The first Pe-8 bomber, which only took off from the airfield and was pulled up less than a thousand meters high, fell down, and the sound on the radio silenced the other planes.

On the second Pe-8 bomber behind him, Captain Alexander Takunin broke the silence: "Aircraft No. 2 has requested to take off. ”

At this time, the place where the first bomber fell, has ignited a fire, although it is a diesel engine, but it does not mean that it does not burn, after falling, the heat generated by the impact is enough to make the plane burn, even if it does not burn, falling, there is no possibility of survival.

This is war, this is the mission of being a soldier, even if it is death, to complete the mission.

"Take off immediately."

A command came from inside the headset, he pushed the throttle lever, relaxed the brakes, and the Pe-8 bomber, slid down the runway, then pulled up, and rushed into the dark night sky.

One after another, it seems that the crash of the bomber in front was for them to practice, and the bombing in the back, without accidents, eleven Per-8 bombers, all took off normally.

After the take-off of the Pe-8 bomber, it was the third echelon.

Compared with the Pe-8 bomber squadron, the take-off of the Yer-2 squadron of the 420th Bomber Regiment 1st Squadron behind was definitely a terrible disaster.

In that year, after Mussolini began to splendor in Italy, all parties in Italy were hit, and after that, Italy's GC party member Roberto ? L. Bartini had to leave Italy and come to the Soviet Union.

As an excellent aircraft designer, he created the all-metal single-gull-wing twin-engine STAL-7 with excellent performance.

This kind of aircraft was originally designed as a passenger aircraft, but the strong bomb load made it a good embryo to be a bomber.

As a result, improvements to the aircraft were rapidly underway, designed by Yemolaev, with almost the same wing of the STAL-7, a major overhaul of the semi-monocoque cabin, the addition of a bomb magazine, the pilot's cockpit opened to the left, and the nose was equipped with glass to allow the bombardier to observe the operation. In order to improve the turret range, the STAL-7 changed its single vertical tail to a double vertical tail and cambered by 5 degrees.

The first flight of this aircraft was successful last year, after which it was mass-produced and renamed Yer-2.

If you look at it from this point of view, this kind of aircraft should be considered a fairly mature aircraft, but unfortunately, the Soviet engine technology has always been not up to par, and this improved bomber still faces engine problems.

1100 hp Klimov M-105R type twelve-cylinder V-cooled engine. Compared to the take-off weight of the aircraft, this engine is not powerful enough, and what is even more annoying is that this is a low-altitude engine.

To put it more simply, because there is no suitable supercharger, when the altitude increases, the engine will drop sharply due to insufficient air intake, and it will not be able to operate normally at all.

Because of the sensitive climatic conditions, such aircraft must face enemy anti-aircraft fire and fighter interception at low altitudes.

At the same time, the huge bomb load of the aircraft increased the load on the control surface, so that the longitudinal and lateral stability was not good. The underpowered M-105 engine significantly extended the take-off run.

Now, on the first bomber, Lieutenant Alexander Morodsky began a difficult takeoff.

The engines roared from both sides, and he pushed the lever and the bomber began to slide forward, because there were so many bombs loaded that he had to adjust the throttle to the maximum power.

The second fire, flashing past his plane, followed by the third.

And just after the third fire had passed, his plane still did not pull up.

At the end of the dirt runway, he pulled his lever hard, and finally, the landing gear of the plane left the ground, but, just two meters high, the plane fell down again!

Under the heavy impact, the entire landing gear broke, the plane tilted to one side, and the wings slashed across the ground, and sparks appeared.

This Ye-2 bomber crashed just after takeoff.

Almost like the Pe-8 bomber just now, there was an accident when it took off, but the planes behind it would not stop.

They keep their mission in mind.

For the sake of the Soviets, go and fight bravely!

The second Ye-2 bomber also began to take off, but it only slid out more than 100 meters before stopping.

The plane suffered a mechanical failure and could not continue to take off.

Then, the third one also had a strange problem.

In the end, only three Ye-2 bombers managed to fly into the dark night sky, which simply disgraced the Soviet bomber units.

Moreover, the three of them appeared in front of everyone's eyes for the last time.

Lieutenant Vladimir Malinin, Lieutenant Kupiko, Captain Stypanov, the captain of three Ye-2 bombers, joined the final sequence of the bombing of Berlin, and an unknown fate awaited them.

The night sky was dark.

At this time, the DB-3 bomber, which took off at the front, had already flown for nearly an hour, and for them, such a slow flight would take three hours to reach Berlin, and when returning, because it was empty, and because of the tailwind, it would only take three hours in total.

Of course, if they can come back.

Colonel Yekinny-Przybrazensky looked out, everywhere it was pitch black, close to the battle line, the Germans were under light control, not to mention, now, they were over the Baltic Sea.

Because their bombers had a limited range, they could only fly in a straight line. At the same time, they had to fly at high altitudes to save fuel.

Yeginny knew that the Germans had advanced reconnaissance radars that could detect aircraft tens or even hundreds of kilometers away, but fortunately they were far enough away from the coastline, and the radars deployed on the coast should not be able to search for them, and when they entered the land from Poland to Berlin, they had to turn to a low altitude.

They guessed correctly, it is true, the radar technology in this era is still not perfect, such as the FuGM 39/62 urzburg "Urzburg" short-range land-based warning radar that is now the main force in Germany. THE EFFECTIVE DETECTION DISTANCE IS 170KM, THE RANGING ACCURACY IS 100M, AND THE ANGLE MEASUREMENT ACCURACY IS 0.2 DEGREES.

Another example is the FuMO 51 Mammut long-range land-based warning radar. THE EFFECTIVE DETECTION DISTANCE IS 300KM, THE RANGING ACCURACY IS 300M, AND THE ANGLE MEASUREMENT ACCURACY IS 0.5 DEGREES.

These radars are deployed along the Polish coastline and can detect aircraft in the Baltic Sea from a distance, in fact, they will be detected if they fly another one or two hundred kilometers forward.

At the same time, they did not know that at this time, below them, there were also German Goethe-class aircraft carriers.