The Reaper-1E long-range cruise missile, which has a maximum speed of only 630 km/h, does have a high-power radio proximity fuse installed in the tail of the tail to detonate the cruise missile as long as there are enemy aircraft within 400 meters behind the butt. The Reaper-1E long-range cruise missile www.biquge.info with a warhead charge of up to 600 kilograms of explosives, is powerful enough to shoot down or damage a U.S. fighter from a distance of 400 meters.

This design is not actually intended to turn a cruise missile into an air-to-air missile, but to increase the difficulty of shooting down the Reaper 1E.

Now the Americans have paid a heavy price in the first round of "rear-end attacks" in which 51 P-51B/Cs were shot down and 9 were damaged, leaving Major General McConnell, who commanded this "machine-bomb battle," stunned.

But no matter how surprised he was, he couldn't cancel today's operation, and let more than 200 Reaper missiles swagger to Boston. And he's going to have to figure out the truth of these damn Reaper missiles -- he's got to figure out how they exploded, or he'll be in trouble later in a crucial air battle.

"It has to be figured out," Rear Adm. McConnell gritted his teeth, "let the 120th Fighter Wing go...... Fire at a distance of 400 meters. He paused, "Send a plane to try first, fight 400 meters away, if it doesn't work, change another plane to 500 meters away......"

This is an experiment on human life!

David. Jones was stunned, and did not raise any objections, but immediately went to the radio to give the order.

Five minutes later, another 60 P-51B/C fighters cautiously approached the flying Reaper missile. No plane would dare to move forward at a distance of 3,000 meters...... When the "tragedy" happened just now, the 120th Fighter Wing was nearby, and everyone saw it, who would dare to lean on it? This is taking one's life for one's life!

After a while, a P-51B/C reluctantly flew out of the group, did not dare to fly to a distance of four or five hundred meters of the Reaper missile, and when it reached a distance of 700 meters, it stopped approaching the Reaper missile in front of it and began to strafe it with a 12.7mm machine gun.

However, the distance of 700 meters is a little far for air combat, and it is not difficult for old birds to hit the target, so a string of bullets goes out, and the missiles in front are still flying with swagger.

"Get that plane closer!" McConnell watched from less than 5,000 meters away, and he was very unhappy with the cowardice of the P-51B/C, and gave a loud order.

But the P-51B/C made people go their own way, and they still opened fire from 700 meters away.

"Damn it!" McConnell was a little annoyed, "Tell that death-scared ghost to lean 400 meters away, or I'll take him to court-martial!" ”

Under the threat of court-martial, the poor P-51 had no choice but to bite the bullet and approach the Reaper missile, only to touch the missile's radio proximity fuse at a distance of about 400 meters, and a violent explosion fired several shrapnel into the cabin cover of the plane, killing the pilot on the spot - I knew that this would be better than a court-martial.

Looking at the plane dragging black smoke to the sea, McConnell's face turned pale: "Change another one, lean to a distance of 500 meters and fire again!" ”

"Yes!" David. Major Jones gritted his teeth and nodded in response.

……

"Mr. Minister, we shot down the vast majority of German missiles, and in the end less than 30 missiles landed in downtown Boston......"

U.S. Army Air Corps Chief of Staff Carl Brown. Andrew. When Lieutenant General Spatz reported to Secretary of War Wallace, his face was so ugly that US Secretary of War Wallace became nervous.

"What's going on?" Wallace frowned and asked, "Could it be that the missile that landed in Boston was loaded with a biological warhead?" ”

As soon as he said this, everyone who was gathering in the conference room of the Pentagon was startled, and twenty or thirty eyes were all shot at Lieutenant General Spatz.

These people know that in addition to the atomic bomb, Germany also has a very powerful poison gas. If the Germans had dropped gas bombs on Boston this time, the United States would have been embarrassed. Is it better to retaliate or swallow your anger? If it wants to retaliate, then the United States will use biological and chemical weapons to attack Europe. So will Germany retaliate with the use of the atomic bomb? If this battle really goes like this, it will be the end of America.

"To intercept these missiles, we lost 52 fighters!" Lieutenant General Spatz has surprisingly bad news.

"What?" Wallace was stunned and stunned, "What's going on?" Met the German jets again? ”

"No, it's not." Lieutenant General Spatz shook his head, "Our plane was shot down by a German missile. ”

Shot down by a missile? What kind of black technology is this? Could it be that they encountered air-to-air missiles?

"The Germans may have installed radio proximity fuses on their missiles, and our planes will detonate them when they get close to 400 meters."

Wallace breathed a sigh of relief, "Then don't get so close...... I guess it's not a big problem, is it? ”

"No, Mr. Minister, this is a big trouble." "Because the Germans don't always use this 600 km/h missile against us during the day." They are more likely to use this missile that will self-detonate at night......"

It is easy to visually detect a distance of several hundred meters during the day, but it is not easy at night -- in night air battles, incidents of aircraft colliding occur from time to time, let alone missiles equipped with proximity fuses?

If the pilot had to play with more safety factors, then the firing distance would probably be 800-1000 meters, which is not easy to hit in a night battle. And if you want to close the distance, you are likely to touch the missile's radio proximity fuse and put yourself in.

"If we're going to make sure the East Coast is safe," Spatz concluded, "I'm afraid we'll need to deploy more planes." ”

More planes? Wallace and the President's Chief of Staff, William. Leahy glanced at each other, and they both saw a wry smile on each other's faces. Where are there more planes now? The Newfoundland side suffered heavy losses and was in dire need of replenishment. Trinidad and Tobago are on the verge of a major war, and they certainly can't be drawn from there. Bermuda looks like it is going to war, so naturally it is impossible to transfer fighters. And the number of fighters in the South American and Pacific theaters is not much, and there are not many of them.

"It seems that it is not possible to replenish Newfoundland with fighter jets for the time being." William. Leahy frowned, "Bermuda is more urgent than Newfoundland...... Especially with the variable of jets, we must increase the number of fighters there as soon as possible in case the Germans really occupy it! ”

"Will Bermuda really be occupied?" Wallace looked at William. Leahy, "Didn't you say there was no such possibility?" ”

"It would have been impossible, but now ......," said William. Leahy shook his head, "Now the Germans have got jets on aircraft carriers, and that's a huge variable. ”

In fact, the result of the air battle on April 8 was mainly the result of the superb command level of the two Hirschman Jr. and Molders, and it was not that the Me262T was really invincible. But William. Leahy and most of the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff blamed German jets for the April 8 air force fiasco. However, in the end, the conclusion is not bad, with such an air combat command master as Hirschman Jr. and Bv138E and Me264H early warning aircraft, the carrier-based aviation of the European Community Joint Fleet can indeed suppress the US shore-based aviation on the battlefield in Bermuda. Moreover, the Germans now had a powerful force of battleships and missile ships, and it was easy to destroy the American fortifications and turrets on Bermuda.

Therefore, the German army now really has the ability to capture Bermuda, but Bermuda is too close to the US mainland, and its own land area is too small, so it is too vulnerable to air attacks by US shore-based bombers, and it is not suitable for deploying long-range bombers and atomic bombs -- it would be bad if it was damaged!

Therefore, the German Grand General Staff never thought of occupying Bermuda from the beginning to the end, but the US Joint Chiefs of Staff had to guard against it. Because once Bermuda falls, theoretically the entire east coast will be threatened by German bombers!

William. Leahy went on to say: "According to the night reconnaissance of the F-13s, there is currently a large American fleet rushing from the direction of South America to the Atlantic waters near Bermuda, and they should be the German Grand Fleet from the port of Belém." In addition, our intelligence officers discovered that the battleships/missile ships of the European Community Navy had left Gibraltar and Brest. ”

"Battleships and missile ships?" Wallace took a breath, "They're going to land?" ”

William. Leahy nodded. Now it is impossible for the US Navy to fight a decisive battle with the Germans with battleships, so the German battleships are used to bombard the beachhead. And the big sortie of the battleships was undoubtedly a sign of the positive start of the landing.

"The goal is...... Bermuda? ”

William. Raisi replied: "In order of likelihood, it should be the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda and Newfoundland and their vicinity, and finally the East Coast." ”

Of course, the possibility of a German landing on the island of Newfoundland could not be ruled out, otherwise there would have been no need to place troops on the island of Newfoundland. However, the United States' forces, especially air forces, are now relatively tight, so it is impossible to be tightly armed everywhere. You can only prioritize and then focus on it.

And William. Leahy's current ranking, which was also the judgment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, determined that Newfoundland and its environs would not be reinforced by any air force for the time being, and that it would not even be possible to replenish the losses of 8 April.

However, this does not mean that the landing on Newfoundland is foolproof, because Newfoundland's existing air force is still enough to deal a heavy blow to German transport planes loaded with air assault troops.

And as soon as the air assault operation fails, the landing on the island of Newfoundland also fails!