The tactical concept of strategic bombing had emerged at this time, but it had not been tested as much as it had historically. The previous devastating bombing of British coastal towns by Germany during the British Campaign may be the first time that the tactic of strategic bombing has been intuitively displayed in front of the public.

The previous German bombing campaigns against the Netherlands, Belgium, and France were not strategic bombing, even if they were on a large scale. As the name implies, strategic bombing is an act of war carried out on the basis of strategic objectives, and those that lack this basic condition can only be classified as tactical operations.

The target towns of the British coastal bombardment actually had little tactical value, but the destruction of these towns directly caused the chaos of the entire British eastern coastal defense line.

If the destruction of an important military unit on the battlefield can determine the outcome of a battle, then the destruction of a strategic target will make it possible to reverse the course of a war.

The Germans now have a bomber capable enough to meet the initial strategic bombing needs, as well as a fighter capable of escort duty. But it is not enough to just have equipment, there are still many difficulties in front of Xu Jun, and he must establish a military system that can support strategic bombing operations before the outbreak of war on the Eastern Front.

Each Lancaster bomber was required to have a crew of seven, which were divided into a pilot-captain, an aviation mechanic-co-pilot, a navigator, a bomber--nose gunner, a radio operator, a gunner, and a tail gunner, in order of status on the aircraft.

Except for the tail and air-backed gunners, who are like aviation consumables, the rest of the pilots need to obtain at least two or more professional certifications and undergo more than half a year of professional training before they are eligible to participate in strategic bombing operations.

Even cannon fodder machine gunners must undergo professional air machine gunner training, technical verification and machine gunner certificate before being assigned to serve on bombers. Those who do not meet the technical requirements can only be assigned to other units of the Air Force to undertake tedious and tiring ground service work.

In the RAF, the salaries and salaries of pilots are far higher than those of ground sergeants, so applicants who know that the job is extremely dangerous are still rushed. Of course, there are also enthusiastic young people who really want to selflessly contribute to the country, but these people will soon be worn out by the cruel reality, and it can be said that war is a magic mirror that can make human beings recognize their own essence.

Although the requirements for the physical fitness of the bomber crew of the Royal Air Force are not as strict as those of fighter pilots, they are much more high-end than those recruited by the army, such as not having the reaction of airsickness and seasickness, the turbulence of the aircraft after encountering high air currents can be much more serious than that of ships at sea, and the cabin is not airtight, and they need to fly with oxygen masks most of the time during the bombing, and once airsickness and vomiting occur, the scene will become very bad.

In addition to the medical examination criteria, they have to carry out simple intelligence and psychological tests, and the Air Force does not want to go to the sky with a stupid person, and it does not want to be a madman who manipulates weapons. In fact, many of the British crew members who had experienced aerial combat on the Western Front had serious psychological problems, but this was a change that occurred after joining the army, and they were all sane normal people before joining the army.

The Luftwaffe's criteria for selecting bomber crews were even stricter than those of the British, and the Nazis began to rebuild their air force with a lean policy. German flight cadets first need to go through the A and B aviation school training before they can enter the advanced bomber flight school and study more advanced subjects.

In addition to entering a special training school, the crew members of German bombers usually have to master some professional skills outside their own duties, so that the commander can freely transfer them to various posts.

It can be said that every German bomber crew in the early days of the war was composed of a group of versatile elites, and every crew lost in the British air battle was the essence of the Air Force's painstaking accumulation for many years, so the bomber wing commanders felt painful, and even refused to send their subordinates to carry out the kind of mission that was obviously to send them to death.

Although the losses of the German bomber force in this time and space were relatively small, the old birds who had been trained for many years were lucky to survive. But these people are all trained by Heinkel and Junkers bombers, and letting these people learn to fly a new type of bomber again is obviously a matter of half the effort, Xu Jun is worried that when the time comes, not only will the new troops not be able to quickly form combat effectiveness, but also weaken the original strength of the bomber force.

Therefore, the crew members of the German strategic bomber unit will be recruited and trained from recruits, but if the current number of cadets in the German aviation school is adopted, there is still a considerable gap in the middle. According to Xu Jun's tentative plan, the German army will form a strategic bomber force with at least 1,000 heavy bombers by the end of 41 years. This meant that the Luftwaffe needed to produce 1,000 technically qualified pilots and 6,000 crew members who met the training standards, not including the backup and rotation crews, which would be at least half of the total strength.

At the same time, the Luftwaffe had to establish a new chain of command for the strategic air force, which required a group of experienced commanders and administrative officers at all levels, as well as competent staff and logistics officers.

At the same time, Germany had to build new airfields and bases for the newly built bomber wings, as well as assign their air groups and aviation military districts.

The Air Corps is the largest unit of the Luftwaffe, while the Air Military District is the high-level logistics and administrative unit that supports the operations of the Air Corps.

Almost every Luftwaffe wing had its own airfields and bases, but because of the rapid expansion of the air force, these bases were already overcrowded and it was unlikely that they would be able to accommodate these new bomber wings.

Heavy bombers have quite high requirements for take-off and landing runways, not only have special standards for the flatness and solidity of the ground, but also the requirements for the length of the runway alone can eliminate more than half of the Luftwaffe bases.

At this time, although the facilities of the bases in Germany were not outdated and backward, many local airfields were indeed only suitable for small and medium-sized aviation units such as taking off and landing fighters.

The rapid construction of the field airfield, while convenient, was ultimately a temporary emergency product, and the Air Force said it would be better to build a semi-permanent regular air base if it wanted to use it for a long time.

A well-established strategic bomber base requires not only the construction of several runways that can quickly take off and land heavy bombers, but also the construction of hangars that shelter these precious big guys from the wind and rain, a well-equipped maintenance factory that can process and repair simple parts, an aviation fuel depot with a large capacity to feed these vultures for a long time, and an ammunition depot that can store a large amount of aviation ammunition and other explosives.

In addition to these basic buildings, dormitories for flight and ground crew, as well as places for leisure and recreation, a fully functional military hospital, a telecommunications and command centre, and a barracks for ground security and air defence units are to be built. At the same time, some of the core units in these buildings must have a certain amount of bulletproof ability to withstand retaliatory bombing by enemy air forces.

According to the calculations of the High Command, Germany should build at least six such large bombing bases in central and eastern Germany, as well as a series of forward and alternate airfields in Poland, Romania and Finland.

The Luftwaffe's accounting department made preliminary calculations that the amount of money required for the initial investment of the project alone would be enough to make the board of directors of a small bank suffer a heart attack.

PS: Thank you, the cold is a little better today, and I will continue to take medicine and rest after the code.