The Rise of the Third Reich

Cruise missiles should not be able to masturbate...at least theoretically. However, Major General John McConnell, deputy commander of the U.S. 3rd Air Force and chief of staff of the U.S. East Coast Aviation Command, still felt very uneasy. Therefore, he personally boarded a lightly modified F-13 radar early warning aircraft to serve as the air commander of the combat operation to intercept German missiles.

This F-13 was specially modified. All weapons and armor were removed, the pressurized cabin equipment was removed, the engine was replaced with a non-turbocharged model, and even the fuel tank was reduced by half. These modifications aimed at reducing weight gave this improved model of B-29 an extremely fast speed and could be used to track German missiles.

However, tracking missiles is still a very difficult task. Even "slow missiles" traveling at about 600 kilometers per hour are not easy to track. Because the missiles are smaller in size and have a smaller radar reflection cross section, they can easily be ignored if flying alone. Unless they come in groups, they are difficult to catch.

But today the Germans seemed to have given the American F-13 a chance to "catch missiles." Shortly after Major General John McConnell's plane took off from a military airport in New York State, he received a report from the 3rd Air Force headquarters: The German Me264 fleet had launched approximately 300 slow-moving missiles. Quick missile!

These missiles are now flying towards Boston at a speed of less than 600 kilometers per hour and are expected to land in downtown Boston in one hour and 10 minutes.

"It took 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to Boston?"

"Yes," replied Major David Jones, the aircraft's electronics officer and 3rd Air Force staff officer, "the Germans launched the missile 700 kilometers away from Boston."

"Damn it!" Major General McConnell cursed. "Their missiles are getting better and better."

At this time, McConnell suddenly noticed that Major Jones sitting opposite him was frowning, so he asked: "David, what are you worried about?"

"General, I'm worried about those missiles."

"Worried about missiles?" McConnell smiled, "It's only 600 kilometers per hour, but are you worried that you won't be able to hit it?"

The interceptor aircraft used to intercept missiles have been "lightweight" modified, and the engines have been replaced according to the flight altitude of the missiles (the flight altitude of cruise missiles is not high, usually around 3,000 meters, because the temperature is too high when flying) If it is too low, it will easily freeze the guidance instrument inside the missile), and it can completely catch up with missiles with a speed of no more than 650 kilometers per hour at medium and low altitudes. Chasing missiles and "spanking" them is relatively easy to succeed, because there are many opportunities to shoot, and all the ammunition can be used up, and the missiles will not dodge, making them a living target.

"But... why do the Germans launch these slow-speed missiles during the day?" David Jones shook his head. "They can obviously launch missiles at night, which will make it several times more difficult for us to intercept."

"This was a trap," McConnell said. "The Krauts' purpose was to lure out our aircraft deployed on Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. But we didn't fall for it, and their efforts were in vain."

This explanation was reasonable, but Major Davy Jones still felt that something was wrong, but he just couldn't explain it.

…

At the same time, in the sky 500 kilometers south of Newfoundland, more than 300 Me264 bombers had completed the mission of launching the Reaper 1E long-range cruise missile and began to change course and return to the Azores Islands.

The whole process was uneventful. Except for a few suspected F-13 long-range reconnaissance aircraft that were monitoring the Me264 fleet more than 100 kilometers away, not even a single American aircraft was seen.

Hessmann, who was responsible for commanding more than 300 Me262T and Fokker 636 fighter jets (because of the addition of two Kesselring-class aircraft carriers, the aviation combat strength of the 20th Task Force was strengthened), failed to make another big decision as he wished. . His fighter jets did nothing during the entire operation. The only combat record was to hunt down and shoot down an F-13 early warning aircraft.

At 1:30 pm Newfoundland time, after hearing the return order from Models, Hersman Jr. said to Major General Werner Models through the airborne radio: "Major General, it seems that we This time it will be in vain.”

"Wasted effort?" Major General Molders's voice soon came from Hessman's earphones, "It seems not, we have launched at least 326 cruise missiles."

"But the Americans will knock them all down, at least more than half of them. It's not difficult." Little Hersman said with some regret.

"Really?" Mordes chuckled twice, "Then let them try it."

Molders obviously meant something, and little Hersman thought to himself: The cruise missile that was just launched must have some special design, and it is not so easy to be shot down...

However, little Hersman just thought about it and did not continue to ask through the airborne radio, because that was against the regulations.

…

"General, look over there." Major Davy Jones pointed at a group of small black dots in the sky that looked a little dense (it just looked dense) and said loudly to Major General McConnell, "We found them."

Major General McConnell raised his telescope and looked in the direction of Major Jones's finger. Sure enough, there were flying missiles. These missiles look a bit like a small jet aircraft. The missile body is similar in size to a Fokker Zero aircraft. It is propelled by a jet engine, but it does not fly very fast, about 600 kilometers per hour.

"General, all the missiles are concentrated together... It seems we can kill them all."

McConnell nodded: "David, have you found any German fighter planes?"

"No," Major Jones replied. "None of the F-13s spotted the Kraut fighters."

Because of the lessons learned on April 8, the Americans were much more careful this time. They sent out many F-13s to patrol around, and also sent out extremely high-altitude models of F-13s (due to the needs of the war, the current U.S. Army Aviation and Naval Aviation Equipped with a large number of F-13s, and also produced many F-13 derivatives), responsible for searching for Me262.

"Okay," Major General McConnell nodded, "Let's start the attack. Who goes first?"

"Army Air Force 119th Fighter Wing."

The one named by David Jones was a wing equipped with 60 P-51B/C fighter jets. Different from the German organization, the American fighter wing and bomber wing only have one combat group.

60 P-51B/Cs emerged from the clouds, quickly dispersed into formation, and pounced from behind on the German missile group flying at a speed of 600 kilometers per hour. The distance between the two sides quickly shortened, and soon they were at a distance where they could fire. Most of the P-51s have found their targets, but no one is in a hurry to fire - anyway, the missiles in front will just fly stupidly, neither do any maneuvers, nor fire back, so they can keep the distance as close as possible. , to avoid missing the target.

The 12.7mm machine gun used by the P-51B/C has a range of more than 1,500 meters and an effective range of about 800 meters. However, if you want to really hit a missile flying at a speed of 600 kilometers per hour, it is best to shorten the distance to within 300 meters. If you want to hit the target accurately, 100 meters may be a suitable distance.

Therefore, most of the 60 P-51 pilots of the 119th Wing were prepared to fire at a distance of 100-300 meters. But something unexpected happened. Just when a P-51 approached a Reaper missile about 350 meters away, before firing, the missile in front exploded into a huge fireball!

"This is..." Major General McConnell, who was watching the battle through a telescope, was stunned again and again. He clearly didn't see the plane fire, so why did the missile explode on its own?

Then, something even more shocking happened to him. The P-51B/C fighter jet chasing the Reaper missile seemed to be affected by the sea of ​​​​fire from the missile explosion, and it fell downwards with black smoke emitting from its head.

"Ah!?" McConnell opened his mouth wide.

"Boom boom boom..."

Explosions happen one after another! And they were all big explosions - just like the missile warhead being detonated by the fuse, hundreds of kilograms of explosives exploded, perhaps with the help of missile fuel, blowing the 2-ton missile into pieces!

The shrapnel formed from the missile body, perhaps with steel balls pre-filled in the body, filled the sky with the huge power of the explosion of hundreds of kilograms of explosives, flying with the waves, like raindrops towards the P- that was following the missile. The 51B/C fighter jet shot away.

Those fighter jets had no time to dodge or even react. When the explosion occurred, they still rushed into the sea of ​​​​fire at a speed of 600 kilometers per hour. Then they were hit by shrapnel in the nose and cabin. Either the engine was damaged or the pilot was killed on the spot! In the blink of an eye, 51 of the 60 P-47Ds of the 119th Fighter Wing were inexplicably shot down.

"How could such a thing happen? God, how could this be possible? Am I hallucinating?" Major General McConnell had an unreal feeling. He suspected that what he encountered was a fake air-to-ground missile... These missiles are simply the kind of surface-to-air missiles disguised as those that showed off their prowess in Buenos Aires!

"It's a radio proximity fuse!" Major David Jones, who was still younger, thought faster and guessed the reason immediately. "The Germans installed a radio proximity fuse on the missile. Our aircraft must not fly close to it. Too close."