George E. Brody was not the first pilot to report to Reverse Cross. In the afternoon of that day, five people had already reported ahead of him. In the two days that followed, more and more people came to report for duty. By the third day, all the newly recruited pilots had already reported on the "reverse cross".

Along with the arrival of the new pilots were more logisticians and new aircraft. 24 A-20 attack planes and 24 B-25 bombers also flew to the base.

"Well, this way, two new squadrons can also start to be built." Standing in the window and watching a B-25 land on the runway, Ron said. Actually, the B-25 didn't quite please Ron. The B-25 is good for tasks such as battlefield partitions, but when it is used to attack targets such as bridges and anti-tank support points, its striking accuracy is not sufficient. In fact, the United States does not lack fighters suitable for this mission, and the Navy's dreadnought dive bombers are very suitable for this kind of mission. In addition, the Marine Corps' F4U fighters can also perform such tasks quite well. It's just that for the Army, it's no problem to get a few Navy or Marine Corps planes to simulate enemy aircraft, such as using F4U to simulate FW-190. But getting the Army to equip Navy and Marine Corps aircraft is not ordinary. The relationship between the U.S. Army and Navy and the Marine Corps was not as bad as that of the Japanese Army and Navy. But to say that their relationship is intimate, and it is absolutely intimidating to read a 'novel'.

In fact, there is so much money in the military budget, and if the navy has more, the army will have less. In the pre-war years of peace, the Navy scooped up most of the military budget, leaving the Army with the scraps of cold burning, which was barely enough for the Army to maintain a military presence that was inferior in numbers to third-rate countries in Europe and inferior in equipment to the New York gangsters. At that time, when the guys in the navy saw the army, they all looked like their nostrils were facing the sky; As for the army, naturally it didn't have a good face to show the navy.

After the outbreak of the war, the army realized the leap from slave to general, successfully grabbed the bulk of the military spending, and the generals of the army also successfully grasped the power of the army. So it was the turn of the Navy to be dissatisfied.

Anyway, even for the sake of face, the army will not purchase weapons for the Navy and Marine Corps on a large scale. Of course, the development of a new aircraft is also good, but the problem is that I don't know if there is enough time. For example, in the original history, the army developed an A-1 Sky Raider attack aircraft, this guy has superior performance, not only has powerful armor, but can also hang a bomb weighing up to 7 tons - this bomb load is basically equivalent to its own weight - to carry out attack missions! It can not only dive and bomb at a large angle of 85 degrees like a dive bomber, but also fly close to the ground like an IL-2 attack aircraft, attacking ground targets with rockets and aerial guns. Under the technical conditions at that time, for the needs of the United States, it was almost the most perfect direct fire support attack aircraft. However, such aircraft entered service a little too late, and as soon as they were delivered to the troops, the war ended.

The pilots of the B-25 squadron are also the most experienced pilots selected from the combat units. In order to make this team take shape as soon as possible, Ron transferred a group of pilots from the fighter unit who performed well in ground attack to fill the team.

Is this an attack aircraft or a problem. The Americans actually do not have any particularly good attack aircraft, not even decent professional attack aircraft. Although the A-20 attack aircraft bears the brand of attack aircraft, in fact, it is more like a bomber. For direct ground fire support, it's actually not very good. Therefore, after research, everyone felt that it was better to take a fighter and change it into a ground attack version like the Germans. Of course, this thing cannot be as good as the newly designed professional attack aircraft like the A-1 in terms of ground attack performance, but the difficulty of developing it is very low, and it will be possible to produce a prototype in a few months at most, and it is estimated that it will be able to equip the troops on a large scale by next summer. Moreover, these planes are modified from fighter planes that pilots are familiar with, and pilots are easy to get started with and form combat effectiveness quickly. Ron felt that this should be the best way to solve the attack aircraft problem for the US Army Aviation at the moment.

This opinion was escalated to General Arnold and was replied to a few days later. General Arnold agreed. Now, several companies have been given the task of development.

The new training program is also being gradually improved. Information received from the Strategic Intelligence Bureau on the combat methods of the German and Japanese air defense units, various detailed combat examples of ground attacks from the Army Aviation Command, and even detailed combat examples of the Navy obtained through some channels were sent to the "Reverse Cross" Combat Research Center. Ron and a group of staff officers spent almost fifteen or sixteen hours a day studying the data, analyzing the enemy's defensive methods and the gains and losses of the American army in each case.

It was almost the most tedious and tiring work Ron had ever done since the crossing, constantly collating with the staff officers to compile the data, reviewing the documents and charts produced by the staff officers, and then constantly discussing issues with his team of tactical experts consisting of pilots and combat staff officers, sand table exercises, and even arranging actual confrontations to test.

After more than a month, Ron felt that he was so tired that his whole body shrunk. At this time, the new outline is basically completed. The rest of the matter depends on the daily confrontation training and the battlefield feedback of the graduates, and then improve it step by step.

At this time, the ground modification versions of some fighters also completed their preliminary test flights, and their trial production models were also sent to the "Reverse Cross", so that the last attack aircraft squadron could finally take shape.

There are two models of the modified fighter that was shipped this time, one is a ground attack modification of the P-47. The P-47 of this type was depressurized without the pressurization system - it was not expected to go high anyway, and the remaining weight was used to further strengthen the armor, some of the key components of the armor were already strong enough to withstand 20mm shells, and the pylons were strengthened enough to carry more bombs and rockets. In order to enhance the performance of the low-altitude and low-speed segments, its wings were lengthened. The Republic also removed four of the six original 20 guns on the P-47 and replaced them with two 37mm guns, which could even be used to dismantle German tanks if used properly.

Of course, the price paid for such a modification is not small. First of all, the already bulky P-47 has become more bulky, and now the take-off weight of this aircraft has reached more than nine tons, and with the addition of bombs and rockets, the aircraft's various flight performance has decreased. The take-off and landing performance of the P-47 was originally not good, and after such a modification, although the extended wing increased the wing area, this helped the take-off and landing performance. However, due to excessive weight gain, the take-off and landing performance is further reduced. According to the test pilot, this thing is the worst take-off and landing performance in the history of the United States, and there will be more accidents for novices using this than in the original version. However, considering that most of the pilots who will fly this thing in the future will be the original P-47 pilots, Ron doesn't think this will be too much of a problem.

In addition to the decline in take-off and landing performance, other flight performance also decreased significantly. Because of the increase in weight and the extension of the wing, the maximum speed dropped from 690 km/h to 610 km/h, especially at low altitudes, which dropped directly to the level of zero combat. Of course, as an attack aircraft, this speed is still very fast.

Because of the extension of the wing, the aircraft's low-speed stability and hovering performance have improved a little, but because of the weight added, these improvements are not obvious, and on the other hand, the extension of the wing has slowed down the P-47's original excellent roll, although it has not been reduced to the level of the P-38, but it is no longer comparable to the P-51.

The cancellation of the supercharger made this original high-altitude overlord suddenly become a high-altitude cripple. Although this guy's ceiling is still 10,000 meters, everyone knows how this data came out, without any weapons and half of the fuel, it took a full forty minutes to barely climb up. This achievement is not even as good as the high-altitude waste P-39.

However, Ron is still relatively happy with this modification. Although its flight performance has decreased a lot, it is still enough as an attack aircraft, and the P-47, which was originally too strong, has become more robust after improvement, and it can be called a flying tank.

The second type of aircraft that Ron liked was an improved version of the P-38. The P-38 already had the advantage of a large bomb load, and looking at the maximum bomb load alone, its bomb load was comparable to that of a four-round B-17 bomber. The new modification was switched to a new Merlin engine, and the power was increased again. In the past, the P-38 had a weakness, that is, although it was a twin-engine aircraft, theoretically when one engine was hit and stopped, the P-38 could continue to fly with only the remaining engine; But in reality, after one side of the engine is hit, the probability of fire and burning is quite high, which often also causes damage to the aircraft. A new ground modification strengthened the engine's armor and redesigned the oil circuit. The likelihood of a fire after the engine is hit is greatly reduced. But that's not the biggest change, the biggest change is in the cockpit section.

The cockpit was lengthened from a single cockpit to a double tandem cockpit, with the addition of a rear-facing machine gunner and a .50 caliber self-defense machine gun.

In terms of ground firepower, although the increase in armor and the change in the cockpit structure have increased its weight a lot, the bomb load that it was originally proud of has not decreased much. It can still carry up to 7 tons of bombs. Lockheed swapped out the massive 6-barreled 20-mm Gatling in its nose for a 37-mm gun and two 20-mm rifled guns. Although this makes its firepower density and range much smaller, the 37 gun is more lethal to hard targets. In order to strengthen the ground firepower, two 37 guns or 12 rockets can be added to the inside of its wings.

Compared with the previous modification of the P-47, although this aircraft is slightly inferior in survivability, it has better take-off and landing performance, a larger bomb load and a more flexible firepower scheme. What's more, it has a longer standby time in the air, allowing it to attack new targets at any time.

Ron believed that these two aircraft would inevitably become the backbone of the Army's direct ground fire support for the rest of the war.