Munitions Empire-Chapter 753 : Master 712 beats up apprentice

The pilots of the Dahua Empire were mostly trained by their own flight instructors who had studied in Dragon Island and Tang Country.

Their textbooks were directly purchased from Tang Country, and their flying habits and understanding of flight were actually derived from the new pilot training manual of Tang Country.

These pilots also underwent some aerial dogfight training, but unfortunately, what they learned was only superficial, and they had virtually no exposure to core combat tactics.

They didn't even know the cooperative tactics between lead and wingman aircraft, fighting each as alone, which would be a disaster when facing the aircraft of the Tang Army.

The Dahua Empire's pilots were inherently technologically inferior and received shorter training—for although the Dahua Empire had built a huge air force and established flight schools to train graduates, these pilots seldom flew fighters for training after joining the service.

There was no choice but to conserve fuel. Compared to the fuel consumed by cars, aircraft engines were even more precious and the fuel they burnt was also more expensive.

In a situation where fuel was needed for development everywhere, it was a good choice for the air force to reduce the training volume. After all, taking off once would consume a tank of fuel, far more expensive than a car.

As a result, training couldn't keep up, so in terms of actual operational level, these air force pilots from the Dahua Empire lacked real dogfighting experience.

They didn't even dare to perform high-difficulty maneuvers, because the planes didn't support them during training, and the performance of the planes after they joined the service wasn't great either. The commanders were afraid of accidents, so they didn't allow pilots to perform flying actions like rolls.

So these pilots were inherently a notch below the pilots from Tang Country, and they were even more timid and disorganized in combat.

Another reason they were at a disadvantage was that the performance of the Shireck Type 1 fighter was just too poor. This aircraft wasn't very advanced, just slightly better than the Camel Fighters sold by Tang Country.

With its severely lagging speed and insufficient ceiling, the Shireck Type 1 fighter was no longer the most advanced fighter even within the Dahua Empire.

However, in preparation for the southern offensive, the Dahua Empire still deployed the prepared new fighter "Dahua Type 1" to the southern front lines in dire need of air force support.

Thus, what was left on the northern front lines were just these outdated Shireck Type 1 fighters.

The Shireck Type 1 fighter didn't just have a fuselage and wings made of wood, it also lacked an enclosed cockpit made of clean glass.

The most outrageous part was that due to being hastily put into production, it still lacked any communication systems. It was actually relying on "hand signals" to convey orders.

In a situation where it was nearly impossible to communicate after taking off, expecting the pilots to execute intricate coordination was nothing short of delusional.

When contrasting the two sides—one high and the other low—the gap between them became all the more apparent. The young man flying the Butcher Fighter effortlessly shot down four enemy aircraft and then once again pulled his plane to a height unattainable by the enemy.

The pilots of the Dahua Empire were extremely desperate. Their planes were too slow, unable to catch up or escape, just like fish on a chopping board, helpless under the knife.

Even the Stuka Dive Bombers carrying out dive-bombing missions could easily shoot down these intercepting aircraft of the Dahua Empire.

The gap was truly too vast.

After shooting down another enemy aircraft, the young man piloting the Butcher Fighter revealed a smile, as today's harvest was already immense. Upon returning, his squad leader would surely praise him.

Soaring in the sky like an eagle, keenly seizing fleeting opportunities to defeat opponents, that was what a fighter pilot should be doing!

Before this, they had no such opportunities, only able to carry bombs like the pilots of Stuka Dive Bombers and perform ground attack missions, which was extremely dull.

Engaging in dogfights with the enemy's fighters, like today, was the dream of a fighter pilot, the kind of battle they truly desired!

In the past, there were no enemy planes, so such thoughts could only be hidden deep within the hearts of fighter pilots. Aside from training, the fighter pilots could only diligently practice ground attack missions, pushing through the boredom.

Now, everything was back on track! The fighter pilots could finally face the enemy's planes and engage in elegant combat.

Elegant, indeed elegant.

The young man gently nudged his control stick, allowing the nimble warplane to spiral through the sky. It was like a hawk dominating a sparrow below it or a shark circling around sardines.

The twin-row radial engine at the nose of the FW-190 fighter roared pleasantly, driving the propeller in front to spin rapidly.

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This mature and efficient power system enabled the warplane to reach speeds near the limits of propeller aircraft.

The finely tuned control stick provided excellent feedback on the status of the aircraft, giving the pilot more confidence in executing complicated maneuvers.

After circling almost at will in the sky, the young pilot from Tang Country found a Dahua Empire fighter trying to flee the battlefield on the outskirts and once again opened fire, effortlessly shooting down the opponent.

Every time he attacked, he subconsciously used short bursts of fire, a tactical method he had devised during his routine tail-chase training.

The Butcher Fighters produced by Great Tang Group were overall excellent, except for some minor issues with weapon selection.

Originally, there was no need to equip fighters with 20mm caliber cannons to deal with those flimsy wooden fighters for the Great Tang Kingdom.

Using the standard 7.92mm caliber machine guns of the Tang Army was sufficient against the Anti-Tang Alliance, yet Tang Mo still decided to equip his own fighters with 20mm caliber cannons.

On one hand, 20mm caliber cannons were indeed convenient for strafing the ground; on the other, it was about reserving some technology in advance to deal with potentially newer enemy fighters and bombers that might appear later on.

However, this meant a drastic reduction in the amount of ammunition carried, which forced pilots to be constantly mindful of conserving ammunition during attacks.

This was quite unfriendly to rookie pilots, but in the eyes of veteran pilots, such a defect was hardly worth mentioning.

At least the destructive power of the 20mm caliber cannons was sufficient, just a few shots were needed to completely destroy those fragile enemy planes.

…

While the soldiers on the ground of the Dahua Empire gasped in despair, the field airfields behind them were also being visited by bombers from Tang Country.

The Flying Fortress Bombers which had earlier carried out bombing missions over Fengjiang were not on a mission of retaliation this time, but to genuinely destroy the enemy field airfields.

After carpet bombing by the Flying Fortress Bombers, the two field airfields, which had been scouted out in advance, had basically lost their capability to launch and recover aircraft.

Before the engineers repairing the airfields could begin work, military officers saw another group of Stuka Dive Bombers from Tang Country delivering precise strikes on all of the Dahua Empire's airfields.

The runways, which were quite smooth originally, now bore numerous black craters. Repairing these craters would take time, and time seemed to be what the Dahua Empire was most in need of these days.

Approximately two hundred Flying Fortress Bombers dropped bombs that destroyed not only the runways but also some buildings along the runway edges.

The bombing accounted for the destruction of over 150 Camel Fighters that had not managed to take off, as well as about 50 Shireck 1 Fighters.

At the same time, 10 of the Dahua Empire's manufactured twin-wing large bombers were destroyed, along with an ammunition depot near the airfield.

Although there were not many bombs in the ammunition depot, just some machine gun bullets used by planes, the loss was still heavy for the Dahua Empire.

Because these were not ordinary bullets but tracer bullets that Dahua Empire and Shireck had cooperated to develop with difficulty.

In aerial combat, without tracer bullets to mark the trajectory, pilots had no way to correct their shooting deviations.

Therefore, tracer bullets were almost an essential item in air warfare. Such ammunition technology was demanding and the price was certainly not cheap.

The Dahua land army was not willing to use this expensive ammunition; only the Air Force had no choice but to opt for it.

But this bombing had almost scrapped all the tracer bullets used by the fighters in the two airfields. How could it not cause the commanders of the Dahua Empire Air Force to wince?

At the same time, 30 more Flying Fortress Bombers carried out a bombing mission over Fengjiang. This time, thirty Flying Fortress Bombers focused on Fengjiang's industrial zone.

However, the accuracy of the bombing was a little off, and the luck was not as good as the squadron that bombed the field airfields, so the aerial bombs fell onto the civilian residential area of Fengjiang City.

This bombing caused just under a thousand injuries and left at least 10,000 people homeless and displaced. The streets were in disarray, and the sound of fire brigade sirens echoed over the city.

It was also on this day that of the 200 planes the Dahua Empire scrambled to intercept Tang Country's Air Force, only a few managed to return, struggling. These planes, unable to land due to the damaged runways, ultimately had to make forced landings on the grass next to them.

As a result, several pilots were injured, and only one lucky individual escaped unscathed.

The remaining two hundred or so pilots were shot down, dying in this unprecedented large-scale air battle. Meanwhile, the Tang Army created a miracle by destroying two hundred enemy aircraft without suffering a single casualty of their own.

The loss of more than two hundred pilots and over four hundred planes of various models in a single day also caused alarm at the top level of the Dahua Empire.

It seemed that their painstakingly assembled Air Force truly could not compare with that of the Tang Country. Now, the only hope of defending the Empire's skies lay in the Dahua 1 Fighters developed by the technicians of the Dahua Empire.

Of course, what could still prevent Tang Country's Air Force were dark clouds and rainfall…