Chapter Twenty: Air Force Marine Corps

  After the 11th Squadron was established, it could not immediately form a combat force because new aircraft needed training. This task was jointly undertaken by the Fourth Route Command and the Training Department. Shen Depei brought all the personnel of the Training Division to the floating air base to discuss the plan specifically for this matter. In the early days, He Junci mainly put his energy into combat, and did not invest too much in training, which led to some complaints from Shen Depei. Now it was just right to bring the Training Division to train on one side and let the 11th Squadron smoothly familiarize themselves with new aircraft on the other side, while letting the Training Division get familiar with the use of training facilities at the floating air base. The subsequent training of fighter pilots would be handed over to them.

  The training of pilots who graduated from the aviation school was the responsibility of the Training Department, while the aviation school was the responsibility of the Education Department. For these elite pilots drawn from various fighter squadrons, the Training Department still found it a headache to figure out how to train them. However, He Juncai only spent one evening with Shen Depei and others to finalize the entire training plan. After all, He Juncai had a complete set of methods for cultivating business personnel into pilots, and the experience of later generations was also applicable here.

  First, there is theoretical training, which can almost be omitted for experienced pilots, just introducing the characteristics of the new aircraft. By the way, Chairman Chiang has adopted He Juncai's suggestion and named the new aircraft "Jian-1". "The Jian-1 aircraft is very different from your original Soviet-made aircraft in that it uses electronic control instead of mechanical control, making it simpler and more flexible. However, you need to pay attention to the differences in instrumentation, as the aircraft can receive warning and control information from central radar, which was not available before." He Juncai explained, while the training personnel kept taking notes.

  The second stage is the simulation flight training, with 10 simulators set up almost identical to real driving cabins, and the instruments are also the same, so that training can be completed without going up in the air, with high safety and efficiency.

  The third stage was to use 5 trainer planes for flight, this process is a bit slower because currently only He Juncai and Zheng Shaoyu (he has already been taught by He Juncai in advance) can serve as trainers.

  It's been almost half a month, and all 24 pilots can now skillfully fly the "Jian-1" and take off and land on the floating airbase. The subsequent training was handed over to Zheng Shaoyu and the training department. However, today He Junci found Zheng Shaoyu with something important to discuss.

  "Commander Zheng, what do you think about how the 11th battalion should be divided?" He Juncai asked.

  "Does Colonel He think that the current 3-3 system is not suitable for modern air combat?" Zheng Shaoyu keenly caught the meaning of He Junci.

  "Yes, when I was abroad, the US had already adopted a two-aircraft formation. Because now the speed of the plane is getting faster and faster, it's hard to coordinate three aircraft in combat formation, and the efficiency is relatively low," said He Juncai. After discussion between the two, Zheng Shaoyu submitted a plan for the 11th Air Group to be formed. The 24 pilots were divided into 3 squadrons, with 8 people in each squadron, forming 4 two-aircraft formations. In training, those who performed better, such as Zheng Songting, Wang Guangying, and Liu Zhaosheng, were appointed as the commanders of the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Squadrons (it's worth mentioning that Liu Zhaosheng joined the army in the mid-1930s, mainly flying I-16 aircraft, with confirmed victories of 9 planes, earning him a Nine-Star Medal, and shared victories of another 2.33 planes, totaling 11.33 planes, making him officially recognized as the top ace during wartime). The entire squadron used 24 "Jian-1" fighter jets, with 8 spare aircraft."

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  On July 7, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Zhou Zhiyou and Chief of Staff Hu Baixi secretly arrived at the Floating Base and went directly to the office of the Fourth Group of the General Staff stationed at the Floating Base. It turned out that Yan Wu and others had already completed the plan for "Air Raid".

  The main idea of this plan is to utilize the rapid and covert mobility of the floating base to launch a surprise attack on the enemy's command center and logistics gathering place. After distributing the photocopy of the plan, Colonel Shen Wu introduced it. "Our planned target is to launch a surprise attack on Japan's bases in Hankou and Yun Cheng, we can also consider Taiwan's airports and Japan's domestic weapon manufacturing base."

  "According to your plan, the air force needs to have its own marine corps, which can launch surprise attacks on the enemy in the form of parachuting and airborne landings. Doesn't this seem like a type of German paratrooper?" Zhou Zhi Rou was very familiar with the development of international air forces.

  On April 9 this year, the German airborne troops made their debut, attacking Denmark and Norway in a blitzkrieg style, occupying the capitals of these two small countries. From then on, a brand new combat situation was opened up in human warfare history, that is, airborne warfare. The fantasy of heavenly soldiers and generals in ancient myths became a reality in war from this day on. The dawn raid on Denmark on April 9 adopted parachute landing, while the raid on Norway adopted air-landing.

  "Yes." Yan Wu replied, "But our raid method is more flexible. Because the floating base can move stealthily over long distances, we can suddenly appear in the enemy's completely unguarded rear. And we can put in a large number of troops at one time, which is safer and faster than the parachute and helicopter methods used by airborne troops of various countries."

  "In the event that the secret of our floating base is not exposed, such a raid would yield unexpectedly good results." He Juncai added, "Also, I suggest choosing a simpler target to practice on, for example France. After France's surrender, a large number of weapons and equipment were confiscated by the German army and stored in simple warehouses in southern France, waiting for the German logistics department to receive them. Perhaps we can secretly get our hands on some!" He Juncai proposed a very tempting target.

  "He Shang said that we can plan this thing again, and it seems to be highly feasible at first glance!" Yan Wu replied after a brief moment of thought.

  "What size does this air force need to be?" asked Zhou Zhi Rou.

  "Initially, let's consider a team of about 3,000 people. It's better to have a smaller number of high-quality soldiers rather than a large number of mediocre ones. The floating base can't accommodate that many people anyway. With a smaller scale, we can be more selective and choose some veteran soldiers." Yan Wu and the others had already discussed this issue in depth.

  "The establishment of the Air Force Marine Corps has exceeded the current authority of the Air Force Command, and it needs to be reported to the Military Commission. I think this matter should be reported to the Chairman together with Hu and He, the Deputy Chief of Staff." Zhou Zhiyou was very interested in this plan, as having an Air Force Marine Corps would make the Chinese Air Force not just a subsidiary of the Army, but a strategic force that could capture cities and territories. However, he knew that this matter would harm the interests of many bigwigs in the Army, so he had to pull He Junci, the red man next to the Chairman, together with him.

  In the residence of the Chairman, when Zhou Zhiyou took out this plan and mentioned the idea of a surprise attack on Japan and looting Europe. The Chairman's eyes were slightly closed, and after a brief moment of thought, he said: "This plan was also proposed to me by General He, it's good that the air force has such an idea, I will arrange for General Du Yuming to assist you in building this team. My requirement is that this team must have excellent military quality and political quality." When he heard this, He Juncai couldn't help but sweat a little, both hands were hard, really wondering if the Chairman was one of the transmigrators.

  Chiang Kai-shek's intention is clear to everyone, that this elite team must be in his hands. Neither the Communist Party nor local factions can extend their hands here.

  "I understand!" Wang's trusted aide, Zhou Zhiyong, nodded in comprehension. He quickly went to find another trusted aide, Du Yiming, to discuss the selection of personnel. According to the Chairman's instructions, the selection was limited to the various units of the Central Army, and the conditions were extremely high. Not only did they require a clean personal history for three generations, but also required a guarantee letter from their hometown. The requirements for physical condition and military quality were also extremely strict, almost as high as those for selecting pilots, except that the cultural requirements were not so high.

  After several days of intense selection, 1,000 were carefully selected from millions of troops. These people are the backbone of various troops, although their troops are very reluctant to part with them, but under the strict orders of the chairman, they have no choice but to let them go.

  By July 15, the Airborne First Brigade was formally established. Its organization consisted of: brigade headquarters, three infantry regiments, a special service company, and a logistics company; each infantry regiment had a regimental headquarters, a headquarters company, and three infantry companies; the headquarters company had a company headquarters, a communications platoon, a heavy machine gun platoon, and an 81mm mortar platoon; each infantry company consisted of a company headquarters and three infantry platoons. The first commander of the Airborne First Brigade was Colonel Li Hanping (from Changsha, Hunan Province, graduated from the sixth period of Huangpu Military Academy and the first period of the Army University), with Colonel Zhong Mingda as the commander of the first regiment; Colonel Zhang Zhi-cheng as the commander of the second regiment; and Colonel Hu Bao-you as the commander of the third regiment. The personnel, logistics, and training of the Airborne First Brigade were all handled by the Air Force Headquarters, directly under the command of General Mao Bangchu. Over the next two weeks, these troops received parachute training and coordinated combat training, and selected top performers to form the first regiment.

  The 1st Airborne Corps and the subsequent expansion of the 1st Amphibious Division are renowned in Chinese military history, participating in almost every major battle. The number of honors and awards they received is countless, with heroic figures emerging one after another. During the War of Resistance against Japan, being admitted to the 1st Amphibious Corps was equivalent to entering a military academy, and many future generals of the land army came from the 1st Amphibious Corps.

  The floating base has become even busier, with dozens of pilots and hundreds of ground crew members stationed there, and often the various battalions of the Marine Corps come to train in parachute jumping. Fortunately, Chinese people nowadays do not have high material demands, so the original resort's single rooms and double rooms were converted into barracks, with more than a dozen old men squeezed into one room, which can barely accommodate them.

  He Juncai had no choice but to select a deputy officer from the Fourth Route Army Air Force Command to manage the floating airbase, and only then was he able to extricate himself from miscellaneous tasks.

  Next, there was another important task waiting for him, as the special envoy to the Soviet Union, Sun Ke, had arrived. He would go to the Soviet Union again to fight for military aid. Chiang Kai-shek asked him to come to the floating air base before he left and told him that there would be a big harvest. The two of them secretly talked on the floating air base all night, and early next morning, Sun Ke took off in a shuttle plane.

  ***

  On Monday, what should be collected is collected, what should be dotted is dotted, and what should be rewarded is rewarded!