“PR-44！ I am the Chinese Navy! You're close to my no-sail zone! Leave now! Otherwise, you will bear the consequences! This is the last warning! ”

Li Zhan once again identified himself and issued a warning, and his tone became more and more severe.

Niu Jun's attention was no longer here, she operated the control panel to quickly mobilize the integrated tactical pod to collect the detected electromagnetic signals, and every second was very precious. There are many tactical electronic reconnaissance planes simulating the Blue Army, but this kind of strategic electronic reconnaissance plane, which is based on the Boeing-707 four-engine passenger plane, has very few chances to encounter it.

Don't miss the opportunity.

The captain of the PR-44 had beads of sweat on his forehead, and he was very worried about another strong wake attack by the South Sea Mad Dog, and he had no doubt about the courage and skill of the South Sea Mad Dog. In the dark night, the distance between the two planes was repeatedly shortened to twenty or thirty meters, which is an extremely dangerous distance and is very prone to collision. The captain did not dare to take such a risk.

Seeing that the PR-44 is about to enter the no-sail zone, if it is allowed to enter the no-sail zone, the no-sail announcement issued by the Red Army exercise troops will be reduced to a piece of waste paper, and the authority of the Red Army troops will be affected and their dignity will be provoked.

Li Zhan would never sit idly by.

"Ox Army! Sit tight! Li Zhan reminded Niu Jun, and then once again steadily narrowed the distance with PR-44.

This cloud layer is very thick and large, from 2,000 to 5,000 meters, and the radius of more than 10 kilometers is a series of peaks and peaks, and it is a very dense cloud layer. Li Zhan couldn't quite see the outline of the PR-44 very clearly, even with night vision.

The reason why night vision devices work is to magnify natural light to increase visibility, and there is no way to see the target through the obscuration.

Therefore, Li Zhan could only stare at the bright light of the engine tail flame of the PR-44 and use it as a reference point to close the distance. As long as the distance is close enough, the PR-44 has nothing to hide.

Closing in from the upper position of the rear hemisphere of the PR-44, when Li Zhan vaguely saw the outline of the PR-44, he activated the gun mode, and the aiming ring was firmly pressed on the outermost engine of the left wing of the PR-44, and then slightly raised up in two directions, and then he opened fire!

Several twenty-three-mm shells flew out with the light of fire and flew above the left wing of the PR-44. Tracer shells were loaded at intervals, so there were three tracer rounds in the few shells fired, which were three yellow, straight, very striking ballistic lines.

"Oh my God! He fired! The captain stared at the shells flying far from the left, and was stunned.

The captain didn't care, and hurriedly called the commander of the operation detachment: "I have to turn around, did you see him fire!" You'd better get everything done in a matter of minutes! ”

Of course, the commander of the operation detachment saw it, he was more afraid than the captain, and he did not hesitate any longer, and hurriedly ordered to turn on all the electronic reconnaissance equipment, and the detection equipment for early warning radar signals integrated in the nose of the nose of the aircraft was also turned on.

Li Zhan, who had stabilized the fighter and always occupied the attack position, heard Niu Jun shouting excitedly, "All green!" That's great! Brother! Fly with it! The longer the better! ”

Undoubtedly, she began a comprehensive collection of electromagnetic signals, and all the equipment on board the PR-44 that could emit radio signals would be exposed to the integrated tactical pod.

Li Zhan saw that the PR-44 was starting to turn, and it turned clockwise to the north, trying to fly north against the eastern line of the no-sail zone. Obviously, the PR-44 still did not give up reconnaissance and did not give up confrontation with the Red Army alert fighters. Li Zhan did not hesitate to fire a few more 23-mm shells, this time grazing the leading edge of the left flank and flying under the cockpit of the PR-44, no more than two or three meters apart.

One of the shells grazed the front edge of the left flank, taking away a piece of fuselage skin. The sudden flash of friction produced the fire made the captain see it clearly, he was going crazy, the mad dogs of the South China Sea can really fire, aren't they afraid of simulating the huge fleet of the Blue Army!

The captain quickly checked the plane's various systems and made sure that all of them were fine. It seems that the fuselage mechanism is fine, and the aerodynamic shape of the leading edge has not been damaged.

The captain of the PR-44 was about to be frightened, and hurriedly called: "Command center, PR-44 asked to return, we were warned to open fire!" Repeat, we simply can't win such a confrontation without fighter cover, over! ”

The command center was also in chaos, and the commander of the command and intelligence center in Kaidao immediately agreed to the PR-44's request to return home, and he needed to carefully consider whether to send fighter jets to provide support for the subsequent reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance confrontation.

Sending fighter planes means that the confrontation between reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance will evolve into a confrontation between multiple types of aircraft in the air, and he is very uncertain about whether expanding the scope and scale of the confrontation will be conducive to ultimately winning the confrontation.

Li Zhan didn't leave much time for PR-44, and he no longer gave voice warnings, and was about to make another shuttle, when PR-44 shook its wings and turned east at a large angle.

"The command post, the angry old leopard reported that the target had turned east and was moving away from the no-sail zone, and he was probably going to return." After Li Zhan's report, he asked for instructions, "I need some time to complete the next step, and I request that the target be driven away, and it's over." ”

After the command post quickly considered it, he replied to Li Zhan: "The angry old leopard can fly away with you, pay attention to the fuel situation, and report the situation quickly, over." ”

Of course, the command post deployed on the early warning aircraft knew that the No. 81198 J-7 piloted by Li Zhan was tasked with testing the combat performance of the comprehensive tactical pod, and this night was a very good opportunity, and perhaps some surprises would be harvested.

Li Zhan quickly followed, and then followed the left rear of the PR-44 not far away, at an angle of 45 degrees to the warning lights on the PR-44's vertical tail along the extension line of the longitudinal axis of the fuselage. In the event of an emergency, Li Zhan could destroy two engines on the left flank of the PR-44 in three seconds.

Of course, PR-44 knew that the mad dogs of the South China Sea were flying with him, and this was routine surveillance, so no one thought it was strange. However, after flying east for 30 minutes, the mad dogs of the South China Sea were still flying with him for surveillance, which made the crew wonder - what did he want to do?

It was already 40 minutes later when the commander of the operation detachment realized the problem, and after he quickly ordered several key electronic equipment to be turned off, he remembered that the infrared telescope looked out of the observation cabin window, and immediately found the pod hanging under the belly of the No. 81198 J-7 aircraft, and he was full of regret.

Niu Jun's face was flushed with excitement, she didn't expect such a big gain at all. Realistically speaking, the electronic warfare capabilities of the integrated tactical pod are limited, but the passive collection of electromagnetic signals within the range does not require a very complex design. The accumulation of these original basic data will be of great help to future confrontation operations and the development of related equipment.

After Li Zhan confirmed that the remaining fuel could only last for another five minutes of companion monitoring, he asked Niu Jun, "You must return to the flight in five minutes, how are you doing?" ”

"The main part is complete, and it is ready to return home." Niu Jun glanced at the fuel balance gauge, quickly calculated in his heart, and said.

Li Zhan accelerated and leaned forward, saying, "You give them another set of close-ups." ”

"Understood!" Niu Jun quickly took a set of photos of the PR-44, but he didn't know that this group of photos had become the last photos of the aircraft.

No. 81198 J-7 decisively returned to the country when it was about to reach its maximum combat radius, and it was already 1,700 kilometers away from Dachang Station at this time, which means that Li Zhan had to directly land at Dachang Station to refill with fuel before he could re-launch to join the alert mission on the eastern line of the no-sail zone.

He was likewise unaware that the life of the PR-44 entered a countdown measured in minutes.

At an altitude of 9,000 meters, the PR-44 could finally return to the Kaidao base with a sigh of relief, and they could land on the runway of the base in a maximum of thirty minutes, and there were still five or six hours to rest before dawn, but most of the crew and the operation team said in the discussion that they wanted to have a drink, for the thrill they had just experienced.

The crew and operation team members who survived the disaster were more eager than before to land as soon as possible, and only by stepping on solid and stable ground could they regain their sense of security.

Death is approaching them, at a speed of 850 kilometers per hour.

The weather radar shows that there is a thunderstorm ahead, and the color on the display screen representing the airspace of the thunderstorm is light yellow, which is a moderate thunderstorm, and there are several levels more powerful than it. The space covered by the thunderstorm is 6 to 3 kilometers, and if the PR-44 maintains its course altitude, this thunderstorm will not affect them, but after the calculation of the co-pilot, the airspace of the thunderstorm happens to cover part of the descent path of the aircraft.

If the plane does not descend as planned, the plane will have to make a circle over the base before landing.

The captain did not hesitate to choose to establish a landing route according to the plan, passing through the airspace of the thunderstorm, and the co-pilot had no objection to this, and the ground command center did not object, because moderate thunderstorms would not affect flight safety.

Moderate thunderstorms are really nothing.

It is indeed nothing, and a thunderstorm of this intensity would not have been able to shake the more than 160 tons of PR-44 without the help of a tropical storm, at most it would have caused some relatively strong bumps. And it only takes two minutes for the plane to pass through.

But the Grim Reaper had made a hole in PR-44.

The nearly hour-long high-altitude cruise and the change in the weather in the airspace through which the aircraft passed caused the wings of the aircraft to freeze, and the captain turned on the de-icing system and all hidden threats were resolved. Unbeknownst to the captain, the small damage to the leading edge of the left wing quickly turned into a talisman after the plane plunged headlong into the thunderstorm zone.

The rapid alternation of hot and cold finally caused the de-icing system of the left wing, which was barely working, to strike, and the plane was already flying in the thunderstorm zone. The wind and rain shook the PR-44, and the captain and co-pilot were so focused on maintaining the attitude of the aircraft that they did not notice that the mechanical controls in the wing were rapidly freezing after the de-icing system on the leading edge of the left wing failed!

Because it is a continuous descending attitude, the leading edge, flaps, and tail of the aircraft are in the corresponding state, and the chain reaction brought about by the failure of the de-icing system at the leading edge of the left wing is very rapid, first the mechanical device of the de-icing system fails, and then the hydraulic oil in the hydraulic system of the left wing is quickly frozen, and the mechanical control system of the left wing fails.

In just two minutes of encountering a specific environment in a certain state, PR-44's fate was predestined by God.

The plane passed through the thunderstorm area, no one felt that there was anything abnormal about the plane, everything was calm again, and the base was twenty kilometers ahead, no one expected that this short twenty kilometers would become a road that they could not finish in their lives.

The captain finally noticed that something was wrong, as he adjusted the flaps and tail and found that the entire left wing did not react in the slightest. For a split second, as if an appointment had been made, several alarms flashed at the same time, and the cockpit was filled with a rush of alarms - the anomaly was finally caught by sensors that were not out of order.

"Damn! What the hell is going on! ”

The captain roared and pulled the rod backwards with all his strength to try to restore the plane to level flight, in order to pass through the thunderstorm area faster, he just chose a large-angle high-speed descent altitude, at this time the plane has a speed of 880 kilometers per hour and a descent rate of more than 300 meters per second, the altitude is more than 2800, if you do not resume level flight as soon as possible, the plane will crash into the sea after more than ten seconds.

But he shouldn't have pulled the lever so violently, and he shouldn't have changed the position of the right flaps and tail, creating a situation opposite the left wing.

But God did not give him a chance to make amends.

After a loud tooth-making sound, the entire left wing was torn off by a strong relative force, and the entire left wing broke away from the fuselage and flew backwards and quickly disappeared into the night! The plane, having lost its left wing, suddenly lost all control, lost all its balance, and then quickly rolled sideways and fell vertically! After several tumbling noses rushed vertically towards the sea, the two engines were still working, and the speed of the plane was accelerating, and finally it plunged headlong into the sea at a speed exceeding the speed of sound!

From the fall off the left wing to the fall into the sea, it was only a short five seconds, and the crew did not have a chance to report to the ground command center at all.

The ground radar could not find the signal of the PR-44, and the controller could not call the PR-44, and the Kaidao base sent a maritime search and rescue team half an hour later, but it was within the thunderstorm area, and the bad weather brought great difficulties to the search and rescue work.

PR-44 crashed into the sea at 1:05 a.m. 20 kilometers west of the Kaidao base, killing all 37 crew members on board. It was not until dawn that the sea search and rescue team, which simulated the base of the Blue Army's island, picked up a body floating on the water. Through sonar detection analysis, the fuselage of the PR-44 disintegrated when it hit the surface, and scattered floating objects were everywhere.

There is no evidence that the PR-44 was attacked, and preliminary findings show that the aircraft only lost its left wing before crashing into the sea, suggesting that the PR-44 crashed into the sea at a very high speed, and the powerful kinetic energy tore apart the four-engine aircraft of more than a hundred tons.

Very tragic air crash.

The final findings came a year later, and it was determined that a small skin tear on the front edge of the left wing was responsible for the crash. Investigators believe that even a dozen of these small damages would not have caused such a serious air crash, but after investigating the weather conditions at the time, the investigators finally came to the conclusion that the disaster was formed by several coincidences.

The crew's operation was fine, and the thunderstorm at that time could not have endangered flight safety at all, but the captain's operation after discovering the fault was open to question.

With the benefit of hindsight, investigators concluded that if the airspace of the thunderstorm had been maintained at an altitude of nine thousand meters, the PR-44 would not have had any problems at all. And the captain just didn't want to go around the base one more time, at the cost of thirty-seven lives, including him, being gone.

The immediate effect of the crash was that the simulated Blue Army grounded all of its aircraft until the possibility of a mechanical failure had been ruled out.