The 77:4 is a jaw-dropping victory for the Super Aces with the epoch-making jet fighter ME-262C, who taught the Eighth Air Force's four-engine heavy bombers a vivid lesson with their world-class fighting skills and world-leading fighter performance. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In this battle, known as the "Great Bombing of Berlin", the planes that finally successfully dropped bombs and returned to Britain alive, including the planes that returned early due to mechanical failures and lost navigation on the way, all added up to a total of 293 in the end, and the total number of planes that entered the North Sea when Li Mei led the team to attack was as high as 1,417, with a battle loss rate of more than 80%, and even if the nearly 300 planes returned alive, more than 40 were seriously damaged and basically scrapped.

At such a heavy price, the U.S. aircraft fleet reaped pitiful results: the closest bomb to the Brandenburg Gate was more than 70 meters away, and only a few shrapnel touched this famous building; Two bombs were hit in the courtyard of the Prime Minister's Office, blowing up two large craters and destroying a number of greenery; The rest of the bombs were somewhat deflected and entered residential areas, causing more than 70 casualties; The only commendable result was the collapse of the small dome on the left side of the Berlin Cathedral, killing four priests.

Yeshunek and others in the air defense tower were originally quite happy about the outcome of the battle, but after hearing that the Prime Minister's Office had also been hit by a bomb, a smiling face immediately collapsed, and they roared angrily: "Quick, go and rescue." ”

Then he dialed the phone with a trembling hand, only to hear Hoffman's laughter very quickly: "The air raid is over? How's it going? ”

"The losses of enemy aircraft were serious, but it seems that some bombs were hit in the Berlin Cathedral and the Chancellery."

"Berlin Cathedral?" Hoffman couldn't help frowning, "The Chancellery's office shouldn't be a big problem, I hardly feel it." ”

Later that evening, Hoffman received a full report on the situation:

86 FW-190 aircraft were lost, 14 pilots were killed, the rest parachuted successfully and were rescued, and 3 people were injured after parachuting;

The Me-262 lost 74 aircraft, 9 pilots were killed in battle, and the rest parachuted successfully, and basically no one was injured.

"Does Stormbird have any instructor losses?"

"Six were shot down, and two were damaged by malfunctions, but all of them successfully parachuted and were rescued."

"The loss of jets is not small, almost 30%." Hoffman was surprised.

"There's a lot of going on here." Garland reported, "About 47 were shot down and crashed during the battle, and 27 were abandoned voluntarily because of injuries, malfunctions, or the fact that the cadets were not sure of a successful landing; However, among the 47 aircraft shot down, there are several situations, one is actually shot down by machine gun fire, especially when the first rocket is fired, because of the fast speed, some students want to observe the results after firing, and as a result, they rush into the enemy's effective range and are shot down; One is the mechanical failure caused by the battle, the enemy machine gun bullets, and the metal fragments left after the explosion at the scene were sucked in by the jet engine and had to be abandoned; In the end, it crashed because of a pure mechanical failure, but most of them were immature Type B, which was much better. ”

Jeshunek added on the side: "The jet is an epoch-making product, the failure rate is indeed higher than that of the piston fighter, in the last 4 months of training, more than 50 planes have been dropped one after another, if it was a piston machine, it would have been grounded a long time ago, but the jet is a new product, everyone understands." ”

"And then you have practiced your skydiving skills?"

Jeshunek and Garand looked at each other and said embarrassedly: "That's true, the first lesson for each student is intensive skydiving training, then keeping the queue neat, and as for the fighting skills, ......"

"It really sucks." Garland humorously added, "The reason why the plane is too fast to maneuver is a reason, and the training syllabus also clearly stipulates the training priority, the target of the jet is very clear, that is, the enemy's heavy bomber, it is not their task to deal with the enemy fighter, and the instructor does not have strict requirements for their fighting skills, and it is a success to be able to successfully complete the rocket launch, drain the cannon ammunition and get out safely -- aiming and firing at a high speed of 800-900 kilometers is much more difficult than firing at 600 kilometers, This group of children may be reborn after 4-5 plays. ”

"Do you think the time is ripe for large-scale equipment?"

Several high-level officials nodded in unison, the results of the jet today's battle are still obvious to all, if it is 200 novices driving piston fighters to pounce today, the loss may not be so big, but the results are definitely not so much. If calculated from an economic point of view, today's results are definitely very cost-effective - although the ME-262 is much more expensive than the FW-190, it is still much cheaper than the B-17, not to mention that the jet is still in the high-cost stage of pre-production and amortization of R&D expenses, and the FW-190 has long entered the low-cost zone of mass production, and the FW-190 has just come out much more expensive than the ME-109, and now the price is basically the same.

"Very well, since you have agreed to expand mass production in July, you can prepare according to the size of the establishment of 4 fighter wings." Hoffman smiled, "If the rapid training of jet pilots becomes possible, in the future we can build 40 jet fighter wings and see how many heavy bombers the Americans can build for us!" ”

Everyone laughed, and the haze that had been shrouded in the strategic air raids of Britain and the United States began to gradually dissipate.

At the time of his farewell, Jeshunek took out a pair of "dog tags" from his briefcase and handed them to Hoffman: "This was found from a corpse at the scene, identified by the captives, and believed to be Brigadier General Curtis Lemay, the supreme commander of this bombing operation, who served as the bomber wing commander in the Eighth Air Force. ”

"Curtis Lemay?" Hoffman was stunned for a moment, and thought to himself: It seems that this guy can't blow up Japan, and I don't know who will take his place in the future.

"Put these nameplates away and register them, and Minister Goebbels will use them."

While the Germans were jubilantly celebrating, Lieutenant General Karl-Andrew Spatz, commander of the Eighth Air Force, was already crying and crying silently in the command headquarters, and several staff officers and adjutants, fearing that he would not be able to think about it for a while, not only took away his gun, but also took away all the dangerous things in the office, such as dinner knives, fruit knives, razors, and ropes.

Prior to the operation, Lieutenant General Spatz had known that the mission of the air raid on Berlin would not be accomplished, but Arnold said that President Roosevelt was under great pressure, and that the retaliatory bombing of Berlin had become almost the only saving straw after the unsuccessful pursuit of the Axis carrier group, and that the task had to be accomplished, even at a higher cost. Therefore, Lieutenant General Spaatz not only mobilized the greatest number of troops and escort fighters as possible, but also ordered Li May to devise an air attack route that would break through the North Sea, bypass the outskirts of the Netherlands, and enter the air attack route that had reduced the interception of enemy aircraft. In view of the fact that the losses of the Eighth Air Force were basically concentrated at about 15 percent each time, he quietly raised the losses of this operation to 20 percent in his mind.

In the afternoon, after he received a telegram from Li Mei that was almost like a farewell telegram, the whole person was so anxious that he wanted to send a telegram to inform Li Mei to return and give up the action, but he hesitated when he looked at the telegram sent by Arnold on the table.

In the evening, he had all the officers enter the telecommunications room to make calls, and had the sanitary corps, fire trucks, and rescue planes on the scene, but the radio received very few responses, and by 9 o'clock in the evening, no more than 300 planes had successfully returned.

The anxious lieutenant general grabbed people at the scene and asked: "How is it, what is going on?" ”

Everyone replied in despair: "The enemy has made strange sorties, we have suffered heavy losses, God, it is almost a hell......"

"Did you see General Li Mei's plane?"

Either they answered no, or they answered that the scene was chaotic and unclear, and only one person replied that he saw the command plane being hit.

The lieutenant general waited at the airport with the last of his luck - he did not dare to go back to the camp, he was afraid to see the empty dormitory and the helpless pair of glasses, but in the middle of the night, the maximum time that the B-17 could theoretically hold out on to fuel did not wait for a miracle......

As Berlin fell asleep, Washington, with a six-hour time difference, was staging a heated congressional questioning, the second in a short period of time.

Hundreds of members of Congress gathered to watch the man in the wheelchair with blazing eyes, who had given confidence to the people when America was on the verge of collapse, who had led the United States on a path of sustained development, who had the foresight to expand its military ahead of time and prepare the United States for war as much as possible.

Now, the United States is facing an unprecedented crisis, and everyone, regardless of his party, hopes that the President will turn the tide and come up with a solution.

"Was there a problem of poor command and mishandling in the Panama campaign? Did General Fletcher lose a battle in which we had the upper hand and the upper hand? ”

"The national power of the United States far exceeds that of the Axis bloc combined, but in the last year, or 9 months to be exact, the war has been unfavorable, who do you think is mainly responsible?"

"We have tried to support Britain and Russia in every possible way, but we have so far failed to see what they have done to resist and contain German aggression, and shall we continue to adhere to this policy?"

"May I ask you, Mr. President, did we receive early warning before the bombing of New York, and were the relevant air defense measures adequate and reasonable? Is there a question of proper command? ”

"May I ask you, how should we respond to the current unfavorable situation of the possibility of further German air raids on the east coast?"

"The Germans have repeatedly released rumors of a willingness to reconcile with us, is it possible to temporarily cease the war and give priority to the settlement of the Japanese question? Is it possible to prioritize resources for the Far East and Pacific campaigns? ”

"We have been trying to push for air strikes against the Axis group, but from the actual situation, the enemy seems to be unharmed, and the production of major weapons and equipment is steadily increasing, is this strategy completely futile?"

"What is the response to the German attack on Madagascar and the threat to South Africa?"

"What about the United States in the future?"

"Everyone, before answering these questions, I would like to ask Director Edgar Hoover to make a special presentation." (To be continued.) )