The Rise of the Third Reich

On November 1, Showa 18, the Tokyo Airport (airport) located in Edogami Town, Haneda, Putian District, Tokyo, was already heavily guarded by military police who appeared from nowhere.

Tokyo Airport is Japan's first state-run civil aviation dedicated airport. It was opened in August 1931 and covers an area of ​​53 hectares. When completed, it had a runway with a total length of 300 meters and a width of 15 meters.

However, starting in May of Showa 18 (43), this civilian airport, which had been basically abandoned since the outbreak of the Pacific War, suddenly brought in a large number of army engineers and began to expand aggressively, and requisitioned hundreds of hectares of surrounding areas. soil of. After several months of very busy construction, by the end of October 18, the expansion project was completed, and the size of the airport was more than ten times larger than its original size. Moreover, barbed wire fences were put up around the area, signs indicating military restricted areas were hung, and large groups of military police were patrolling all day long.

This former civilian airport has now become a highly confidential military airport.

In the original terminal building, now the Haneda Base Headquarters building, there are some of the most powerful ministers of the Empire of Japan, including Prime Minister Hideki Tojo (who is also the Minister of War), Navy Minister Isoroku Yamamoto, and the Chief of the Army Staff Headquarters. Sugiyama Gen, Navy Commander-in-Chief Nagano Shushen and others. At this time, they were all in straight military uniforms, holding sabers on their shoulders, standing in a hall on the second floor facing the airport runway, watching one after another huge four-engine long-range bombers roaring down on the airport runway.

What was landing were 42 Me264 long-range bombers that had flown 15,000 kilometers from Germany back to Japan.

Each of the Me264s purchased by the Japanese was quoted as high as 1.5 million European marks just for the aircraft. If you add in the training costs of the crew, various modification costs, fuel when returning to Japan, and the spare parts that come with it. As well as the cost of random technicians, the total price per aircraft will be as high as 2 million Euromarks.

84 aircraft cost a total of 168 million European marks, which is equivalent to 285.6 million Japanese yen! Even more than the cost of a "Yamato" class battleship...

The Japanese base camp naturally attaches great importance to the treasures bought at a sky-high price. Large airports have been specially built in Haneda near Tokyo and Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands for them to take off and land.

At the same time, Japan's Mitsubishi, Nakajima, Kawasaki, Kawanishi and other aircraft manufacturers were ordered to form a research team to dismantle the two Me264s and the two Me262s that arrived at the same time (each priced at 1 million European marks). Research. If conditions permit, imitation will be carried out.

In addition, the "Silver Reaper" suicide missile, which also cost a huge amount of money to acquire, is also the target of counterfeiting by the Japanese military industry department.

To this end, Kiyoshi Hasegawa also requested at the meeting with Hessmann on October 30 (Berlin time) that the Me264 that returned early carry two more "Silver Reapers" (one training bomb and one ordinary bomb). ).

In addition to 2 Me262 jet fighters and 2 "Silver Reapers", 42 Me264 long-range bombers also shipped back from Germany 250 Mercedes-Benz DB601F engines with a maximum output of 1,350 horsepower. Compared with the previous two large transactions with an amount exceeding 100 million Euromarks, the value of 250 Mercedes-Benz DB601E engines is less than 10 million Euromarks, which is really a small business.

However, for the upcoming "Operation Czech-1", this transaction is no less important than the purchase of Me264 and Silver Death.

Because these 250 "backward engines" dug out of the Luftwaffe's warehouse (backward for the current Luftwaffe) are to be installed on the Japanese Army's most advanced three-type "Jieyan" II fighter jets. .

The three-type "Feiyan" fighter jet is a copycat of the He-100 fighter jet sold to Japan by Germany in its early years. Because He-100 was available for copying, the research and development process went very smoothly, and mass production was successfully launched in early 1942.

However, this aircraft copied from Germany uses a liquid-cooled engine (copycat DB601) that the Japanese aviation industry has not fully mastered, so the failure rate is very high, and ground crews also find it difficult to maintain.

Therefore, the Type 3 "Feiyan" fighter has not been favored by the Japanese Army Air Force since its birth, and its popularity cannot be compared with that of the Type 4 "Hast" fighter.

Therefore, after serving for a long time, not many aviation units are using the Type 3 "Feiyan". However, the fierce battles in the Pacific Ocean that began on September 24 revealed the prototype of the Type 4 "Hast" fighter that had high hopes - this is simply a fighter that is neither high nor low, and cannot defeat the F4U at high altitudes. It can't beat the F6F at low altitude. If unfortunately you encounter the P51 and P47, which are both shore-based aircraft, you will simply lose your life.

In desperation, the leaders of the Japanese Army Air Forces thought of the previously unpopular Type III "Feiyan" fighter jets. Although the performance of "Feiyan" is not as good as that of "Haifeng", fortunately, "Feiyan" can be easily upgraded, because the current performance of "Feiyan" is based on the Ha-40 engine, which is copied from the Mercedes-Benz DB601A engine. The Mercedes-Benz DB601 has developed into the F type in Germany (actually the DB601 series was replaced by the DB605 series in early 1942). The appearance and weight of DB601E and DB601A are not much different. As long as the Type III "Feiyan" is slightly improved, the original German DB601E engine can be installed.

The DB601E engine was originally designed for medium and high altitude operations. Therefore, after installing the DB601E engine, the maximum speed of the Type III "Feiyan" II can not only increase significantly to 630 kilometers/hour, but also reach medium and high altitudes of more than 6,000 meters. Performance has also been greatly improved. Although it is definitely unable to defeat the P51 and P47, it is enough to fight against the ship-based F4U.

…

"With the Type-3 Jebi II fighter, there should be no problems at medium and high altitudes in the Hawaiian Islands, right?" Hideki Tojo saw the last Me264 landing safely, and then breathed out softly, and began to ask about the Type-3 The situation of the Feiyan II fighter jet.

"Your Majesty the Prime Minister, in the short term, the Type 3 Jebi Type 2 is sufficient to cope with mid- and high-altitude air superiority operations in the Hawaiian Islands." Answering the question was Takeo Yasuda, the Army Aviation Headquarters Chief and Aviation Director. He said, "But the introduction of The Fw-190 high-altitude model or imitation of the Me-262 jet fighter is the final solution.”

"The Fw-190 can be introduced," Tojo nodded, "but only imitations can be introduced."

The purchase of Me264 and "Silver Death" missiles was a last resort. The two transactions together cost 288 million European marks, equivalent to 490 million yen!

Unless the German Congress can pass the Lend-Lease Act, Japan will not be able to buy many expensive German high-end arms. Fortunately, the purchase price of Me264 can be paid in installments, and there is no need to pay real money. You can use natural rubber and nickel ore, tin ore, and palm oil produced in Nanyang to top up the amount.

The entire cost of purchasing the "Silver Death" has to be paid in gold, silver and European marks. Because Rolls-Royce, one of the suppliers of the "Silver Death", does not accept any form of payment other than cash, nor does it agree to pay on credit.

"Is it difficult to imitate Me262 and Shinigami missiles?" Tojo then asked.

"The Me262 is not easy to copy," Takeo Yasuda replied. "The difficulty lies in the two high-thrust jet engines that can be used for 100 hours."

Historically, the jet engines used in the Me262 usually only worked for a dozen hours (the initial prototype could work for 100 hours because it used non-ferrous metals when open). However, there is no shortage of non-ferrous metals in Germany at the moment, so it can produce a jet engine that can theoretically work. 100 hours of jet engine.

However, Japan and New Rome, which cooperated in the development of jet aircraft, did not have such technical capabilities. The engines they produced on trial lacked thrust and were even less reliable, making them unfit for use.

"However, it should not be difficult to imitate the Reaper missile." Takeo Yasuda said, "Because the Reaper missile is a disposable weapon, there is no need to use a jet engine with a lifespan of 100 hours. It is enough to be able to work for 10 to 20 minutes. And the thrust It doesn’t matter if it’s not enough, you can install two external rocket booster engines.”

A rocket engine is also a one-time thing and can be used for only a few minutes, so it is less difficult to manufacture than a jet engine - of course it also depends on what kind of rocket engine it is. The engine for the V2 rocket is not easy to make at all, but it is small. Japan can still make thrust rocket engines.

"Then make a batch of imitated Shinigami missiles as soon as possible..." Tojo Hideki thought for a while, "Let's call them Sakura missiles! These missiles should be as brilliant as cherry blossoms and will be unforgettable forever."

"Hai."

Tojo then asked Navy Minister Yamamoto Isoroku, "Yamamoto-kun, when will the Navy's man-operated torpedoes be put into use?"

Japan's manned torpedoes were somewhat inspired by manned missiles. Someone proposed the idea in early 1943, and the project was officially established after the Battle of Panama. Several rounds have been modified using the 93 Lance torpedo and are being tested.

"The human torpedo will definitely be finalized by the beginning of Showa 19," Yamamoto Isoroku replied, "We are currently preparing to train personnel, and we should be able to catch up with the decisive battle in the Hawaiian Islands!"

"That would be great!" Tojo Hideki said, "With Sakura missiles and manned torpedoes, the Hawaiian Islands will inevitably become the burial place of the U.S. Pacific Fleet! The Jet-1 plan can now officially begin."