The first batch of "La 5" was assigned a week later.
They are assigned to a place called Peishipo.
The reason why Peishi Slope got its name is because it is rich in a kind of whetstone that is tough and wear-resistant and as flat as a knife.
A place like this is not originally suitable for an airport.
The main reason is that there are stones and the debris left after polishing the stones everywhere. It is conceivable that once this terrain is bombed by the Japs, the rubble will fly everywhere. These rubbles will become the power multiplier of the Japs bombs.
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Wang Xuexin finally chose this place for several reasons:
First of all, Wang Xuexin already has considerable confidence in the airport's defense.
From a purely military perspective, it is still uncommon for an airport to be directly bombed by enemy aircraft. It will only happen if it is attacked by a sneak attack or if the air forces of the enemy and ours are disproportionate.
For example, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the Japanese aviation force was much stronger than the Eighth Route Army.
This is why the Eighth Route Army had to consider airport defense before and even built air-raid shelters at the airport or hid aircraft in underground fortifications.
Although this defense method is safe, it is very passive.
Because airplanes are always used for offense, and they also pay attention to speed.
If you hide them in tunnels or underground warehouses, it means that the take-off speed will be slower.
What's more serious is that once the enemy air force bombs the airport, destroys the runway, and continues to block the airport with bombers or fighter jets, it means that all fighter planes will be blocked in bunkers and unable to take off.
The Eighth Route Army had suffered this kind of loss at Wangxing Airport before. The entire aviation fleet was blocked in underground fortifications, unable to fight and play its role.
The active defense method is to use radar to detect the airspace around the airport, and use fighter planes to drive away enemy planes once they approach, intercepting them so that enemy fighters and bombers cannot approach the airport.
Of course, this requires the air force to have considerable strength, otherwise it will end up being exhausted by the enemy in the first battle.
The Eighth Route Army did not have such strength before, but after introducing the "La 5" from Mao Xiong and even preparing the production line for production, the Eighth Route Army undoubtedly has such strength, especially the Eighth Route Army has the air combat weapon x2.
The "La 5" paired with the
"The 3,000-kilometer range is simply incomparable, which also determines that the "La 5" can only be used for defense rather than offense.
However, this feature also meets the needs of Mao Xiong and the Eighth Route Army... Whether it is Mao Xiong or the Eighth Route Army, what they need more is defense rather than offense.
Another reason why Wang Xuexin chose Toishipo is that it is 200 kilometers away from Daqingshan Steel Plant and 430 kilometers away from Wangxing Airport. (Note: The straight-line distance between Yuncheng and Daqingshan is more than 600 kilometers)
As mentioned before, the first mission of "La 5" is to provide air cover for the Daqingshan Steel Plant.
Therefore, the airport must be close enough to Daqingshan Steel Plant.
Only when it is close enough can the "La 5" fly over the steel plant to provide cover for it when possible.
Objectively speaking, the distance of 200 kilometers is too far. With the "La5"'s top speed of 650 kilometers per hour, it takes nearly 20 minutes to get to the Daqingshan Steel Plant.
20 minutes is not a short time on an airplane.
However, there is nothing that can be done, because Wang Xuexin cannot set the airport too far north. Firstly, it will be easy to be approached by the Japanese. Secondly, in actual combat, being too close will also bring danger to himself... The Japanese fighter planes and
If a bomber suddenly flies over the airport and bombs it indiscriminately, the damage will be huge.
Therefore, Wang Xuexin believes that the distance of 200 kilometers from Daqingshan Iron and Steel Plant is reasonable.
As for whether it can provide timely cover for the steel plant, Wang Xuexin learned a trick from Okamura Neiji: setting up temporary airports, and more than one.
To put it simply, in the future, if the so-called "Anti-Japanese War Self-Defense Forces" are defeated, the Japanese are driven away and the steel plant is captured, two temporary airports will be built as quickly as possible near the steel plant.
The benefits of temporary airports are many.
For example, temporary airports are not afraid of Japanese bombings... Temporary airports usually store very little fuel, parts and ammunition, and planes are also temporarily parked. If the Japanese come to bomb, the planes can just take off in an emergency and transfer, and most of the remaining items are hidden in underground fortifications.
Here, you can explode as the enemy wants.
In terms of protecting the skies above the steel plant and allowing the Japanese to seize air supremacy, the temporary airport can play many roles: If the "La 5" can temporarily stop at the steel plant to refuel, and then take off for combat, its combat radius will be based on the steel plant.
Draw a circle in the center.
The planning of the combat radius is very important for the "La 5", because its range is only 990 kilometers, and the combat radius can only be calculated as more than 300 kilometers at most. Because the combat radius is too short, it must be calculated carefully.
Otherwise, if the calculation starts from the stone slope, the "La 5" will almost reach the combat radius just by flying over the steel plant.
Of course Wang Xuexin would not make this mistake.
Therefore, Toishipo can only be regarded as a main airport in the rear, and several temporary airports in the front can be set up as needed.
On the other hand, Toishipo is 430 kilometers away from Wangxing Airport... This distance is within the one-way flight range of "La 5". If necessary, "La 5" can also provide reinforcements to Wangxing Airport, that is, to Yuncheng.
(Although 430 kilometers exceeds the combat radius of "La 5", because Wuxing Airport and Wanxian Airport can land to refuel, the degree of freedom of combat is greatly increased)
Wang Xuexin has given full consideration to all of these and written them down in his plan.
Even the commander nodded and praised the plan after reading it: "This little Northeastern has two hands! I don't know where he learned it from, and he has such in-depth research on air combat!"
"Zhang Zongping has also asked this question!" The chief of staff explained with a smile: "Xiao Dongbei's statement is based on imagination and deduction. He has to fight with himself all day long to achieve success.
You’re so thoughtful!”
The commander laughed "haha" after hearing this: "This is also a skill! This fully proves that war is not only about wisdom and experience, but also rich imagination!"
The chief is right, war does require rich imagination.
For example, many novel tactics cannot be summarized based on experience. Hans's "Blitzkrieg" is a very creative and bold attempt.
Without this attempt, the war might still have been limited to the trench warfare of World War I.
However, there was one thing that the chief did not expect. Wang Xuexin relied not only on imagination, but also on knowledge and experience from the future.