Scouting can only be conducted during daylight hours.

The technical limitations of this era, without any infrared equipment, can only see everything on the ground during the day, so the Soviet aviation reconnaissance, this can only be in the daytime.

In this way, they have to face a new problem.

The reconnaissance planes of the Germans, which flew all the way over Moscow before they were discovered, exposed the great shortcomings of the Soviet Air Force, which did not have equipment such as long-range radars and lagged behind in defense.

But this is not the case with the Germans, whose air defense facilities are perfect and have all kinds of advanced reconnaissance radars, so if the Soviet reconnaissance planes fly over in a big way, they will have to be shot down in a few minutes, and the German air force has been tempered into an elite in the European theater.

How, then, to accomplish the tasks assigned to him by Comrade Stalin?

The Germans, relying on high-altitude reconnaissance, could not reach any aircraft, and at the same time such planes had a terrible range, and they flew until they reached the Ural Mountains before turning back.

The Soviets, on the other hand, needed to scout the military deployment of the Germans on the opposite border to see if they had any large-scale military movements, so the Soviets only needed to dispatch small reconnaissance planes.

In this way, their choice is clear.

U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.

This aircraft was a multi-purpose biplane designed by the Soviet Polikarpov Design Bureau, nicknamed "Corn".

Born in the late twenties, this aircraft is a simple biplane with an open two-cockpit fuselage made of pine frame, linen skin, and wire between the upper and lower wings. The power plant is an M-11 air-cooled piston star-shaped 5-cylinder engine driven by a two-bladed wooden propeller with a power of 100 hp.

After production, this aircraft has become a widely used aircraft because of its simple structure, low cost, easy production and maintenance, especially excellent operation performance and outstanding take-off and landing performance.

It is almost the role of a panacea, can do anything, reconnaissance aircraft, bombers, artillery school shooting aircraft, transport aircraft, liaison aircraft, etc., the production is huge, historically, in 1944, in memory of the deceased Polkapov, the U-2 was renamed the Po-2.

Now, this aircraft is the most suitable Soviet reconnaissance aircraft, and the reason is also ridiculous.

The Germans fought for high altitude and high speed, so the Soviets could only take the route of low altitude and low speed.

Captain Vladimir stepped into his cockpit, which was like a toy, with an open canopy that made him have to wear thick clothes to fly, and the weather was not warm now.

Behind him, Lieutenant Nikolai, also dressed in a thick fur hat, examined the aerial camera attached to the side of the cockpit.

The camera is on the shelf outside, can be moved up and down, can be manually focused, and is completely dependent on the pilot's own operation, and is sure to be a blur if not used by someone unfamiliar.

There was no pressure on the two of them for this mission, just like an ordinary flight.

"Start the engine!" Vladimir shouted to the ground crew.

This kind of aircraft does not have an electric start function, and the front crew turns the propeller twice by hand, and black smoke suddenly rises from the engine, and the 100-horsepower engine starts very easily.

After pushing the throttle stick, the plane finally returned to normal after puffs of black smoke, and then the plane began to glide on the lawn.

Yes, this kind of small aircraft does not need any runway at all, and only needs a small piece of flat grass to take off and land smoothly.

In World War II, when Germany occupied the western territory of the Soviet Union, those guerrillas who fought in the war relied on the U-2 to transport supplies.

After sliding forward for a few tens of meters, the plane was easily pulled up, and Vladimir operated the plane, flying at an altitude of about a hundred meters.

Flying more than 20 kilometers forward, he crossed the border line headlong and entered German-controlled airspace.

The plane flew at an ultra-low altitude without any obstruction, and the first place he was going to was Shedelce behind the Brest Fortress, if the Germans really made large-scale preparations for war, then in Shedelce, there must be a large army!

The speed of the plane is not fast, it is a boring range.

"Hey, Nikolai, get our reconnaissance equipment ready, ready to take pictures!" Vladimir shouted to his companion behind him.

"Okay." Nikolai leaned half out of the cockpit, fixed his eyes on the camera's viewing hole, and began to carefully adjust the focus.

In the camera, everything on the ground is so clear, if he wants, he can even take a clear picture of a grit on the surface, the German camera, the performance is good!

In front of it, there is a barracks.

"Let's start taking pictures!" Vladimir shouted.

The barracks was not empty, and countless people could be seen shaking, and there were also dense sentry posts outside.

"Click, click!" Nikolai pressed the shutter and took pictures one by one.

Suddenly, he was stunned, in the square of the barracks, the things covered with camouflage nets looked very much like tanks!

"We seem to have figured out the situation." Nikolai muttered: "There are too many of their troops!" ”

If there were radios on the plane, then they could report the situation now, but unfortunately, this backward aircraft was not equipped with this kind of communication equipment at all, so they could not report what they found in time.

At the same time, the people below also discovered them.

Germany's warning radar has always been working, but even in later generations, advanced phased array radars are not easy to find a small aircraft flying at an ultra-low altitude, let alone now, under 500 meters, it is definitely a blind spot of radar.

Therefore, the invading plane has not been discovered until now, and suddenly, the alarm sounded in the base.

On one side of the base, several antiaircraft artillery officers quickly ran towards their anti-aircraft guns, and just as they shook the knobs to change direction, the reconnaissance plane had already flown away from the barracks in a dashing manner.

Spot the Soviets' reconnaissance plane and enter your own airspace! The news was quickly reported, and almost a few minutes later, two F190 fighter jets were already roaring.

Heinz Bahr, Germany's ace pilot, happened to be on patrol today, and as soon as he received the news, he rushed in.

The F190 has a good field of view, but it is always difficult to observe small targets on the ground, and the fuselage blocks the view directly below.

While Heinz was still searching, his wingman Merritt had already spotted the target visually, shouted on the radio, and Merritt pushed the lever and rushed over.

"035, pay attention to the altitude and speed." Heinz shouted loudly, he was already frowning, this interception task seemed to be very tricky.