An aviation unit may have thousands or more fighter pilots. But among the thousands of pilots, perhaps less than 10 percent or even less have the ability to fight at night. This situation is not only in the anti-United Nations, but even in those air powers.

The painstaking effort and the cost of training a night pilot are more than ten times that of training a day pilot, especially when there is no special night interception combat aircraft. Moreover, having the ability to fly around the clock does not mean that these pilots have all-weather combat capability.

You must know that even among the Japanese army, which has always been known for its strict training, the number of fighter pilots who can fly around the clock is not too large. In particular, the ability of the Japanese Army Aviation Corps to fly at night is even inferior to that of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which has worked hard in this regard.

At the moment, there is no airborne radar, and the appearance of airborne radar is a year later. In the current night air combat, after the night pilot goes into the sky, the search for the target is in addition to the indication provided by the ground-based radar, as well as the assistance of searchlights and flares. The only thing that helped them determine their target was the faint glow of fire from the exhaust pipes of enemy aircraft in the air and the navigation lights that were not so conspicuous in the night sky.

The night fighter unit has far more requirements for pilots than bombers. Night flights of bombers are relatively simple, after all, bombers do not need aerial dogfights, and the flight path is relatively fixed. And fighter pilots who need to engage in aerial combat are two different things.

Even if preparations have been made for a long time, the ability to fly at night has almost become a necessary training subject for anti-United Nations pilots. But at the moment, the Anti-United Nations has only three fighter squadrons in total, capable of conducting night air combat. Moreover, the pilots of these three fighter squadrons are almost all veterans of the last two batches of pilots of the Anti-Japanese Federation.

Now he lost three people by mistake just because he was unfamiliar with the ground artillery fire, how could Yang Zhen not feel distressed? Yang Zhen was very dissatisfied with Fang Ziyi's explanation. His bomber and transport pilots are now basically 60 percent capable of night flight. But fighter pilots, however, were only three squadrons capable of night fighting.

In this case, how can he be just a bomber pilot, because of the particularity and danger of the mission, and the flight instruments of the bomber are more sound than those of the fighter. So when training pilots in night combat before, the excuse of giving priority to training bomber pilots can be explained?

As early as the beginning of the formation of the air force, Yang Zhen demanded that 60 percent of the pilots of bombers and transport planes should be able to fly at night by relying solely on instruments. By the middle of next year at the latest, 100 percent of twin-engine bomber pilots will be able to complete night flights and bombing missions.

And the pilots of fighters, although not as demanding as bomber pilots. However, Yang Zhen also repeatedly demanded that at least one-third of them should be able to complete the tasks of flying and transferring at night, and at least one-quarter should be able to intercept bombers at night and fight against the Japanese fighters that might be escorting.

But the aviation forces are now training pilots of bombers and transport aircraft, so to speak, to meet and even exceed their own requirements. However, the training of fighter pilots is much different. In Yang Zhen's view, this is a matter of attitude and vision. It's not that the aviation doesn't care about its own requirements or doesn't take it seriously.

It's because they think their request is unrealistic, and they worry that too much of a night training will cause too much damage. Even in the eyes of some, it is simply impossible to fly a single-engine, one-man fighter in the air at night in air combat. Night air defense operations should be handed over to ground anti-aircraft artillery rather than to fighters who are in the dark.

Especially in the course of interception training at night, the losses were indeed not light. The US-made fighters, which were used as night interceptor fighters because their flight instruments were far more advanced than those of Soviet-made fighters and their arrival time was long, lost more than 20 planes during training due to crashes and night miscarriages, and more than 10 pilots died.

Under the circumstance that the price paid was not insignificant, the air force could only select pilots with excellent skills and who had participated in more than two air battles, and reluctantly formed three combat squadrons. Moreover, these three combat squadrons have only preliminarily completed the training of intercepting bombers in the horizontal direction at night. As for the rest, all training has not yet been carried out because there is no information to draw on.

It is precisely because of the heavy losses in training that a considerable number of people in the aviation unit believe that single-engine fighters are not suitable for night operations. Some people even cited the vast majority of the Japanese air force, especially the fighter unit, as an example to prove the correctness of their thinking.

And as a military commander of hundreds of thousands of troops, Yang Zhen can't care about everything. All the cases are checked one by one. It was not until after the end of last night's air battle that Yang Zhen, who had only learned about these situations, was quite dissatisfied with the combat experience reported by the air force and the comparison of casualties between the enemy and us.

It's not that Yang Zhen didn't move and went online, and he estimated the problem too strictly. But in his view, this view is undoubtedly a matter of vision. However, it is undoubtedly a matter of attitude to worry that during night combat training, there will be too many crashes and training will be reduced. These two points are the main reasons for the current low night combat capability of the air force fighter units.

In fact, Yang Zhen also knew that conducting night flight and night combat training would be risky for a newly established air force that was destined to have not yet plumped up its wings. The foundation in the Jiangbei direction is far stronger than that of the Anti-United Nations, but there are not many fighter pilots with night flight capabilities.

Visibility at night is almost non-existent, and there are hardly any landmarks to draw on other than with the help of flight instruments. The requirements for night fighters are far less simple than those for bombers with fixed routes. It is extremely difficult to train a pilot with the ability to fly at night.

Even the British Royal Air Force, which has a much higher educational level and starting point than the Anti-United Nations Air Force and the Luftwaffe, the strongest tactical air force in World War II, and the number of pilots who can fly single-engine light fighters and conduct night air combat are far less than those of daytime fighter pilots.

Moreover, the British, who have a sound and independent modern aviation industry and a complete radar defense system, can upgrade their radar system anytime and anywhere and develop modern night fighters. And targeted development of its own electronic countermeasures technology.

At the same time, the British, whose national education level is far higher than that of China, can quickly train a large number of qualified pilots. The difficulty of its training is far less than that of the British Anti-Japanese Federation, whose cultural level is far inferior. At the very least, there is no need to teach those pilots the most basic mathematics, physics and chemistry before training. The space for its pilots to choose is far greater than that of the Anti-United Nations.

The cost and time to train a person with a primary school education, or a lower level of education, to become a qualified pilot is much higher than that of a person who graduated from junior high school. A student who graduated from a high school in Manchukuo can complete a flight theory course in three months, but for a person with a low level of education, it will take a year or more.

If we look at the number of aircrew lost by the British during the entire World War II, the total number of aircrew members lost by the British during the entire World War II period is probably only barely enough to reach this number combined. In other words, the time for the Anti-Union to train a group of pilots is enough for others to train three or more batches of pilots.

The reason why the United States and Britain in World War II were able to quickly replenish the war-damaged personnel in a short period of time despite heavy losses. In addition to the prevalent civilian flying sport, the high level of national education made it relatively easy to select pilots when the number of troops in multiple arms was expanded and the demand for intellectuals was extremely strong.

At present, the aviation industry is still in the initial period, and there is still a long way to go to truly form its own independent production capacity. As for the ability to independently design a modernized aircraft, it is not yet known about the Year of the Monkey. Compared with the British, the foundation they are facing is very different from that of the British, and there is still a long way to go to get to this point. Now the first step of the long march has just begun.

Although we also know that whether it is the development of the aviation industry or the improvement of combat units, until they reach maturity, it will take a relatively long time to accumulate and develop. In particular, the night air interception, which is just emerging at present, needs a gradual maturity process. But now Yang Zhen seems to be a little impatient.

Because he clearly knew that even if the Japanese army's plan failed this time, it never gave up and completely strangled the Anti-Japanese Union. In particular, the various factories under construction, the Kwantung Army, which has almost become a thorn in its side, will nip in the bud the industries under construction by the Anti-Japanese Federation at any cost in order to weaken the development and resistance ability of the Anti-Japanese Federation.

If you can't solve the problem on the ground, you can solve it in the air. If the losses from daytime air raids are too large, then night bombing is the preferred option. The Japanese were allies with the Germans. The Germans were no strangers to the night bombing of British cities, especially the British military-industrial centers, and the tactics of destroying British resistance.

Industrial bases and cities are not field airfields, let alone field troops, which can be moved at any time. If the Japanese army adopts a large-scale strategic night air raid at any cost, destroying the various industrial bases that the Anti-Japanese Union is creating, just as the United States and Britain did against the Germans a year or two later.

Judging from last night's battle, it is difficult for Yang Zhen not to worry about the destruction of various industrial bases under construction. However, with Japan's national strength, it will not be difficult to transfer all the heavy bomber groups of the navy and air force back to the northeast as long as it is determined to complete the southern operation.

Because for the Pacific War, which will begin in a few months, the protagonist of this war, at least for quite a long time, will be carrier-based aviation. As for the roadbed heavy bombers, they will be useless for a long time. Although the performance of the 96 and Type 1 heavy bombers mass-produced by the Japanese army is not good, the number is still considerable.

It was not impossible for the Japanese army to transfer these heavy bombers to the northeast to fight after completing the southward operation. The internal disagreements between the Japanese army and navy were a matter of internal struggle for power and profit. But externally, they are quite consistent.

Although it also comes from time to time, it is a modern army, not the private army of that warlord. On the whole, this army is still subject to the orders of the state. At least in terms of the general strategic direction and actual strategic actions, the cooperation is still very tacit.

Isn't this operation just that the Navy has also supported the Army? Otherwise, with the limited strength of the Kwantung Army Aviation Corps, it would not have such a great ability to launch such a large-scale operation. Therefore, we must be extremely vigilant about the development of some things. Short-sightedness can only pay a greater price.