An aviation unit may have thousands or more fighter pilots, but among these thousands of pilots, less than 10% or even less may have the ability to fight at night. This situation is not only In the Anti-Japanese Alliance, it was the same even among the big air powers.
The effort and cost of training a night pilot is more than ten times that of training a day pilot, especially in the absence of dedicated night interception combat aircraft and the ability to fly all-weather. It means that these pilots have all-weather combat capabilities.
You must know that even among the Japanese army, which has always been known for its rigorous training, there are not many fighter pilots who can fly all-weather. Especially the Japanese Army Air Force, whose night flying capabilities are not even as good as those who have worked hard in this area. Anti-League.
There is no airborne radar at the moment, and the emergence of airborne radar was only a year later. In today's night air combat, after night pilots take to the sky, in addition to the instructions provided by ground radar and the assistance of searchlights and flares, they search for targets. The only things that could help them determine their target were the faint flames emitted from the exhaust pipes of enemy aircraft in the air and the navigation lights that were not so conspicuous in the night sky.
The night fighter force has high requirements for pilots, which are far from comparable to those of bombers. The night flight of bombers is relatively simple. After all, bombers do not need air combat, and their flight routes are relatively fixed. However, fighter pilots who need to engage in air combat are... Two different things happened.
Even though preparations have been made long ago, night flying ability has almost become a necessary training subject for Anti-League pilots. However, at present, the Anti-League has only three fighter squadrons in total that can conduct night air combat, and the pilots of these three fighter squadrons are almost They were all veterans of the first two batches of pilots of the Anti-Japanese War who had survived many battles.
Now, three people were accidentally injured just because they were unfamiliar with ground artillery fire. How could Yang Zhen not feel distressed? Yang Zhen was very dissatisfied with Fang Ziyi's explanation. His bomber and transport aircraft pilots were now basically 100% Sixty of them have the ability to fly at night, but only three squadrons of fighter pilots have the ability to fly at night.
When this happens, how can we just be a bomber pilot? Because of the particularity and danger of performing the mission, and the flight instruments of bombers are more sound than that of fighter jets, so when training pilots' night combat capabilities, priority was given to training bomber pilots. This excuse can be explained.
As early as the establishment of the aviation force, Yang Zhen required that 60% of bomber and transport aircraft pilots be able to complete night flights relying solely on instruments, and that 100% of twin-engine bomber pilots should be able to fly at night by the middle of next year at the latest. Complete night flying and bombing missions.
Although fighter pilots are not as demanding as bomber pilots, Yang Zhen has repeatedly requested that at least one-third be able to complete night flights and transition missions, and at least a quarter must be able to fly at night. Intercept bombers and fight against escorting Japanese fighter jets that may appear in the level.
However, the aviation force's current training of bomber and transport aircraft pilots can be said to have met or even exceeded its own requirements. However, the training of fighter pilots is very different. In Yang Zhen's view, this is a matter of attitude and vision, not that it is a matter of attitude and vision. The aviation force doesn't care or doesn't take its own requirements seriously.
It's because they think their request is unrealistic, and they worry that too much strengthening of night training will cause too much damage. Some people even think that it is simply impossible to fly a single-engine fighter with only one crew member for night air combat. , Night air defense operations should be carried out more by ground anti-aircraft artillery, rather than by fighter jets that turn the sky into darkness.
Especially during the night interception training process, the losses were indeed heavy. The American-made fighter jets, which were used as night interception fighters because their flight instruments were far more advanced than those of the Soviet-made fighter jets and their arrival time was also longer, suffered heavy losses during the training. More than 20 aircraft were lost due to crashes and night wandering, and more than 10 pilots died.
Under the circumstance that the price paid was not small, the aviation force could only select pilots with excellent skills and participated in more than two air battles, and reluctantly formed three combat squadrons. Moreover, these three combat squadrons were only initially completed at night. As for the interception training of bombers in the horizontal direction, as for other trainings, all training has not yet started because there is no information for reference.
It is precisely because of the heavy losses during training that a considerable number of people within the aviation force believe that single-engine fighter jets are not suitable for night operations. Some people even cited the Japanese aviation force, especially the vast majority of the fighter force, as lacking the ability to fly at night. Examples to prove the correctness of your thinking.
As the chief military officer of an army of hundreds of thousands, Yang Zhen couldn't pay attention to everything. He checked all the situations one by one. Until the end of the air battle last night, he faced the battle report reported by the aviation force, as well as the situation between the enemy and ourselves. When comparing the casualties, Yang Zhen, who had just learned about these situations, was quite dissatisfied.
It's not that Yang Zhencheng just went online and estimated the problem is too serious, but in his opinion, this view is undoubtedly a matter of vision, and he is worried that during night combat training, if there are too many crashes, he will reduce the training. Undoubtedly, it is a matter of attitude. These two points are the main reasons for the current low night combat capability of the aviation fighter force.
In fact, Yang Zhen also knew that conducting night flights and night combat training would be risky for a newly established air force that was destined to have yet to fully mature its wings. The foundation in the Jiangbei direction was far stronger than that of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, but it had a night force There are not many fighter pilots with aviation capabilities.
Visibility at night is almost non-existent. Apart from using flight instruments, there are almost no landmarks that can be used for reference. And the requirements for night-flying fighters are far less simple than for bombers with fixed routes. Cultivating a pilot with night-flying capabilities can be said to be a challenge. Extremely difficult.
Even though the pilots' cultural level and starting point are much higher than that of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, and their history is much longer than that of the Anti-Japanese Alliance aviation, the British Royal Air Force and the German Air Force, the strongest tactical air force in World War II, can fly single-engine light fighter jets for night air combat. The number of pilots is also far less than that of day fighter pilots.
Moreover, the British, who have a sound and independent modern aviation industry and a complete radar defense system, can upgrade their radar systems anytime and anywhere, develop modern night-flying fighters, and develop their own electronic countermeasures technology in a targeted manner. .
At the same time, the British, whose national education level is far higher than that of China, can quickly train a large number of qualified pilots. The training difficulty is also far less than that of the Anti-Japanese Federation, whose educational level is far lower than that of the British. At least there is no need to teach before training. For those pilots, with the most basic mathematics and physics, the space for pilots to choose is far greater than that of the Anti-League.
The price and time it takes to train a person with an elementary school education, or a lower level of education, to become a qualified pilot is much higher than that of a person who graduated from a junior high school, or a student who graduated from the Puppet Manchukuo High School, in three months. A flight theory course that can be completed will take a year or more for people with low educational levels.
If we look at the total number of air crews lost by the British during World War II, which reached nearly 80,000, then almost all the junior high school graduates in the base area combined together can barely reach this number. That is to say The time it takes for the Anti-Japanese Alliance to train one batch of pilots is enough for others to train three batches or even more of pilots.
During World War II, the United States and Britain were able to quickly replenish their casualties in a short period of time despite heavy losses. In addition to the already popular civilian flying sports, the high level of national culture enabled them to In a situation where multiple branches of the military are expanding their personnel and the demand for intellectuals is extremely strong, it is relatively easy to select pilots, which also plays a significant role.
At present, the aviation industry is still in its infancy, and there is still a long way to go before it can truly form its own independent production capabilities. As for the ability to independently design modern aircraft, it is still unclear. Compared with the British, the foundation we face is inherently different. The anti-resistance alliances in different places still have a long way to go to reach this point. Now the first step of the long march has just been taken.
Although we also know that whether it is the development of the aviation industry or the improvement of the quality of combat troops, it will take a relatively long period of accumulation and development until it reaches maturity, especially the newly emerging night air interception, which requires a gradual maturity process. But now Yang Zhen seems a little impatient to wait.
Because he knew clearly that even if the Japanese army's plan failed this time, it had never given up on completely killing the Anti-Japanese Alliance, especially the various factories being built, which had almost become a thorn in the side of the Kwantung Army. In order to weaken the development and development of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, The ability to resist will nip in the bud the industries being built by the Anti-League at all costs.
If the problem cannot be solved on the ground, the best way is to solve it in the air. If the losses from daytime air raids are too great, then night bombing is the first choice. The Japanese and the Germans are allies. The Germans used night bombing methods against British cities, especially It was a tactic that dealt a devastating blow to the British military industrial center in order to destroy the British resistance. The Japanese were absolutely familiar with it.
Industrial bases and cities are not field airports, let alone field troops. They can be moved at any time. If the Japanese army carries out large-scale night strategic air strikes at all costs to destroy the various industrial bases that the Anti-Japanese Alliance is creating, it will be like a year or two later. Just like the methods used by the United States and Britain against the Germans.
Judging from the battle situation last night, it is difficult for Yang Zhen not to worry about the devastating damage to the various industrial bases under construction. With Japan's national strength, as long as it is determined to complete the southern operation, it will destroy the heavy bombers of the navy and air force. The whole group will be transferred back to the Northeast. It is not difficult to do this.
Because for the Pacific War that is about to start in a few months, the protagonist of this war will be carrier-based aviation for at least a long time. As for the road-based heavy bombers, they will be useless for a long time. Although the performance of the Type 96 and Type 1 heavy bombers mass-produced by the Japanese army is not very good, the number is still considerable.
After the Japanese army completed its southward campaign, it was not impossible to transfer these heavy bombers to the northeast for operations. The internal differences between the Japanese army and navy were a matter of internal struggle for power, but externally, they were quite consistent.
Although there are occasional moments of subterfuge and superiority, in the end it is a modern army, not a warlord's private armed force. Generally speaking, this army still obeys the orders of the state, at least in terms of its general strategic direction and actual strategic actions. , the cooperation is still very tacit.
In this battle, isn't it because the Navy is backing the Army? Otherwise, with the limited strength of the Kwantung Army Aviation Corps, it does not have such great capabilities to launch such a large-scale operation. Therefore, for the development of some things, it is necessary to We need to be extremely vigilant, as short-sightedness will only lead to a higher price to be paid.