The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

In the Air Force, every time you shoot down an enemy plane, you can paint a 'kill mark' on a conspicuous position on your fuselage (the picture is at the end of the chapter, the author says). This mark can be the flag of the country to which the enemy plane you killed belongs, the silhouette of the enemy plane model you killed, or a simple five-pointed star like our army's.

These "kill marks" are a record of the honors you have earned in battle. Anyone who sees the marks on your plane can tell at a glance how powerful you are.

And if there are more than 5 "kill marks" on your aircraft, congratulations, according to the common standards of various countries in World War II, you are an ace pilot.

Of course, 5 aircraft is just the entry standard for becoming an air combat ace.

Marseille, the "Star of Africa" ​​of Hans, shot down 158 enemy planes with an astonishing record, and Erich Hartmann set an astonishing record of 352 planes shot down.

The top ace of the White Eagle United States, Richard Banger, shot down 40 planes, and the top ace of the Russian Bear, Ivan Kozhedub, shot down 62 planes.

Our aces Liu Zhesheng and Liu Cuigang each achieved 11 victories despite being at a disadvantage in both quantity and quality, which is truly commendable.

So, how did these aces achieve so many victories? Is there really a guiding philosophy for air combat? What is the formula for 100% victory?

After the end of World War II, the surviving aces passed down their experiences and summarized the four elements for winning in air combat - altitude, speed, firepower, and maneuverability.

These ideas are like a beacon, illuminating countless pilots who are pursuing their dreams.

However, the Air Force still lacks a systematic theoretical work.

It was not until the early 60s that an unknown United States Air Force Major, John Boyd, published his book "A Study of Aerial Offense", which thoroughly and systematically summarized the ultimate law of air combat - the theory of air combat energy.

However, at this time, although aces like Marseille had already had some inspiration for the energy BZ tactics of diving and then breaking away after many actual combats, and had put them into practice in actual combat, as front-line pilots, they knew what they were doing but not why.

The synthetic pilots exchanged by Zhang Chi not only have excellent physical fitness, but have also been systematically instilled with a large number of air combat theories, including air combat energy theory, which far surpass this era.

In the process of teaching the flight cadets recruited by Zhang Chi, they systematically explained these air combat theories to them, and taught them step by step the BZ tactics against the Zero fighter, Type 1 fighter and other fighters with excellent low-altitude stability of Fuso (there are pictures, the author says in the next chapter).

Boom and Zoom, as the name suggests, is a tactic of diving to attack and then climbing to disengage. This tactic was favored by aces from various countries, especially those like Hans, who flew the FW-190 and TA-152 fighters with excellent climbing capabilities.

Even novice pilots can easily master this tactic after mastering certain techniques. Of course, to fully utilize this tactical skill, which is easy to learn but difficult to master, requires a wealth of actual combat experience and a crucial bit of personal understanding.

But in any case, this BZ tactic gave the new pilots of the Independent Air Force an opportunity to compete with the old Japanese pilots.

So First Class Airman Cao Wenyuan Lingtai was surprised to find that the enemy plane had no intention of fighting and actually climbed again after a round of dive.

Those P-40 Tomahawk fighters were as agile and decisive as falcons catching prey, repeatedly pulling up and diving, making the planes of Wen Yuan Lingtai and others suffer terribly.

Climb with them and trade speed for altitude?

However, the climbing performance of our own Ki-43 'Falcon' fighter plane did not surpass the opponent's P-40 by much, and we were outnumbered. After losing speed, would we really have a chance to fight back?

Instead of climbing, use a shallow dive to accumulate speed and try a defensive counterattack?

However, the bomber fleet that he was supposed to protect was being slaughtered by the enemy like harvesting wheat. Time seemed particularly urgent to him. Was there still time to slowly consume the energy for himself and the enemy planes?

Wen Yuanling, who encountered this unprecedented fighting style for the first time, was in a dilemma. The price of making a wrong decision on the battlefield is life. What should he do?

The anxiety in his heart was like a burning flame, as if it was about to devour him at any time.

"Everyone, attention! Climb and destroy the enemy! See you at Kudanzaka!" The captain's command was like a flash of lightning, piercing the fog in his heart and helping him find his direction again. (The Ki-43 II-B was equipped with a radio, 12mm armored seatbacks, direct communication capabilities, and self-sealing fuel tanks.)

Push the throttle valve fully to let the engine enter the maximum output state. The roar of the Nakajima H-115 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine is like a battle horn, stirring in the air.

Wen Yuanling felt the pull of gravity too much, his body was pressed tightly against the seat, as if it was about to be torn apart at any time.

His hands gripped the joystick tightly, his fingertips turning slightly white, his heart beating as violently as a war drum. He tried to calm himself down, his eyes fixed on the enemy plane climbing high in the sky ahead.

尽管明知能量不占优的己方，跟随爬升的话大概率将一去不回。残存的9架一式Ki-43‘隼’战斗机依旧孤注一掷的集体拉杆进入30度角的爬升，追着那36架P-40一同跳起了最后一曲华尔兹。

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Wearing a flight leather jacket and sweating nervously, Liu Mo piloted his P-40 fighter plane numbered "Lightning 01" and climbed to a high altitude in the northwest direction with the formation.

The dazzling sunlight shone through the hatch onto his face, warming the entire cabin.

While carefully observing his position in the formation through the glass cabin cover, he looked down at the positions of various pointers on the instrument panel that looked like a clock shop.

As we climbed, the needle on the speedometer slid slowly to the left, while the needle on the altimeter slowly moved to the right.

The current speed is 376km/h. It is necessary to change to level flight or dive before reducing to the stall speed, otherwise there is a risk of loss of control and resulting in aircraft destruction and death.

Liu Mo, who had just been promoted to captain of the Lightning Team, was extremely anxious at the moment and eagerly awaited the captain's instructions.

"This is the captain. Attention, the enemy planes are following. Team Thunderbolt, Team Lightning, and Team Storm are preparing to dive and attack. Team Walnut, Almond, and Team Cashew are continuing to climb."

In the headphones, the captain of the synthetic team gave orders in a calm tone. The calm tone, like a pool of autumn water, calmed Liu Mo's restless heart a lot.

"Three, two, one, start the dive attack!"