"Hey, I said Ron, what's so good about the Army, let's come to our Navy." And don't know it's John. Rear Admiral Thatch spoke to Ron about this a few times.

"Well, the airport will never be sunk, and ......," Ron said, pretending to be serious, thinking for a moment.

"Cut, the airport is fine, your army planes are better than ours." Petrov immediately jumped up in opposition.

"Don't believe me?" Ron glanced at Petrov, "Let's each go back and fly a plane and see who's good." ”

"Cut, that's because you're amazing, not because the Army's planes are amazing, or let your Army have a friendly match with us, and we'll definitely ...... seven games and five wins" Petrov originally wanted to blow a clean sheet, but looked at Ron and changed his words, "Definitely win by a big score." ”

"Don't brag, our army will definitely be able to win you." Ron didn't show weakness either.

The officers liked this kind of dispute among the pilots, anyway, there are no new aircraft carriers for them to use, and it is impossible to go on combat missions, and it is better to use such a competition to strengthen training. Besides, in the eyes of the Navy, what is the level of the Army, Midway is not unseen. It's also good to boost morale by abusing them. However, the army is also very confident: "What is there in the navy, half of the training time is spent on training ships, where can the level of air combat be high?" Besides, we have new weapons. "Yu. The novel is a friendly match between what would become traditional naval aviation and the Army Air Corps (later the U.S. Air Force), and thus the curtain opens.

The new weapon that the Army sees as a hole card is the P-38 fighter. Although the aircraft is not perfect, at least it has not yet been replaced with a 20-mm Vulcan gun. But those F4F and the like to deal with the Navy are more than enough.

P-38 actually arrived at the wing two days before Ron returned from visiting his family. At first, the pilots of the flight team had a lot of doubts about this aircraft. For example, is this kind of aircraft with tail bracing structure strong enough? (In fact, with the exception of the later P-47, the U.S. Army didn't have that fighter more robust than the P-38.) As a twin-engine aircraft, is it nimble enough? You must know that in the Battle of Britain, the Nazis' twin-engine heavy long-range fighter BF110 was bullied by the British Spitfire and Hurricane because it was so inflexible that the Germans had to send a single-engine BF109 to escort it. As a result, the name "fighter in need of escort" has become a pain in the life of following the BF110, and when it comes to maneuverability, the twin-engine fighter really can't afford to hurt. Since then, twin-engine fighters have been so embarrassed that they dare not go out during the day, and they have all changed their careers to night fighters and reconnaissance planes. Now that the United States has equipped the army with such a twin-engine, can it not repeat the mistakes of the BF110?

It was August when Ron returned, which was the hottest time of the year in Hawaii. Fortunately, Hawaii is located in the tropics, but because it is an island, the temperature is not high, and the hottest time of the year is only about 31 degrees. The first time he actually came into contact with this legendary fighter in real life was the morning of the second day after returning to the team.

In the early morning, Hawaii is covered in a magnificent glow, and the beaches, coconut palms, and seaside reefs are covered in a golden red rouge. The cool breeze from the sea gently rustles the huge leaves of the coconut palms. At one end of the runway, a strange-looking fighter plane was parked there.

The fuselage of this fighter is very short, and the tail is not mounted on the fuselage like a normal aircraft. Instead, huge wings protrude from the left and right, and then there is an engine compartment on each wing on each side, from where a slender tail brace structure extends backwards, which together support the tail that connects them. Ron walked over to the plane, closed his eyes, and reached out to gently stroke the plane, which felt like he was touching his lover.

"Hey, this guy shouldn't be a pervert, right? I've heard that the more powerful guys are a bit perverted. ”

"Go, it's supposed to be a perverted guy who is a bit powerful. What do you think......"

So a big debate about perverting first and then being powerful or being powerful first and then perverting began. Both sides cite scriptures and criticize each other. In the sparks of minds colliding with each other, a classic question comparable to the chicken or the egg was born.

However, Ron didn't bother to pay attention to them for the time being, his mind was drawn to the plane. Boarding the plane, inspecting the various items, starting the engine, releasing the brakes, the plane begins to accelerate on the runway, and then gently lifts the nose into the air.

It is true that the P-38 is far superior to the P-40, and the climb and acceleration alone are far from being matched by the P-40. In the blink of an eye, the plane climbed above the clouds. From there, looking down, you can see the small toy-like ships stretching out long white tracks on the sea, and white clouds casting their shadows onto the islands and the sea, so that the reverse fortune and the sea are no longer whole green or blue, but a canvas full of dark and light hues.

The flight altitude was getting higher and higher, and in the blink of an eye, it had exceeded 20,000 feet, and Ron activated the turbocharger, with the help of which the engine maintained a strong power output even at high altitude. The flight speed is getting faster and faster, and in a moment it is more than 400 (miles). Now, at least for now, in the Pacific Ocean, there is not a single enemy plane that can match it, flying as high and fast as it. If it were possible, Ron would have shouted, "I'm coming, I've seen it, I'm ......"

But Ron wasn't in that mood right now, because it was so hot in the cockpit. If you want to say that the P-38, everything is good, it is that the temperature of the cockpit is unbearable. Historically, when the P-38 was on missions in Europe, because it was always at high altitude and high latitude, it was often very cold in the cockpit, and even the pilot was stunned; In the Pacific Ocean, the temperature in the cockpit is always high enough to cause heat stroke. So much so that everyone who flew a few laps on the P-38, the first thing they did after landing was to find water to drink.

Originally, even in the tropics, it would not be too hot to fly a plane, it was really hot, and it was enough to open the cockpit canopy and fly with an open top, but the problem was that the P-38 could not open the hatch casually in the air. If opened, it will cause severe tremors of the aircraft. So as soon as the P-38 was equipped with the troops, it received the nickname of the oven.

Because of this, as well as the odd shape of the 38, and the flawlessly slow roll in the low sections. It was not liked by most pilots at first. But Ron knew that people would soon find out what was so special about the plane and love it.

The first is its firepower. Although at first glance, as a heavy fighter, it has one more 20 guns than the P-40, and even compared with the P-39's 37 guns, two .50 machine guns and two 7.62 mm machine guns, it is not necessarily stronger. But here's the rare thing: the P-38 has all of its weapons on the nose, so it fires a lot of bullets, and those planes that have weapons on their wings will shoot bullets that will fly over the meeting point. Therefore, the P-38 can still ensure the density of the projectile even if it shoots at a considerable distance, and it will still have a high hit rate, which can be called an air sniper.

In the afternoon, the squadron had its first shooting practice since the re-outfit, and Ron was the first to come out, hitting the trail with a long point shot at a distance of 500 meters. At first, everyone thought it was because of Ron's superior skills, but when they mounted the P-38 themselves, they realized that the P-38's shooting was really accurate, compared to the P-40 and the like. What a world of difference. If the Japanese, accustomed to the Zero Fight with shells flying around, had the opportunity to shoot with the P-38, they would have drooled so much that their mouths would have flowed out.

In the later confrontational drills within the team, the gap between the P-40 and the P-38 was even greater. Now the rules have been changed to let p40 occupy the 6 point position before starting the drill. But even so, the P40 is in a difficult position.

Ron pushed the throttle to the end, the two engines roared, and with great acceleration, his P-38 easily got out of range of the P-40 behind him. Then he gently pulled the lever, and the huge twin began to climb lightly in a spiral. The P-40 simply could not catch up with the P-38 in the climb, so it climbed a short distance, and the P-40 behind it was already dragged to the point of climbing, its speed had dropped to a dangerous point, and if it followed, it would only stall. Now the deceived P-40 can only escape by sliding straight down, and at this time the P-38 even has the energy to do all kinds of high-G maneuvers. Gently set the left engine to idle and start to turn sharply to the left. Don't look at the size of the P-38, you think that its turning radius must also be large. By adjusting the two engines to make their thrust different, the P-38 was able to make very good sharp turns, almost on par with the Zero.

After this sharp turn, the P40 was already in front of Ron, and although the plane had begun to turn into a dive, it had not yet fully increased its speed. But to say that his right choice is definitely the right choice, staying at the current height, isn't it waiting to be killed?

But the dive can only escape for a while, you can't fly into the sea to be a submarine. Relying on a dive did not allow the P-40 to get out of the pursuit of the P-38. The P-38 with dive flaps is not a Zero Combat that will disintegrate in the air with a slight dive.

Kanu's P-40 was firmly pressed low near the water's surface, watching Ron's P-38 swoop in from different angles again and again, roaring back to the top with an astonishing rate of climb, and then again. Kanu knew that if it was a real battle, he would have been beaten into a sieve a long time ago. He had no choice but to shake his wings helplessly, and then reluctantly said on the radio: "I lost...... This girl is pure bullying. ”

Yes, the battle between the P-38 and the P-40 was really pure bullying. Sometimes, when the gap in technology reaches a certain level, any kind of flying technology is just a floating cloud. Those skilled Japanese ace samurai may have managed to save their lives, but with the arrival of the P-38, the days of Zero War ruling the skies are gone.

Since the gap between the P-40 and the P-38 is such that the role of flight technology is so weakened, what can the F4F, which is not much different from the P-40 in terms of technical level, do in the face of the P-38's spiral climb? So although Major Braun knew that most of his pilots were novices, the Navy was still dead this time!