Chapter 1167 Gao Qibao Project - Guide Machine

The Reaper 1C cruise missile is an improved version of the Reaper 1B. Unlike the traditional "improvement", many of the performance of the Reaper 1C has not improved compared to the Reaper 1B, but has declined to a considerable extent.

First, the speed of the Reaper 1C has dropped from 900-950 km/h of the Reaper 1B to 550-600 km/h. Second, the range of the Reaper 1C has been reduced from 500 km of the Reaper 1B to 300 km. Third, the shell of the Reaper 1C is not as strong as the Reaper 1B, and a lot of "cut corners" have been adopted.

Through these three improvements, which are actually backward, the cost of the Reaper 1C has dropped significantly compared to the Reaper 1B. Although it is more expensive than the cheap missiles of the V1 series, it is still possible to equip it on a large scale for strategic bombing.

In addition to these three regressions, the Reaper 1C has indeed made some progress, that is, the accuracy of its guidance system has been greatly improved. However, this improvement is not based on technological progress, but adopts a more mature radio guidance method. However, the radio command system of the Reaper 1C is also innovative to a certain extent. It no longer requires operators to conduct one-to-one manual remote control, but guides multiple missiles through a radio guidance signal, realizing "unmanned" and "one-to-many" radio remote control.

In other words, the Reaper 1C cruise missile must be led by an aircraft with a radio guide in front to successfully reach the target. This is a missile that requires a guide aircraft.

The aircraft that acts as a guide aircraft is of course not a Me264 or Ju288, a not very sturdy bomber, but a Me410B-6 night fighter-bomber. Since the power of the radio guide and the receiver (installed on the missile) is limited, a Me410B-6 usually only guides 10 Reaper 1C missiles.

Tonight, in order to guide 480 Reaper 1C cruise missiles, Air Force Major General Werner Molders arranged 48 Me410B-6 night fighter-bombers to serve as guide aircraft, flying towards Trinidad at a speed of 550 kilometers per hour in front of 480 Reaper 1C missiles dropped by Me264, Ju288 and Do217.

However, these 48 Me410s are not all the night fighters dispatched tonight. Major General Molders is a senior commander of the Air Force who was an ace fighter pilot and the world's most brilliant air combat expert. Naturally, he knows how to use tonight's battle to destroy the American air force.

He knows very well that the difference between large and medium-sized bombers and heavy fighters such as Me410 and He219 on the radar screen is so small that it can be ignored, and the Reaper series missiles and light fighters such as Zero are also indistinguishable on the radar screen.

So when 480 Me410s, He219s and 480 Reaper 1Cs were flying towards Trinidad, the radar on the island would only detect a massive bombing raid by thousands of aircraft.

In this way, the Americans would definitely send all their night fighters into the air, and more than 400 Me410s and He219s were waiting for them in the night sky!

However, Major General Molders' goal was not only to severely strike the US air force with a nighttime air battle, but also to attract the attention of the US military with a "massive air raid by thousands of aircraft" in order to cover the 80 Ju188s and 20 escorting Me410s that broke into the vicinity of Trinidad from ultra-low altitudes to complete the combat mission of dropping "mines".

Major General Molders also went to the front line tonight. The Me264H radar early warning aircraft he was riding was now at an altitude of 10,000 meters, about 50 kilometers behind the large fleet of more than 400 Me410s and He219s.

In the spacious pressurized cabin of the Me264, the radar screen was filled with dense spots of light, which overlapped each other, and there were so many that they could not be counted. An air force lieutenant and an air force sergeant sat side by side in front of the screen, staring at the dense and flashing spots of light. Major General Molders sat behind them, holding a communicator in his hand, staring at the screen, frowning slightly.

Suddenly, the air force lieutenant shouted: "Enemy plane! Enemy plane found, distance 95, azimuth 1.5, altitude 6000, number more than 100... and still increasing!"

"Here they come!" Molders muttered in a low voice, then turned on the radio in front of him and began to call: "I am Electronic Eye No. 11, calling Thor No. 1, calling Thor No. 1."

Thor No. 1 is the code name of the 11th Torpedo Bombing Aviation Regiment of the Naval Aviation, which performs the mine-dropping mission. The 100 fighter planes of this aviation regiment participated in the operation tonight, carrying 400 "oyster mines". They are now flying at a sea-skimming altitude more than 80 kilometers behind the large group of more than 400 Me410 and He219 aircraft to avoid detection by American radar. Compared with the more than 400 missiles flying at a speed of 550 kilometers per hour in the sky (480 missiles were launched and less than 430 are still flying normally now), the 400 "oyster mines" they carry are real treasures. If all the "oyster mines" are dropped near the Port of Spain, the most important port on Trinidad will be paralyzed. As for when it can be restored, it depends on whether the Americans can be lucky enough to pick up a few "oyster mines" and take them back to dismantle and study them, and then come up with a way to deal with them.

Because the "Oyster Mine" is a combined fuse mine, and it also has a hydraulic fuse, it is difficult to clear. Even the Germans themselves have no good solution. They can only drop floating sound simulators while dropping depth charges (depth charges will generate huge water pressure when they explode), which is very inefficient. It will take at least a month to clear hundreds of "Oyster Mine", but it only takes one night to lay them.

If the Americans are unlucky and can't pick up the "Oyster Mine" that was dropped by mistake, then they can only use countless depth charges to carry out "sea bombing" in order to destroy the "Oyster Mine" with the power of the explosion... This is equivalent to plowing a large area of ​​sea with depth charges!

"Electronic Eye No. 11, I'm Thor No. 1." Lieutenant Colonel Günter Radsch, who was flying a Ju188, responded by pressing the throat communicator, "Please give instructions."

"There are hundreds of flies in front of the swarm. The seagulls can throw stones, and the electronic eye will follow behind the seagulls."

"Understood, electronic eye." Lieutenant Colonel Radsch breathed a sigh of relief and immediately gave orders to his subordinates, "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Radsch. There will be a fight soon. Our chance has come. Everyone follow me and continue to maintain the sea-skimming altitude."

Maintaining sea-skimming altitude at night is the unique skill of the German Ju188E-2 torpedo bombers and some Me410 fighter-bombers. This not only allows them to avoid radar, but also makes it difficult for American fighters to attack - dive attacks are impossible, and they will most likely fall into the sea, and it is also difficult to maintain the same altitude as these Ju188E-2 and Me410 because the American radio altimeter is not as good as the German one.

However, flying too low is also dangerous, that is, it is easy to be hit by the anti-aircraft guns and ground firepower of surface ships, and it is easy to hit the anti-aircraft balloon or the steel cable under the balloon.

So Lieutenant Colonel Radsch and his fleet must carefully fly around the coast of Trinidad Island, find the Port of Spain, and then drop the "oyster mines" that make everyone (including the Germans themselves) feel uncomfortable.

"Lieutenant Colonel, look at the sky, it seems that the fight has started!"

As the plane moved forward in the dark, Lieutenant Colonel Radsch's navigator suddenly shouted. Radsch looked up and saw a series of faint red lights in the sky in front of him that quickly slid across the night sky. Radsch, who had been a night fighter pilot himself, knew that the tracer bullets glided across the night sky.

"Yes, the fight has started!"

"Lieutenant Colonel, who will win?" asked the navigator.

"Of course it's ours!" Radsch said confidently, "Our He219 and Me410 are the best night fighters. And the Americans would never think that our fighters are escorting missiles."

Here, he retracted his gaze and stared at the darkness in front of him again. His navigator stopped talking and didn't care about the fierce battle in the sky. Instead, he looked at the various instruments in the cabin to find the right direction.

"It seems like there is something," Radsch's voice sounded again after a while, "the outline of the island is clearly shown on the horizon."

"That's Trinidad!" The navigator said excitedly, "Now turn west and fly along the edge of the island. When you reach the end, turn north and you will soon enter the Gulf of Paria. Then you can drop mines after flying along the coastline for 15-20 minutes. There are American anti-aircraft gun positions at the entrance of the Gulf of Paria, and there are also their anti-aircraft guns on the west coast beach of Trinidad, so you must be careful."

The Gulf of Paria, located between Trinidad and Venezuela, is not only a key point for entering and exiting Trinidad, but also an important anchorage for the US Navy in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Therefore, the defense is very strict. A large number of anti-aircraft guns and searchlights are deployed at the north and south entrances of the bay and near the beach. Sometimes there will be Fletcher-class destroyers patrolling.

However, tonight, those anti-aircraft guns seemed to have no spare energy to take care of Radsch's fleet. Just when they approached the south coast of Trinidad, the anti-aircraft guns on the island had already fired brilliant brilliance.

More than 400 Reaper 1C missiles, under the guidance of Me410 fighter-bombers, have rushed into the sky over Trinidad!