Chapter 360 Air Combat (2)

There are two major schools of piston fighter engines: air-cooled radial engines and water-cooled inline (including V-shaped) engines. Although it is theoretically possible to have air-cooled inline engines and water-cooled radial engines, in reality, such a combination is unheard of at least in mainstream fighter engines.

Each of these two schools has its own advantages. For example, the cooling effect of water-cooled engines is significantly better than that of air-cooled engines. This principle can also be seen from the computer cases of later generations. The cooling effect of water-cooled cases crushes air-cooled cases.

Germany's Bf109 set a precedent for using water-cooled V12 engines on main fighters. When the Fw-190 was being developed, it was also intended to use a water-cooled V12 engine, but due to the war, it was not implemented, and finally the BMW801 air-cooled radial engine was used. However, the plan to switch to a water-cooled V12 has never disappeared. This is the ultimate Fw190 that people have always talked about: Ta152.

Among the main fighters of the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, only the P-47 was an air-cooled radial engine. However, after the P-51 entered service in large numbers, the P-47 retreated from air combat to the second line and served as a fighter-bomber mainly for ground strafing and bombing.

Shot down Sanben Wuliu, the P-38 that served from beginning to end in World War II was a water-cooled V12 engine. When the Americans, who considered themselves the best P-51, served, because the United States did not have a suitable water-cooled V12 engine, they specially imported it from the United Kingdom and produced the Rolls-Royce "Merlin" engine under license, which was known as the best piston fighter engine in history.

Speaking of the advantages and disadvantages of these two engines, the advantages of air-cooled ones are that the structure is simpler, stronger, more durable, and more resistant to beating. The water-cooled structure is more complex and precise, and the probability of problems with more parts increases.

Air-cooled cylinders are generally dispersed and parallel. If one cylinder is hit, the operation of other cylinders will not be affected. The fighter can fight with injuries, and only the damaged cylinder needs to be replaced during maintenance. Once the water-cooled aircraft is hit, the coolant will leak, the cooling effect will gradually be lost, and it will not be able to fight with injuries.

As for why the Americans chose the P-51 with poor anti-damage capability to completely replace the P-47 with strong anti-damage capability in air superiority operations, the reason is that the Americans think that if the enemy fighter has the ability to aim at the radiator, why not save some trouble and directly hit the cockpit?

In their view, anti-damage capability is not the most important indicator of fighter design. How to strike the enemy and not be struck by the enemy is the priority here. The priority here cannot be reversed.

Yannick also plans to follow the US practice and produce the water-cooled Fw-190D and the ultimate version: Ta-152 as soon as possible.

At this time, Gunter was driving a FW190A-3.

Gunter was born on March 10, 1918 in Gegenau, Germany. He is a German lieutenant general and pilot. During World War II, he served as the commander of the 3rd Squadron of the 52nd Wing of the German Army and the commander of the 2nd Squadron of the 11th Wing. After the end of World War II, he served as the Director of the West German Air Force and NATO military attaché.

On August 29, 1943, he became the third person in the German Air Force with more than 200 personal victories. On November 28, 1943, he became the second pilot in the entire army after Novotny to break the record of 250 personal victories. Gunter was Germany's third air combat ace. He shot down a total of 275 aircraft, 4 on the Western Front and 271 on the Eastern Front (including 15 Il-2s).

However, Gunter at this time was not the famous fighter ace that the enemy feared in later generations. He was still a "fledgling" with zero victories, and he lost his lead plane in the melee just now, fighting alone.

"Do I need to find someone else to form a team?" Gunter looked around nervously, with a little sweat on his forehead.

Just when he was at a loss, he suddenly saw a friendly plane without a wingman in front of him being chased by two Spitfire fighters and rushing towards the sea.

Gunter instinctively pushed the joystick in front of him. As the nose of the plane suddenly dropped, he clearly felt his back pressed tightly against the backrest of the seat due to the inertia of the dive.

As the distance between the two sides gradually shortened, the body of the Spitfire became larger and larger in the sight. In this era, there was no convenient distance-finding tool for air combat. The distance between the two sides was estimated by the pilot's experience and the "ring" on the sight. The outline of the enemy plane "filled" the first ring for about how many meters, and filled the second ring for about how many meters. This was data that every pilot had to memorize.

He saw that the escape route of the friendly plane being chased in front was messy and looked extremely nervous. The tracer bullet trajectory fired by the Spitfire fighter was getting closer and closer to the friendly plane.

If he didn't fire, the friendly plane would probably be shot down.

"God bless!" Gunter muttered softly and pulled the trigger suddenly.

The four 20mm aircraft cannons roared and sprayed deadly shells.

As we all know, the best German aircraft gun in the middle of World War II was the MG151/20. As a standard feature of many fighter planes, it helped the German army win many air battles.

When the German MG151/20 aircraft gun began to be put into actual combat, the British were still struggling with their own unreliable Hispano cannons. When the MkII model was first put into use, there was even an embarrassing incident where all four cannons jammed after just a few shots.

After testing the captured MG151/20 aircraft gun, John Bull began to seriously consider whether to simply copy it. In the end, he found that although the German design was quite good to use, it required a high level of processing. If it was copied, the speed and economy of production would be a problem, so he gave up and continued to tinker with Hispano, launching the MkV model with greatly improved reliability, which was also a success.

The Germans seemed to believe that they could not have a quantitative advantage and could only win by turning to a quality advantage, so they worked hard to strive for excellence, to the point that even the old powers with strong technical background were daunted.

Yannick simply cut off this overly sophisticated thing that was "not in line with national conditions" and replaced it with the Soviet shvak20mm aircraft gun that was considered standard in all aspects. After improving the shells, he equipped it on the fighter.

The fired shells hit the fuselage of the Spitfire fighter, tearing off the opponent's wing, and the opponent's cabin was instantly stained red with gushing blood.

"Boom!" The loud explosion made the Spitfire in front react, and it quickly rolled away from Gunter's pursuit.

The pilot of the friendly plane that survived the disaster gave Gunter a thumbs up. Gunter was parallel to him and gestured to him to report his communication channel.

Soon the voice of the pilot came from the headset. "Thank you, my name is Heinrich Ehler."

"My name is Guntrar, where is your wingman?"

"I was originally a wingman, and the lead plane was shot down. I see that you don't have a wingman, so I'll be your wingman."

"Uh...Okay, let's climb first!"