The early hours of October 5 were so cool that people forgot for a moment the scorching sensation of the daytime temperatures that can reach as high as 38 degrees in the day.

At two o'clock sharp, the H-6K strategic reconnaissance plane numbered 2238325 waited for the take-off command from the tower on the take-off line, and the ground crew completed all the necessary guarantees for the voyage within two hours, and the crew and entourage did not bring diapers, because there were two toilets deployed on the new model.

Humanized design is exciting, you must know that the bathroom is definitely an important support equipment for the voyage, more important than the parachute, after all, the living cannot let the urine suffocate to death.

The in-cabin pressurization system of the H-6K is similar to that of a passenger aircraft, and the pressure and oxygen are equivalent to more than 2,000 meters above sea level, so there is no need to wear an anti-load compensatory vest or something, and there is no need to wear an oxygen mask.

The captain of the plane was Colonel Liu Changxi, commander of the Independent Reconnaissance Regiment, the co-pilot was Lieutenant Colonel Bai Bitu, chief of staff of the regiment, the navigator was the chief of navigation of the regiment, and the communicator was the head of the regiment's communications unit. This configuration can be extremely luxurious, which shows the importance of the superiors to this voyage training.

But when Li Zhan saw the four unsmiling technical officers, he realized that only such a luxurious crew configuration was worthy of this technical group. The four technical officers include two colonels and two deputy divisional technicians with civilian ranks.

One of the colonels was a female cadre at the deputy regimental level, in her early thirties, and her figure was very aesthetic. The high rank and low rank indicate that the starting point is very high, and it is very likely that the doctorate degree will directly carry the rank of lieutenant colonel and the battalion level. In other words, the female colonel in her thirties is a newcomer with only three or four years of military experience.

The other colonel is a middle-aged female cadre with some symptoms of pre-aging and pre-aging, her temples are gray, and her seniority badge is hung to show that she is at the deputy division level, and she is obviously a senior cadre who has come up step by step from the grassroots level.

Both colonels wore regular Air Force uniforms.

Those two civilian cadres are a bit powerful, one wears the armband of the General Staff of the Army in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the other wears the Navy in the Spring and Autumn Uniform and hangs the Navy armband, which is not easy to judge, anyway, they are not ordinary people.

Li Zhan found it strange that this technical group was wearing regular uniforms instead of camouflage uniforms. Looking at the composition again, there are two female officers on the Air Force side, one old and one young, and the other army and navy combination are both older male officers. It feels like a technical group that was put together on an improvised basis.

As soon as they flew up, they each sat down in front of the console in the middle of the cabin, familiar with the operation of their own evil equipment, the young female colonel also took off her coat and put it on the leather seat, and began to work in a sky blue shirt.

In addition to these people, it was time for Li Zhan, Yu Chenglin, and Zhang Wei, three tourists.

Yu Chenglin and Zhang Wei helped the technical team in the combat control room in the middle of the cabin, using a camera loaded with a telephoto lens to take pictures through the few cabin windows, and recording some of these things with pen and paper.

Li Zhan was placed in the cockpit, and a temporary chair was placed in the rear between the pilot and the co-pilot, which was his seat, and the positions of the navigator and communicator were on the left and right. However, at this time, the navigator and the communicator were in the operational control room as operators of technical equipment.

According to Li Zhan's observations, the standard crew of this high-tech strategic reconnaissance plane should be 12 people, the cockpit should be 4 people, and the person responsible for operating the combat control system should be 8 people. There is no problem with the space of the H-6K, once the Soviets changed the Tu-16 into a passenger plane for use, and there was no problem at all with dozens of people. Of course, it's harder to get a lot of space after a large number of devices are deployed.

In fact, this H-6K calls itself a strategic reconnaissance aircraft, but in Li Zhan's view, it is closer to a complex of a long-range electronic reconnaissance patrol aircraft and a large electronic warfare aircraft. In the case of limited military spending, our military usually does more research in one project, and many mission fighters often take care of multiple tasks. You don't have the strength to subdivide the use of weapons and equipment into the huge system of strong enemies.

The most suitable for long-range electronic reconnaissance and patrol aircraft is a medium-sized transport aircraft with good low-altitude performance and strong cruising ability and heavy weight. For example, the P-3 "Orion" antisubmarine patrol plane and the notorious EP-3 "Aries" electronic reconnaissance plane were developed from a propeller passenger plane, and the P-8 "Poseidon" antisubmarine patrol plane, which succeeded the P-3 "Orion," was developed on the basis of the famous Boeing-737 jet airliner.

Americans are very targeted and purposeful when choosing a platform, of course, only if there is a choice.

Therefore, Li Zhan was probably able to get past the idea of his superiors and use limited resources to conduct more research, so he had this H-6K strategic reconnaissance plane that was stewed in the northeast.

"Two, two, three, three, two, five, take off ready, request to take off." After Liu Changxi and Bai Bitu completed the last cross-check before takeoff, Liu Changxi asked the tower for instructions.

The tower quickly ordered, "Tourists can take off." ”

Liu Changxi pushed the throttle stick, and the two D-30KB-2 turbofan engines of the huge H-6K strategic reconnaissance plane made a powerful sound to push the plane to start taxiing, and it easily reached the take-off speed and took off with the wheels.

The most noticeable change in the K model is that the old turbojet engine has been replaced by the famous D-30 turbofan engine, which is more powerful and has better fuel economy. Perhaps more bluntly, the K uses the same engine as the Il-76, except that the latter is loaded with four.

It is said that the maximum range of this H-6K reached 10,000 kilometers, which is a little farther than other K models. There is no doubt that the super long flight time brings the longest flight time, and the long air time is the most important performance of this type of aircraft.

Large planes flew eastward over the western county at low altitude, and the rumbling sound of the engine covered the entire urban area, but it was difficult to shake people's sleeping nerves. In the dark night sky, in an unknown space, the officers and men of the Chinese Air Force guard the airspace of the motherland day and night.

The eight crew members and three entourages who participated in the long-distance training mission were very excited, this may be the first time that the Chinese Air Force has flown such a distance, and it is very likely to be a beginning that will go down in history.

But despite this, few people could still have imagined that the western space domain would soon become a daily training airspace in the future, let alone that entering and exiting the western Pacific in the future would be as simple and frequent as going from the infield to the outfield of the station.

The long-distance training operation, codenamed "Tourist Tourist," has officially begun, and Li Zhan and the others will be greeted by an unfamiliar sea and airspace, which is more than 3,000 kilometers away from our nearest airport.

In other words, once there is a dangerous situation in the Western Pacific, the No. 2238325 aircraft can only fly back, and they have no alternate landing station.