The MiG fighter, which was designed in the pre-war era and was born as a high-altitude fighter, was obviously not designed for low-altitude dogfights. Only a flying altitude of more than 5,000 meters was the combat airspace where the MiG fighter could exert its full strength. At that time,
The extremely excellent high-altitude maneuverability and climb rate allow the MiG to fly at a height of more than 5,000 meters, which is enough to deal with almost all active aircraft in the hands of the German army.
But in fact, the battle for air supremacy in a theater that breaks out to cover ground battles often occurs in low-altitude airspace below two thousand meters or even at an altitude of only a few hundred meters.
The German bombers responsible for ground attack missions, whether they are the relatively smart and accurate Stuka or the cumbersome Dorniers and Heinkels, almost without exception fly at a height of around one thousand meters.
Even lower.
If the Soviet fighter jets want to intercept it, they must descend to a low-altitude airspace of about a thousand meters. The German BF109, which usually escorts its own bombers, will naturally not allow the Soviet fighter jets to massacre like this.
A fierce and unusual low-altitude dog fight and battle for air supremacy were naturally inevitable.
The German bf109e series fighter jets, which have far better low-altitude turning radius and directivity than the MiG, have powerful dogfighting capabilities. With experienced German pilots, it is not a problem to press the MiG, which is not good at low-altitude combat, to the ground and beat it. At the same time,
This is also one of the reasons why the Soviet army has always suffered heavy losses in the battle for air supremacy in theaters since the beginning of the war.
At present, the German Heinkel 111 bombers without the escort of BF109s can only rely on the self-defense firepower on the fuselage to barely cope with the attack of the Soviet MiG fleet.
Although the current air interception battle is also taking place in the low-altitude airspace below 1,000 meters, which the MiG is not good at, there is no reason why the MiG, which cannot compete with the German BF109 in a low-altitude dogfight, should be ridden by the cumbersome bomber.
No matter how bad the high-altitude fighter is in low-altitude combat, in the final analysis, it is still a smart fighter born to fight for air supremacy. The self-defense machine gun on the bulky bomber cannot even protect itself in the face of an organized air combat attack, not to mention the German Heinkel
The self-defense machine guns on the 111 bomber are just 792mm G15 small water pipe machine guns.
The interceptor group consisting of 18 MiG fighter jets was like a pack of prairie wolves wandering around the sheepfold, constantly circling and peering at the weaknesses of the German bomber group, looking for any possible attack opportunities.
Even the self-defense firepower network composed of the US B29 heavy bomber fleet at the end of World War II cannot be absolutely airtight. There are only 6 G15 and 1 G17 aviation machine guns on the body, plus four machine gunners who manually operate the Genk
Er 111 is undoubtedly worse.
Under the premise that the bombardier Burns, who also served as the nose gunner, had been killed, the Heinkel 111 bomber commanded by the fleet commander Major Alfred Hanke had only two machine gunners and the aircraft left in the belly.
You can also fight with a machine gunner on your back.
The Heinkel 111, which had much less self-defense firepower and occupied the position of the leader of the fleet, quickly attracted the attention of the circling Soviet fighter jets.
The supreme truth of taking advantage of your illness to kill you also exists in air battles where the outcome is determined by one strike. Realizing that the German Heinkel 111 bomber had been killed by a Soviet fighter jet that had killed its nose gunner, it immediately pulled its weight.
After the turning radius, the enemy came from directly in front of the nose of the aircraft. The black 127mm Berezin machine gun and the 762mm Shkas machine gun immediately sprayed out fiery flames from their muzzles.
Dong dong dong dong——
Crackling——
"Uhhhhh!!!"
The fleeting sound of machine gun fire was accompanied by the banging sound of tearing the skin of the aircraft body, which echoed in the small cabin. In just a short moment, the machine gunner on the back of the aircraft was hit by seven or eight bullets and was immediately miserable.
While wailing, he fell on the seat full of blood, and his lowered head soaked in blood no longer had any life or movement.
Major Hank, who realized that his crew members had suffered another disaster, could no longer care about anything else. Major Hank, who had been shot through the thigh by at least two rounds of 762 mm Schkath machine gun rounds, could only feel his right leg at this moment.
In severe pain, he has completely lost control. This is undoubtedly a fatal blow to the pilot who needs to press the tail rudder pedal to realize and control the steering of the aircraft.
"Damn planes! Damn Russian Ivan! Where are our fighter jets!?"
The instrument panel on the nose of the aircraft, which had been messed up by the machine gun barrage like autumn leaves swept away by the wind, kept bursting out with hot short-circuit sparks. The various instrument pointers either shattered the goggles and stopped, or kept spinning like they were drugged. The machine body
Major Hank, who had suffered severe damage after enduring two rounds of machine gun fire, soon discovered that the seriousness of the problem was beyond his imagination.
"Damn it! The wing flaps can't move! The flight altitude is constantly decreasing! Move it, pull it up quickly, you bastard!"
Despite his desperate efforts, Major Hank used all his strength to pull the joystick in his hand in an attempt to return the aircraft, which had begun to dive downward and lost its flight attitude, back to level flight.
But what Major Hank didn't know was that the head-on fire from the MiG fighter jets just now not only killed his back gunner, but also penetrated and disabled his entire right leg. It also took away the handle connected to the pilot's control stick.
The wing control cables between the wing flaps are directly interrupted, as if the brain has been cut off from the control nerves and cannot direct the limbs to make any normal movements with ease.
Major Hank, who stretched the control stick in his hand to the limit, failed to change the wing flaps to the airflow rising state. The downward dive angle and speed of the Heinkel 111 continued to increase as time passed.
A dead flying coffin.
In order to satisfy bombardier Burns's tactic of lowering the flight altitude for precise targeting attacks, it now became a fatal choice to bury all remaining crew members, including Major Hank.
Not only was it impossible to pull up at a flying height of just a few hundred meters, but he also had no chance to escape by parachuting. Major Hank, dragging a scrapped leg and looking at the earth coming towards him, had given up the last attempt and had already entered the air during an uncontrollable dive.
The Heinkel 111 fuselage, which had reached overspeed, was shaking violently like a thatched house in a strong winter wind.
Ignoring this last terrifying sign before the plane disintegrated at high speed, Major Hank, whose heart and soul had already died before his life, leaned back on his seat, and glanced at the instrument panel on the right with an emotionless face like a vegetative state.
Black and white photo posted on.
The attachment to one's own life and the people far away, and the unwilling and manic cry in the heart, immediately soared into the sky with an explosion that soared into the sky.