The SBD Dreadnought dive bomber, the newest monoplane dive bomber, has just been delivered to the U.S. Navy.

The Sixth Bomber Squadron aboard the Enterprise was one of the first squadrons to be equipped with the new bombers, and the Enterprise's last voyage was designed to test and familiarize pilots with the new aircraft.

Louie, who had finished his reporting work and was waiting in the dormitory of the base for his next voyage, really had nothing to do, so he followed Captain Dick Best to open his eyes and see the new aircraft.

"How's it going? Isn't it beautiful?" The two of them didn't get on the Enterprise, the Enterprise was undergoing renovation and maintenance, and it was not suitable to go up and wander around now, Dick took Louis to see the dreadnought dive bomber in the Pearl Harbor base: "This kind of plane is much more powerful than the previous planes." ”

Of course, the Dreadnought is not a perfect aircraft, and after the first batch was manufactured, many problems were exposed, such as poor protection and insufficient range, so it was modified and improved during the production and manufacturing, and the first batch was thrown to the Marine Corps.

The modified Dreadnought aircraft have been assigned to the 6th Reconnaissance Squadron and the 6th Bomber Squadron on the Enterprise, as well as the 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron and 2nd Bomber Squadron on the Lexington, although it will take some time to fully deliver.

"Let's go, take you to experience the fearless style. Dick Best took Louis around and used the excuse of familiarizing the new pilot with the new arrivals to get permission to take off, and with the help of ground crew, he quickly completed all the preparations for takeoff.

Louis did not have the opportunity to fly this new plane alone, he could only sit behind Captain Dick and let Dick fly with him once.

It's not that Dick can't get it, it's that Dick asked for an airplane when he applied. Obviously, Captain Dick was worried that Rookie Louie would have problems without being exposed to this new aircraft, so he wanted to show Louie what the new aircraft was like, which would also allow him to understand the performance of the new aircraft first, and help him adapt to the new aircraft as soon as possible.

"Knife mouth tofu heart?"

It was clear that Captain Dick was helping him adjust to the job, in stark contrast to his previous stinking appearance.

"Are you ready?"

After all sorts of pre-takeoff checks and preparations, Louis was already in the dreadnought rear seat, which was the radioman's place, and in addition to various instruments and instruments, there was a machine gun of 30 caliber in his rear.

"I'm going to do a basic reconnaissance flight with three dives in between, do you have any questions?"

"No, sir!"

Dick smiled and didn't speak, started the fighter and slowly controlled the plane to the runway.

After flying some distance away from the base, Captain Dick suddenly said: "Now we are under attack by enemy planes, we must get rid of this guy's pursuit!"

Before he could finish speaking, Captain Dick began to move frantically in snakeskin, and the dreadnought began to sway and maneuver in the air, and if he had been replaced by an ordinary radioman, he would have been completely stunned by this guy.

However, this level of maneuvering did not have any effect on the physically strong Louis, and he was even able to add a joke to himself: "Captain, the enemy planes are still biting us behind, and the machine guns are out of ammunition." ”

"Oh, looks like we're in big trouble!" Dick was only slightly stunned, and quickly stepped into the 'character', then took control of the plane and began to climb high into the air and burrow into the clouds.

"Looks like we're getting rid of that guy, Captain!" Louie continued to work with Dick's melodrama as he admired the clouds on either side.

"Don't be too happy, second lieutenant, we've found the target, let's start diving, watch the height!"

After a simple tumbling adjustment at high altitude, Captain Dick had already adjusted his direction, aiming the nose of the dreadnought bomber almost straight at the sea below and opening the flaps.

"Eight thousand feet!" The altimeter in front of him was showing the current altitude, and the dreadnought bomber, which was steadily controlled at 250 knots per hour, rushed straight to the sea.

"Five thousand feet!" Louie's job at this time was to keep an eye on the altimeter, constantly reminding the driver of the altitude at this time.

"Two thousand feet!" Generally speaking, an ordinary dive bomber pilot will drop bombs when they reach an altitude of about 1,800 feet to 2,000 feet, that is, an altitude of about 550 to 600 meters.

Those who can dive vertically to this height are already excellent dive bomber pilots, and many rookies can't even dive well, and can even drive dive bombers on the battlefield for gliding bombing.

But Louie flew in a dive bomber piloted by Captain Dick Best, who was well-known among naval pilots, not only because of his excellent flying skills, but also because he often didn't take his own life seriously, and he didn't take other people's lives seriously.

"Fifteen hundred feet (four hundred and fifty-seven meters)!"

This is a very dangerous altitude, if it is lower than this altitude, it is difficult for the bomber that is diving at high speed to be pulled up again, and the probability of plane destruction and death is very high, so even if there is no need to face the practice of anti-aircraft fire, few bomber pilots dive to this height.

Dick performed a sub-extreme operation live today, and Louie's viewing position was definitely a VIP among VIPs, and he experienced what it was like to dive down to the limit and then pull up.

"How does it feel?" Dick Best was so engrossed in controlling the plane, he couldn't care about anything else in this situation, a dive at this speed, even a second delay might send the plane directly to the sea, and he felt that the rookie behind him must be frightened.

"Not bad, Captain!"

Behind him came Louie's very steady voice, Dick looked back in surprise, and when he saw Louis behind him, he suddenly felt interesting.

"Good, but don't get too complacent, it's just the beginning, and then we'll have another practice of taking off again after a failed dive. ”

"No problem, Captain!"

In the following time, Captain Dick fully demonstrated his superior skills, and by the way, he talked about all kinds of data of the dreadnought and the problems encountered when flying this aircraft, and Louis, who was sitting in the back, wrote down all these data, and with various personal experiences, even if he had not personally flown it, he also knew a lot about this aircraft.

Captain Dick then flew back to the base to land without any more tricks, and then kept looking at Louie, who he thought he was a rookie, and asked him about the dreadnought.

To Dick's surprise, Louie answered almost all the correct answers, even if he deliberately said something wrong when he was in heaven, Louis pointed out.

This proves that Louis has been calmly staring at the various instruments on the plane, even if he pilots the plane in that way, it does not make Louis panic.

With this mental quality, Louis clearly has the foundation to become an ace pilot.

"You know, I heard about you when I was in Pensacola, but I didn't expect to serve with you on a battleship now. Dick was a flight instructor in Pensacola for a period of time, responsible for the teaching of the 5th Squadron.

When Louie entered Pensacola, Dick had already applied to be transferred back to the front-line service, and by the time Louis began his fifth phase of flying lessons, Dick had already left Pensacola.

As the best of the students, Dick knew Louie of course, but he was waiting for the order at that time, so he didn't have any contact with Louie.

"Let's go, I'll invite you to drink, I'll try to get a few flight reconnaissance missions in the next few days, so that you can get familiar with the dreadnought as soon as possible. ”

Although he was a pilot of a bomber squadron, it did not mean that the bomber squadron was very idle when there was no combat mission, and the four flying squadrons, the reconnaissance squadron and the bomber squadron on the Enterprise were all piloted dreadnought dive bombers.

In addition to dive bombing, this kind of aircraft can also carry out reconnaissance missions, that is, the bomber squadron has the ability to carry out reconnaissance missions, and when the battle breaks out, the reconnaissance aircraft squadron also has to carry out bombing missions.

Over the next few days, Dick would come to the base from time to time to find out Louie and ask for some simple flight reconnaissance missions.

From the initial flight with Louie to the slow two-plane formation flight, Dick gradually figured out Louie's flying level.

"The level is very good, at least to be able to keep up with me. At the end of each flight, Dick would treat Louie to a drink, as usual. While Louis was getting acquainted with the Dreadnought, the Enterprise had finished its rest, and the crew returned to the Enterprise for a voyage.

The last time Louis was only at the base to complete various reports, it was only then that he officially joined the 6th Bomber Squadron.

He would live for a long time with these colleagues, including the radioman who flew on the same plane as him.

"I don't know what kind of partner I'll be assigned to. ”

"Don't worry, there is a high probability that he is also a rookie. After a period of contact, Louie and Dick had a good relationship, or although Dick always said unpleasant things with a drag, he did use his own methods to help Louie adapt to the life of a naval pilot: "After all, no one wants to give a rookie to the new rookie." ”

"Hey, you're the new pilot!" When Louis boarded the USS Enterprise and met his future colleagues, one of them greeted him warmly: "I've heard about you from Dick, I'm Clarence Deakis." ”

"Louis Hunt!"

Deakins was good friends with Dick Best and was a classmate at the Naval Academy, and had heard Louie's name from Dick a lot lately.

"Welcome aboard the Enterprise. ”

"Thank you!"