are fewer fighters sent to deal with others, they will not be able to drag them down, and if more planes are given, the number of planes sent to attack those attack planes will be too small, and it will be difficult to complete the task with quality and quantity.

The third method is the simplest, that is, relying on the superiority in high altitude regardless of it. Pounce directly at the attack aircraft group, give priority to attacking the attack aircraft, and as for whether it will be attacked or something when climbing, just let him go. It is impossible to fight without losses, and victory cannot be without paying a price!

If Ron had been in the Luftwaffe, they would have chosen the first option without hesitation. In the regulations of the Luftwaffe, fighter pilots were given great freedom. They have the right to choose the most advantageous mode of warfare, and they have the right to choose to retreat when the situation is not dominant. What the? What about the ground forces? Hehe, ask for more blessings.

However, the US Army Aviation does not have this tradition of dying friends and not dying poorly, and at yesterday's preparatory meeting, everyone unanimously opposed this safest plan. On the contrary, the third option is supported by more people. Justified and very well-founded:

The A-20s were rookies, and it was much easier to get rid of them than the Soviets. And according to the rules, who wins and who loses does not depend on the exchange ratio of the aircraft, but on whether the campaign goal is achieved, that is, the success or failure of the floor washing. In fact, this is not only the rules of this exercise, but even the core rules of the entire air operation. No matter how high the exchange ratio is, if it cannot effectively wash the enemy's land, and it cannot prevent the enemy from washing his own land, how much effect will the exchange ratio have for war?

So, there is no doubt that the third method is the way for warriors to do it.