At an airstrip that originally belonged to the Republican Army, a full 20 new German fighter jets that had been transferred to Spain had been tested. These new planes, which belong to Germany's newly formed Fourth Air Force (known to the world as the Spanish Special Air Force), are about to launch a preliminary battle for air supremacy against the Republican defense line.

The 20 pilots who had just received Rommel's condolences and were transferred from the Soviet Union were the protagonists of this operation. They flew all Me-109 fighter jets, the Luftwaffe's secret weapon, which first appeared on the battlefields of Spain. And these German lads are also very confident, they are all elites with more than 4 years of training experience and an average flight time of more than 800 hours. The dream of becoming an ace pilot may be realized in this war.

This kind of self-confidence before the battlefield of a novice, if placed in the army, may be ignorant of the sky. But in the eyes of the Air Force's top brassips, this is a matter of course. The Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter, which was previously the secret weapon of the Air Force, is the basis for the Air Force's self-confidence.

This new fighter provided by the Rheinland Group, with the most advanced aerodynamic shape, equipped with retractable landing gear, openable cockpit canopy, automatic flaps, lower single wing, etc., has defeated other opponents by an indisputable advantage in domestic simulation tests. Compared to the remaining batch of Bellanca CH-300 aircraft of the Republican Army, the Me-109 has a crushing advantage in performance.

Although the current Me-109E appears to have a slightly shorter range, it is completely beyond the range of its opponents compared to the old fighters of the Republican Army. The most important thing is that Reinhardt's adherence to the "run-and-run tactics" makes this aircraft developed by the Rhein Group an excellent light high-speed fighter with the ability to quickly reach the battlefield. As a result, the Me-109 can make multiple sorties in a relatively short period of time to stabilize air supremacy.

A German technician wiped the sweat from his head, breathed a long sigh of relief, and smiled at the ensign pilot in the cockpit: "It's almost calibrated, and I will move the position of the machine gun a few millimeters up in a while, which will definitely ensure that your expedition will go more smoothly this time." ”

The pilot sitting in the cockpit poked his head out, looked at the old technician with a smile and said: "Who doesn't know that you, Varner, are the logistics master of our Air Force, and there has never been a problem with the aircraft you have debugged." ”

"Come on," the old technician quipped in a tone of pride that could not be concealed, "no matter how well the debugging is, it only makes sense to have you excellent young people to drive." When you become an ace pilot, just remember to invite me to drink. ”

The young lieutenant smiled and complimented, "That's right, I'm sure I'll never forget to thank you, Master Vanar." It's just that I've heard that General Rommel ordered that all German soldiers who were transferred to Spain should not drink alcohol on weekdays. Even on weekends, you can only have a bottle of beer at most. ”

After twisting half a circle of screws, the old technician rolled down his sleeves, finished the final commissioning, and happily sold to the second lieutenant: "Then have you heard the story of the last batch of German pilots who came to Spain?" ”

"Of course!" On the transport ship that came to Spain, he did not hear much about the glorious deeds of his predecessors. You know, it was the first shot of the new German Air Force, and it was a blockbuster move. The second lieutenant rubbed his hands with his eyes shining and said, "I heard that the predecessors relied on 50 He-111 bombers to open the sky in Spain. The Republican Army's backward biplanes and poor ground artillery were nothing in front of their predecessors, and they didn't even use much self-defense firepower! ”

"The self-defense weapon was requested by the Führer, do you think it is redundant?" The old technician, who knew a little bit of the inside story, jokingly scolded the second lieutenant.

"No wonder!" The second lieutenant touched the back of his head and sneered: "I just said that whoever is so careful can pay attention to such details that are not easy to find." It turned out to be the honorable Führer......."

The old technician interrupted the lieutenant with a wave of his hand, and laughed, "Come on, you've been thinking that for a long time?" ”

"Forget it" The old technician was not ready to catch the second lieutenant's slip of the tongue, but turned back to unravel his previous sale: "I want to tell you that the last batch of young pilots who came to Spain drank more than one bottle of beer on the weekend. Almost every week, they consume half a bottle of wine per person, which you have just bought from Italy by your beloved Führer. ”

"Long live the Führer!" The second lieutenant sang the praises of his beloved Führer again, this time in a more sincere tone than before.

Originally, there were not so many absolute prohibitions on the battlefield, and they were all soldiers with their heads on their belts, and it was almost common for them to make small mistakes that did not affect big things. What's more, their Führer had been a repeat offender who had been warned three times before he crossed over.

In the camp of the Nationalist Army, which had gained air supremacy, Rommel's air force had always been stationed far from the front line, and it had formed a default practice of not being on duty on weekends. In the days when Rommel was stationary, not to mention the Air Force, even the Army's reconnaissance unit did not move half a step out of the Line of Control.

"Attention ground staff! Complete the final commissioning as soon as possible and fill up the aircraft with fuel. Free up the runway in twenty minutes! Hurry up, the mission objective has come down, and take off in thirty minutes! The captain of the small airfield logistics of the minus urged loudly: "Don't procrastinate! Spain's rookies are waiting for you. ”

The captain's words were obviously seriously biased, and to speak of rookies, this group of German novices who were on the battlefield for the first time seemed more suitable for this title.

However, the captain did not say it casually, in fact, those Republican Army veterans did not even have half of the total flight time of this group of German pilots, plus the flight time after the start of the war!

"Put on the landing gear." The old technician waved his hand and stepped back: "Remember to invite me to drink!" ”

The young lieutenant smiled and waved back to the old technician, retracted his head into the cockpit, and retracted the canopy.

Exactly 30 minutes later, one after the other, the Me-109s made their first appearance as they made their first appearance in a graceful arc along the runway.

"Conning tower, here is the No. 2 machine! I'm Pilot Theodore. Rosenberg! Takeoff, repeat, takeoff! ”

The future captain of the famous Jet Wing is just an ordinary pilot at the moment. Unlike the arrogance of the later, Rosenberg at this moment is honestly reporting to the podium.

"The conning tower received, maintained the current course, and flew due east. Reminder, you are not flying a training machine, and you can continue to climb. Repeat, you can also continue to climb. ”

Being able to climb to a higher position means that the survival rate of the next battle will be greatly doubled. In air combat, the suppression of flight altitude represents the one-sided battle. If it can't be maintained, it can't compare to the opponent's flight altitude, and it will be almost difficult to shoot down enemy aircraft.

And the Me-109, precisely in this regard, is at the forefront of the contemporary era.

Under the careful reminder of the conning tower, these pilots, who had been in contact with climbing combat skills countless times on Soviet training planes, easily crossed the clouds and soared higher under the blue sky.

At the same time, at another medium-sized airfield, 20 large, relatively slow bombers followed the Me-109's rhythm and took off for the next bombing mission.

This bomber, codenamed Ju-87, was not as popular as the Me-109, although it was also a new type of aid received by Rommel. And because the name of this bomber in German is too long, the German-Spanish Combined Corps did not even bother to pronounce its full name, and simply simplified it to "Stuka".