Chapter 777 Four engines!

April 26, 1917, Dallas.

White clouds are dotted in the amber-like blue sky, and the hot wind blowing from the Gulf of Mexico makes Texas the first to taste a trace of summer heat.

Several cowboys rode to the chimney-stuffed city of Dallas. Since the discovery of oil in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas, especially the nearby East Texas oil field 20 years ago, the city has gradually become the oil heart of the southwestern United States, with several refineries alone.

In addition to oil, Dallas is located in a cotton growing area, and the cotton shipped from here to the United States accounts for more than 40% of the United States every year. In addition, Texas is the largest animal husbandry area in the United States, so the textile and animal husbandry industry is very prosperous, which gradually makes the city a commodity trade in the United States. One of the hearts.

Following the footsteps of the cowboys, the city of Dallas gradually showed the whole picture. April was not the busiest gathering, but today, the street is full of horses and people.

Every train that just left here is full of people, and even so, the railway station is still crowded. Even the Trinity River, which divided the city by two, was full of ships of all sizes ready to leave, and some black-hearted merchants even began to charge high ride fees, which made many people have to look at the ship and sigh.

The cowboy ran quickly across the street, and a piece of paper was blown up by the breeze of the horses' hoofs and floated to the side of the car. They are leaving. George Marshall picked up the piece of paper, glanced it twice, and handed it to his tutor around him, Lieutenant General Shipp, the former president of the West Point Academy, and said, "Because of this."

The leaflet is printed with the news that the [***] team is about to attack Texas, and also exposes the "truth and conspiracy" of the so-called federal political axe to launch a war. The fake news made up by such things at ordinary times can only make people laugh, but at this time, it is like a heavy hammer, hitting the heart of Dallas City. .

After Sheep carefully folded the leaflet and put it in his pocket, he got into the car that came to pick him up. Looking at the Dallas residents who fled in a hurry outside the window, he sighed deeply from the bottom of his heart, and then turned his head and asked, "George, how's the situation now?"

Facing his principal and tutor, Marshall sighed frankly: "It's terrible. Since yesterday afternoon, Albuquerque, Kent and Presidio have all been fiercely attacked by the enemy.

"Presidio?" Shipp's heart jumped and he was surprised, "Are Mexicans also involved?"

Marshall nodded: "Yes, we have got the information that Mexico's first batch of 370,000 newly formed troops are going north along Presidio, helping about four Chinese infantry divisions and a tank unit.

This is also where General Pershing is most worried. The strength of the Mexican army is not strong, but if we want to contain them, we must send enough troops, but we need to invest in Albuquerque and Kent. The troops are seriously insufficient!"

Sheep smiled bitterly. Since the beginning of the war, the United States has armed no less than 6 million troops. Who would have thought that only more than two years later, this country with a population of nearly 100 million began to be understaffed!

Marshall also looked bad. A few months ago, he personally participated in Carl's surrender negotiations. Although it was to ensure the safety of more than a million soldiers, the consequences were too great, so he quietly returned to Dallas before the negotiation was over.

"General Pershing has sent a telegram to Washington urging the troops retreating from San Francisco to come as soon as possible, but."

"I know."

How can Shipp not know the situation when he is in the War Department? Although the Chinese attack is aimed at Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, there are still more than 100,000 troops on the border between California and Oregon, so the War Department does not dare to transfer the San Francisco troops that have been withdrawn there.

"George, tell me, how long do you think General Pershing can hold?"

Marshall squirmed his Adam's apple. He didn't expect that his former principal and tutor would raise this question. Isn't he optimistic about the United States?

"George, you are my best student. I don't want to deceive you." Shipp said, "I have got some news that President Melkin is secretly considering the request to cede Alaska and California to the Chinese, and is also considering returning the southwestern states to Mexico in exchange for withdrawing the war."

"What!"

The car suddenly braked, and George Marshall's hands trembled a little in the harsh sound of rubber friction. What did Melkin want to do? He is a traitor!

"Don't look at me, I just learned about it, but the president is still hesitating, because we need to see the final result of the Battle of Paris, and the Congress has no idea of withdrawing from the war at present!"

George Marshall nodded indifferently, and the wheels began to roll forward again.

Soon, the car stopped at the temporary headquarters set up in the suburbs. As soon as they got off the bus, they suddenly heard a buzz above their heads.

Two Xinhua reconnaissance aircraft appeared in the sky. These reconnaissance aircraft that come to visit several times a day did not cause much panic, or the soldiers should have gotten used to it. What's more, the reconnaissance aircraft is not a bomber. Throwing a few bundles of leaflets at most to take some photos, which will not pose a real threat to Dallas. After all, this is the closest. The Xinhua temporary aircraft base is 970 kilometers.

The reconnaissance aircraft circled over and over again. Shipp, who saw the Xinhua reconnaissance aircraft for the first time, borrowed a telescope from the soldiers, hoping to take a closer look at what the Chinese aircraft that had been rumored by the outside world looked like.

Only Marshall always felt that something was wrong. Usually, the reconnaissance aircraft circled two times and left. The main reconnaissance scope was also mostly concentrated on the city's peripheral defense lines and railway lines, but today it kept hovering over the city, and the height seemed to be much lower than usual!

What are they looking at?

Probably saw that there was an opportunity to take advantage of dozens of American camels and Curtiss D300 biplanes rushed into the sky and flew towards the hovering Chinese reconnaissance aircraft. Many American recruits were ready to cheer up for their pilots. But Marshall knew very well that this was in vain, because the wing was on the top, and the thick reconnaissance aircraft could rise to more than 33,000 feet (about 10,000 meters), which could not be reached by any American and Allied active fighters.

The clumsy pursuit of the biplanes began to disappoint the recruits. Many people simply ignored the sky and continued to work. Just as Shipp was about to put down the telescope, a few dazzling reflected light in the distance made him suddenly feel a pain in his eyes.

"Chinese aircraft!"

In Ship's shout, only about 20 silver-white monoplanes suddenly appeared in the west of Dallas. These planes were very fast, reaching at least 120 knots (about 220 km/h) in his opinion.

Marshall was also stunned. He never thought that the enemy's fighters would appear here. He only saw that these fighters suddenly threw a black spot under their abdomens, and then accelerated again into the rag-like rush towards the scattered U.S. military aircraft.

These black spots quickly fell on the surface. When everyone thought they would explode, they didn't make any sound at all, as if they were just a few iron bumps.

"Is it the auxiliary fuel tank hanging outside?" Marshall conjectured to himself, because except for this explanation, he couldn't think of a way for the plane to reach here across nearly a thousand kilometers.

He guessed right, but immediately another idea made him open his mouth, and his pupil suddenly tightened!

If the Chinese have an auxiliary fuel tank to increase the range of small aircraft, will they use this technology on that kind of bomber with two engines? If it is used, does it mean that their bombers can easily fly a thousand kilometers away?

His eyes were suddenly fixed on the two reconnaissance planes that were still hovering. No! No! They are not here to scout. They are providing coordinates for the troops behind!

"Quick, inform everyone to evacuate from Dallas!"

"Tell General Pershing that the Chinese are coming to bomb!"

"Leave, let the plane go, they will be slaughtered." Marshall shouted crazily, and the soldiers, including Shipp, did not understand that he was doing that. While the voice was still echoing, the Chinese planes had been twisted into the U.S. military fleet.

"God!"

Everyone saw that when a Curtis D300 was about to turn left, an enemy fighter had dived down from a high altitude. In the harsh roar, a few fire tongues suddenly spewed out at the nose and wing roots. In the blink of an eye, the Curtiss spiralled down like an angel with broken wings.

Before it fell to the ground, the devilish fighter had passed by and circled to the right of another camel.

The camel was being chased by another Chinese plane. The pilot didn't notice another one on the right. When he found it, the distance between the two sides was less than 1,000 meters. While hitting the pole, the bullets sprayed by the other side like a rainstorm had penetrated his cabin.

The second, third and fourth!

This is not a battle!

It's a one-sided massacre!

Heep's face turned white when he saw this scene for the first time. At this moment, he understood why the front-line pilots did not want to fight in the air, and even many people would rather be sent to the military court against the order than sit in the cockpit.

In less than ten minutes, there were only rampant Mustang fighters left in the sky. When everyone finally recalled Marshall's words just now, dozens of silver-white large planes appeared in the west that they had never seen before.

"Four engines!"

Through the telescope, Shipp took the lead in seeing the appearance of the enemy aircraft, and then thought of Marshall's shouting just now, he suddenly understood it all.

But it's all too late!

In the leading bomber No. 1021, Guan Ning straightened the photos taken by the previous reconnaissance days, looked at the big chimneys on the horizon, and turned on the radio station with a sneer at the corners of his mouth: "Wild yak squadron, start counting."

"Wild yak No. 1 is ready."

"The second one is ready."

"No. Three."

The loud alarm sound was transmitted to the whole team through the headphones.

After a long and silent nearly four-hour flight, the "Wild yak" squadron composed of 66 of the Empire's latest Thor bombers suddenly woke up like a giant beast that woke up.

Thor is in the sky, and the clouds are moving.

This is the origin of the name Thor.

Raytheon, code-named H-3 in the Xinhua Air Force, is a new four-engine large bomber developed for the long-range bombing of the Air Force after Emperor Li put forward the idea of a decisive battle abroad ten years ago.

The H-2 Kunpeng bomber is now famous all over the world, but no one knows. In fact, as early as the beginning of Kunpeng's development, the Raytheon project was launched together, but because the Air Force was already developing a new bomb at that time, it was proposed to carry at least one little fat man of 1.8 tons, or three 800 kg bulls. , or five 500 kg high-explosive bombs, and the range should reach more than 2,000 kilometers, and the combat radius should reach at least 800 kilometers.

At that time, these indicators of the Air Force were really outrageous, because according to the experiment, if you want to carry a 2.5-ton bomb, you need to ensure a range of 2,000 kilometers, that is, using four engines, and a single power of at least 950 horsepower.

And Kunpeng's original engine was only 700 horsepower.

In terms of engine design, Xinhua is proud of Li Mo, a power expert in later generations, but he can't change the defects in the basic materials. If he wants to get more horsepower, he must make a breakthrough in materials. Therefore, it was not until the second-generation aluminum-magnesium alloy with better heat resistance came out six months ago that the aviation engine The requirements have finally been met.

In addition to the engine, in order to meet the requirements of the air force, the designer also drew on the interior of the hummingbird's design and used a large amount of light wood to reduce weight. Therefore, unlike the all-metal fighters and tactical attack aircraft currently used by the navy and air force, Raytheon is not a completely made of metal.

The shape of the new Raytheon bomber seems to be a combination of the famous Juncker 88 and B17 in later generations. Instead of continuing to use the sharpening wings used by the fighter, it adopts a more stable round single wing, three-leaf asymmetric propeller, and four 970 horsepower water-cooled Kunlun 6 12-cylinder V-type engines, the most The speed is 320 km/h, the cruising speed is 220 km/h, and the maximum lift limit is more than 10,000 meters.

Due to the progress of the engine and the obvious effect of light wood weight reduction, and the temporary need to arrange a large number of machine guns to increase weight as in later generations, in the case of a maximum take-off weight of 21 tons, the maximum bomb load reaches a terrible 3,500 kg, and it can fly more than 2,300 kilometers continuously under full load.

In terms of self-defense, because the opponent's threat is not great, Thor has only installed two 7.62mm machine guns, so that the crew configuration consists of five people. In addition to the driver and co-pilot, it is also equipped with a navigator, a bomber and a machine gunner.

66 Raytheon have consumed several major aircraft manufacturers in China for several months. It is not that the workers are slow, but because the new aircraft is always troublesome at the beginning. At present, the speed can only reach about 30 aircraft per month, and the output must wait for a few months to rise slowly.

The hatch slowly opened, and the airflow made the bomber begin to bump. The 12 250 kg high-explosive bombs in the bomb compartment showed a ferocious black shell.

Some fires began to appear over the city. Because I didn't expect Xinhua to have a bomber that could span thousands of kilometers, it can even be described as "Dallas undefense".

Guanning's goal this time is the oil and industrial zone in the north of the city, and the many chimneys have become the best coordinates.

The reelder lay in front of the bomb ranger. When the first big chimney was pressed into the cross star, the bombs left the magazine one after another.

From a distance, there was a bomb rain under the abdomen of the three Thors.

George Marshall and Heep were dumbfounded. They never imagined that a plane could carry so many bombs.

"Rumble."

"Rumble."

66 Thor, 792 bombs, a total of 198 tons, half of which are high-explosive bombs, and the other half are all white phosphorus incendiary bombs.

Bombs exploded in the industrial zone. Looking down from the sky, countless black and red flowers seemed to bloom on the ground, and the rising mushroom clouds could be clearly seen more than ten kilometers away.

The huge cotton warehouse was ignited, and the chimneys and factories fell in pieces. When 66 Thors completed the bombing and began to return, the city of Dallas was full of scorched earth.

The continuous vibrations under his feet made Marshall, Shipp and other officers look gray.

(to be continued)