The Reaper 1C cruise missile is an improved version of the Reaper 1B, and unlike the traditional sense of "improvement", many of the performance of the Reaper 1C has not improved compared with the Reaper 1B, but has declined to a considerable extent. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

First, the speed of the Reaper 1C dropped from 900-950 km/h to 550-600 km/h on the Reaper 1B. Secondly, the range of the Reaper 1C has been reduced from 500 km to 300 km for the Reaper 1B. Third, the shell of the Reaper 1C is not as strong as the Reaper 1B, and it adopts a lot of "cutting corners" design.

With these three improvements, which are actually regressive, the cost of the Reaper 1C has dropped significantly compared to the Reaper 1B, and although it is more expensive than the cheap missiles of the V1 series, it is still possible to be equipped on a large scale for strategic bombing.

In addition to these three regressions, the Reaper 1C does have progress, that is, the accuracy of its guidance system has been greatly improved. However, this improvement is not based on technological progress, but adopts a more mature radio guidance method. However, the radio formulation system of the Reaper 1C also has a certain degree of innovation, which no longer requires the operator to carry out one-to-one manual remote control, but guides multiple missiles through a radio guidance signal, realizing "unmanned" and "1-to-many" radio remote control.

In other words, the Reaper 1C cruise missile must be led by an aircraft that follows the radio guide in front of it in order to successfully reach the target, which is a missile that needs to lead the way.

And the aircraft that acted as the leading machine was, of course, not the Me264 and Ju288, which were not very strong bombers, but the Me410B-6 night fighter-bombers. Due to the limited power of both the radio guide and receiver (mounted on the missile), a Me410B-6 will typically guide only 10 Reaper 1C missiles.

Tonight, in order to guide 480 Reaper-1C cruise missiles, Werner. Air Major General Molders arranged for 48 Me410B-6 night fighter-bombers to act as guide planes to fly at a high speed of 550 km/h towards Trinidad in front of 480 Reaper-1C missiles dropped by Me264, Ju288 and Do217.

However, these 48 Me410s are not all the night fighters that flew out tonight. Major General Molders is an ace fighter pilot-turned-senior Air Force commander and the world's most astute expert in air combat, so he naturally knows how to use tonight's battle to destroy the Americans' air power.

He knew very well that the difference between large and medium-sized bombers and heavy fighters such as the Me410 and He219 on the radar screen was negligible, and the missiles of the Reaper series and light fighters such as the Zero were also indistinguishable on the radar screen.

So when 480 Me410s, He219s and 480 Reaper 1Cs flew towards Trinidad, the island's radar would only detect a bombardment of thousands of planes.

In this way, the Americans will definitely take off all their night fighters, and more than 400 Me410 and He219 are waiting for them in the night sky!

However, Major General Moldes' goal is not only to severely attack US air power with a night air battle, but also to attract the attention of the US military with a "thousand-plane air strike" in order to cover 80 80 Ju188s and 20 Me410s escorting from ultra-low altitudes to complete the combat mission of airdropping "depletion of mines."

Major General Molders is also on the front line this evening, and a Me264H radar early warning plane he is flying on is now at an altitude of about 50,000 meters behind a large group of more than 400 Me410 and He219 aircraft.

In the spacious pressurized cabin of the Me264, the middle of the radar screen is densely packed with light spots, and the light spots are overlapped together, and the number is too numerous to count. An Air Force Second Lieutenant and an Air Sergeant sat side by side in front of the screen, staring intently at the dense dots of light that flashed on it. Major General Moldes sat behind them, holding a walk-in device in his hand, his eyes fixed on the screen, his brow frowning slightly.

Suddenly, the second lieutenant of the Air Force shouted: "Enemy plane! Enemy aircraft were spotted at a distance of 95, azimuth 1.5, altitude 6000, and the number was more than 100...... And counting! ”

"It's coming!" Moldes muttered in a low voice, then turned on the radio in front of him and began to call: "I'm Electronic Eye 11, call Thor 1, call Thor 1." ”

Raytheon 1 is the code name of the 11th Torpedo Bombing Aviation Regiment of the HNA that carried out the mission of dropping mines. 100 fighters of this aviation regiment took part in tonight's operation, and also carried 400 "Oysters". They are now more than 80 kilometers behind a large fleet of more than 400 Me410 and He219 planes, and are flying at sea-skimming altitudes to evade detection by US radars. Compared with the more than 400 missiles in the sky that are flying at a speed of 550 kilometers per hour (480 were launched and less than 430 are still flying normally), the 400 "Oyster Mines" they carry are the real treasures. If all the "Oysterets" were dropped near Port of Spain, then the most important port on the island of Trinidad would be paralyzed. As for when it will be restored, it depends on whether the Americans can be lucky enough to pick up a few "Oydivides" and take them back for dismantling and studying, and then come up with a way to deal with them.

Because the "Oyster Mine" is a joint fuse mine, and it also has a water pressure fuse, it is difficult to sweep away. Even the Germans themselves had no good way to drop a floating sound simulator while dropping depth charges (which generate a huge amount of water pressure when they explode), which was very inefficient. It would take a month to get rid of hundreds of "Oysterlei", and it would take only one night to lay them.

If the Americans are unlucky and do not pick up the "Oypedets" that have been thrown by mistake at once, then they will have to use countless depth charges to carry out "sea stall bombing" in order to destroy the "Oystermines" with the power of the explosions...... This is tantamount to plowing a large area of the ocean with depth charges!

"Electronic Eye 11, I'm Thor 1." Gunter piloting a Ju188. Lieutenant Colonel Radesch pressed the throat communicator and responded, "Please instruct." ”

"There are hundreds of flies in front of the swarm, and the seagulls can throw stones, and the electronic eyes will follow the seagulls."

"Understood, electronic eyes." Lieutenant Colonel Radesch breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately gave an order to his subordinates, "I am Lieutenant Colonel Radesch, and the fight will start soon, our opportunity is here, everyone follow me and continue to maintain the sea level." ”

Maintaining sea-skimming altitude at night was a unique feature of the German Ju188E-2 torpedo bombers and some Me410 fighter-bombers. Not only did this allow them to avoid radar, but it also made it difficult for American fighters to attack - a dive attack was impossible, most likely they would crash into the sea, and it was difficult to maintain the same altitude as these Ju188E-2 and Me410, because the Americans' radio altimeters were not as good as the Germans.

However, there are also more dangerous places in flying at a low altitude, that is, it is easy to be hit by anti-aircraft guns and ground fire of surface ships, and it is also easy to hit the balloon or the steel cable under the balloon.

So Lieutenant Colonel Radesch and his group had to carefully fly around the coast of Trinidad, find Port of Spain, and drop the "Oysterlei" that would prick everyone, including the Germans themselves.

"Lieutenant Colonel, look at the sky, it seems that there has been a fight!"

As the plane moved forward in the dark, Lieutenant Colonel Radsch's navigator suddenly shouted. Radsch looked up, only to see faint red rays of light gliding rapidly across the night sky in front of him. Radsch, who had been a night fighter pilot himself, knew that it was tracer bullets that glided across the night sky.

"Yes, it's a fight!"

"Lieutenant Colonel, who will win?" The navigator asked.

"Our people, of course!" Radsch said with great confidence, "Our He219 and Me410 are the best aircraft for night combat." And the Americans would never have thought that our fighters were escorting missiles. ”

With that, he withdrew his gaze and stared back at the darkness ahead. His navigator also stopped talking and did not care about the fierce battle in the sky, but looked at the various instruments in the cabin in order to find the right direction.

"There seems to be something," Radsch's voice rang out again, after a moment, "and the outline of the island is clearly visible on the horizon. ”

"That's Trinidad!" "Now turn west, fly along the edge of the island, and then go north at the end, and soon you will be able to enter the Gulf of Paria, and then you will be able to fly along the coastline for another 15-20 minutes before you can drop mines." At the entrance to the Gulf of Paria there are anti-aircraft artillery positions of the Americans, and on the beaches of the west coast of Trinidad there are also their anti-aircraft guns, so one must be careful. ”

Located between Trinidad and Venezuela, the Gulf of Paria is not only a key point in and out of Trinidad, but also an important anchorage for the U.S. Navy in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, so it is very well defended, with a large number of anti-aircraft guns and searchlights deployed at the two entrances to the north and south of the bay and near the beaches, and sometimes with Fletcher-class destroyers cruising.

Tonight, however, the anti-aircraft guns seemed to have no spare time to take care of Radsch's fleet, and as they approached the southern shore of Trinidad, the island's anti-aircraft guns were already in brilliant glory.

More than 400 Reaper-1C missiles, already guided by Me410 fighter-bombers, have rushed to the skies over the island of Trinidad!