The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The next day, Conrad said excitedly as soon as he stepped into Qin Chuan's command post: "Major, the idea you said yesterday was confirmed. They praised it highly because it can double the carrying capacity of the 'Hummingbird' with minor changes..."

"This is not what I want!" Qin Chuan interrupted Conrad.

"What? But this is what you proposed!"

"Indeed!" Qin Chuan replied: "But I don't need to use the 'Hummingbird' cabin to make improvements!"

"That is..."

"Think about it, Colonel!" Qin Chuan said: "Two rotors means that it can greatly increase the length and width of the cabin. We can not only use it to carry supplies but also use it to carry personnel!"

Conrad couldn't help but say "Oh": "In this way, we can quickly transport soldiers to the mountains with complex terrain!"

"You can say that!" Qin Chuan replied.

Qin Chuan didn't want to say too much. In this era, few people can understand or imagine the role of helicopters on the battlefield. They simply think that this slow-moving aircraft will only be a target for enemy air defense equipment or fighter planes when it flies to the battlefield...The "Hummingbird" used for artillery observation has such a fate.

What they don't know is that the biggest use of helicopters, in addition to logistics transportation, can also be used for special operations against targets behind enemy lines, especially in this era when fighters generally have no night combat capabilities, helicopters carrying out special operations at night will be a nightmare for the enemy.

"No problem!" Conrad said, "However, in this case, it will have to be redesigned and tested, and it cannot be produced in a short time."

"I know!" Qin Chuan nodded. He couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry, and he needed patience.

"Then..." Conrad signaled Hannah, who poured wine for him, not to leave, and then continued, "Can we talk about yesterday's topic again?"

"You mean ME163?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Yes!" Conrad nodded.

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan spread his hands helplessly: "I'm not omnipotent, some things can't be changed!"

"Frick!" Hannah replied, "If you can't change it, think of other ways. We are facing a big crisis. We need ME163!"

"Crisis?" Qin Chuan was puzzled.

"Yes!" Conrad nodded and said, "I think you still remember the American B17 bomber! We have dealt with it in North Africa!" Qin Chuan certainly remembered that he had been bombed by this thing several times when testing V1. "What's wrong?" Qin Chuan asked. "We have accurate intelligence!" Conrad said, "The British have obtained this bomber, about fifty in number, and there may be more in the future. They are learning to use this bomber!" Then Qin Chuan understood. B17 is a long-range high-altitude bomber. As mentioned before, B17 can fly up to 10,667 meters, while the ceiling of the German fighter BF109 can only barely reach 10,000 meters, which means that the German fighter planes have no effective interception of B17 unless B17 lowers its altitude in order to hit the target more accurately. Even worse... B17, a bomber known as the "Air Fortress", has powerful firepower. It is equipped with 10 to 13 machine guns all over its body. In addition, it is thick-skinned and tough, so it is often difficult for German fighter planes to shoot it down. Especially the latter, B17 is called "Flying Fortress" for a reason. One of the most famous "Memphis Belle" has carried out 25 missions of flying over Germany. During this period, 9 engines, two main wings, two vertical tails, two main wheels and many other parts were replaced... Almost the whole body was replaced and it could still fly in the sky and continue to perform tasks.

On the other hand, London is only 1,000 kilometers away from Berlin, while the range of B17 is 2,979 kilometers, which is enough for a round trip.

"If the Americans use Britain as a B17 base, they can bomb any corner of Germany!" Conrad said: "This includes not only Berlin, but also industrial cities such as Frankfurt. Our logistics and military industry will be hit to a considerable extent!"

Qin Chuan nodded in agreement.

In fact, the B17 bomber was one of the reasons why Germany was defeated so quickly in the later period: According to statistics, Britain and the United States dispatched a total of 4 million aircraft, and at the cost of losing 1%, they dropped 2.7 million tons of bombs on the European continent controlled by Germany, destroyed 55,000 German combat aircraft, caused the death of 1 million German residents, 7.5 million people were homeless, Germany's war machine was seriously bleeding, and road transportation was paralyzed by 90%.

And a considerable part of these B17 bombers did not even need fighter escort.

Qin Chuan was not unaware of this, but he put too much energy on the front line and almost forgot the danger from behind or from the direction of Britain and the United States... If the problem of the Soviet Union can be changed through strategies and tactics, the threat from the direction of Britain and the United States is almost impossible to change, because it is a gap in technology and industrial scale.

Qin Chuan frowned and said, "So we need an interceptor?"

"Yes!" Conrad replied, "This interceptor should be able to reach an altitude of more than 10,000 meters at high speed. It does not need a long hovering time, but it can shoot down the huge B17. Another requirement is that it must be cheap and can be mass-produced!"

Conrad is right, because the number of these bomber groups dispatched by the British and American troops may be very large... usually about three hundred at a time. If there is not a sufficient number of interceptors, it will not be enough to effectively implement interception.

Qin Chuan's mind naturally flashed to ME163, which indeed meets these requirements.

But Qin Chuan still rejected this plan: "Like I said, this method won't work!"

The reason why Qinchuan is so sure is that historically Germany put the ME163 into actual combat, but it did not get the results they expected. Not only did it not get the results, it also caused a large number of pilot casualties.

"Then think of other ways!" Hannah said: "Think of the consequences. When we were in an inseparable fight with the Soviets, the British and Americans were preparing a large number of bombers. One day, waiting for them Thinking the time is right, they will launch a massive bombing campaign against Germany... If they cannot be stopped, all the victories won now will be in vain, because we will lose them again in the future!"

Hanna is right, massive bombing of German industry would be fatal for Germany.

From this aspect, Britain and the United States have actually won the war from the beginning, to be precise, the United States.

The reason why they have not taken action until now is because they hope that both Germany and the Soviet Union will suffer losses.