Chapter 546: Truly a Novice

The originally left-high, right-low wings trembled slightly and switched to the opposite left-low, right-high. It turned out that Hartmann’s first side-slip was a “feint,” with the purpose of shaking off the Soviet fighters that were following him. After this feint, he quickly changed the side-slip into a barrel roll. By the time the Soviet planes behind him had barely caught up, Hartmann was already controlling his beloved Ta-152 and flying inverted.

There are as many ace pilots in the world who can shoot down five planes as there are fish in the sea. Even super-aces who can shoot down 20 planes are a dime a dozen in the star-studded German Air Force. But have you ever heard of a genius ace who shot down five enemy planes in his first engagement? Have you ever personally seen a legend who, without a wingman for cover, single-handedly toyed with 11 enemy aircraft and still managed to get away unscathed?

Watching Hartmann pilot his plane closer and closer to the ground, watching him slightly rock his wings and send the three Soviet planes behind him into a flurry of confusion, the squadron commander suddenly had a strange feeling. He felt that his wingman, Hartmann, was born to soar in the sky. This vast firmament had been waiting for his appearance, which was why it was so broad, magnificent, and captivating.

Hartmann was in no hurry. Under the squadron commander’s gaze, he almost perfectly recreated the technical maneuvers he had performed that day. He performed an inverted Immelmann, stylishly leaving the three Soviet planes behind, completing a magnificent display of taunting. Under the pincer attack of six Soviet fighters, he had shot down two old Soviet I-16s and had gotten away clean, widening the distance between them and leisurely beginning to climb.

The returning Soviet fighters were seeing red. They seemed to have forgotten that their opponent possessed the flying skills to toy with them. They gathered once again and swarmed towards the climbing German Ta-152.

“Hartmann! The enemy is charging over again. You continue to climb. After we regain altitude, we will withdraw. They are no match for our speed at high altitude,” the squadron commander said, feeling that continuing to fight like this could lead to problems. He spoke to Hartmann through the communicator. “We have already completed our mission.”

“Wait… wait!” Hartmann’s firm voice came through the headset. He was like a stubborn child, wanting to complete his masterpiece. With a hint of defiance, a hint of determination, and a hint of intoxicating fanaticism.

Just as Hartmann said the word “wait” into the communicator, his plane began to turn during its climb. At this time, the speed of the Ta-152 had already begun to slowly increase. The speedometer showed that its speed was already approaching 610 kilometers per hour.

At such a high speed, Hartmann controlled the plane to make a level turn. Although the Ta-152’s level turning performance was not outstanding, because there was a certain gap in the distance and speed between the two sides, Hartmann completed the turn, pointed his nose at the Soviet formation, and the two sides once again flew head-on towards each other.

Victory or defeat hung on this one move! The pilot in the Soviet fighter directly facing Hartmann frowned. He was the frontline commander of this air battle, and the order to continue the attack had also been given by him. If he did not shoot down the German plane in front of him that was causing trouble, even if he were to return, he would probably not have a good end.

Gritting his teeth, he centered the German plane in his sights, then squeezed the trigger and began to attack. The machine guns began to tremble, and the wing-mounted guns spat long tongues of fire. Tracer rounds drew beautiful straight lines in the air, rushing towards the black-nosed Ta-152.

Hartmann, of course, had no intention of flying his plane into the storm of bullets the Soviet pilot was firing at him. He yanked the control stick, and the plane’s nose lifted. Like a light leaf in a gale, it suddenly shot up to a higher altitude with astonishing speed.

Just how fast was the Ta-152’s rate of climb? The laboratory data recorded by the German Air Force’s technical reserve statistics bureau was 19 meters per second. In other words, this German plane could climb nearly 20 meters in one second. Can you imagine how fast that is? It’s like being in an elevator; you press the floor button, the light comes on, and you’re already at the 8th floor.

Although that was just experimental data, in actual combat, this plane could still easily achieve a climb rate of 17 meters per second. The characteristics of this aircraft, compared to the German mainline fighter Fw-190D, were more like those of an interceptor: fast climb, high speed, and for that reason, it had sacrificed a little bit of its roll performance.

Hartmann easily dodged the bullets fired from the opposite side. But he didn’t want to waste time passing by each other again. After all, there weren’t that many I-16s below waiting for him to attack. So this time, he chose the climb that the Ta-152 was better at, rather than the dive he had performed the first time.

After the climb, he immediately changed from pulling the control stick to pushing it forward. The Ta-152, after leaping up about 20 meters, once again dived down, like a fish in the sea leaping out of the water, looking extremely elegant. Of course, for the Soviet pilot on the other side, this fast and elegant dive was like a disaster.

The distance between the two sides closed even further. In the instant his nose was pointing down, Hartmann seized the opportunity to lock the Soviet plane in his sights. He opened fire fiercely, and his cannon shells were fired in that instant. Soon, his attack had an effect. This time, as they passed each other, Hartmann achieved his sixth kill of the day. Another Soviet fighter caught fire in the air and fell, like a brilliant firework.

Relying on their advantage of a smaller turning radius, the Soviet planes circled around and got on Hartmann’s tail. But this time, Hartmann showed them no mercy. He immediately did a huge, upright loop and got on the enemy’s tail in return. This was the air combat advantage brought by speed, one of the reasons why the German Air Force was invincible.

Hartmann opened up the Ta-152 to its maximum speed. The roar of the engine was clearly audible even through the headset. His plane trembled slightly from the rotation of the engine, and his instrument panel tumbled violently due to his sharp maneuvers. But at this moment, he knew that the plane was still under his own control. That feeling of having everything firmly in his grasp made Hartmann extremely excited.

This sky belonged to him. This was his obsession. Who would fly, and who would fall—only he could decide! Seeing the Soviet pilot on his tail nervously rocking his wings, trying to trick him into turning early, Hartmann sneered. A trick I’ve already played, and you’re trying it on me now?

While he was internally despising and mocking the Soviet pilot in front of him, Hartmann centered the reticle of his sight on the enemy’s tail. A short burst of fire began again. When the cannon, smoking slightly, stopped roaring, the enemy plane was already trailing a long plume of black smoke, falling from the clouds.

“The wingman is above you! Careful!” the squadron commander’s voice came through the headset. Hartmann instinctively kicked his rudder pedals, and the plane, with a side-slip, dodged the bullets coming from above. At the same time, Hartmann adjusted his flaps again and, while side-slipping, completed a large-radius turn.

After the turn, Hartmann had once again cut into the flight path of a Soviet plane. The target to be attacked appeared in his sights once again. Without the slightest hesitation, the cannon began to roar. This time, because the aiming time was short, Hartmann did not control the cannon’s fire and fired a dozen or so shells in one go before stopping.

Unfortunately, although he had wasted a large amount of ammunition this time, he had not achieved the same good results as with the previous short bursts. A row of tracer rounds twisted through the sky, drawing curved lines, but none of them hit the distant Soviet plane.

It was clear that the opponent was also an old hand. As he was turning, he had performed a side-slip, evading Hartmann’s sudden attack. Hartmann, having missed his target, was not dejected or annoyed, but simply controlled his plane and went after another Soviet plane. The situation at this moment became strange. The Soviet planes that had been aggressively surrounding Hartmann just a few seconds ago seemed to be being pursued by him now. Even their flight formation was in disarray.

In fact, the remaining Soviet pilots had long since been intimidated by Hartmann’s superb flying skills. At this moment, their minds were filled with the thought of getting out of here as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, their commander had not yet given the order to retreat, so they had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to get entangled with Hartmann.

But to have gone from a position of complete advantage to a complete rout, from 11 planes to only 4—everyone knew that if they continued like this, they were in danger of being completely wiped out. Yet they were also full of hope that if they just tried a little harder, they might have a chance of solving this troublesome German ace pilot.

Another important reason why these Soviet pilots were reluctant to leave was that they had long known that this airspace belonged to the German 1st Fighter Wing. Although this wing had many ace pilots, their planes had all been recorded by the Soviets—those with strange paint jobs and obvious numbers. The plane in front of them had never been seen before, which was another important reason why they were holding onto a glimmer of hope.

In fact, their guess was correct, because today was only Hartmann’s second time on a frontline mission, and his first time opening fire on a target… Of course, today, Hartmann had had many, many firsts. For example, today was the first time he had shot down an enemy plane, the first time he had become an air force ace, the first time he had faced slaughter in the sky with such composure.

Published: 2025-09-04T04:10:08.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2025-12-22T14:29:43.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c546-truly-138089584

Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com