Chapter 479: The New Plane

Two planes approached the airfield runway, one behind the other. At low altitude, they lowered their landing gear at almost the same time. The flaps were adjusted, and soon the landing gear of both planes touched the ground. The powerful impact caused the aircraft to bounce a few times, but they smoothly transitioned from flying to taxiing on the ground. Compared to the Fw-190D fighters parked to the side, the shape of these two planes looked somewhat special.

Flipping open the canopy, a German pilot climbed out of his cockpit. He proudly boasted to the ground crew who had gathered around that he had shot down 11 Soviet fighters this time.

The engine of the other plane had not yet been shut down, and its three-bladed propeller was still spinning. But the moment the plane came to a stop on the runway, the ground crew ran over and surrounded the new fighter. When the pilot opened the canopy, a cheer erupted from the crowd.

“This plane is very fast, and very easy to handle at high altitude. Its performance is very close to what is described in the manual,” the pilot said as he climbed out of the plane. He handed his leather helmet and goggles to a ground crew member who had come to greet him and began to describe the test process to an engineer who had rushed over with an eager expression on his face.

He held one hand very high and showed the staff his flight altitude. “We tried an altitude of 13,000 meters. The engine was still in excellent working condition, everything was running normally, and the power output was very stable.”

As he spoke, he thought for a moment and then added, “The front of the plane is too long, which slightly affects the view directly below. Of course, I think this is a worthwhile trade-off. The performance of this engine is superb. Although it’s a bit more difficult to roll than the Fw-190D, its other performance characteristics are much higher.”

While the pilot was describing the recent combat test, several engineers beside him were taking detailed notes on the aircraft’s performance in the various flight conditions he described. They recorded everything very seriously; after all, this plane was the beloved baby they had meticulously designed for years.

“There’s nothing to be done about it. When this engine was designed, the emphasis was on power output. After all, it’s not an easy thing to make a fighter fly at 700 kilometers per hour,” the staff member said with an embarrassed smile. But he still looked at the plane he had designed with pride and added, “The visibility issue can’t be improved. I suppose that’s one of our regrets.”

“In fact, it doesn’t affect much. At this plane’s speed, no object can hide in front of and below me for very long,” the pilot said, clearly very optimistic about the aircraft. “This is a rare, good plane. If we can equip this plane on a large scale, then no one will be our opponent anymore.”

These were indeed his heartfelt words. As an ace pilot with 25 kills, he had flown the Fw-190D, test-flown the Italian-produced Me-109C export model, and had even participated in the evaluation of a captured British Hurricane fighter a few days ago. So his words carried a high degree of reference value.

Overall, the British Hurricane was a plane that was slightly inferior to the German Fw-190D. So even if this plane could cause trouble for the Fw-190D, it could not possibly compare to the new German fighter that had just entered service. Intelligence from spies reported that the Americans had just recently equipped the P-40 fighter, whose performance was similar to the British Hurricane. This greatly reassured the German Air Force; at least for now, they had not been surpassed. Of course, the Soviet fighters were not even worth mentioning. The improved I-16 was not even as good as the British Hurricane, let alone a challenge for the new German fighter.

It could be said with great responsibility that the design of this near-peak fighter was not something that the second-rate piston fighters of the current era could compare to. Due to Akado’s secret suppression, the British Spitfire had yet to be seen, and the Soviet fighters were even more backward. So the German Air Force could be said to be laughing at the competition; at least at this stage, it would not encounter any real opponents.

On the other side, the other pilot was complaining to other staff members. “The weapon system of this plane is clearly not friendly to novices. The lethality of the 30mm hub-mounted cannon combined with the 20mm wing cannons is certainly commendable, but the ammunition it carries is very limited. Just now, because of the ammunition issue, we were forced to let two Soviet fighters go. I think if it were a novice, there would be no way to shoot down 17 Soviet planes today.”

“If we are dealing with the enemy’s current fighters, two 13mm machine guns would be enough. Of course, four would be even better. Carrying more bullets is clearly more advantageous,” he said, pointing to the plane. “This plane has a larger fuel tank, so its range is longer, and its loiter time is longer. If we have to frequently return to base because of the amount of ammunition, it’s not worth the trade-off.”

Several staff members nodded continuously. Some were taking notes in their notebooks, and some were drawing something on a piece of white paper with a pencil. This fighter was the latest technological product of the Germans, considered the ultimate improved model of the Fw-190D. This plane was designated the Ta-152 internally in Germany, and its official air force designation was the Ta-152D.

As early as when the German Air Force was equipping the Fw-190D and beginning to completely replace the original Me-109A, the Focke-Wulf design team had begun to develop a replacement for the Fw-190D.

Originally, this fighter was developed to increase the range of the Fw-190D, because the German Air Force was preparing to mass-produce a four-engine long-range strategic bomber, the later “Butcher” bomber. So they needed a new type of long-range fighter that could provide escort.

Soon, the Ta-152, with an increased wingspan and engine power, was produced. This plane could fly 1,100 kilometers on an escort mission without carrying external fuel tanks. If it was fitted with drop tanks, it could fly 2,000 kilometers to escort the Butcher strategic bomber, completely solving the German Air Force’s so-called short-leg disadvantage.

However, General Kesselring, who was then the commander-in-chief of the air force and is now the chief of staff of the Imperial Air Force, believed that the new fighter should not only be capable of escorting bombers but also of intercepting high-altitude strategic bombers like the Butcher. He was worried that the appearance of the Butcher would prompt other countries to develop similar high-altitude long-range bombers to attack Germany, so he ordered that the next generation of German Air Force fighters must have a high-altitude interception capability.

Thus, under this requirement, the Ta-152 was further strengthened, equipped with a more advanced engine, and its climbing altitude was increased to 13,000 meters, 2,000 meters higher than the Butcher bomber. In addition, this fighter was fitted with a 30mm nose cannon and 20mm wing cannons.

As a result of this “demon modification” requirement, the design work of this aircraft was greatly delayed, to the point that the Butcher bomber was already in mass production and had equipped over 300 aircraft and had bombed the British capital of London, while this long-range fighter designed to escort it had only just completed its design finalization.

The German engineers, in their pursuit of perfection, not only completed the design of this fighter according to the German Air Force’s requirements but also added an unimaginable feature: the engine of this aircraft could briefly increase its power by injecting a special liquid, MW50, to fly at an astonishing “heaven-defying” speed of 740 km/h.

After passing reliability tests, Akado reluctantly ordered the trial production of the Ta-152D. The Wolf company finally got the order it had dreamed of and began to produce the military’s first order for the new fighter—40 Ta-152D fighters. But now it seemed that this fighter could indeed be called the crystallization of the wisdom of the German aviation industry. The moment it appeared, just like the Fw-190D before it, it had made all the fighters currently in service in the world obsolete.

Of the Ta-152D fighters produced, 20 were sent to the Eastern Front for combat testing, 4 were sent to North Africa for special environment adaptation tests, 10 were kept for homeland defense and deployed to the Berlin air defense command, another 2 were transported to the French coast for combat testing against Britain, and the remaining 4 were given to the navy to test their carrier-based performance.

Soon, the combat results from the front were sent back to Berlin. The Ta-152D had achieved a glorious record of shooting down 19 enemy fighters without a single loss. This reminded the German Air Force commanders of the days when they had just equipped the Fw-190D, and the calls for mass production of the Ta-152D grew louder and louder.

However, the news from the navy was not as good as the air force’s. Due to the long nose, carrier takeoffs and landings for this aircraft were more dangerous than for the Fw-190D. In addition, the navy had no fondness for liquid-cooled engines; they preferred to equip the more reliable air-cooled engines that did not require fresh water.

After all, the naval air arm did not have the “intercept high-altitude bombers” requirement of the air force, so the practical and reliable naval version of the Fw-190 was more favored by the naval commanders. Compared to switching to a new type of fighter, the naval commanders were more concerned with the two new aircraft carriers, No. 7 and No. 8, that were currently under construction.

While the staff here were constantly recording the feedback from the battlefield, the pilots over there were constantly putting forward their own opinions. For example, the degraded roll performance of the Ta-152D after its wingspan was lengthened; the pilot suggested that this be written into the operating manual so that pilots could better understand the performance of their aircraft. For example, adding hardpoints to the wings so that they could carry bombs for simple ground support missions when on patrol.

The suggestions were varied. Some were very useful, good suggestions, while others were suggestions with a strong personal habit of the pilot. But all these suggestions were meticulously recorded, compiled into a document, and sent to the weapons research and development center in Berlin.

Published: 2025-08-28T05:14:46.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2025-11-24T14:23:37.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c479-new-137526821

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