Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

Before dawn the next day, Frank and other fighter pilots received a new mission, escorting these Ju87 dive bombers to bomb the Mercadar controlled by the government forces. This was originally an ordinary town in Spain, but there was a military airport there and an air force regiment supported by the Soviet Union was stationed there. The enemy planes that have been frequently ambushed by the Luftwaffe recently basically take off from there.

Although there is no loss, it is not pleasant to be plotted one after another. Maybe one day the boat will capsize in the gutter accidentally. Therefore, the superiors decided to destroy the airport to teach the Spanish government forces and certain opponents a lesson.

After breakfast, the flight was organized and prepared for attack.

"The first Stuka formation is preparing to take off." Edman, sitting on a Ju87, reported to the tower.

In the German Army Aviation dive bomber force, the three-plane formation is the most basic unit. 4-5 three-plane formations form a squadron, usually equipped with 12-16 aircraft and staffed by 20-25 pilots and corresponding ground crew. The group consists of 3-4 squadrons plus a group headquarters.

At this time, the Yumo 211A1 liquid-cooled V-type 12-cylinder engine in the Stuka engine had started, making roars one after another.

"Stuka formation one, you can take off." After getting permission from the tower, Edman pushed the throttle lever to the maximum. The engine roared and exploded with 1,000 horsepower. The propeller rotated rapidly, and the Stuka slid forward along the runway, faster and faster.

Pulling the operating lever, the Stuka bomber lifted off the ground somewhat cumbersomely. Although it had a sound 1,000 horsepower, the horsepower was not sufficient for a body weight of more than five tons.

Under Yannick's attention, the Stuka bombers skipped the Ju87A? early model with relatively mediocre performance and directly entered service with the mature Ju87B model. The standard mount is one SC250~250kg bomb, and four smaller SC50~50kg bombs under the wings. Sometimes there is also a configuration with only one SC500?500kg?. (If there is only one pilot, the bomb load can reach 1 ton)

When the engine was finally replaced with an engine of more than 1,400 horsepower, the maximum bomb weight limit of the Ju87D was increased to 1,800kg, which is enough to illustrate the excellent design of this aircraft.

The first Stuka formation took off, followed by the second formation, followed by ten BF109s.

After taking off, the two Stuka formations did not continue to climb, but flew forward at an altitude of several hundred meters. This kind of ultra-low-altitude flight was Stuka's specialty, and this bombing method of striking the enemy suddenly remained obsolete until later generations.

However, the BF109 fleet that finally took off began to climb higher and climbed to an altitude of 5,000 meters.

After all, bombers can fly at ultra-low altitudes, but fighters are not suitable. Fighter escorts are more suitable at high altitudes. In this way, when the situation is discovered, they can swoop down from high altitudes at any time to provide support!

Not long after the formation set off, Edman encountered something troublesome. "Fledgling No. 2, Flinging Bird No. 2, stay in formation, you are flying too fast." Edman covered his throat with the intercom, turned his head and stared coldly at the wingman on the left.

Like fighter pilots, the Army Air Corps calls its newly graduated pilots fledglings.

However, this newly graduated chick seems to be overly energetic and even a little unruly. Even if he keeps a close watch, he can cause trouble right under his nose. If pilots weren't an extremely valuable resource, he would really want to kick this guy back to his hometown to farm.

Seemingly sensing Edman's cold eyes or hearing the dissatisfaction in his words, Nestling No. 2 immediately slowed down and slowly returned to his position in the formation.

Just like this, knocking and warning from time to time along the way, Edman finally waited for the contact of the bf109 formation at high altitude. "We have sight of Mercader, good visibility, no enemy aircraft in the sky."

"Very good, Stuka formation idea, start climbing and dive bomb according to the predetermined target!" Edman gave the order on the radio and pulled the joystick to control the aircraft to climb upward.

For dive bombing, you need to have altitude first. Just now, you have been flying at ultra-low altitude all the way. When you get close to the target, you fly almost at a height close to the ground to avoid being discovered by the opponent's lookout. Now, you need to pull Woke up!

The propeller in front of the Stuka bomber was spinning at maximum speed, and it began to climb awkwardly and slowly.

Fighter pilots would go crazy flying such a slow aircraft. Fortunately, for a professional dive bomber, flight speed and altitude are not particularly important performance. Longitudinal stability during dive and the solidity of the body are issues that must be concerned about. So these dive bomber pilots still like this bomber very much.

I don’t know how much imagination the German aircraft designers have used. The stability of this aircraft during dive is surprisingly high. This stability is attributed to the two huge fixed landing gears and the huge dive speed brakes under the wings, which are the so-called "aerodynamic brakes".

The huge landing gear is equivalent to two vertical stabilizers during dive, and the dive speed brake makes this effect more significant. But this also caused another problem. The Stuka's longitudinal stability is really too good. It is so good that it becomes very difficult for it to suddenly make a slightly larger maneuver. And this type of Movement is often the most common way to avoid attacks from opposing fighter jets.

The Stuka's strong fuselage allows it to withstand huge torsion that is unimaginable for other aircraft, allowing it to immediately recover from the dive state after a high-speed dive. During this process, the aircraft body must withstand at least six g of pressure. Ordinary fighter jets may be shattered into pieces before they are even halfway through the dive recovery process.

These remarkable performances made this dive bomber worthy of becoming the best ground support force in the early days of World War II. Its emergence fundamentally changed the German Army's combat model. Some old combat methods in the past were abandoned. In response to this New close air support tactics were developed based on the aircraft usage plan.

When the war began, the development of this tactic created by the German Army Air Forces was already far ahead of their European counterparts. Especially in Britain, when the Germans first created this tactic, someone in the British Army proposed a similar theory, but they achieved completely opposite results to the Germans. Due to the opposition of the rigid and stubborn officers of the British Empire, even the troops who practiced this tactic would be ruthlessly reprimanded. As a result, the British paid a heavy price for their short-sightedness.

Of course, this is really good news for Yannick and Germany.