The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Me163?"

Of course Qin Chuan knew what Me163 was, but at this moment, he should act like he didn't know.

"Simply put!" Conrad replied: "It's a rocket-powered aircraft!"

Qin Chuan couldn't help but widen his eyes: "You mean, you want to apply the power of V1 to the aircraft?"

"You can say that!" Conrad nodded: "Why not? It is cheap to build and flies very fast, reaching a speed of 950 kilometers per hour, which is much faster than our existing fighters!"

"But have you ever thought about its shortcomings?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Of course I have thought about it!" Conrad replied: "That's why we have to test flight and solve these shortcomings!"

This Me163 should be said to be an attempt by Germany, or it can also be said to be a helplessness.

Because Germany has a serious shortage of resources and productivity in the mid-to-late period, that is, the equipment produced by rear industries cannot keep up with the consumption of the front line, so Germany hopes to produce a cheap fighter with a short production cycle and quite good performance.

Inspired by the V1 missile and its test flight, the German military industry considered: Why not transform the V1 missile into a fighter aircraft?

The idea is indeed good, because this is the first and only practical rocket-powered engine in human history that is also used in actual combat. However, its inherent shortcomings determine that it cannot play a great role on the battlefield.

"Did you just talk about its shortcomings?" Hannah looked at Qin Chuan in confusion: "You just heard about it and didn't even see it. How can you know its shortcomings?"

"Because its shortcomings are too obvious!" Qin Chuan replied: "Have you forgotten how long it takes us to reload fuel for V1? And when we find the enemy aircraft group, we should immediately take off to intercept and we don't have that long time. prepare for!"

"We can overcome this problem!" Conrad invited Qin Chuan to the other side and replied: "We position it as an interceptor aircraft, which means deploying it on the route where enemy aircraft groups are likely to appear... because it is very Cheap, so we can do it!”

To a certain extent, what Conrad said is correct, because quantitative changes will lead to qualitative changes, and the role played by an increase in quantity will be different.

"Then what?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Then..." Conrad said: "Just like the combat of other aircraft, the pilot can use machine guns and cannons to shoot down the enemy aircraft! As mentioned before, its speed is as high as 950 kilometers per hour, which makes it It has a great advantage in air combat!”

"Really?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Why not?" Conrad looked puzzled: "Hannah didn't find any problems in this area after the test flight, right, Hannah?"

"Yes!" Hannah agreed: "If there was any problem, it was the moment of takeoff. I climbed to an altitude of 9,000 meters in just ninety seconds. The huge overload almost made me coma!"

"What weapons do you plan to equip it with?" Qin Chuan asked.

"MG151 heavy machine gun, or MK108 cannon!" Conrad answered.

"What's the range?" Qin Chuan asked again.

"About four hundred meters!" Conrad replied.

This is especially true for the MK108 cannon. Because its warhead is large, it will drop 41 meters within a distance of 1,000 meters. Therefore, if you want to hit the target, you must fire at a very close distance.

"Uh-huh!" Qin Chuan responded, and then stopped talking.

"What's the problem?" Conrad asked.

"Do you think there's no problem with this?" Qin Chuan asked.

"I don't think there's any problem!" Conrad's face was full of confusion.

Hannah suddenly seemed to have thought of something and replied: "No, there is a problem... The speed of 950 kilometers per hour means that it can fly 263 meters per second. In other words, from the time the target enters the pilot's range, it only takes a few seconds In two seconds the pilot is over the target and there is no time for the pilot to aim and shoot unless he can complete all the actions within two seconds!”

Conrad couldn't help but said "Oh" when he heard this, and then fell silent.

After a pause, Conrad asked again: "Can we let the pilot aim in advance, that is, aim at the target, and only need to pull the trigger when the target enters the range..."

"This is feasible in theory!" Qin Chuan said: "But actual combat is another matter. Aiming in advance is not as easy as imagined, and even judging the distance of the target is not easy, especially on a fast-flying aircraft. On the plane... you think it is 400 meters, but it may actually be 800 meters or more. When you are sure that you are entering 400 meters, the target will be behind you in the blink of an eye. The enemy and the enemy are flying towards each other, leaving less time for the pilot to react! "

Conrad couldn't help but frown in distress.

What Qin Chuan said is true. Sometimes it does not mean that faster is better. The speed of Me163 will make it irrelevant to the battlefield, that is, the enemy cannot hit it, and at the same time, it cannot hit the enemy.

On the other hand, due to the danger of its fuel and high failure rate, the Me163 has almost become a suicide weapon... Up to 80% of the lost Me163s crashed due to their own faults.

"Maybe... we can slow it down!" Hannah said.

"No!" Conrad replied: "If the speed is reduced, it will have no advantages at all compared with other fighters!"

Conrad is right. If the speed of the Me163 is reduced to about 700 kilometers, although this can give the pilot time to aim, but if this is the case, why use the Me163 instead of the aircraft?

Cheapness may still be a good reason, but more important is the loss of the pilot, and the Me163 has another fatal flaw... its fuel is only enough to fly in the air for eight minutes.

After thinking about it, Conrad shook his head and said, "You should have told us this earlier, Major!"

"But...how do I know?" Qin Chuan spread his hands.

"I don't mean to blame you!" Conrad sighed: "I mean, you see, we have studied for so long and wasted so much time and energy, especially Hannah risked her life several times. …”

At this point Conrad suddenly realized that he had let something slip.

"So!" Qin Chuan looked at Hannah and said, "That's why you have to cancel this plan. It will not do any good except cause casualties to our pilots!"

"No!" Hannah objected: "We have paid so much blood, and we are about to go into actual combat..."

"Continuing this plan will only cause us to lose more!" Qin Chuan interrupted Hannah.

"Maybe we can find other uses for it!" Hannah cast an expectant look at Qin Chuan.