When he stepped back into his cockpit, Nathan was in a calm mood, and it seemed like an ordinary move for him.

The 311 air crash, only the day after the incident, the U.S. Navy decided to dispatch, although it was only a fighter, but it was to carry out the most critical operation.

Ultra-low-altitude reconnaissance.

For this reason, the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier formation entered the waters northeast of the island country, and from here the fighters could reach Sakhalin Island as long as they flew more than 200 nautical miles, which was already a very dangerous distance, and once the Soviets dispatched their shore-based troops, they could easily launch anti-ship missiles and pose a threat to the aircraft carrier formation.

And this mission was carried out by Nathan.

Nathan took a deep breath, watched his cockpit canopy slowly close, and said to Lieutenant Gus, the radar officer behind him, "Gus, are you nervous?" ”

"Don't be nervous, I'm just going on a trip with you this time." Gus said.

Yes, this ultra-low-altitude reconnaissance flight actually has little to do with the radar officer in the back seat, and the radar of this era does not yet have a synthetic aperture mode, which means that it is impossible to carry out terrain mapping, and it does not have the function of giving Nathan an early warning in advance.

However, Lieutenant Guth still insisted on coming with Nathan, even though Nathan had said that he was the only one.

I'm your radar officer, so I'm going to have to be with you.

Lieutenant Gus was extremely persistent, so the two of them now continue to fly this latest factory Tomcat fighter together, in addition to the engine in the tail has been replaced, and under its belly, a reconnaissance equipment pod has been added.

The pod weighs 748 kilograms and is placed between the two engine compartments in the belly of the fuselage, 0.38 meters from the fuselage. Basically, it occupies the space of the original undead bird, and at the same time, compared to the weight of half a ton of undead birds, this pod is equivalent to one and a half undead birds, and it does not have a great impact on the mobility of the tomcat.

There are four main types of equipment in the cabin: a CAIKS-87B frame camera in the head, which shoots forward or downward; Fairchild's KA-99 low-medium-altitude three-lens panoramic camera; Honeywell's AN/AAM-5 reconnaissance unit; Ground inspection, maintenance and control data display devices.

As long as the equipment is turned on, the two of them just fly well, and after coming back, the ground crew unloads the pod and sorts out the data.

In addition to this reconnaissance pod, Nathan also carried two Sparrow missiles and four Sidewinder missiles, this time for reconnaissance flights, and it was enough to carry the necessary weapons for self-defense.

The current Sparrow missiles are still not very reliable, and in comparison, Nathan would rather have two more Sidewinders.

Now, take-off is about to begin.

The aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk was moving at full speed, the bow splitting the waves, the deck wind waving flags, and the hunting sound.

On the bridge, the captain of the ship, Colonel Bronch, looked at the fighter plane that had hooked the catapult, and his heart was deeply moved.

In this era, the dedication of a soldier is really valuable, and this time, Major Nathan is even more at the forefront, going to the forefront to carry out the most dangerous missions, and he is proud to have such a pilot.

Catapult!

The deck was filled with steam, and the two TF41 engines sprayed majestic thrust backwards, and the entire fighter spread its wings and flexibly left the deck, and every take-off and landing was so standard.

In the past, the fighter plane would climb up when it left the deck, but now, after leaving the deck, Nathan maintained the level flight of the fighter, barely ten meters above sea level.

On Sakhalin Island, the Soviets had a long-range radar, and if they climbed up, they could be discovered by the other side, so Nathan's flight this time was almost at an ultra-low altitude.

"Lone ranger, right course, good luck to you." The sound of the bridge came through the headphones.

"Lone Ranger received." Nathan replied over the radio, with excitement in his heart.

Surrounded by the blue sea, the tomcat with its wings outstretched seems to be flying on the surface of the sea, and the joystick in its hand is shaking slightly, making it difficult to see farther in ultra-low altitude.

"Gus, what do you think we're going to find this time?" Long flights are boring, and Nathan likes to spend it chatting.

"The secrets of the Soviets." Gus said later: "I have a vague premonition that the Soviets must have secrets on Sakhalin. ”

Said and unsaid, what secret?

"I guess we'll find a large build-up of Soviets." Nathan said: "Tanks, landing ships, etc., we will definitely get a lot of money." ”

Guston in the back is frowning, big troops, this is not good news!

At this time, the glass frame in front of it, how awkward it looks, among the improvement suggestions put forward by myself, it is not complicated to change to an integral windshield, but it is not adopted.

Similar to many second-generation aircraft of this era, the front end of the cockpit of the Tomcat fighter is a three-piece windshield, so there will be a vertical frame, which seriously interferes with the view.

Of course, this three-piece windshield has its own use, three-piece, the middle one is flat, so it can be used as a projection screen for the HUD, with this, there is no need to make a separate flat glass.

The current front windshield is green, which doubles as a HUD.

However, this was not suitable, so in the later stage, it was changed to an integral windshield.

Of course, this three-piece type has another advantage, that is, there will be no distortion, the entire cockpit canopy in order to pursue a smooth aerodynamic shape, will be designed into an arc, so that from the cockpit to the outside, it is equivalent to through a convex lens, there will be a certain amount of distortion, the same is true of the front windshield.

Aiming at the cannon will have a great impact, and now the cannon has adopted the method of hot wire aiming, and the visual distortion is completely acceptable.

Go back and ask Grumman to get rid of this thing!

Nathan continued to look ahead, already faintly seeing islands on the horizon in the distance.

"Attention, continue to descend in height." "Prepare to fly over the four northern islands," Nathan said. ”

In the eastern part of Hokkaido, there are four small islands that the Soviets have been claiming but have always claimed.

Now, under the leadership of the United States, the island countries are not yet capable of recovering the islands for the time being, and for them, the Soviets will not fight, and they should be thankful.

Although the Soviets occupied it, there were relatively few garrisons on the islands, and it was early in the morning, and when the day was just dawning, Tomcat fighters skilfully flew through the middle of the two islands as if they were flying close to the sea.

"There is no one to be seen on the island, probably they are still sleeping." Gus said, though it was a flash, he had already looked at it with his keenest eyes, those trees had just spat out green fangs, and those islands were calm.

"Ahead, that's what we're going to focus on." "Attention, get ready to turn on our reconnaissance equipment, we'll be down to work soon," Nathan said. ”

The main target of the reconnaissance was the port of Korsakov, located in the northern part of Aniva Bay.