Arc of Gunfire

Originally, Drachenko's group hadn't noticed the artillery positions on the ground.

Yes, they sent photos before taking off, and everyone looked at them carefully many times, but these photos were taken from above, and the group was only looking directly below, so they didn't realize that the target was in front.

As a result, as soon as the ground fired, a pilot immediately noticed: "Something is firing on the ground ahead!"

Drachenko hurriedly swung the wings to turn the fuselage sideways, and then looked down and saw the smoke from the firing. He judged from experience that it was an anti-aircraft gun.

"The anti-aircraft gun is firing, follow me!"

He gently pulled the joystick, and the body began to circle to the left. At the same time, he stepped on the rudder pedal to correct the body deviation caused by the aircraft's circling.

The other planes of the 4th Fighter-Bomber Regiment hurriedly followed Drachenko's maneuver, and the group was like a group of geese changing formations in the air.

A few seconds later, the anti-aircraft artillery shells flew up and were detonated by the time fuse, exploding black flowers in the air.

However, the area where the shells exploded and the current position of the fleet were a million miles apart.

"The enemy should adjust their aiming position again. Follow me and maneuver. Max throttle and maintain speed."

As long as you maneuver, you will definitely lose speed. Most aircraft in this era are like this. The purpose of maxing out the throttle is to lose less speed and maintain the energy of the aircraft.

After Drachenko gave the order, the deputy commander shouted: "We are all overloaded. The engine alone cannot make up for the lost energy. We are almost over the enemy. Let's dive after hiding from one more wave!"

Drachenko measured the distance and agreed: "Okay! Dodge one more wave of anti-aircraft guns, and then dive."

After that, he shook the joystick again and stepped on the rudder. When maneuvering, he glanced at the instrument panel.

The reading on the speedometer seemed to have dropped to the danger line, but the aircraft was now at a very high altitude, and the actual speed would be greater than the speed displayed on the instrument, so it should be okay.

But it would not be possible to maneuver again. The aircraft was carrying too many bombs, which seriously affected the flight performance.

However, Drachenko comforted himself that this was much stronger than the Il-2. If he was driving the Il-2, he could only charge into the enemy's anti-aircraft fire network and rely on armor to resist.

"Drachenko!" The wingman shouted, "It's almost time to reset!"

Drachenko realized that he was distracted and quickly pulled the joystick: "Follow me, go!"

His plane rolled and dived, gradually turning from the head-down state during the dive.

The fire from the ground anti-aircraft guns indicated the target. Drachenko aimed at the anti-aircraft gun position and soon saw the artillery position next to the anti-aircraft gun position, which had not been camouflaged in time.

"Artillery position! The enemy has no small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, lower the bombing height!"

At this time, the enemy's large-caliber anti-aircraft guns fired again, but because the installation table of the artillery shell time fuse had not been changed in time, all the shells hit the rear of the dive fleet and exploded in the air at a high altitude.

Drachenko even saw the Proson soldiers frantically adjusting the timing of the artillery fuses, twisting the shells with something like a clockwork.

I really want to blow up these anti-aircraft gun positions!

Thinking of this, Drachenko stepped on the rudder and let the plane deviate to the side, and the sight for machine gun shooting was directly aimed at the enemy's anti-aircraft gun position.

This is the experience they have summed up in many bombings. Use machine gun sights to assist aiming. As long as you aim a little higher, the hit rate is trustworthy.

Drachenko aimed at the ammunition truck next to the enemy's gun position this time. According to his experience, it should just hit the gun position.

However, the timing of this dive is relatively urgent, and the dive angle should not be as large as before. The error will definitely increase, so let's rely on the power of explosives to make up for it.

Drachenko felt that the height was about the same, so he dropped the bomb directly and then pulled up the plane.

The violent pulling action made all the blood in his body rush to the soles of his feet, and the entire field of vision became dark, and even the sky was dim.

Drachenko relied on his experience to reset the joystick.

After his vision was restored, he looked at the altimeter and confirmed that the plane had returned to an altitude of 2,000 meters and was still climbing. At the same time, the speedometer reading was also dropping sharply.

He adjusted the propeller pitch and then shouted on the radio: "Is there anyone who didn't pull up?"

At this time, the explosion on the ground illuminated the rearview mirror of Drachenko's cockpit.

He couldn't help but turn his head to see the situation on the ground, but the P47's rearward vision was not good.

Someone shouted on the radio: "Captain, we have a big explosion! I don't know who has set off the enemy's ammunition!"

At this time, the light of the second wave of explosions illuminated the rearview mirror.

Drachenko pulled the joystick to the left, so that the plane turned from climbing to circling to the left, and he could get a view below.

The ground had exploded into a sea of ​​fire, and the Prosen people were fleeing in all directions.

Suddenly, Drachenko saw a truck moving away from the explosion. It was obvious that the truck was also loaded with ammunition, and the driver was trying to keep it from being affected.

"Everyone, it's not enough to destroy the enemy. Disband the formation and strafe the fleeing trucks! This is the 4th Red Combat Bombing Regiment. Does anyone hear my call? Jacques, we are strafe the enemy vehicles. We need Jacques' cover!"

While calling, Drachenko operated the plane to dive again, aiming at the fleeing ammunition truck.

He put the truck into the sight and pressed the fire button.

Eight heavy machine guns fired a fierce hail of bullets and immediately caught up with the truck. The anti-ground ammunition belts provided by the United States also included armor-piercing bombs and incendiary bombs, which immediately hit the truck.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the driver opened the door and jumped out of the truck. Then the burning truck rushed forward and finally exploded into a ball of fire.

Drachenko pulled up the plane with satisfaction.

At this time, a vague answer came from the rustling sound of the radio: "Where...are you..."

Drachenko: "Fly wherever the fire is the loudest on the ground, Davalish!"

He regained his altitude, then flew levelly to gain speed, while turning his head to look at the ground.

The fighters of the 4th Fighter-Bomber Regiment were strafing everywhere, and the eight heavy machine guns were extremely effective against soft targets such as trucks and infantry.

Even the top armor of some half-track vehicles with a little armor cannot withstand the fire of a 12.7 machine gun.

On the radio, a pilot from the Fourth Regiment shouted: "Now we are also heroes of the land war!"

Drachenko and his wingman had been climbing shallowly to gain altitude and speed, because he felt that with the level of coordination of the Prosen people, the Prosen Air Force was about to appear.

At low altitude and low speed, the P47 cannot beat the BF109.

If 109 really comes, you can only rely on yourself and your wingman to disperse them.

Suddenly, Drachenko saw the reflection of the canopy.

It’s eight 109s!

"Everyone! 109 is here! Prepare for defensive maneuvers!"

While speaking, Drachenko turned into a dive again and rushed to 109.

109's attention was entirely on the P47 at low altitude, and he did not notice the attack from high altitude at all.

In the blink of an eye, two 109s were turned into fireballs, and the remaining 109s fled in all directions.

"Pull up, pull up! Just interfere with the enemy's first wave of attacks!" Drachenko shouted to his wingman while pulling up, "Don't follow the enemy's maneuver, don't follow! Pull up and break away! We have already provided cover. The role of friendly forces!"

"Leave the rest to us!" As the radio shouted, a Yak 1 passed by the right side of the climbing P47.

Jacques' liquid-cooled engine has been turned on with afterburner, and all the exhaust pipes are spraying sparks.

In a flash of lightning, Drachenko saw a row of red stars painted next to the Jacques canopy.

The two climbing P47s just passed through the Yak group that was killing the enemy.

Drachenko pressed the radio microphone and shouted: "Jacques is here, pay attention, Jacques is here! They are all cigar-shaped liquid cooling machines, don't accidentally injure them, don't inadvertently injure them! Enemy planes have yellow noses, enemy planes have yellow noses! We The target is still a soft target on the ground, and our target is still a soft target on the ground!”

"Understood!" Someone shouted on the radio, "Our goal is to become heroes in land warfare!"

————

Lieutenant Colonel Hank, the leader of the Prosen Artillery Regiment, lay on the ground and looked at the two warring parties in the sky.

The number of enemy aircraft was significantly greater than that of the Plosen Air Force.

Fighters with slender bodies like the 109 are fighting with the 109, while those "fat" aircraft that look like flying milk bottles are "licking the ground".

The enemy's fighter jet seems to be called Jacques. It has relatively weak firepower and cannot attack the ground. And Fatty has a lot of machine guns. When he fires, his wings are like two swords of light, and they are all killed or injured when they are swept on the ground.

The ground was already a sea of ​​flames, with beaten cars and half-tracks everywhere.

Fortunately, it had just rained lightly in the morning, and the humidity in the grassland was relatively high. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to deal with a fire in the grassland.

Lieutenant Colonel Hank lay on the ground, not daring to move at all, for fear that he would become the target of enemy planes. He had no confidence to survive such a violent strafing attack.

————

"What?" the Chief of Staff of the Tenth Army Headquarters asked loudly, "Speak louder! What was attacked by air? Artillery positions? What is the Air Force doing?"

Admiral Poker grabbed the receiver: "Where was the air raid?"

The person on the phone answered: "Our division, the artillery position of the 190th Division, we have now lost almost all the artillery shells and half of the artillery."

Admiral Poker: "You'll be replenished. Where are the anti-aircraft gun emplacements?"

"The anti-aircraft guns cannot deal with the enemy's new bombers. We configure the anti-aircraft guns according to the standards for dealing with the enemy's twin-engine tactical bombers. The small-caliber anti-aircraft guns are protecting the front-line troops and dealing with the Il-2. But we did not see any Il-2, all It’s a new dive bomber.”

"Got it." Poker hung up the phone, but immediately picked up the receiver again, "Pick up the air force. Admiral Celtic? The Ant Air Force just bombed my artillery position. I ask you to bomb the Ant artillery immediately. position!"

Admiral Celtic: "We have already bombed the Ant artillery positions, and also bombed Rokosov's headquarters. Aerial reconnaissance shows that the bombing effect is very good, maybe Rokosov has been killed by us. !”

"Damn you! If Rokosov was killed so easily, he wouldn't have jumped up to this point! I want you to bomb the enemy's artillery positions again!"

"Okay, okay, I'll make arrangements now, but since Rokossov arrived at the front line, the enemy's air force has also been greatly enhanced, and some elite air force units have been mobilized here..."

"What do you want to say?" Pork asked, "Are you already trying to excuse your incompetence?"

"Of course not, I'm just telling you this situation. We will immediately arrange to bomb the enemy's artillery positions."