Cruise missiles are supposed not to hit planes...... At least theoretically, there can't be anything wrong. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 But the deputy commander of the U.S. 3rd Air Force and chief of staff of the U.S. East Coast Air Command, John Brown. Maj. Gen. McConnell was still very uneasy. Therefore, he personally boarded an F-13 radar early warning aircraft that had been lightly modified to serve as the air commander of the combat operation to intercept German missiles.

The F-13 was specially modified, all weapons and armor were removed, the pressurized cabin equipment was removed, the engines were replaced with non-turbocharged models, and even the fuel tanks were reduced by half. These modifications, designed to reduce weight, gave the improved B-29 an extremely fast speed that could be used to track German missiles.

However, tracking missiles is still a very difficult task, and even a "slow missile" with a speed of about 600 kilometers per hour is not easy to chase. Because the missile is smaller in size and has a smaller radar reflection cross-section, it is easy to ignore if it flies alone, and it is difficult to catch unless it comes in groups.

But today the Germans seem to have given the American F-13 a chance to "catch the missile". When John. Shortly after Major General McConnell's plane took off from a military airfield in New York State, he received a report from the command of the 3rd Air Force: the Germans' Me264 fleet had fired about 300 slow-moving missiles!

The missiles are now heading towards Boston at a speed of less than 600 km/h and are expected to land in downtown Boston in 1 hour and 10 minutes.

"1 hour and 10 minutes to Boston?"

"Yes," said David Brown, the electronic officer on board the plane and staff officer of the 3rd Air Force. Major Jones replied, "The Germans fired missiles 700 kilometers from Boston. ”

"Damn it!" Maj. Gen. McConnell scolded. "Their missiles are getting more and more powerful."

At this time, McConnell suddenly noticed that Major Jones, who was sitting across from him, frowned, so he asked, "David, what are you worried about?" ”

"General, I'm worried about those missiles."

"Worried about missiles?" McConnell smiled, "But at 600 kilometers per hour, I'm afraid I won't be able to beat it?" ”

The interceptors used to intercept missiles have all been modified to be "lighter," and their engines have also been reinstalled according to the altitude at which the missiles fly (the flight altitude of cruise missiles is not high, usually around 3,000 meters, because the flight is too high and the temperature is too low, and it is easy to freeze the guidance instruments inside the missile), and it is completely possible to catch up with missiles with a speed of no more than 650 kilometers per hour at medium and low altitudes. It is relatively easy to "spank" after a missile, because there are many opportunities to shoot after a missile, and all the ammunition can be used up all the time, and the missile will not dodge, so it is a live target.

"But...... Why did the Germans launch these slow-moving missiles during the day? "David. Jones shook his head, "They can shoot missiles at night, so it will be several times more difficult for us to intercept." ”

"It's a trap," Mr. McConnell said, "and the Germans are trying to lure out our planes on Newfoundland and the Novosqueche Peninsula." But we weren't fooled, they worked in vain. ”

This explanation is also reasonable, but David. Major Jones still felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell.

……

At the same time, in the sky 500 kilometers south of Newfoundland, more than 300 Me264 bombers had completed the task of launching the Reaper-1E long-range cruise missile, and began to turn around and return to the Azores.

The whole process was uneventful, except for a few suspected F-13 long-range reconnaissance planes that were monitoring more than 100 kilometers away from the Me264 fleet, not even a single US plane was seen.

Hersman Jr., who commanded more than 300 Me262T and Fokker 636 fighters (Task Force 20 was strengthened by two additional Kesselring-class carriers), did not get his wish. His fighter did nothing throughout the operation, and his only record of engagement was the pursuit and shooting down of an F-13 AWACS aircraft.

At 1:30 p.m. Newfoundland time, Hersmann Jr., after hearing Mauders' order to return home, spoke to Werner Jr. via the airborne radio. Major General Molders said: "Major General, it seems that we are going to waste our efforts this time. ”

"In vain?" Major General Molders' voice soon came from Hirschmann Jr.'s headphones, "It seems that there is none, we have launched at least 326 cruise missiles." ”

"But the Americans will knock them all down, at least more than half, it's not difficult." Little Hersman said with some regret.

"Really?" Moldes chuckled twice, "Then let them try." ”

Molders obviously had something to say, and little Hersman thought to himself: the cruise missile that had just been launched must have some special design, and it was not so easy to shoot down......

However, Hersman Jr. also thought about it in his heart, and did not continue to ask through the on-board radio, because it was against the rules.

……

"General, look there." David. Major Jones pointed to a group of small, slightly dense-looking black dots in the sky (just looking dense) and said loudly to Major General McConnell, "We've found them." ”

Major General McConnell raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of Major Jones's finger, and sure enough, there were missiles in flight. The missiles look a bit like a small jet, similar in size to the Fokker Zero, propelled by jet engines, but not very fast, about 600 km/h.

"General, all the missiles are all in one place...... Looks like we can get rid of them all. ”

McConnell nodded: "David, did you spot any Germans fighters?" ”

"Nope." Major Jones replied, "None of the F-13s spotted the Germans' fighters." ”

Because of the lesson of April 8, this time the Americans were much more cautious, and sent a lot of F-13s to patrol around, and also sent extremely high-altitude models of F-13s (because of the needs of the war, the current US Army Aviation and Naval Aviation are equipped with a large number of F-13s, and there are also many derivatives of F-13s), responsible for searching for Me262.

"Alright," Major General McConnell nodded, "let's attack, who's going to go first?" ”

"119th Fighter Wing of the Army Air Corps."

By Dave. Jones named a wing armed with 60 P-51B/C fighters -- unlike the German one, the American fighter wing and bomber wing had only one combat group.

Sixty P-51B/Cs emerged from the clouds, quickly dispersed in formation, and swooped down from the rear on the German missile swarm, which was flying at 600 kilometers per hour. The distance between the two sides quickly narrowed, and soon they reached a distance where they could open fire. Most of the P-51s had found their targets, but no one was in a hurry to fire - the missiles in front of them would only fly stupidly anyway, and they would neither maneuver nor fire backfire, so they could probably get closer to each other so as not to miss.

The 12.7mm machine gun used by the P-51B/C has a scale range of more than 1,500 meters and an effective range of about 800 meters, but if you want to really hit a missile flying at a speed of 600 kilometers per hour, it is best to shorten the distance to less than 300 meters, and if you want to hit every shot, 100 meters may be a suitable distance.

So most of the pilots of the 119th P-60 of the 51st Wing were ready to fire at a distance of 100-300 meters. But something unexpected happened, just when a P-51 approached a Reaper missile about 350 meters away in front of it, before it could fire, the missile in front exploded into a huge ball of fire!

"This is ......" Major General McConnell, who was watching the battle with a telescope, was stunned and stunned, he obviously didn't see the plane firing, why did the missile explode on its own?

Then, something even more shocking happened. The P-51B/C fighter that was chasing the Reaper missile seemed to be affected by the sea of fire from the missile explosion, and black smoke came out of its head and planted downward.

"Huh!?" McConnell's mouth opened wide.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

Explosions in quick succession! And they were all big explosions - as if the warhead of a missile was detonated by a fuse, hundreds of kilograms of explosives exploded, and perhaps with the help of missile fuel, a 2-ton missile was blown to pieces in one fell swoop!

Shrapnel made from the body of the missile and perhaps steel balls filled in advance filled the body of the missile with the tremendous force of the explosion of several hundred kilograms of explosives, and flew with the waves like raindrops towards the P-51B/C fighters that followed the missile.

And those fighters did not have time to dodge, did not even react, and at the time of the explosion they still rushed into the sea of fire at a speed of 600 kilometers per hour, and then they were swept into the nose and cabin by shrapnel, either the engine was damaged or the pilot was killed on the spot! In the blink of an eye, 51 of the 119th P-67Ds of the 47th Fighter Wing were inexplicably shot down.

"How can this happen? God, how is this possible? Am I hallucinating? "Major General McConnell had a sense of unreality, and he suspected that he was encountering a fake air-to-surface missile...... These missiles are simply the kind of surface-to-air missiles that showed their might in Buenos Aires!

"It's a radio proximity fuse!" Still a little younger David. Major Jones's mind was spinning quickly, and he immediately guessed the reason, "The Germans have installed radio proximity fuses on the missiles, and our planes must not get too close." ”