In the opinion of the two tank designers, the Д-10T 100-mm tank gun was a masterpiece of the artillery design department, and it was easy to produce, half the production time of the 105-mm tank gun of the Stalin type! But what they don't know now is how long this type of tank gun and its modifications will last - more than 60 years later, there are almost tens of thousands of tanks around the world armed with slightly different Д-10Ts!

Maybe in 30 years it won't be advanced anymore, but it's super practical!

The tank powers will need it, and the brethren in Asia, Africa and Latin America will love it even more! It's cheap, it works, and the threshold for imitation is not high!

Nor do the designers know what the term "T54" stands for in the future, and the number of tanks produced together with the improved T55 tank accounted for almost a third of the number of tanks produced in the world after World War II!

Lin Jun had come into contact with the Type 54 medium tank based on the T54A tank in his previous life, and there is no need to go into detail how important the Type 59 occupies in the history of Chinese tank development, because everyone knows it! Lin Jun even drove the Type 59 that was used for training and retreating from the front-line troops at the tank training ground. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The rather rudimentary fire control system is a bit laborious to operate, which makes the pilots of air and land communication feel fresh and laborious: it is synonymous with backward tanks in the 21st century, but in the 40s of the 20th century, it was an extremely advanced medium tank, and its performance could lead the world for many years!

Many years later, the "high and low matching" was popular in the world's air forces, but from the 50s to the 70s, the air forces of various powerful countries were a kind of "ten thousand flowers blooming"; And the tank will be the world of the main battle tank in a few decades, but the main battle tank will not be able to be promoted for a long time: technology is a reason, funding is also a reason, and there is also a reason that few countries can afford to buy and use "expensive main battle tanks".

The Soviet Union can build main battle tanks, but even the Jinyuan Empire can't afford to use the most advanced ones, let alone the brothers in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

In Lin Jun's plan, the future of the Soviet tank industry was to be on two legs - just like the 21st century aviation industry has a high and low mix of production: the number of advanced models is smaller, and most of the remaining tanks are effective and cheap tanks (a bit like the relationship between the T64 and T80 and the T72 and T55). The latter can also dump and transfer technology to allies and friendly countries!

Let most of the world be equipped with an affordable, imitation tank force, a torrent of red steel!

As a target, the T34 will be the first tank to be dumped, and in a few years, the T54 (in fact, the opinion given by Lin Jun is more like the T55 without artillery stabilizers. It's the second option, and then ...... in the future.

、、、、、、

At 8 a.m. on April 3, Lin Jun was in a suite on the first floor of his residence in Moscow, where Senior Warrant Officer Ivan Ivanovich Alexandrov and Lieutenant Lieutenant Aliksei Yefmovich Vostov were grooming.

The marshal likes that his attachés can be kept in good shape in Moscow, unlike at the front, you can dress however you like: today they are the marshal's personal bodyguards, Landskozy, Sasha, Alyosha are a rare day off, and everyone with families has gone home.

Aleksandrov carefully examined his M1911A1 pistol, and Vostov was also examining his weapon: an AK47 with a folding bracket!

The marshal did not care whether his bodyguards used long weapons or not, and Comrade Lieutenant chose to use this new assault rifle with powerful firepower, which he usually straddled his chest with a gun belt.

Mighty, spiritual, in times of war, you can see militia and police comrades patrolling with loaded guns and live ammunition on the streets, and it is normal for personal guards to use assault rifles -- Comrade Budyonny's guards are simply assault rifles! Lin Jun is not the only marshal who likes AK47.

"Did Comrade Gusev inform the marshal of today's itinerary?"

Aleksandrov put his holster on and asked Vostov, "Not yet, but yesterday the news was that the marshal would attend a meeting of the High Command at 9 o'clock, and if he had time, he would go to the Zhukov Academy in the afternoon." ”

The senior warrant officer looked at the table below, "Almost." ”

After going out together for two days, and waiting for a while with the members of the half-shift guard who had just arrived, the marshal appeared at the entrance of the building.

"Go to the Kremlin." Gu Shev told everyone, and Lin Jun, who was walking into the carriage, was still thinking about the content of today's meeting in his mind, and did not greet everyone.

At 9 o'clock the meeting was held promptly in Conference Room No. 2: not many people attended today, but Stalin, Voroshilov, Lin Jun, Kalinin, and two generals of the Air Force: Soviet Air Force One ace Sergei Ivanovich Grytsevets, who had just completed the test of a jet fighter, and General Yakov Vladimenovich Smushkevich, the director of the Air Force.

It is an informal enlarged meeting of the High Command. "Comrade Sergey, what is your specific assessment of our new fighter?" When Stalin discussed the new power aircraft at the meeting, he first asked Comrade Comrade of the Air Force Division, the world's No. 1 ace with three "Golden Star Medals" on his chest.

Sergei stood up and said in the direction of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief: "Comrade Stalin, technically it represents the future of the Air Force, but at the moment it will take some time to use production equipment, and it will not be possible to equip the troops until tomorrow summer at the earliest. What we urgently need this year is not it, but the Guera, MiG, and Jacques. ”

I can't see Stalin's expression, "Didn't the last report of the Air Force say that it will be put into service by the end of this year?" ”

Then Yakov stood up and said: "Comrade Stalin, allow me to speak. ”

Stalin nodded.

"Comrade Stalin, in the course of the test flight phase of the new jet fighter, we have encountered great technical difficulties, and the most important thing is in terms of materials and technology, if we rashly equip the troops, it is very likely to lead to an unacceptable number of accidents. Pilots who can fly jet fighters must be drawn from among the existing excellent pilots, and they are the main force in the current Air Force, and we cannot afford to lose.

At present, our equipment troops and the fighters that will be mass-produced can compete with the German fighters in terms of performance, so the Air Force Committee believes that the jet aircraft needs to go through enough time of experimentation before it can be equipped with the troops......"

Twice the tirade of the Hero of the Soviet Union, the director of the Air Force, was interrupted by Stalin, who motioned to his deputy to say his opinion.

Lin Jun did not need to stand up and speak, when the high command was in a meeting, several marshals and Comrade Kalinin could sit calmly and talk, and Alexander, Georgy Maksimilanovich Malenkov, Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov and others would sometimes get up.

The qualifications are there, and even the qualifications of the NKVD comrades are too tender, although the power is terrifying. As for Lin Junma, the deputy commander, he still has the name of being seriously injured, even if he gets up to speak, he will be instructed by Stalin to sit and talk, and over time he will get used to it, unless it is time to stand up and speak.

"Yesterday, after Comrade Sergei Ivanovich arrived in Moscow, I had an in-depth discussion with him on the issue of jet fighters, and I agree with him that the new jet fighters still need to be more fully prepared before they can be put into use in the front-line troops......"

He took out the materials of the aircraft design bureau and handed them to Stalin, and everyone circulated them and continued the meeting while looking at them.

Stalin didn't say anything more, he had absolute and unconditional trust in the judgment of his deputy in the field of aviation, because Andrei did not miss in this area!

"Andrey, our Air Force is currently equipped with the development of the production plan of the attack aircraft that can effectively destroy the new tanks of the German army, you need to pay attention to it, judging from the development of German tanks and the reaction of the troops, the existing 23 mm cannons equipped in large quantities are not as effective as last year's killing of German tanks."

"Yes, Comrade Stalin. However, we don't need to worry too much about this, half of the main anti-tank weapons of our new Il-2 fighter aircraft have been replaced with two НС-37 guns, the existing shells of this large-caliber aircraft gun are tracer armor-piercing incendiary bombs and tracer anti-personnel incendiary bombs, when the tracer anti-personnel incendiary bomb hits the duralumin skin with a thickness of 1-1.5 mm, it can form a hole with an entrance diameter of 0.46 meters and an exit of 0.78 meters. The tracer armor-piercing incendiary projectile can penetrate 50 mm thick armor at a distance of 200 meters, and 30 mm thick armor at a 45-degree angle; It can penetrate 45 mm thick armor at a distance of 400 meters, and 40 mm thick armor at a 30-degree angle.

And most of our fighter pilots will shoot within 200 meters of the ground attack, and the penetration ability of the shells will be stronger!

As an anti-tank gun, the НС-37 gun has been powerful enough for the last year or two, and we have also modified it on some Lager-3 fighters, and the new Yak-9Т has been equipped to effectively carry out both anti-tank and air combat tasks.

In addition, we have equipped the Il-2 fighter with new small anti-tank bombs and rockets, and not only the aircraft gun is a threat to the tank. ”

The equipment of the Il-2 is constantly updated, not only the aircraft factory, but also the front-line troops have made some changes according to their own needs, and the top also allows such changes, so the actual armament of the Il-2 in each unit is different - some units would rather sacrifice the mobility of the aircraft and hang two more 37-mm guns under the wing of the Il-2 equipped with 23-mm guns.

It is more common for some units to add 8-barrel rocket launchers to the wings of aircraft, and of course 23-mm guns, which are more readily available.

Low accuracy of anti-tank bombs and rockets? This is not a problem, it's just additional equipment, and the Il-2 often attacks German tanks at an altitude low that the altimeter shows 0 (when the plane flies at an altitude of less than 10 meters), and is close enough to fire from a pistol before attacking!

Lin Jun continued: "The MiG-1 front-line high-altitude fighter has been discontinued, and we have given all the engines to the Il-2, which can be guaranteed in terms of the number of attack aircraft produced. This year, the manufacturing plant will be able to provide us with at least 10,000 Il-2s! When it comes to pilots, our vast pool of talent reserves has helped us solve this most headache, which was worth the effort a decade ago. ”

Vigorously carry out the civil aviation campaign, which only the United States can compare with the Soviet Union in the supply of follow-up forces for pilots, and the Germans are equivalent to a fraction of the maximum in terms of the supply of follow-up forces for pilots!

The number of aircraft manufactured in Germany is not comparable to that of the Soviet Union, and although the quality of the pilots is good, it is relatively difficult to replenish the losses once they are lost -- the Soviet-German battlefield does not require the number of pilots to be in the hundreds, but in tens of thousands!

Lin Jun took out another document: "We have received two batches of American-made P39 fighters that can be equipped with four fighter aviation regiments, of which the first two regiments have formed combat effectiveness in Ukraine and can also be used in anti-tank combat." ”

Lin Jun glanced at Smushkovich and motioned for him to speak, "We can let Comrade Yakov-Vladiminovich introduce the specific situation." ”

"Comrade Stalin, everyone. According to the initial experience of the troops, this all-metal fighter, with a rear-mounted engine and a well-developed communication system, was very reliable. Moreover, it is equipped with a 37 mm cannon, two 12.7 mm machine guns and four 7.62 mm machine guns, and can be equipped with 30 shells, 400 large-caliber machine gun bullets and 4,000 7.62 mm machine gun bullets when fully loaded, and can also carry a 227 kg American-made aerial bomb without auxiliary fuel tanks, which has powerful firepower. We believe that it can be used by excellent fighter units, not only for ground attack, but also for excellent air superiority fighters. But the decision of the commission was vetoed by Marshal Plunyakov, and it was put into service only in the same way that the newly formed aviation regiment was equipped in general. ”

Comrade Admiral also coordinated with the marshal yesterday on this issue, otherwise he would not have dared to say this at the enlarged meeting of the General Headquarters, even if the two had a very good personal relationship -- it was Lin Jun who asked him to say so.

"Andrey, what do you think?" Stalin asked: Good planes must be given to the best troops, why did the deputy commander-in-chief decide?

"Comrades, we had a loophole in our previous agreement with the United States that did not specify the specific model of the aid fighter. This time the Americans gave us what they themselves considered useless, if it had been two years ago, then I would have given these American planes to the Guards units of the first line, for example, to Sergei's division, but now we have enough fighters of the new models of Laga and Yak, which are not inferior in quality to German aircraft, and the pilots love them. ”

Both the Rag and Jacques were in the same state of technology as 43 or even 44 years in history, and they were already very good, and most importantly equipped with perfect communication devices - the pilots loved them and had no complaints.

Historically, the P39 is very good, and many of them are pilots who flew the I-16 and I-15 - compared to the Lag 5, the P39 is not a super fighter.

Speaking of this, Lin Jun said to Sergei: "Are you willing to let you fly an American plane when you return to the army?" ”

Sergey immediately got up from his seat: "Report to the marshal, if it was an order, I would." But if I had a choice, I would play all the way to Berlin with a rag! ”

Lin Jun was very satisfied - Sergei was a super advocate of the lager fighter, and he disdained the strange-looking American plane!

However, Lin Jun said that American planes are waste! This makes it a little difficult for others to understand, because the performance of the P39 is still very good in various data realities.

"Comrades, let me introduce the situation of this P39 Flying Snake fighter and I will explain why I say it is a waste. It is an ingenious product of the American company Bell, the British have been exposed to it for 40 years, but the Royal Air Force does not like this fighter at all.

At that time, when the British "Lend-Lease Act" was released, we all knew that Britain was almost at the end of its rope, and the United States had a batch of P39 fighters among the arms lent to it. However, the British soon discovered that the P-39 was actually just a "throw-away" that the Americans did not want, and it was useless except for powerful firepower!

The British Royal Air Force did not like the useless P-39 at all, and was at a disadvantage in the competition with the main force of the Luftwaffe, the Mercedes Smitt 109, and the British Royal Air Force had not asked for a P39 since the first batch of P39s shipped from the United States to the United Kingdom arrived in July last year.

However, the judgment of the British is still a little biased, and to be honest, the P-39 fighter of the Bell company is a very characteristic fighter, with great firepower, and the landing gear at the first three points makes it very easy to take off and land.

However, the Americans themselves believe that the space inside the aircraft is small and inconvenient to operate; The engine has insufficient high-altitude power and poor static stability, and the side-opening automobile-style door is inconvenient to enter and exit, and it is difficult to escape; The structure of the aircraft is complex, the maintenance is difficult, etc., etc., and the shortcomings are grasped. In the actual combat of the Pacific War in the first short time, the Americans have completely lost confidence in it, and the P39 is not an opponent of the Japanese fighter at all, let alone against the Zero, even the old monoplane Japanese fighter we have encountered on the Chinese battlefield can easily kill it!

In the United States it was already used as a trainer aircraft, and the Americans gave us a chicken rib fighter: but because the aircraft was not very good at handling, it required skilled pilots to perform - even the pilot students did not like it.

I don't agree with the fact that even American flight cadets don't want planes to equip our guards, especially if we ourselves have good enough fighters. This was not just out of pride, but I thought it would be more suitable to be used as a strike aircraft, and of course it had some advantages in competing with German fighters at medium and low altitudes, so it was equipped with a newly formed unit that needed to be used for both air combat and ground attack. ”

Lin Jun's words make people feel very contradictory, and a few people are almost incomprehensible: "How can "waste" and "throwing goods" work so well? Even the British consider it a piece of rubbish!

"It's the Americans and the British who are using it in the wrong place." Lin Jun said after seeing a few expressions of incomprehension, "They used the P39 to fight at an altitude of more than six or seven thousand meters, this is the case in Britain, and the Pacific Ocean is similar, air battles often break out at high altitudes, many air combat altitudes are higher than 8,000 meters, and it is also common at an altitude of 10,000 meters, and its high-altitude performance is a mess!" But, comrades, it has very good low-altitude performance.

We need to use wisdom and courage to resolve the shortcomings of the P-39, which does not require our best pilots to use a problematic aircraft. At the very beginning of the finalization of the MiG-1 fighter, I instructed Comrades Mikoyan and Grevich to pay attention to the problem of the pilot's escape in an emergency: our pilots are brave and fearless, but they cannot afford to lose on such defects.

The P39's pilot's cockpit door is very unusual, not an ordinary top-opening hatch, but a side door like a car on each side of the pilot's cockpit. ”

"Sergey, what if you need to parachute if you fly Rag 5?"

"I haven't tried, Marshal." An innocent look: It's really embarrassing for him, Sergei was injured but didn't have the experience of parachuting to escape. However, Sergei saw Lin Jun's slightly unhappy eyes, and hurriedly said: "Unbuckle your seat belt, kick the rudder with your foot, and throw yourself out of the plane with an upside down." ”

"Hehe, we didn't do the number one ace, I did throw myself out of the plane when I was in Spain, and I was still injured. But the top of the pilot's cockpit of the P-39 is dead! If the pilot wants to escape, he must first throw out a side door and then climb out, but this is easy to be cut in the air by the flat tail of the plane! ”

"If I had flown that kind of plane in Spain, I don't think I would have been sitting here."

"After the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, our air force rarely competed with the fascist air force at high altitudes, and the British and Americans often faced the opposite situation with us, so we were able to make good use of this kind of waste aircraft. The static stability is poor, and it turns out that the stability of our I-16 is still trough, so the comrades who came out of the aviation school are used to flying the I-16 and can adapt to the P-39......"

Lin Jun said in detail: the P39 can still be used in waste, and the reality of the Soviet-German battlefield has led to its ability to play a good role - but in the case of the Lag 7 having to equip a large number of troops, it is not necessary to equip it with the best Guards troops.

Historically, U.S. Army pilots stationed in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands had this joke shortly after they got their hands on the P39: "How to identify the P-400 (originally intended for the British modified P39, but there were too many of them, and the British had refused to accept the waste and had to send it to troops in the scarce Southwest Pacific.)" The 'Flying Snake' that was bitten by the tail of the 'Zero' is!"

What is even more intriguing is that American pilots such as Rex Barber and Tom Ranfil, who later participated in the shooting down of Yamamoto Fifty-six, once sighed helplessly in the air: "How can we take revenge with these damn flying snakes?!" ”

In the Pacific theater, the Americans often had to fight Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters at medium and high altitudes, and they found that the Flying Snake betrayed their trust—especially for pilots flying P-39s in New Guinea, whose rivals were flown by some of the most elite fighter units in the Japanese Naval Aviation.

The Japanese Navy and Army Air Force, which fought on the islands, came and went from high to high, and later gnashed their teeth at the B29s in high altitudes, are now beating the Americans at high altitudes.

"I talked with Comrade Molotov before the delegation's visit that the agreement needs to be amended, and if the Americans still want to give us planes, then we need to get more of the latest P51 Mustangs. Of course, if the Americans only have P39, then that's fine, we have enough reserve pilots, and we want as much as they give, it's a big deal to use them as ground attack aircraft. ”

"It is difficult for the Americans to revise the agreement." Zhdanov interjected: already in the "trap", the Americans will not take out the best planes.

Stalin wanted as many planes as possible, and Lin Jun didn't care that the Soviet Air Force would become a base for recycling waste, and he didn't refuse to come—he had already rejected the British's plan to aid the "Churchill tanks", but instead engaged in some Spitfire. This is not the result of the "heavy air force": if the P39 can still be used on the battlefield of the Soviet Union, then the "Churchill tank" is really a waste that only consumes gas!

What can be counted on the "Churchill tank"? Supporting the infantry?

After an hour of the meeting, the two Air Force commanders left the room, and they were no longer needed for the following agenda.

"At present, Britain and the United States have lost almost all of Southeast Asia, and the American army has been completely driven out of the Philippines, while in Africa, the German army took advantage of the dispersion of British forces and the opportunity of not being prepared for defense, and the German and Italian troops advanced 600 kilometers in a month, into the line of Ghazala and Birhakim, and the display of North Africa has been stabilized.

The British had no ability to relaunch their offensive in North Africa until they received American support. ”

It was Zhdanov who spoke, and he would have kept the propaganda in mind: it was clear that the Soviet Union had become the only country that was actually fighting fiercely with the fascist alliance at the present time, Britain had a little bit of a sideline, and in the Pacific, the American submarines could play a role.

"Two months ago in the Pacific, after the Japanese occupied vast areas of Southeast Asia, they seemed to have lost the actual objective of their next operation, and from the perspective of intelligence analysis, Japan's war machine seemed to have become confused. Personally, however, I think that their next step is most likely to advance into the southwest Pacific, seizing the islands of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, in order to gain sea and air supremacy in the region and cut off the U.S. sea lines of communication to Australia.

Once this is achieved, land in Australia.

It can be predicted that the US Navy is about to engage in a major exchange of fire with the Japanese Navy in the Pacific, but judging from the current strength of the two sides, it is difficult to predict the outcome or defeat. ”

Lin Jun's words are very reasonable: the historical Battle of the Coral Sea seems to be a draw, and Midway is full of its accidents, if it was not the Japanese who were bombed into four aircraft carriers, then what would be the direction of the development of the Pacific War?

It is a fact that the Japanese want to land in Australia because Australia has what they need.

"It's only a matter of time before the U.S. wins the Pacific War, but if the Americans are no longer able to stop Japan's offensive into the Southwest Pacific between the spring and summer of this year, it will be at least next year before they are strong enough to launch an effective counterattack."

Everything is a matter of time, Lin Jun doesn't care who will die in the sea and air battle that will break out in the Pacific Ocean in a few months, he will only see the west!

The United States has a huge war machine, and its shipbuilding capacity cannot be compared with Japan's, and by next year the United States will have a new, large, and extremely offensive Pacific Fleet.

Voroshilov spoke: "Whatever the situation in the Pacific war, there will be no substantial impact on the security of our Far East for two to three years, and the larger the occupied zone occupied by Japan, the less likely it will be to enter into a substantive military conflict with us in the Far East.

Last year and at the beginning of this year, we annihilated at least 2 million German and its client armies and destroyed a great deal of their technical equipment. I think the time has come for a counter-assault, and in Ukraine and Belarus our troops and equipment are already on par with, or even surpass, with the Germans, and on the Baltic coast, the Red Army has already reached the border with East Prussia, and it will be possible to completely conquer East Prussia this summer. ”

"The problem of East Prussia has been a problem for a long time, and after the conquest of the Germans there needs to be expelled, so there is no need to discuss it at the Allied conference."

Molotov went to the United States to discuss the question of joint struggle against fascism, which would also involve the question of the post-war world situation - Stalin made it clear that East Prussia would become part of the Soviet Union!

Lin Jun did not speak: for East Prussia, it was like that in history, Kaliningrad was a Russian enclave after the collapse of the USSR, and Stalin's desire for territory was there.

At present, in the western part of the Black Sea coast, the Red Army, not bothered by the muddy roads of the arrival of spring, is advancing in the direction of Moldova, having already occupied Belgorod, a key railway station, and is advancing in the direction of Borodino.

In the highlands along the Dnieper River in central Ukraine, the Red Army recaptured the city of Uman in the middle, where it formed a salient in depth against the Germans - now it was a pile of mud and everyone could only fight a little: but both the Soviet and German sides knew that once the mud was gone, this salient would be the focus of attention on both sides - and the Red Army could use this salient to advance into the Volyn-Bordeaux highlands, and the Germans had to eliminate this salient that threatened their depth!

It is said to be a high ground, but in Lin Jun's view, it is a slightly higher plain bordering the plain - the terrain is flat, and the altitude is mostly between 200 and 500 meters, probably relying on the Great Plain of Ukraine It will be called a "highland": suitable for tank regiments, maybe a tank battle like the Battle of Kursk will break out there this year!

The three armies of the Ukrainian direction will have troops engaged in this general battle that will break out in two months, and the German army is currently sending troops, and Hitler even drew tank troops from Army Group Center to the south!

Although Voroshilov was only in charge of partisan warfare, he was also ambitious - another round of great war was about to break out, and it would be a decisive battle on a scale larger than the Battle of Minsk!

Whoever wins will really gain the initiative in the war!

The meeting also discussed the issue of discovering new heavy tanks of the German army, but Stalin did not have much to worry about -- one or two new tactical weapons could not determine the final outcome of the collision of the torrent of steel, and the number of equipment of the "Stalin-type" tanks was already nearly 1,000, plus the number of tanks and assault guns equipped with 85-mm tank guns was already in the tens of thousands, and the 100-mm assault guns had already been mass-produced and had to be equipped with the tank units of the Guards. At most, it's just a small splash.

、、、、、、

At 12 noon, the field airfield in eastern Odessa. Two P39 fighter jets are taking off, and the air regiment has just arrived in this heroic city for more than a week, and it has only been a month since it was replaced with American-made fighter jets.

The aviation regiment was formed in Kiev at the end of February this year, and half of its personnel are recent graduates of aviation schools, and the other part is veterans drawn from other units.

22-year-old Lieutenant Grigory Andreevich Rechkalov is a veteran pilot in the aviation regiment, 22 years old, joined the army in 38, graduated from the Perm Military Aviation Academy in 39, and flew the MiG-1 high-altitude fighter when the war broke out.

After the original MiG-1 was exhausted, they could no longer get the new high-altitude aircraft -- the MiG-1 was very good, with first-class high-altitude performance, and there were no German fighters that could match it at altitudes above 7,000 meters. However, air battles often break out at altitudes below 4,000 meters, and the excellent performance of the MiG-3 at high altitudes cannot be brought into play at all!

For most of the year, Rechkalov piloted a MiG fighter to shoot down a German high-altitude reconnaissance plane, two Romanian "yellow-headed cigars" and a Junkers 88, and in November last year, his beloved MiG fighter was hit by two Mercedes Mitt 109 at an altitude of 500 meters.

He had not flown the MiG-1 since, because most of the MiGs had been lost, the backup engines were gone, and the original units had not been given other new aircraft during the siege of Odessa. However, the lieutenant did not stay on the ground, and was stunned and the mechanics used a pile of scrapped I-16 fighter parts from the old warehouse to build a flying I-16 fighter jet, install two 12.7mm machine guns and put them back into battle.

Relying on the plane with wings removed from two scrapped planes and a patchwork of machine guns from the crashed MiG-1, he actually shot down another Type 109E and two Heinkel He111s!

Now the lieutenant with 7 battles in his hand is an absolute ace pilot in the aviation regiment, while his wingman Second Lieutenant Kulakov has less than 100 hours of fighter flying experience and only 30 hours of flying P39! However, the second lieutenant, who is only 20 years old this year, learned to fly ****** at the age of sixteen, participated in the activities of the ****** club every week, and was able to fly a biplane training aircraft alone at the age of 17, which can be regarded as an "old pilot".

Pilots liked this somewhat bulky American aircraft - there were 2 12.7mm machine guns and 4 7.62mm machine guns, and the machine guns had a total of 4,400 rounds of ammunition! Their favorite is the 37mm gun, the firepower is absolutely strong, although the rate of fire is a bit slow and the reserve ammunition is not much, but a hit can make the enemy aircraft incapacitated and become a target aircraft! The opponent's fighter who hits two shells definitely turns into a lighter!

Even if a bomber is hit by one or two shots, it will also hurt the muscles and bones!

After a few days of air battles, pilots had a careful understanding of the American aircraft at hand, which was different from the rigid data in the American packaging box that they had just come into contact with: there was a certain speed advantage over the Mercedes 109F at an altitude of 5,000 meters, and the speed of the damned Volker Wolf 190 fighter was almost the same as that of the damned Fockel-Wolf 190 fighter in the airspace below 1,000 meters.

At an altitude of 1000-5000 meters, it has a certain speed advantage over the Wolf 190, but the climbing performance below 1700 meters is not as good as that of the 109, and it has a climbing advantage over the 109 type at 1700-3500 meters, and has the advantage of horizontal hovering over the 109F type at a speed of 300-360 kilometers; Climbing advantages for the Wolf 190 below 5,000 meters and horizontal hovering for the 190 at any speed!

Arriving in Odessa, Lieutenant Lechkalov's twin planes had not yet encountered German fighters, but had been told not to compete with German fighters for dive speed, which would be at a disadvantage, and to entangle with the Germans in terms of level - whether it was Messesmitt or Volker Wolff, the dive speed was faster than it!

The P39 did not have to worry about a horizontal maneuver contest with the German aircraft, but all the pilots were told: don't entangle with the German fighters at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters, the P39 can deal with bombers above that altitude, but if you compete with the German fighters at that altitude, you will find your own death!

This warning was not only concocted by the pilots themselves, but was also a reminder from the Air Force Committee, and it was said to be the advice given to the pilots by Deputy Commander-in-Chief Marshal Plunyakov -- American planes are not omnipotent aircraft!

At high altitudes, the P39 was to deal with bombers, where it could only be beaten up against German fighters!

Lieutenant Rechkalov and his companions received this warning during their acclimatization training, and the pilots had their own countermeasures - resolutely obeying the marshal's advice and never flying the plane to an altitude of more than 5,000 meters! The mechanics saved a lot of work: they often didn't need to refill the fighter with an oxygen cylinder or refill it, as most of the P39s didn't need to go out of sortie.

The pilots didn't plan to fly above 4,000 meters!

Rechkalov now flies the P39D, fitted with a V-1710-35 engine with an output of 1,150 hp at an altitude of 4,000 meters, equipped with a self-sealing fuel tank, a 281-liter belly drop tank under the belly, and a sturdy bulletproof glass windshield weighing more than 100 kilograms.

Acquainted and very strong.

It can reach a maximum speed of 592 km/h at an altitude of 4,000 meters, and a cruising speed of 343 km/h ideally, so it can fly more than 2,200 kilometers at an altitude of 3,600 meters with a fuel tank, and a practical ceiling of 9,810 meters (of course, pilots basically do not fly that high, unless German bombers come from high altitudes uncharacteristically, in fact, the Germans never do that). ）。

The 37mm M-4 cannon showed a low rate of fire and an overly curved trajectory in use, but it was not a problem against tank targets, and it was also very effective against small ships of the German and Romanian navies in the Black Sea!

This time Lieutenant Rechkalov and Kulakov made a sortie to patrol the Black Sea near the Danube sandbar, where Romanian ships had recently moved.

After a range of 200 kilometers in the air, two P39 fighters have entered the vicinity of Romanian territorial waters, the air visibility is very good, there are no Romanian fighters - there are still a few, and those "yellow-headed cigars" Retchkalov do not care at all, and they just hit the opponent and clean up the opponent!

"No. 2, should we fly farther, do you choose, to the interior of Romania or to the sea off the mouth of Lake Portica?" Rechkalov asked his wingman in the intercom.

"Lieutenant, go to sea, and if you don't get inland to Galatz, you'll find a few trucks, and a few small sampans on the Danube."

Yesterday they flew around the Danube in Romania and encountered two small cargo ships of about three or four hundred tons: they wreaked havoc with large-caliber machine guns and cannons, sinking one of them and turning the other into a sieve!

However, when I came back to report the situation, I was reprimanded: don't go to the **** cargo ship of the Romanians on the Danube for the time being! Moreover, they criticized their support for the Belgorod Western Theater and their adventures deep into Romanian territory.

Refchkalov took those words as a deaf ear, but Kulako could not be as awesome as a long plane: if he was not allowed to go, he would not go, and he might be able to catch some prey at sea, and it would be a big deal to turn around Vasilyevka on the way back.

"Okay, turn." The two fighters turned to the southwest, descended to an altitude of 000 meters, and cruised at a speed of 340 kilometers per hour.

After 10 minutes, Rechkalov was a little tempted to turn around and return, and there seemed to be a small spot ahead.

"What's that, one o'clock direction."

"Maybe a Romanian cargo ship." Kulakov replied, he looked in the direction and saw it on the sea in the distance, at a distance of about 30 kilometers.

Glancing at the oil gauge, there was more, "Go and see." ”

Four minutes later, Refchkalov found out what it was - it was more than a hundred kilometers from the coast, and it was a big luck!

"The Romanian Dacia large minelayer!"

"****!"

On the vast sea, the Romanians were a little unlucky, how could they crash into a Soviet plane so far from the coast!

The Dacia is an old ship, originally built as a passenger ship by Saint-Nazaire of France, and joined the fleet of the Romanian Maritime Administration in 1907.

In 1916, when Romania was embroiled in World War I, Dacia and other passenger ships were placed under the control of the Tsarist Empire's navy and used by the Russian navy as auxiliary cruisers.

In Odessa, the two Rechkalovs trained the Romanian Navy in identifying ships, and at a glance recognized the ship with two chimneys as the "Dacia".

In 1917 the Dacia took part in the raid on the Ottoman port in the Caucasus, and after the October Revolution, the Dacia remained in the port of Sevastopol, where it was captured by the Germans in 1918. Later, under the peace treaty signed between Romania and the Central Powers in March 1918, the Dacia was returned to the Romanian authorities.

After the end of World War I, the Dacia resumed its operation on the "Eastern Route" and later on the Istanbul-Piraeus-Beirut-Haifa-Alexandria route, where it continued until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

Last October, the Dacia entered service under its new identity as a minelayer, and now it is facing attack by two P39s!

Battle sirens sounded on the deck, and the Romanian crew had already spotted the two planes that had pounced! (To be continued.) )