Chapter 916: The Air Force's New Toy

“Yes! Your Excellency, Marshal! We will fight for the Führer until the end of the world!” the captain said, his chin held high as he saluted and replied. “Heil Akado Rudolph, our Führer!”

“Heil Führer!” Raeder returned the smile to his subordinate. “Believe me, there will come a day when the German Navy will roam the oceans, not cower in its harbors.”

While Marshal Raeder was in the naval port, painting a picture of the future for his men, a group of German technicians were busy debugging various pieces of equipment in a secret German airbase.

A German officer in a white lab coat walked over to two technicians who were whispering to each other, coughed softly, and then asked in a slightly hoarse voice, “Doctor, I hear the recent progress has been very good, but the data I’ve seen in the reports is clearly not enough to be described as ‘very good.’ Could I ask, are these two hundred hours really that important?”

“Your Excellency, General,” the old man, who was called “Doctor,” said, turning his head. He spoke to this military officer in charge of air force equipment research and development, “Through our unremitting efforts, the working time of the Torch GKL-40-R has been increased from 510 hours to 790 hours.”

The middle-aged technician standing beside the old doctor also nodded to the officer and then added, “Thanks to the technical support from the materials research and development department, we have finally brought the operating time of this jet engine up to the standard required by the Führer. After testing, the working stability of the Torch 40 engine is now very high, approaching the level of a piston engine.”

“So, this engine now meets the technical requirements of the Führer for the new aircraft?” the general’s eyes lit up as he asked eagerly. He knew the importance of this aircraft to the Führer’s military development plan. This plane would become a standard piece of equipment for the German Air Force in the near future.

Comparing the requirements the Führer had set for the development of German Air Force weapons over the past ten years, it was very clear that any weapon that the Führer had invested heavily in researching and developing could play a role that surpassed its opponents on the battlefield.

From the fleeting Messerschmitt 109 fighter at the very beginning, to the current mainstay of the German Air Force, the Fw-190D, and then to the classic Ta-152. In short, the weapons and equipment that the Führer had ordered into production were all good pieces of equipment with performance that was ahead of their opponents.

As for this engine, called the “Torch,” the German industrial department had been improving it for a full year. For various reasons, it had been unable to reach the practical standard of over 600 hours of working time that Akado had required, and had been shelved all along. It was only recently, when the German materials technology department had made a breakthrough in high-strength materials, that the blades inside the jet engine had finally met the strength requirements.

It was precisely for this reason that this “Torch” had truly become an exceptionally reliable jet engine. Therefore, the German Air Force had abandoned the wasteful and unreliable twin-engine design and had directly adopted a single-engine design for a single-engine jet fighter.

In the secret files of Germany, this fighter was codenamed “Eaglet.” In fact, the military’s naming of this aircraft could be described as潦草 (sloppy/careless). According to the name of the manufacturer, this plane was called the ME-239.

The first number, 2, indicated that this was not a piston fighter with the code 1. The following 39 represented that it was put into production in the year ’39. Don’t expect a group of precise mechanical engineering madmen to have any talent for naming things. The fact that they didn’t just randomly choose something like a flea, a dragonfly, or an owl was already a great show of respect.

And today, the high-ranking generals of the air force were all waiting anxiously outside the hangar. They were about to personally witness the birth of a super fighter. This might be the future main fighter of the German Air Force, a single-engine, swept-wing fighter called the ME-239.

“I hear the speed has also been reduced a lot for the sake of reliability, much lower than the maximum speed of 1000 km/h that we were originally pursuing?” the general in the white lab coat asked, looking at the busy staff.

The old doctor nodded. “Yes, Your Excellency, General. In response to the reliability problem of this aircraft, we ultimately adopted many methods to improve its reliability. Reducing the working speed of the engine was one of them. The fastest flight speed of this plane is only 800 kilometers.”

In fact, just yesterday, during the final secret flight test, this plane had reached a top speed of 840 km/h. But for the sake of caution, the published performance data for the military was a top speed of 800 km/h.

This plane was equipped with four 20mm cannons, with an ammunition capacity of 360 rounds. It adopted a layout with the cannons placed on the sides of the air intake, which could avoid the problem of the cannon’s exhaust being sucked into the engine.

What was even more terrifying was that the range of this plane was quite long. With auxiliary fuel tanks, it could even reach a combat radius of 870 kilometers, and its ferry range could reach 2500 kilometers. This data even surpassed that of the American F-86 fighter, which was born eight years later in another timeline. This was also a concrete manifestation of the German Air Force no longer blindly pursuing fighter performance and turning to consider other aspects.

“Boom! Whoosh!” In the much-anticipated moment, amidst the huge roar of the engine, this experimental ME-239 fighter began to slowly taxi on the airfield’s runway. A huge tail flame spewed from the tail of the plane, pushing it towards the end of the runway.

Just as the Battle of Kursk was about to begin, in the sky above a German Air Force experimental airfield in the rear, the German Air Force’s first practical jet fighter leaped up from the runway and flew into the azure sky. Then this plane began to climb rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, it had become a small black dot in the blue sky and white clouds.

“The rate of climb is very fast. Most of our pilots are very accustomed to using climbing to escape the enemy. It can be said that it is very suitable for our pilots,” a major general from a frontline flight unit said to an acquaintance beside him. “When intercepting enemy aircraft, the rate of climb is also a very important data.”

“It’s even faster than the Ta-152. I no longer know what the limit of our flight speed is,” another air force general praised. “I hear the flight speed is at least 750 kilometers. This is already the fastest in the world.”

Many people were smiling and whispering to each other. Ever since they had heard that the British had mass-produced a jet fighter called the Meteor, the high-tech department of the air force had been worried sick about the defense and security of the German homeland. The phrase “the enemy has a faster fighter” was like a thorn in the throat of all the German Air Force technicians.

Now, looking at the ME-239 soaring in the sky, everyone was relieved. After all, this plane had been sitting in Germany’s warehouses for several years. In terms of maturity, perhaps even Britain’s Hurricane had not been through such a long period of repeated demonstrations.

“The naval air arm will have to wait a little longer on this matter. After all, the takeoff run of this plane is a bit exaggerated. Whether it can be deployed on an aircraft carrier will only be known after the technical department has made improvements,” an air force officer said, engaged in a heated discussion with a naval technician at his side. The naval officer had a reluctant look on his face, as if he really wanted to get this plane onto an aircraft carrier as soon as possible.

“Engine normal! No signs of overheating! The plane’s vibration is very slight. I feel very good right now,” the test pilot’s clear voice came through the loudspeaker of the ground radio. Both the ground observation station and the pilot’s feedback proved that this plane was not showing any problems at present.

“Very good! The rest of the time is yours to play with. Good luck!” the technicians at the ground command center said after a mutual discussion, giving the test pilot a very amateurish order. They were quite confident in their plane. At the very least, they felt that after such a long period of demonstration and effort, the reliability of this plane should be no problem.

And in fact, it was so. This German Air Force jet fighter performed loops and barrel rolls and other tactical maneuvers in the sky, and even pushed its flight speed to 800 km/h at one point, and in the end, no problems appeared. “This is a very mature aircraft”—this was the evaluation of an air force officer who had watched the entire flight process.

“If it could have taken to the sky a few months earlier, then now on the Kursk front, our ground troops wouldn’t be in such a sorry state,” the people who had lost interest in watching the air show began to discuss the war situation at the front as the plane was landing. This plane, because no one was paying attention, did not have any accidents and came to a steady stop in the center of the airfield runway.

“I hear the Soviets are on an all-out offensive this time. They hope to break through the southern route and reinforce Stalingrad…” a commander from a frontline fighter unit who had just returned brought back the latest war situation. He was surrounded by generals from the rear. Everyone was worried about the distant Kursk. This mood had diluted the joy of the successful test flight.

But good news was, after all, good news. Amidst a round of applause, everyone closed their gossiping mouths. The entire test flight process had been a complete success. The Germans, after a long period of hard work, had finally launched a new weapon that was sufficient to change the battlefield situation. The general in the white lab coat, along with General Kesselring’s aide, signed a huge order. The Messerschmitt company began to mass-produce this plane as the next-generation main fighter of the German Air Force, to be equipped by all German fighter units.

If Grand Admiral Raeder of the navy had every reason to be smug, then Kesselring of the German Air Force and the officers of his technical department should now have a good party to celebrate.

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