On the night of the bombing of Berlin, Field Marshal Catherine went to the command of the Third Air Force and took command from Field Marshal Sperler.

Marshal Catherine, who took over the command, was worried. He said to Field Marshal Speiler, who was about to leave:

"Field Marshal Sperler, I know that the situation is very difficult, can you tell me about the current situation?"

"Ah, of course, but knowing that doesn't help you."

Marshal Sperler's answer was honestly unpleasant, but Marshal Catherine knew that it was not directed against him. In the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Sperler was known for his big mouth.

"Even so, I wish I could have learned more."

"Well, if you insist, I'll talk to you." Field Marshal Speller threw his marshal's scepter on the sofa and sat down.

"The Americans used a very unique escort tactic. Their P-51 fighters have an extremely good range, which allows them to fly thousands of kilometers to the top of us, and then fly until all our planes run out of fuel, and then they can fly another thousand kilometers to fly back.

Their commander was very cunning, he would have made the fighters take off earlier in order to occupy the airspace through which the bombers were about to pass. If we take off to meet the enemy at this time, our fighters will run out before the bombers arrive. Novel fuel and had to withdraw from the fight. As a result, not only would we not be able to attack the bombers, but we would even suffer heavy losses when we retreated to Germany because we were pursued by American fighters. ”

Marshal Speller's eyebrows furrowed, and it was obvious that although he was no longer in the position of commander, he was still distressed at the mention of the enemy's tactics.

"If we wait for the bombers to arrive before taking off, I don't think I need to say, you know what kind of situation we're going to be facing...... It's just, it's like ......."

"Just like those Soviets did when they faced us." Marshal Catherine said, "Even, even worse." ”

In the air battles on the Eastern Front, the Germans always achieved a good exchange ratio. This was partly due to the high level of skill of the German pilots, but it was actually more important for the Luftwaffe to take advantage of tactics.

The core strength of the Air Force of the Soviets was the Il-2 attack aircraft. Almost every other aircraft revolves around and serves the Il-2 attack aircraft. The Il-2 is an attack aircraft designed specifically to gnaw at the earth, and they almost never fly at an altitude of more than 1000 meters. Most of the time, in order to ensure that in the event of an attack by enemy fighters, the altitude can be quickly reduced to more than ten meters (the only weak point of the IL-2 is the radiator in the belly part. Just a few 7.92 bullets in that place can kill the IL-2. So in the event of an attack, the IL-2 will fly at an ultra-low altitude, so that if the enemy wants to hit this part, he must risk hitting the ground and crashing. The Il-2 usually flies at an altitude of only about 200 meters before reaching the battlefield.

The Il-2 did not fly high. The flight altitude of the fighters of the Soviet Air Force escorting it could not be too high, in fact, the flight altitude of the fighters escorting the Il-2 was generally only about 500 meters higher than that of the Il-2. The German planes that came to intercept them generally flew at much higher altitudes, which gave the Luftwaffe fighters the energy advantage of altitude before they were put into battle. In addition, in order to avoid the Germans' diversion from the mountains, the Soviets forced the escort fighters not to move away from the attack aircraft group to attack the retreating German fighters. This is almost equivalent to saying that once the German fighters are unfavorable and increase their horsepower to escape, the Soviets will not be able to chase after them.

In fact, when it came to the Kuban air battle, the situation was completely reversed, and it became a time when the Luftwaffe had to constantly send attack aircraft to delay the attacks of the Soviet ground forces, and the German fighters had to escort those low-altitude attack planes every inch. The exchange ratio between the two sides is completely reversed.

And Marshal Catherine's so-called "even worse" also makes sense. First of all, by now, Soviet fighters were at least inferior to German fighters in terms of performance. Especially at low altitudes, there were even advantages in some of the key characteristics of Soviet aircraft. And in the confrontation with the Americans, except for the ME-262, the other fighters are significantly inferior to the American fighters in terms of performance. Especially at high altitudes where American bombers are located, the gap is even more pronounced.

In fact, if you do the math, the German fighter is really tragic enough. On the Eastern Front, the Il-2 attack aircraft, the most productive in the world, were at low altitudes, which led to the fact that almost all air battles were fought at low altitudes, and the fighters of the Soviet Air Force were enough as long as they had excellent performance at low altitudes. On the Western Front, both the Americans and the British heavy bombers were operating at high altitudes, resulting in air battles that were basically conducted at high altitudes, and it was enough for American fighters to have superior high-altitude performance. Only Germany, when dealing with the Soviet Union, they needed the superior low-altitude performance of the aircraft, and when dealing with the United States and Britain, they required the aircraft to have excellent high-altitude performance. It is very difficult to unify these two features on a single aircraft. The final result is that the later the war, the lower the performance at low altitude is not comparable to that of the Soviet Union, and the more serious the situation is that the performance at high altitude is not comparable to that of the United States and Britain.

"In such a situation, only the brand-new ME-262 will be able to break through the interception of US escort fighters and launch an effective attack on enemy bomber forces." Field Marshal Speller frowned, "However, the problems that exist now with such aircraft are also obvious.

First of all, the number of such aircraft is still too limited. In my hands, there have never been more than a hundred of these things. You know, although this thing has a clear advantage in terms of performance, if the number of enemies is too large, according to the Lancaster equation, the final exchange ratio will not be too good.

Secondly, the reliability of such aircraft is simply too poor now. If it weren't for the fact that the situation is so bad right now, I think this thing should even be sent back to the test flight department. ”

"Hehe, just like the Leopard tanks of the past?" As a commander who commanded both the Air Force and the Ground Forces, Marshal Catherine immediately remembered the Leopard tank when she first entered the war. Once dispatched, half of them will stop in the middle of the road due to a malfunction.

"It's much worse than that, the tank is broken, at most it will stop there and not move, the plane is different, it will fall headlong."

"So, man, you want to accumulate some more ME-262s and wait until there are enough of them before launching a counterattack?" Marshal Catherine asked.

"Is there anything else you can do?" Marshal Speller asked rhetorically.

Marshal Catherine was silent.

After a while, Marshal Catherine said, "Do you know any news?" ”

"What's the news?" Marshal Sperler asked.

"It is said that the Führer intends to get an SS air force out."

"SS aviation? Is this news reliable? Field Marshal Sperler stood up.

"Quite reliable, in fact our commander is said to be the commander of this team."

"That wave...... I mean, what the hell is the Führer up in mind? What's the use of creating such an independent team? Field Marshal Sperler clearly did not support Hitler's approach.

"The Führer is not satisfied with our record, you know that." Marshal Catherine had something to say.

"He thinks the current situation is that we are not doing our best?" Field Marshal Sperler said, "I knew it was so...... Okay, you're going to have a lot going on right now, and I'm not going to bother you anymore. It's time for me to go home and rest. ”

Marshal Sperler picked up the Marshal's Scepter, raised it to Marshal Catherine, and was about to leave. Before leaving, he turned again:

"Catherine, you have to protect the pilots, especially the old ones, and don't let the family poach them all."

……

An airport in England. Ron is inspecting here. Just today, a unit equipped with a brand new fighter jet has just been transferred here.

"General, this is our newly equipped long-range heavy fighter." In front of a huge plane, he was introduced by a man in no military uniform.

It was a strange-looking fighter, and the most obvious feature compared to other aircraft was that it had a propeller in the front and rear of its fuselage.

"General Ron, if you want to say, this design is still the patent you sold to the company in the first place. With this layout, the aircraft achieved very good performance. The man in civilian clothes said admiringly.

"How fast is this plane?" Ron asked. Now, in the shadow of the ME-262, speed has become one of Ron's most important metrics.

"Compared to the P-38, because the new design greatly reduces the frontal area, plus the installation of two R-2800 engines, the power has also increased, plus the use of swept wings, the aircraft is much faster, reaching a top speed of 770 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 7,000 meters!" The man replied.

A speed of 770 km/h is already quite high for a propeller aircraft. But compared to the speed of more than 800 or even 900 kilometers of the Me-262 fighter, it is still much slower. However, after all, it is a propeller, and it is unrealistic to expect it to surpass the jet.

"What is its dive speed and what is the rate of climb?" Ron asked

"The dive top speed is around 1,000 km/h, and it's quite maneuverable at this speed. Rate of climb? This is one of the greatest advantages of this aircraft. "The man talked about the merits of the plane as if he were boasting about his own son.

"At sea level, it can climb 1500 meters per minute! The climb to an altitude of 5,000 meters takes only 4 minutes! And the practical ceiling is as high as 12,000 meters. Add to that the roll and hover of a single-engine aircraft, plus a range greater than that of the P-51 - this is definitely the pinnacle of propeller aircraft. ”

"In this way, it is not impossible to attack the ME-262 by diving with such an aircraft." Ron thought.

"How reliable is this thing?"

"New, you know," the man smiled sheepishly, "but it should be better than when the P-38 first entered service." ”