Chapter 826: Bombing Again

"...We are facing an unprecedented crisis, which is a difficulty we have never encountered before...But we have the ability to resolve the current difficult situation. Our army can protect the safety of our citizens and our homeland...The free and democratic United States of America and the American people who advocate freedom will never surrender...We will not let our democracy regress! Never!..."

President Wilkie delivered an impassioned speech, but just after he walked out of the broadcasting room, his secretary reported to him a surprising news. "Mr. President, the Germans have sent another group of bombers. They will invade our airspace in more than four hours."

"What?! How dare they come?!" The Germans stopped bombing the US mainland after their XP-67 high-altitude fighters began to serve. Why are they coming again now? !

"I don't know about this either." The secretary naturally couldn't answer these questions, and President Wilkie hurried to the combat command room. "Commander Arnold, how dare the German bombers come?! Can our fighters be dispatched at any time?" He even speculated whether the collective failure of their fighters allowed the Germans to take advantage of the situation.

Commander Arnold looked a little serious. "Mr. President, I can't understand why the Germans would send out another bomber group. Have their bomber ceilings been raised again?" It was already very difficult for their XP-67 high-altitude fighters to climb to 14,200 meters, and there was almost no maneuverability. If the German bombers could continue to fly higher, they would be really helpless. "There is no problem with our fighters, and we can take off and fight at any time."

"No way? Could it be that the German bombers can fly to an altitude of 15,000 meters?" This is too exaggerated, right? How did they do it?

Just as everyone was talking about it, news came from the Atlantic Fleet Command that a German fleet was heading straight for the East Coast.

"!!" It was really a double whammy. Last time, these guys almost bombed most of Boston into ruins. Who knows where they are targeting this time? But their navy can only continue to be a turtle, and it is impossible to fight.

However, the bomber group was a greater threat than this fleet. Commander Arnold ordered the XP-67 high-altitude fighter group to prepare for battle. Once the German bombers entered their airspace, they would take off immediately and shoot them down!

Four hours later, when the German bombers were about to enter the US airspace, the fighter group that took off from the German fleet's aircraft carrier joined them and escorted them.

Soon, they encountered the XP-67 high-altitude fighter group that came to intercept.

Looking at the large number of oncoming aircraft from a distance, the US fighter pilots couldn't help but exclaimed.

"Oh my God, they have fighter escorts!"

"Their fighters fly higher than bombers! That's a liquid-cooled engine!" The cylinders of the air-cooled engine are arranged in a star shape, in a circle around the crankshaft. It looks short and thick. The liquid-cooled engine has a multi-position V-shaped or X/H-shaped arrangement, which looks long and thin; therefore, it can be distinguished at a glance.

"Liquid-cooled engine?" Commander Arnold in the combat command room frowned slightly. The fighter planes on German aircraft carriers before were all air-cooled engines. Why did liquid-cooled engines appear today?

Almost all the carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers in World War II were air-cooled, and there were very few liquid-cooled models (the British Sea Spitfire was one of the few liquid-cooled ones). Because liquid cooling requires high-purity coolant, the liquid cooling system will inevitably leak. Although it will not cause a malfunction, the liquid level must be checked before each takeoff. To replenish the coolant, high-purity coolant must be reserved on the aircraft carrier. Serving the liquid-cooled engine will affect the speed of the carrier-based aircraft again. This is really an unnecessary trouble. In addition to the various shortcomings of liquid-cooled engines, the more durable air-cooled engines are naturally more popular with aircraft carriers.

"Did the Germans deliberately create liquid-cooled engines to deal with our high-altitude fighters?"

For piston fighters during World War II, the pursuit of speed and altitude was an unchanging purpose. The competition between liquid-cooled and air-cooled engines is naturally inseparable from the pursuit of speed and altitude. Increasing horsepower and reducing resistance are the only ways to increase speed, and liquid-cooled engines have advantages in both. For altitude, the air is thin at high altitudes, and the power of piston engines will be reduced too much, and they cannot fly higher. Turbocharging or mechanical supercharging can increase the intake volume, increase the intake density in disguise, maintain power, and increase the fighter's ceiling. Turbocharging is difficult to apply to air-cooled engines because each cylinder has independent intake and exhaust, and a compressor or exhaust turbine needs to be installed on each cylinder. The structure is complex and the weight is heavy, which is not worth the loss. Liquid-cooled engines are lined up in a row, and a confluence device can be used to unify the intake and exhaust. A set of turbocharging or mechanical supercharging system is enough, with a simple structure and high efficiency.

Commander Arnold really guessed it right. The German army specially made 20 liquid-cooled fighters to deal with the high-altitude fighters of the United States and put them into battle.

As a result, the XP-67 high-altitude fighters, which had almost no maneuverability at an altitude of 14,200 meters, could only be beaten by the German fighters diving from the top of their heads, and had no power to fight back. Soon, all 30 XP-67 fighters were shot down.

"Oh my God!" Commander Arnold's face was almost as black as charcoal. These were all the high-altitude fighters that he had gathered with great difficulty! He was completely wiped out without even being able to shoot down a single enemy bomber! This was too aggrieved!

The news that the German bombers were separated made everyone in the command room look even uglier. The Germans might drop the damn carbon fiber bombs again. The Northeast Industrial Zone, which had just been restored, might be paralyzed again. What was even more depressing was that they were completely helpless.

"Mr. President, let's cut off the power supply to all cities." These carbon fiber bombs were simply unsolvable. They had not found an effective countermeasure so far, and could only use the stupid method of cutting off the power supply. It was indeed a stupid method, because even if the power was cut off, it would take at least one or two months to clean up the carbon fiber, which meant that the industrial zone would have to stop working for one or two months.

President Wilkie could only nod helplessly and order the Northeast cities to cut off the power supply.

The shrill air defense alarm sounded over each city.

The people in the city hurried to the nearest air raid shelter.

"What's going on?!" In the broadcast just now, the president was still passionately promising to protect the country and the safety of the people. How could the air defense alarm sound in less than half a day?

The person next to him said angrily. "What else could it be? It must be the Germans bombing again."

"But didn't President Wilkie just say..."

"Every president talks like a fart. If you believe them, you are naive."

(Only one chapter today)