"Gentlemen, patrolling the airspace near Kursk is probably one of the hardest battles!" Standing in front of a group of new pilots, the Luftwaffe instructor reprimanded loudly with his hands behind his back.

The tragic air battle in the Kursk region has already caused the Luftwaffe to replace three groups of fighter pilots.

Why replace it? Because there were so many enemy planes shot down, some pilots even had the psychological shadow of slaughtering their opponents.

They would all dream that they would break their own necks with their own hands and smash each other's planes to pieces.

In high-tech warfare, face-to-face bloody killings are becoming less and less, and the mental trauma of war on soldiers is becoming less and less.

After all, it's much more harmonious to kill an enemy from a million kilometers away by pressing the launch button than to kill an enemy with a blunt knife face-to-face.

Originally, the Air Force in World War II did not need to kill face-to-face, you only had to shoot down the opponent's fighter jet, and the mission was completed.

However, because there were too many fighters down, some fighter pilots had psychological shadows, which is enough to show the cruelty of this air battle.

The Soviets often flew hundreds of their own fighters, and then were slaughtered by hundreds of German fighters.

"I need you to be nervous! Observe the surrounding airspace and concentrate! Avoid sudden attacks by enemy planes! The German ground commander said, looking at the young face in front of him.

These young pilots are all from the most advanced flight schools, where they have just graduated and have undergone the most rigorous flight training.

It can be said that before they took to the sky to shoot down an enemy plane, they had mastered all the skills of fighter combat and flew the most advanced and elite fighter TA-152.

"Luckily! When you're on patrol, you're backed up by ground-based radars! That's good news, at least you won't be constantly harassed by enemy fighters that suddenly appear! Looking at the nervous young pilot, the ground commander still solemnly repeated the standard dialogue he had repeated many times, word for word.

Those who are familiar with this commander can even recite these words that he has prepared countless times, including the following sentence: "And your enemies are not treated so well!" ”

Because of their high-performance radar equipment, German fighter pilots did have better conditions than their opponents, and they did not have to constantly look up in the sky to find enemy planes the size of ants.

In the bumpy cockpit of an airplane, looking for targets in all directions in the sky through the narrow cockpit canopy is not an easy job.

Therefore, the side with the radar has an overwhelming advantage in command and dispatch. That's why ground-based radar base stations are essential for air combat!

As soon as an enemy aircraft flies within the radar coverage area, the radar can detect these targets and guide the patrolling fighters to rush over to fight.

In order to make this guidance sustainable and timely, early warning aircraft also came into being after World War II, which became an important symbol of the modernization of modern air force command.

"You are all elites cultivated by the country at great expense! So if you die in battle, it's a loss to the country. The commander had already reached the end of the line, looked at a novice pilot who was not very tall, and said coldly.

After saying that, he began to walk from one side to the other again: "I hope you can all come back alive and become the ace pilot of this unit!" ”

His words were a great encouragement to these young pilots, because this fighter unit can be said to be the most elite fighter flight unit in Germany.

It was armed with all TA-152 fighters, and more than 140 ace pilots were born.

More than half of the ace pilots who served in this unit have now been transferred to other units as squadron leaders or even group leaders.

What's even more exaggerated is that there are also two super ace pilots in this unit who have shot down more than 100 enemy planes. They were entertained by Air Marshal Goering, and from Goering received their honor, the Knight's Iron Cross.

"That's it! Without further ado, I hope you can all be the most heroic warriors! Let's get on the plane! After finishing his speech, the officer waved his hand and signaled that the pilot corps could be disbanded.

The disbanded pilots began to move towards their own planes, and a third of the pilots here were participating in the battle for the first time, so there was always a sense of tension in the air.

"The plane is in great shape!" Buckled the hatch cover on the aircraft engine, the middle-aged mechanical maintenance technician said with a smile to the young pilot who walked by.

Then, the ground crew climbed onto the fighter plane's wing, stepped on the wing and began to rotate the handle vigorously to turn the aircraft engine.

This is a starting device, which is mounted on one side of the fuselage of the aircraft. As the ground crew swayed, the propellers of the aircraft began to rotate rhythmically, and the engine also made a turning sound.

Facing the rising sun, the day's air battle is about to begin again. The young German pilot sitting in the cockpit of the plane, with the help of the ground staff, slowly closed his hatch cover.

"Everybody! Start your meter check! Test the radio communication channel! Keep the channel open! Keep the channel open! "Inside the headset, the front-line commander issued one order after another.

After turning on a few switches on the dashboard in front of him and carefully checking the instruments in front of him, the young pilot pressed the intercom and confirmed loudly: "Everything is normal!" Everything works fine on the 13th! ”

"Excellent! Follow the 12th and get ready for takeoff! Wait for the command of the tower and keep a distance from each other...... Well, you're all people who have flown countless times, so I won't say more. With that, the front-line commander turned off the call.

With one command after another, fighter jets began to taxi toward the runway. Amid the roar of the engines, the planes began to take off.

With a push of the engine's lever, the young German fighter pilot felt his fighter begin to accelerate little by little, and then with a brief jolt, his whole body was in the air.

"In formation in the air! Gentlemen! Welcome to Kursk! "Intermittently, the words of the front-line commander came through.

Seeing that the land in the distance was getting farther and farther away from him little by little, the young German pilot maneuvered the plane and flew towards the friendly forces that had already begun to form formation.