"Hey, Ron, what's so good about the Army? It's better to come to our Navy." I don't know how many times it was Lieutenant Colonel John Thatch who told Ron this.

"Well, the airport will never be sunk, and..." Ron pretended to be serious and said after thinking for a while.

"Tsk, it's just the airport, your army's planes are better than ours." Petrov immediately jumped up to object.

"Don't believe it?" Ron glanced at Petrov, "Let's each go back and fly a plane to see who is better."

"Tch, that's because you are awesome, not because the Army's aircraft are awesome. How about we let your Army have a friendly match with us and win five out of seven games? We will definitely..." Petrov originally wanted to call a clean sheet, but looked at it

He looked at Ron and changed his mind again, "We will definitely win by a big score."

"Stop bragging, our Army can definitely beat you." Ron didn't show any weakness.

The officers like the disputes among the pilots very much. Anyway, there are no new aircraft carriers for them to use now, and it is impossible to carry out combat missions. Idle time is idle, so they might as well use such competitions to strengthen their training. Besides,

From the perspective of the Navy, Midway Island has not seen the level of the Army. It is also good to improve their morale by torturing them. However, the Army is also very confident: "The Navy is so good, half of the training time is

When practicing ship landings, how high can the level of air combat be? Besides, we also have new weapons." So a friendly match between the Naval Aviation and the Army Air Force (later the U.S. Air Force) started, which later became a tradition.

The curtain opened.

The new weapon that the Army regards as its trump card is the P-38 fighter jet. Although this aircraft is not perfect, at least it has not yet been replaced with a 20mm Vulcan cannon. But it is more than enough to deal with the Navy's F4F and the like.

The p-38 came to the wing actually two days before Ron returned from visiting relatives. At first, the pilots of the flying team still had a lot of doubts about this aircraft. For example, this kind of aircraft uses a tail boom structure.

Is the aircraft sturdy enough? (In fact, except for the later P-47, the U.S. Army does not have a fighter aircraft more sturdy than the P-38.) As a twin-engine aircraft, is it flexible enough? You know, in the Battle of Britain

, the Nazi's twin-engine heavy-range long-range fighter BF110 was so badly bullied by the British Spitfire and Hurricane because it was too inflexible, so that the Germans had to send the single-engine BF109 to escort it. As a result, "Fighters in need of escort"

"This name has become a lifelong pain for following bf110. When it comes to maneuverability, twin-engine fighters really can't afford it. Since then, twin-engine fighters have been so shy that they dare not go out during the day, and they have completely changed their profession and become night fighters.

and reconnaissance aircraft. Now that the United States has equipped the Army with such a twin-engine thing, can it not make the same mistake as the BF110?

It was already August when Ron came back, which is the hottest time of the year in Hawaii. Fortunately, Hawaii is located in the tropics, but because it is an island, the temperature is actually not very high, and the hottest time every year is only 31 degrees Celsius.

The first time he actually came into contact with this legendary fighter plane was the morning after returning to the team.

In the early morning, Hawaii is shrouded in a magnificent glow. The beach, coconut trees, and seaside rocks are all covered with a layer of golden red rouge. The cool breeze blowing from the sea gently blows over the coconut trees.

The huge blades made a rustling sound. At one end of the runway, a strange-looking fighter plane was parked there.

The fuselage of this fighter aircraft is very short, and the tail is not installed on the fuselage like ordinary aircraft. Instead, huge wings extend from the left and right, and then there is an engine nacelle on each side of the wing. From there

A slender tail strut structure extended backwards, which together supported the tail fin connecting them. Ron walked to the plane, closed his eyes, stretched out his hand and gently touched the fighter plane. It felt like stroking himself.

Like my lover.

"Hey, isn't this guy a pervert? I heard that the more powerful guys are a bit perverted."

"Go, there should be more perverted guys who are more powerful. You think about it..."

So a big debate began about whether to become abnormal first and then become powerful or to become powerful first and then become abnormal. Both sides quoted classics and classics to criticize each other. In the sparks generated by the collision of ideas, a classic topic comparable to which came first, the chicken or the egg, was born.

But Ron was too lazy to pay attention to them for the time being. His mind was attracted by the plane. He boarded the plane, checked various items, started the engine, released the brakes, and the plane began to accelerate and taxi on the runway, and then lightly

Gently lift the nose of the aircraft and take off into the air.

The P-38 is indeed far superior to the P-40. Not to mention anything else, the climb and acceleration are far beyond what the P-40 can match. In the blink of an eye, the plane climbed above the clouds. From there, it went down.

Looking down, you can see small toy-like ships pulling out long white tracks on the sea. White clouds cast their shadows on the islands and the sea, making the bad luck and the sea no longer

The whole piece is green or blue, but a drawing board covered with dark or light tones.

The flight altitude was getting higher and higher. In a blink of an eye, it had exceeded 20,000 feet. Ron started the turbocharger. With its help, the engine still maintained strong power output even at high altitudes. The flight speed was getting faster and faster.

Quick, it exceeded 400 (miles) in a short time. Now, at least now, in the Pacific, no enemy plane can match it and fly as high and fast as it does. If possible, Ron really wants to fly

Shout: "I'm here, I saw it, I..."

But Ron is not in such a mood now, because it is extremely hot in the cockpit. As for the P-38, everything is good, but the temperature in the cockpit is unbearable. In history, when the P-38 was performing missions in Europe,

Because we are always at high altitudes and at high latitudes, it is often very cold in the cockpit, and some embarrassing incidents have even caused pilots to faint from freezing. However, in the Pacific Ocean, the temperature in the cockpit is always so high that it can cause heatstroke.

Everyone who has flown a few laps on a P-38, the first thing they do after landing is to look for water.

Originally, even in the tropics, it would not be too hot to fly an airplane. If it is really hot, just open the cockpit cover and fly with it open. But the problem is that the P-38 cannot open the cockpit cover casually in the air. If it is opened, it will cause serious vibrations in the aircraft.

.So as soon as the P-38 was equipped with troops, it got the nickname "Oven".

Because of this reason, as well as the peculiar shape of the 38, coupled with the extremely slow roll at low speeds, it was not liked by most pilots at first. But Ron knew that everyone would soon discover the potential of this aircraft.

It’s extraordinary and I love it.

The first is its firepower. Although at first glance, as a heavy fighter, it only has one more 20-gun compared to the P-40. It even has one 37-gun, two .50 machine guns and two more than the P-39.

Compared with the 7.62mm machine gun, it is not necessarily stronger. But what is rare is that all the weapons of the P-38 are installed on the nose, so the bullets it fires will be very dense, and those who install weapons on the wings

On board the aircraft, the bullets they fire will scatter after crossing the intersection point. Therefore, even if the P-38 fires at a considerable distance, it can still ensure the density of the projectiles and still have a high hit rate. It can be called an aerial sniper.

hand.

In the afternoon, the squadron conducted its first shooting training after changing its equipment. Ron was the first to appear, using a long point gun to hit the target with holes at a distance of 500 meters. At the beginning, everyone

They all thought it was because of Ron's superior skills, but when they mounted the P-38 themselves, they discovered that the P-38's fire was so accurate, it was a world of difference compared to the P-40 and the like.

If those Japanese who are accustomed to zero combat with shells flying around have the opportunity to shoot with a P-38, they will be so greedy that their mouths will water.

In the subsequent confrontation drill within the team, the gap between p-40 and p-38 was even more astonishing. Now the rules have been changed to let p40 occupy the 6-point position before starting the drill. But even so,

p40 is still in a difficult situation.

Ron pushed the throttle to the end, and the two engines roared. With the strong acceleration ability, his P-38 easily broke away from the range of the P-40 behind it. Then he gently pulled the operation

The huge twin fighter began to climb lightly in a spiral. The P-40 could not catch up with the P-38 during the climb. After climbing for a short distance, the P-40 behind it was already dragged too hard to climb.

Its speed has dropped to a dangerous level. If it continues to follow, it will only stall. Now the P-40 that has been fooled can only escape by sliding straight down, and at this time, the P-38 is even doing various things.

To generate energy for high-g action, gently adjust the left engine to idle speed and start to turn sharply to the left. Even though the P-38 is big, you would think that its turning radius must also be large. By adjusting the two engines

, which makes their thrust different, the P-38 can also complete very exciting sharp turns, almost comparable to those in Zero War.

After completing this sharp turn, the P40 had appeared in front of Ron. Although the aircraft had begun to dive, its speed had not yet fully increased. However, his right choice was definitely the right choice.

At the current altitude, aren't you waiting to be beaten to death?

But diving can only escape for a while, you can't fly into the sea and become a submarine. Relying on diving can't make the P-40 escape the pursuit of the P-38. The P-38 with the addition of dive flaps can't just dive.

It will be a zero battle that will disintegrate in the air.

Kanu's P-40 was firmly pressed at a low altitude close to the water. He watched Ron's P-38 dive from different angles again and again, and roared back to the heights with an astonishingly high climb rate.

Then it happened again. Kanu knew that if it was an actual battle, he would have been beaten into pieces. He had no choice but to shake the wings, and then said reluctantly on the radio: "I lost... This guy

It’s purely bullying.”

Yes, the battle between the P-38 and the P-40 is indeed pure bullying. Sometimes, when the technological gap reaches a certain level, any flying technology is just a cloud. Those technologies are extremely superb.

Japan's ace samurai may still be able to barely save his life, but with the arrival of the P-38, the era when zero combat ruled the sky is gone forever.

Since the gap between the P-40 and the P-38 has weakened the role of flight technology, how can the F4F, which is not much different from the P-40 in terms of technical level, be able to cope with the spiral climb of the P-38?
Chapter completed!