"Today our mission is target training." In the flight preparation room, Lieutenant Colonel Mark, squadron leader of the gunners' squadron, said: "After passing the target training results, our pilots can go to find their radar officers, and you will say goodbye to your instructors and embark on a solo flight from now on." ”

There are many kinds of target training, but there is still an instructor to guide it, and there is only one without the guidance of a backseat radar officer, and that is the machine gun target shooting.

"As we all know, we made a mistake with the F-4 Phantom and did not add a fixed cannon to it, which made us face passivity a lot in air combat, so our Tomcat fighter restored the built-in cannon." Lieutenant Colonel Mark said: "In air combat, we use missiles as much as possible, but when necessary, we also have to give it a go and use cannons to take out enemy aircraft." ”

At that time, the missile omnipotence theory was very marketable, and as a result, the F-4 missile aircraft was disgraced in the skies over Vietnam, and the U.S. Navy and Air Force quickly developed the SUU-16/A cannon pod for the F-4 based on the M61A1 20mm Vulcan cannon, which is usually mounted on the F-4's belly.

The problem of presence or absence was finally solved, but because the SUU-16/A cannon pod was connected to the fighter with a universal pylon of auxiliary fuel tanks, which caused it to shake laterally when firing, greatly reducing the accuracy, and the SUU-16/A cannon could not be used at airspeeds of more than 640 kilometers per hour, making it unsuitable for attacking fighters.

As a result, something is better than nothing, but it's about the same as nothing.

The U.S. Air Force was later equipped with the F-4E, which can be regarded as having a built-in cannon.

And now, at the beginning of the development of the Tomcat fighter, the scheme of the built-in cannon was determined, which is equipped with the most common M61 Vulcan cannon in the US army, this 6-barreled 20 mm Gatling cannon, from the F-104 "Star Fighter" fighter, to the later F-22 fighter has been carried, it can be said that it has been in service for more than half a century.

For pilots, training to fight missiles or something is simply boring, and in all the training items, fighting machine guns is the most fun.

(Air combat movies are not easy to make, laymen don't know, insiders know, press a few buttons, launch missiles, there is no sense of tension and excitement, so no matter what era, air combat movies must have dog fights to be exciting.) ）

Lieutenant Colonel Mark's words won everyone's approval, and up to now, even the most arrogant experts on the omnipotence theory of missiles admit that there are many shortcomings in missiles at this stage, and that the cannon is the pilot's last weapon, which is necessary.

Lieutenant Colonel Mark continued, "Our normal subject for training today is the squirrel cage, and I will fly the target machine. ”

If you want to carry out target training, you must have a target aircraft, in later generations the target aircraft has been replaced by a UAV, which is safer, but in the current era, the target aircraft is still played by ordinary aircraft, dragging a target behind the target aircraft to fly, and then let the aircraft behind the target target, in this process, there is a great danger.

Even if it is a trainer bullet, the warhead is not a solid lead bullet, and hitting the skin of the aircraft may damage the aircraft, hit the engine, and even cause engine damage.

Therefore, the target aircraft are all flown by the most experienced old birds.

Of course, if there is an accident, it is clear who did it, and the cannon shells of each Tomcat fighter will be painted with different colors, hitting the white nylon target, and the bullet holes will have a color, so that after returning home, the target can be dropped at the airport and the shooting score can be calculated from it.

If you hit the plane, even if the plane crashes into the sea, you can finally investigate. Of course, this possibility is very small, after all, the people who fly the Tomcat fighter are all old birds who have changed to fly, and the newcomers will not immediately touch such a powerful fighter as the Tomcat.

They are going to compete to see who has the highest score.

"I'll fly the last one." Just after Lieutenant Colonel Mark finished talking about flying his target plane, the people below began to determine the order of attack as a target plane.

Nathan's training in the past few days has impressed everyone, Nathan has completed the training subjects that others need a month or two to complete in just a few days, and every time he flies, he boldly flies on the edge of the envelope, as if he deliberately teased the engine to lose his temper, but gave up at the last moment.

Nathan is actually going to fly the last one today? This is not in his character!

Could it be that this kid was ** yesterday, and he is bored today? Thinking of this, several people looked at him differently.

This kind of look, Nathan had seen it yesterday, and now, he was extremely disgusted with the look in his eyes, what to look at, with a bad smile! Today, Lao Tzu is the last target in heaven because if Lao Tzu is the first to shoot the target, none of you will have to shoot!

Nathan ignored them, and after the order was set, the meeting ended and they began to prepare for the flight.

"Nathan, why did you fly the last one today?" Instructor Lyman asked.

"I don't like to fight with other people." Nathan said.

Lyman shook his head: "It's definitely not for this reason, let's say, anyway, it's the last time for us, and after today's target shooting, my mission will be completed, and you are the fastest student I've ever taken." ”

The role of the instructor is to help the trainees adapt to the operation of the aircraft, when the trainees have learned the basic flight maneuvers, the rest is for the trainees to explore on their own, and the instructors do not have to go to the sky to follow behind.

Nathan actually read the thick upper and lower plane operation manuals in two days, and he can actually memorize them backwards, which can't help but make Lyman admire.

All kinds of contingency measures can be accurately stated, this guy is simply born to fly Tomcat fighters!

"If I did, you wouldn't have let me fly." Nathan said.

Lyman's face just changed, what kind of moth is going to come out of this guy? Is your flight experience today destined to be unforgettable for a lifetime?

Soon, on the runway, one after another Tomcat fighters spread their wings and flew into the sky.

In the climb to the west, directly to the Pacific Ocean, here is also the best training place, even if there is an accident in the flight, you can parachute at any time, do not worry about the residents below, miss the best opportunity to parachute, however, for American pilots, jump when it is time to jump, but there is no psychological pressure.

Lyman in the rear cabin looked at the blue sky and white clouds on both sides, and from his point of view, he could also see the target plane in the front, the Tomcat fighter piloted by the squadron leader Lieutenant Colonel Mark, dragging a 12.2-meter-long line, like flying a kite, except that the person flying was on top and the kite was below.

The target was flying, and soon reached the training airspace, the first Tomcat fighter, a standard barrel roll, turned to the target, and then, under the nose, the M61 machine gun emitted a puff of black smoke, one by one, shells, flying to the target in front.

The target has been hit to the ground, and the hit rate is good!

Then the second, the third...

"Eagle, shoot the target, pay attention to the angle, and don't accidentally injure the target tractor in front."

"Understood!" Nathan pushed the lever, and the Tomcat fighter headed towards the target with a dashing majestic posture, and a target shot in the air that would go down in history began.