Just after Major General Trota left, the twelve K-8 reconnaissance aircraft involved in the Black Hawk long-range reconnaissance aircraft team also began to make final preparations. The Shetland Islands were a bit large, and if they wanted to cover the entire area, it was naturally impossible to send a few planes out. While the British were not prepared, Major Knowles was preparing to play a big game. He gathered the most experienced crew members of the entire team to participate in the expedition.

In the base in Kiel Harbour, twelve huge K-8 bombers are being transformed in the hangar. The first thing to strengthen is the aircraft's defense. That's right, it's defense. Such a large plane goes over people's heads, and you don't have an escort plane, so how can you not be more slim?

Now, Major Knowles misses the air-cooled engine produced by BMW. Although this thing will explode after being hit by a bullet, it can last longer. Are these liquid-cooled engines produced by Daimler and Berkeley? Although the power is very high and the weight is not large, once hit, the coolant of glycol and water will leak light quickly, and the aircraft will vibrate violently, causing a tooth-acid metal twisting sound to come from the engine, and then the engine smokes and catches fire due to overheating. So it is hit and the engine is finished.

And this time, because they were not responsible for bombing tasks, they had sufficient weight to enhance the aircraft's defense without bombing. First of all, the first thing Knowles and his colleagues had to do was to install a bulletproof guard on the front of the aircraft engine to ensure that the bullets fired from the front would not penetrate the steel plate. At the same time, steel plates were also installed on the upper part of the engine, and the lower part was not added because the probability of being shot in the lower part was very low.

Relying on the protection provided by angle and armor, the three Daimler Bentley engines of the k-8 bomber can ensure that most of them are protected from the attack of French 13.2mm machine guns on the front and sides. As for the exhaust holes and cooling equipment, sorry, it can only be left to fate. After all, the Il 2 cannot solve the problem of radiator.

The second is the protection of the pilot. In fact, although the aircraft is not heavy in this era, the size is really not small, which is due to the small density of the wood... It is unrealistic to make the entire cockpit into a steel bathtub like in the second battle. Therefore, installing a few steel plates at the driver's position. In order to ensure that the aircraft can still drive after the cab is attacked, the German arranged a reserve pilot...

A K-8 long-range reconnaissance aircraft has a total of 9 members, a captain (part-time second pilot), a pilot, a co-pilot, a navigator, a radio operator, and a machine gunner*          4......

The defensive firepower of the k-8 bomber is quite good. A total of 12 machine guns are distributed on the body of the aircraft, the tail of the aircraft, the belly of the aircraft, and the nose of the aircraft. Two other machine guns are placed on the side of the body. Do you feel familiar? Yes, this machine gun defense system refers to the later b17. The existence called the best "fighter" in a magic Thunder game. However, at most it is similar. Unlike the b17 equipped with a bomber fire control system, all machine guns of the k-8 bomber must be operated by manpower. Therefore, once it is running, it is not enough to rely solely on 4 machine gunners. Other personnel will help to control it together.

After almost solving the safety problems, the reconnaissance was investigated. Because of the efforts of the time travelers, the reconnaissance in this era has departed from the era when pilots used their visual solutions to problems. In a plane like the K-8, which was absolutely tall in the first battle, aerial photography equipment was already equipped. This time, German technicians installed a total of 4 long-focus cameras on the nose, belly and sides of the K-8 bomber. After entering the reconnaissance area, just press and press the button. Four cameras can fully reflect the ground conditions within several square kilometers as the plane flies. Because of the emergence of this system, the efficiency of the reconnaissance aircraft has been greatly improved.

By the way, there is another last question, that is, the escape problem if the plane is destroyed. The Bavarian pilots are very clear that at this time, if you dare to jump into the North Sea and swim, it will be a life-threatening death for more than 15 minutes. Therefore, if you can land on the sea, you must not get into the water if you want to survive.

So, the pilots prepared a lifeboat in the middle of the fuselage! That's right, if the folded lifeboat is needed, you can open the valve connected to the compressed air and quickly inflate it in a few minutes. If the 9 people squeeze it, there is no problem.

(What? Some book friends would say they can't let go? What a joke, how can a 18-meter-long body not be able to fit? Taking the v1500 in history as an example, this plane can fit 45 people when carrying personnel!)

As for the remaining items such as signal flares, they naturally need to be prepared. If the plane is shot down, before the plane crashes, the crew will take out the camera's film and put it in a specially made sealed metal box to take it away. The Germans originally planned to bring a sending device, but considering that the radio equipment was too large in this era, they finally gave up.

Finally, the contact and navigation equipment are contacted and navigation equipment. Thanks to the huge body of the k-8 bomber, the aircraft is equipped with two radio communication equipment to backup each other. The signal receiving antenna has also been reinforced. Each aircraft is equipped with an Eniger password machine to receive passwords. At the same time, in order to ensure that this expensive and important equipment is not seized, there is also a detonation device at the bottom of the password machine, which will explode when someone tries to dismantle the password machine.

By the way, there is another thing that must be dealt with, that is, the food and drink problem of the group. After all, eating is a big problem in the 20-hour journey. The food prepared is all high-calorie food, of course, it is not necessary to say, but how to eat hot food is still a problem. You can't make a stove on the plane... But this cannot stop the time traveler who is a foodie.

There are naturally insulation lunch boxes. In addition, the crew also carried self-heated food. Of course, the self-heated food in this era is far less prominent than later generations. The so-called heating agent is just a mixture of quicklime, sodium carbonate, activated carbon and other substances. When used, put some water and then put the food that needs to be heated on it. Quicklime and water are mixed to dissipate heat, while activated carbon and other substances are used to absorb the odor in it.

Just after the Blackhawks prepared everything, the headquarters of the High Seas Fleet finally sent a detailed action plan. The action date has been determined. And surprisingly, the German fleet can take off using the Denmark airport, which undoubtedly shortened the distance of reconnaissance. As for why Denmark agreed, this is not something Major Knowles is concerned about!

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