"Regiment, the second bomber group sent a telegram. They have successfully completed the bombing mission and have returned."
"Um!"
Gao Hongming, who was standing in a hidden observation post watching the battle at Guojialing, responded without turning his head.
Chi Yaohui on the side asked: "What are the casualties of the Second Bomber Group?"
"The Second Bomber Group was intercepted by Japanese aircraft during the bombing. One B-25 was injured and rushed towards the Japanese position. None of the crew members survived. Another five B-25s were damaged to varying degrees, two of which were damaged.
The damage is serious and requires major repairs."
After a while, Gao Hongming put down his telescope and asked Chi Yaohui: "What do you think of this bombing?"
Chi Yaohui thought for a while: "In general, the effect of this bombing is quite good. Except for the third and fourth bomber groups, which have no news yet, the first and second groups have completed the bombing mission. The first group is lucky
Yes, they were able to return home as a whole, but the second group's luck was not so good and was intercepted by the Japanese army, resulting in considerable losses.
I think bombers must be escorted by fighter jets when performing missions in the future, otherwise it will be too dangerous. You know we only have four squadrons of bombers in total, so losing one is heartbreaking."
"I don't know this truth."
Gao Hongming sighed softly, "But don't look at the size of our flying brigade. It seems to be quite large now, with fifty bombers and seventy or eighty fighter planes, but now we are facing one hundred thousand Japanese.
Air support is needed everywhere, and we have too few aircraft. Taking this operation as an example, we can only let Stukas and B-25s perform the most important bombing missions, and the remaining fighter planes must be fully loaded with bombs.
To bomb the 21st Division of the 4th Composite Brigade, we really couldn’t even spare a single escort aircraft.”
Chi Yaohui also sighed. Why didn't he understand this? For this bombing, even the P47 had to make a guest appearance to bomb the ground. What else could he say?
But when it came to the P-47 fleet, he became a little worried: "I just don't know how those young men are doing now?"
Although the P-47 is an air superiority fighter, due to its high-power Pratt & Whitney R-2800-59 double-row radial engine, it can also carry 1,134 kilograms of bombs (external plug-ins) when necessary.
), making a guest appearance as a bomber.
This is also the reason why the Stukas and B-25 bombers participating in the bombing this time were not escorted by fighter planes. There were really not enough planes, and Gao Hongming had already sent out all the planes he could.
Chi Yaohui advised: "Team, after this battle is over, our second batch of pilot students must expand the scale, otherwise as the war becomes more and more intense, we will need more and more places where aircraft will be needed.
If this happens again, you will be blind."
"I understand this without you having to tell me."
Gao Hongming invited Chi Yaohui to sit down, handed him a cigarette, and after lighting it, he said: "I have asked Huang Huaimin to make arrangements. I plan to expand the number of students in the second phase to 600, with a 30% pass rate.
Come to think of it, I'll be very satisfied if I can have 180 to 200 fighter pilots tomorrow."
"One year."
Chi Yaohui blew out a puff of smoke, stared at Guojialing in the distance, and murmured: "I don't know if our flying brigade can survive until that day."
Fighter pilots are a profession with a very high mortality rate. In a fierce battle, it is common for bad luck to kill and injure dozens of planes and pilots. Otherwise, the war would not have started. In just six months, the Kuomintang had more than 300 fighter planes.
They almost lost everything and completely lost China's air supremacy.
"Don't worry, we can definitely get through this."
Gao Hongming patted him on the shoulder, but he didn't care about Chi Yaohui's worries.
This is not because he is distracted, but because he understands that the reason why the Central Air Force lost all its power less than half a year after the war started is that, in addition to China's weak industrial capabilities, the most important reason is that the performance of the aircraft is too backward.
By the time of the July 7th Incident in 1937, the air forces of most countries in the world had already upgraded to more advanced monoplanes. Only China was still using the bi-wing Hawker 3 fighter.
To put it bluntly, this thing is a fighter plane designed by the Americans for export in 1932. It was already lagging behind when it was produced. That is to say, the U.S. government at that time calculated that China did not have the ability to manufacture aircraft, and the Western world was forced to
Japan was under pressure and did not dare to sell fighter jets to China. At that time, the Chinese government was in urgent need of fighter jets, so it sold this fighter jet to the Chinese government.
Moreover, the Hawker 3 fighter is not only extremely expensive, but its performance is seriously lagging behind the Japanese Army Air Force's Type 96 fighter. This has resulted in the Chinese Air Force's more than 300 fighters being exhausted in less than half a year.
This situation was reversed after Chennault established the Flying Tigers. The Chinese and American Flying Tigers, flying second-rate fighters like the P-40, still beat the crap out of the Japanese Zero.
It can be seen that as long as the weapons of the two sides are not too different, the Chinese Air Force is not afraid of the Japanese army at all.
However, due to the emergence of Gao Hongming in this time and space, the Nationalist Government has already acquired 50 P-40 fighters in advance. I think the situation should have improved, right?
Unknowingly, Gao Hongming was so enchanted that he didn't even notice that the cigarette butt burned his hand. He quickly threw away the cigarette butt until his fingers felt a burst of heat.
"Hey, captain, you have to be careful, don't get burned." Chi Yaohui on the side saw Gao Hongming's hand being burned, and thought he was worried about the third and fourth bomber groups that had not yet received news, so he hurriedly
Comforting: "Don't think too much. The third bomber group is all P-47. It's better if these guys don't bully the little devils. Which blind little devil dares to ambush them."
"Who can say for sure what happens in this world?" Gao Hongming chuckled, pointed at Guo Jialing and said: "Zijie, did you see that the little devils launched a fierce attack on Guo Jialing early this morning? It's almost noon.
Stop, what do you think is going on here?"
Chi Yaohui pondered for a moment, "This is not certain. It stands to reason that after the Third Army received a batch of weapons and ammunition reinforced by us, it no longer has to worry about weapons and ammunition in the short term. In addition, they also occupy a favorable location. Thirty
It is unrealistic for the Seventh Division to capture Guojialing in a short period of time, unless they want to waste their time."
"Fighting expenses?"
Gao Hongming not only burst out laughing when he heard this, but if this was the case, the Japanese had made a wrong calculation, and the little Japanese were not that stupid.
He thought for a while, "Zijie, do you think we should let the armored battalion attack to put a little more pressure on the little devils?"