Chapter 1737: Preparation

Chapter 1737 Prepare

Just after Major General Trota left, the twelve K-8 reconnaissance planes participating in the operation of the Black Hawk long-range reconnaissance aircraft detachment also began to make final preparations. The Shetland Islands are a bit big, and if they want to cover the entire area, Naturally, it is impossible to send a few planes out. While the British are not prepared, Major Knowles is going to play a big game. He has gathered the most experienced crew members of the entire unit to participate in this expedition.

In the base in the port of Kiel, twelve huge K-8 bombers are undergoing transformation in the hangar. The first thing to strengthen is the defense of the aircraft. Dangyou, you don't have an escort plane, so how can you not play tricks yourself?

Now, Major Knowles misses the air-cooled engine produced by BMW a little bit. Although this thing will explode after being hit by a bullet, it can last for a longer time. As for these liquid-cooled engines produced by Daimler Benz, although they have high power and are not too heavy, once they are hit, the mixed coolant of ethylene glycol and water will leak light quickly, and then the plane will experience violent explosions. Vibrations, the tooth-piercing crunch of metal would come from the engine, followed by the engine smoking and catching fire from overheating. So get hit and the engine dies.

And this time, because they are not undertaking bombing missions, without bombs, they have sufficient weight to enhance the defense of the aircraft. First of all, the first thing Knowles and his colleagues had to do was to add a bulletproof retainer to the front of the aircraft engine to ensure that bullets fired from the front would not penetrate the steel plate. At the same time, a steel plate was also installed on the upper part of the engine, and the lower part was not added for the time being because the probability of being shot was very low.

Relying on the protection provided by the angle and armor, the three Daimler Benchi engines of the K-8 bomber can guarantee that most of the front and sides can resist the attack of French 13.2mm machine guns. As for the exhaust holes and heat dissipation equipment, sorry, here can only Resigned to fate. After all, Il 2 can't solve the radiator problem.

The second is the protection of the driver. In fact, although the weight of the aircraft is not large in this era, the size is really not small, thanks to the low density of wood.... It is unrealistic to turn the entire cockpit into a steel bathtub like World War II. Therefore, install a few steel plates at the driver's position. In order to ensure that the plane can still be driven after the cockpit is attacked, the Germans arranged for a reserve pilot...  

A K-8 long-range reconnaissance aircraft has a total of 9 members, one captain (part-time second pilot), one pilot, one co-pilot, one navigator, one radio operator, Machine Gunner* 4...........

The defensive firepower of the K-8 bomber is still good. A total of 12 machine guns are distributed on the upper part of the aircraft fuselage, the tail of the aircraft, and the belly of the aircraft, as well as the lowering of the nose. There are also two machine guns placed on the side of the fuselage. Does it look familiar? That's right, this machine gun defense system refers to the B17 of later generations. The existence known as the best "fighter" in a certain Magic Thunder game.

However, at most it is similar in shape. Unlike the B17 equipped with a bomber fire control system, all machine guns of the K-8 bomber must be operated manually. Therefore, once it is in operation, it is not enough to rely solely on 4 machine gunners. Other personnel will help control it together. Bar.

After the safety problem is almost solved, it is the investigation. Because of the efforts of the traversers, the investigation of this era has deviated from the era when pilots used visual solutions to solve problems. In the K-8, an aircraft that was absolutely tall in World War I Above, aerial photography equipment has been equipped, and this time, German technicians installed a total of 4 long-focus cameras on the nose, belly, and sides of the K-8 bomber. After entering the detection area, just press the button. Four cameras can accompany the flight of the aircraft and take pictures of the ground conditions within several square kilometers. And because of the emergence of this system, the efficiency of the reconnaissance aircraft has been greatly improved.

By the way, there is one last problem, and that is the problem of escape in case the plane is destroyed. The Bavarian pilots know very well that at this time, if you dare to jump into the North Sea for a swim, you will be close to death if it takes more than 15 minutes. Therefore, if you can make a forced landing on the sea, you must not enter the water if you want to survive.

So, the pilots prepared a lifeboat in the middle of the fuselage! That's right, the folded lifeboat can be fully inflated within a few minutes by directly opening the valve connected to the compressed air if necessary. If 9 people squeeze together, there is no problem.

(What? Some book clubs will say it can’t fit? Are you kidding me? How can a body with a length of 18 meters not be able to fit it? Take the V1500 in history as an example. This plane can hold 45 people when it is carrying people!)

As for the remaining items such as signal flares, etc., it is natural to prepare, and if the plane is shot down, before the plane crashes, the crew will take out the camera film and put it in a special airtight metal box to take away . Originally, the Germans planned to bring a sending device, but considering that the radio equipment was too large in this era, they finally gave up.

The last is the communication and navigation equipment. Thanks to the huge body of the K-8 bomber, this aircraft is equipped with two radio communication equipment, which are mutually backup. The signal receiving antenna has also been reinforced. Each aircraft is equipped with an Eniger cipher machine to receive the cipher. At the same time, in order to ensure that this expensive and important device is not seized, there is a Detonating device, which explodes when someone tries to disassemble the cipher machine.

By the way, there is one more thing that must be dealt with, and that is the problem of food and drink for the group. After all, food is a big problem during the 20-hour journey. Needless to say, the prepared food is high-calorie food, but how to eat hot meals is still a problem. You can't make a stove on the plane... . But this can't stop the traveler who is a foodie.

Naturally, there are insulated lunch boxes. In addition, the crew also carried self-heating food. Of course, the self-heating food of this era is far from being as high-end as later generations. The so-called heating agent is nothing more than a mixture of quicklime, sodium carbonate, activated carbon and other substances. , put some water when using it, and then put the food that needs to be heated on it. Quicklime and water are mixed to dissipate heat, while activated carbon and other substances are used to absorb the peculiar smell.

Just after the Black Hawk Squad prepared everything, the High Seas Fleet headquarters finally sent a detailed action plan, the action date has been confirmed, and quite unexpectedly, the German fleet can use the airport in Denmark to take off, which undoubtedly shortens the detection distance , As for why Denmark agreed, this is not what Major Knowles is concerned about!

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