Although the humidity in the valley is slightly heavier than in other places, it is the cool season in northern Myanmar, when precipitation is scarce. And the temperature is also relatively cool. During this season, the weather is usually sunny, and there may be some clouds in the valley area. However, it will not affect flight safety.

Two Spitfire fighter jets are flying over the valley of the Irrawaddy River, flying above the low clouds, looking down from the plane, like a velvet underneath, it seems to be very close to the plane, and the scenery is intoxicating.

But there is also fear in the intoxication. This can be seen from the radio conversations between the pilots.

"Knight Two, watch the north, watch the north."

"Knight Two received. No anomalies were found. ”

RAF Lieutenant Alpheus was very careful to maintain uninterrupted contact with his wingman. And twist your head around from time to time. Observing Sky Shen's situation, he noticed that there seemed to be several black spots in the north. So the wingman was alerted. But the wingman reported that it was just a meteorological phenomenon of clouds under strong sunlight. The sky is still peaceful for now.

But peace was only temporary, and as a British professional soldier, Lieutenant Alpheus was well aware of the current situation in Burma, and since the so-called "International Volunteer Army of the Asian Liberation Front" entered northern Burma from Yunnan, China, the "Far East War" had actually broken out.

"Far Eastern War" is the British government's name for this war, and the British government has also made it clear that this Far Eastern War was "provoked by the Chinese" in order to "destroy the economic lifeline of the British Empire in Asia", which has "threatened the security of the empire" and "threatens world peace", so the British government decided to "prevent the Chinese army from crossing the Irrawaddy River" at all costs.

Yes, the British government was not affected by that. The title "International Volunteer Army of the Asian Liberation Front" is confusing. The British government directly pointed out that this so-called "international force" is actually the Chinese army, which has become a formed Chinese defense force. And at present, this army has crossed several mountain ranges. It is rushing towards the Irrawaddy River defense line.

The Irrawaddy River is a large river running north-south, originating in China, and traversing the whole territory of Myanmar, in the Indian Ocean at the junction of the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal into the sea, this river is the most important river in Myanmar, not only contains rich water resources, but also an important traffic lifeline, although the river end is rapid, the drop is very large, but through the relay way can be used to transport materials by barge, however, for the current Britain, The most important strategic significance of the Irrawaddy River lies not in its shipping value or prospect of hydroelectric development, but in its "critical barrier role" to the Indian colonies

Since the Irrawaddy River runs from north to south and runs through the whole of Burma, this roaring river has forcibly divided Burma into east and west, and if a foreign army can cross the Irrawaddy River and appear on the west bank of the river, then India is far away.

India, known as the "jewel in Britain's crown", was as vital to Britain's survival as the East Indies were to the Netherlands, losing India. Britain just "failed strategically"

"Strategic failure" is the new British Prime Minister Mr. Winston Churchill's original words to the parliamentarians in his inaugural speech in the British Parliament, which directly led to a serious consequence, that is, "war between China and Britain is inevitable"

Although the British government is still discussing whether to directly declare war on China, the fact that the British government has changed the prime minister shows that the British government's determination to go to war is very certain. Because the new prime minister is none other than Churchill, who is known for his "toughness".

Because of his "excessive weakness and incompetence" in his stance on China and his "unprincipled compromise" with Germany in the "Munich Conspiracy", Mr. Chamberlain, the former prime minister of the British government, was forced to resign voluntarily under double pressure from the House of Parliament and the British Crown, and then Mr. Churchill, who had always taken a "tough" stance, became his successor as a matter of course. And he immediately showed his strength at the beginning of his tenure.

Lieutenant Alpheus traveled from the beautiful Mediterranean Sea to the poor, malaria-ridden city of Burma and was stationed at Mandalay Air Base with his fighter squadron to defend the most important city in central Myanmar and the most important transportation hub.

If Lieutenant Alpheus had to make a choice, he would rather stay in Alexandria, Egypt, not only because of the climate, but also because of safety. The "Killer of the Air" is the "Gargamel" who rose to fame on the battlefields of the Spanish Civil War

According to the English-language broadcast "Voice of England" on Chinese state radio, on the day that the "International Volunteer Army of the Asian Liberation Front" occupied the important town of Lashio in northern Burma, this "Mr. Gargamel" shot down two British Royal Air Force "Spitfire" fighters, thus officially kicking off his "hunting feast" in the Far East Battlefield, and the results of the battles in the following days showed that it was just a tapa, but in just a few days, the "Gargamel Fighter Squadron" had already achieved a record of 21 to zero. Shot down fifteen RAF fighters and six light bombers, without losing a single one, more than half of which was created by "Mr. Gargamel" himself.

Of course, this was only one side of the Chinese's words, and the British government immediately denied it, only admitting that there were indeed losses in the air war, and that the losses of the Chinese Air Force were the same as those of the British, and the British government insisted that it was just a "propaganda war" of the Chinese, so the British public was temporarily calmed by the government's lies.

However, Lieutenant Alpheus knew that China Radio had not mixed the record with water, and in fact, after the air battle in the previous few days, the morale of the Royal Air Force troops in Burma was quite depressed. The loss of planes and the casualties of pilots were enough to make the skies of Burma look dangerous, and in order to boost morale, the British government had to call in the best pilots from air bases around the world, and Lieutenant Alpheus was one of them, although he did not participate in the European war that year, but he secretly participated in the Spanish Civil War, fought for the side of the Spanish republican government as a volunteer combatant, not only accumulated considerable combat experience, but also achieved the record of shooting down five enemy planes, that Chinese "Mr. Gargamel" was still a foreign comrade-in-arms of Lieutenant Alpheus, and maybe the two had met before. "No, Lieutenant Yi arrived at Yandeler Air Base the day before yesterday. Moreover, it was Lu Moxin's "Spitfire" fighter plane that flew from Egypt, and after a long flight of thousands of kilometers on the way, the plane's engine was seriously worn, and after arriving at the airport in Burma, it had to replace one engine immediately. This engine is not the latest EFI engine, but the old carburetor engine. This poses a serious problem: the Spitfire, piloted by Lieutenant Alpheus, must now be careful to maintain the necessary "caution" in dives and sideslips. Under the action of the laws of physics, the carburetor will have a fuel supply failure. At this time. There is a "high probability" that the engines of the aircraft will stall while doing a downward maneuver.

This is not just a warning from technical officers at Mandalay Air Base, but it is also a bloody fact. According to the report of the British pilots who narrowly escaped in the air battle a few days ago, the "Spitfire" and "Hurricane" fighters they flew with old engines often had mid-air parking failures while evading the pursuit of Chinese "Falcon" fighters, and some experienced pilots may be able to realize the problem at the moment when the propeller speed drops, and maintain the engine by slowing down the maneuvering action, but most pilots are not so lucky, and the plane will either stall and crash directly, Either they were shot down by the catch-up "Falcon" after barely returning to level flight, and it is clear that the British-made carburetor became a multiplier of the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Air Force.

The British Air Force's fighters and bombers stationed in Asia are often one beat slower than the European troops in upgrading their equipment; when the fighters at the Ouyuan base have been completely replaced with EFI engines copied from the Chinese "Falcon" fighters, the Abysses fighter squadrons are still using the old carburetor engines, and the equipment of the British troops in Asia is not even comparable to that of the British troops stationed in the Middle East and the Near East.

Even at the height of the crisis in the Second South China War, the British government was still acting slowly, and at the time of the outbreak of the Far Eastern War, the entire Burma theater of operations. The RAF had less than fifteen EFI engines at its disposal, and there was a lack of spare parts.

When war broke out, the British government had to rush to transfer those latest weapons from the rear far from the battlefield to the front line, and this is the reason why Lieutenant Alpheus flew fighter jets directly from the Egyptian base to the Burma base. The British fighter unit in Egypt had been replaced with new engines, but due to range problems, the transfer fighters had to land at those "airfields" with backward facilities to refuel, so it was quite good that 40 out of 50 fighters could fly to Burma unharmed. The remaining 10 fighters either fell on a certain "runway" in Iran and India, or simply disappeared at the end of the flight formation, and when the planes finally arrived at their destination, people found that many of the new engines had consumed their best "youth" in this long-distance transition process and had to wait for the new engines to be transported from China to the battlefield.

Although there were no new engines available, combat readiness patrols could not be relaxed, and now Lieutenant Alpheus and his wingmen were on combat readiness patrols, and they had to ensure the safety of the airspace north and east of Mandalay, providing long-range vigilance for the base, which is now a large logistics warehouse. In the docks, freight warehouses, railway stations, and shunting yards, a large amount of munitions, ammunition, and military supplies were piled up. And as soon as the Chinese bombers appeared in the sky over Mandalay, it would be an absolute disaster, for which the Mandalay Front Command did not dare to imagine the consequences at all.

This fear of air raids is not a nervous part of the British generals, in fact, just yesterday a squadron of bombers from the Chinese Air Force bombed Myitkyina, a key town in northern Burma, which is also a key point capable of breaking through the Irrawaddy River defenses, and in the attack, the Chinese Air Force dispatched not only medium bombers and fighters, but also attack aircraft and dive bombers. The entire process of the air raid was carried out in one go.

By all indications, the Chinese army will either break through the Irrawaddy line from Myitkyina. Either the line will be broken through from Mandalay.

Lieutenant Alpheus was reluctant to see Chinese bombers near Mandalay, because they must have been escorted by fighters, and in that case, he would have to fly the Spitfire, which could stop in the air at any moment, to meet the more powerful Falcon. In Spain, although he did not have the opportunity to fly the Falcon, he had heard of the Falcon's outstanding performance in the war, and if he had a choice, he would rather fight the new German fighter than the Falcon. This has nothing to do with patriotism, only with the level of technology, China's aviation industry is now enough to be proud of the world, the world's first electronic injection engine, the first aero engine equipped with turbochargers were born in China, which directly changed the face and design ideas of the world's aviation industry.

Lieutenant Alpheus's ancestors had fought in the Scorching War, for that ancient Eastern country. Alpheus had always been very curious about why China had changed so dramatically in just 30 years. In the past, China challenged the Netherlands, and the British only laughed at the decline of the Netherlands, but now. When Britain also began to face the challenge of China directly, the British were surprised to find out. The British Empire had fallen to such a point. Even Asians don't take Britain seriously.

Just when Lieutenant Alpheus was worried about the future air battle, the slightly panicked voice of the wingman finally came from the headset.

"Knight One! Spot enemy aircraft! Spot enemy aircraft! Nine o'clock! Nine o'clock! ”

"Knight One received. Knight II, please confirm the location of the enemy aircraft. ”

Lieutenant Alpheus turned his head to look at the "nine o'clock direction" that the wingman had said, but he saw nothing, so he immediately asked the wingman to repeat the report.

"Target confirmation, target confirmation. The formation of enemy aircraft is in the sky above our formation! The formation of enemy aircraft is in the sky above our formation! ”

The wingman's screams heightened Lieutenant Alpheus's nervousness, and he hurriedly shifted his eyes diagonally to the left, trying to identify the enemy group formations pointed out by the wingman, and finally, he could see the small black dots that were approaching, since he was several miles away from the wingman. So the wingman finds the target before he does. (To be continued.)