Great time travel

Chapter 134, Peacemaker
Homestead Air Force Base on the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, just outside of Miami, Florida, USA

Accompanied by the clear sound of the electric bell and the loud shouts of the ground crew, a group of gigantic monsters gleaming with silver light appeared on the runway of the airport.

They are currently the largest military bombers in the world, the B-36 "Peacemaker" with six propellers.

This is an ultra-long-range strategic bomber that has set many records: it is the largest piston engine aircraft put into mass production in history, and it is also the military aircraft with the largest wingspan in history. The bomber carrying all types of atomic bombs in the US nuclear arsenal at that time, and the first ultra-long-range strategic bomber in history that can truly carry out intercontinental bombing missions across oceans.

Among the planes soaring in the sky in this era, the B-36 is an absolute "air giant". The public relations department of Convair, which produced it, once published an article titled "Believe it or not", to The public depicts the hugeness of the B-36 "Peacemaker": the maximum take-off weight is as high as 186 tons, which is equivalent to three B-29 bombers, the largest bombers during World War II; it can carry 39 tons of bombs, which is equivalent to lifting a B-24 ( fully loaded) while lifting a P-47; its ten engines can produce 2 horsepower, which is equivalent to nine locomotives or 70 military trucks, or even two World War I-era fuel tanks. The coal boiler "Dreadnought" (the total power of the battleship Dreadnought is only [-] horsepower); and in order to drive such a powerful engine, its fuel load is enough for an internal combustion locomotive to travel around the earth ten times; its high altitude The deicing system can provide enough heating for a hotel with [-] rooms; its wingspan reaches [-] meters, which is equivalent to twice the distance of the Wright Brothers' first flight!
——Compared with the super behemoth size of the B-36 "Peacemaker", even the B-29 Super Sky Fortress is extremely small.

However, regardless of how big and bloated the B-36 "Peacemaker" is, with six piston engines (with a single power of up to 3800 horsepower) and four turbojet engines (with a maximum thrust of 23 kN) Under full force, it can reach a maximum speed of 685-700 km/h in a combat state, which is almost the same as the fastest fighter jet during World War II, and its limit flight altitude can reach 6 meters, reaching the stratosphere.Self-defense guns are also as high as sixteen (20 of which are equipped with dual-barreled 20mm cannons in remote-controlled turrets, and two 36mm cannons are installed on the nose and tail turrets).Of course, compared with the American bombers produced before, the most significant improvement of the B-29 lies in its bomb load and range: during World War II, even the famous B-36 "Super Sky Fortress" strategic bomber, its largest The bomb load is only nine tons, while the B-39 can carry 29 tons of ammunition (including the heaviest nuclear bomb at the time); the maximum range of the B-36 is 1 kilometers, while the B-36 has an amazing 1 to [-] kilometers (the maximum range of each model of B-[-] is slightly different, and the maximum range of the original model is only [-] kilometers)-in other words, there is almost no target on earth that is not within its destruction range within.But ironically, it is such an aircraft specially prepared for a devastating nuclear war that was given the nickname "PeaceMaker" (PeaceMaker) by the U.S. Air Force!

But thinking about it from another angle, this nickname seems to be quite appropriate-nuclear bombs bring peace!

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An unprecedented aerial super-behemoth like the B-36 had clearly surpassed the technological and industrial level of the time to some extent, and caused a whole host of practical problems.For example, the noise generated by the nearly six-meter-diameter propeller cutting the air at high altitude is so loud that the crew feels as if they are in a noisy printing workshop. If they work for a long time, they may even be in danger of hearing loss .

What is even more criticized is that the propeller of the B-36 "Peacemaker" is installed at the back instead of the front, which is generally common, that is to say, it adopts a rare propulsion type instead of a common pull-in type.As a result, such an engine layout leads to insufficient air flow into the engine—it is estimated that it is blocked by the front wing. Insufficient air flow will cause insufficient air cooling, which will cause the engine to overheat easily and even misfire: all models The B-36 bombers of the United States suffered from engine overheating, which led to many horrific mid-air fire accidents.

As the first batch of trial works that were the earliest to serve, the twelve B-36 "Peacemakers" that appeared at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida are full of various minor problems, and the engines are overheated. The situation is simply frightening.Aircrews who have been in the sky have complained that the B-36 ultra-long-range bomber they operate is "with two engines burning in the sky, and two engines are overheating and ready to become a big fireball"...But despite In this way, despite the military orders, these pilots still gritted their teeth and wrote their wills in the face of the strict orders of the Pentagon. Then they loaded the atomic bombs, incendiary bombs, high-explosive bombs and propaganda bombs with anxiety, and embarked on a journey to South America...

Fortunately, after a few hours of long-distance flight, although four B-36 "Peacemakers" failed midway and had to make an emergency landing, the Pentagon was also forced to reduce the target of nuclear explosions, leaving the Andes Mountains to the other side. On one side, Chile marked out the target range of the first round of nuclear explosions.But the remaining eight B-36s, including the four carrying the atomic bomb, made it to Brazil's southern border without incident.

Then, the nightmare of death that has been staged many times in Eurasia finally fell on the naive and romantic people of South America.

——Facing the B-4000 "Peacemaker" ultra-long-range strategic bomber attacking at full speed from an altitude of 36 meters, in this era without surface-to-air missiles, even if the air defense early warning radar responds in advance, the anti-aircraft guns on the ground It is impossible to reach such a height, and even if fighter jets have time to take off to meet them, they often cannot fly so high—especially when the armaments of South American countries are generally backward, and there are basically no advanced aircraft.

What's more, the B-36 "Peacemaker" is rougher, thicker and more durable than the B-29. The self-defense firepower on the bomber is not vegetarian. I want to knock it out of the air with a thin single-engine fighter , is simply equivalent to wanting a group of cats to hunt wild boars...

Therefore, the eight B-36 "Peacemaker" ultra-long-range bombers advancing at full speed easily broke through the weak resistance of South American countries, and spread the Pandora's box of death and destruction in Lapla, the most fertile place in South America. Tower Plain.

The first target of the nuclear explosion was the Argentine capital Buenos Aires on the banks of the La Plata River. A 20-ton atomic bomb accurately hit the urban area. 36 people including President Peron and his wife Thousands of citizens died on the spot, and the entire Argentine central government was wiped out.Then, Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay on the other side of the La Plata River, and La Plata and Rosario, the two cities in northern Argentina, were also hit by a nuclear bomb... In addition, there are other Several Argentine cities were also subjected to conventional B-[-] bombing and warning leaflets were dropped.It was Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, because it was raining and the sky was overcast, and the bombers could not see the ground clearly from a high altitude, so they escaped temporarily.Due to this sudden change in the rear, the anti-American coalition forces of the three countries that had already advanced deep into Brazil were also forced to temporarily stagnate.

However, for South America, which has been away from war for too long, this is only the first wave of "Punishment of the Bald Eagle"... Three days later, the B-36 "Peacemaker" fleet full of atomic bombs roared again , dropping more atomic bombs on other cities in the Rio de la Plata basin.Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, was not spared this time either, being razed to the ground by an atomic bomb.The temporary anchorage of the Soviet Atlantic Fleet, Porto Alegre, an important town in southern Brazil that has been occupied by the anti-American coalition forces, also suffered a nuclear explosion this time. The entire fleet suffered heavy losses and was on the verge of collapse.

On the other hand, in the face of the rampant nuclear offensive by the U.S. imperialist strategic air force, the strategic nuclear strike forces of the Soviet socialist camp were also not to be outdone. The long-range bomber fleet coming from the field took off from the just-constructed front-line air base in Antofagasta Port in northern Chile, and targeted Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, as well as cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. At the place of the large airport, a full twenty atomic bombs were dropped in batches, completely ravaging the essence of Brazil, blowing up the largest country in South America into anarchy, and by the way, five B-36 "Peacemaker" "Destroyed on the ground - because three of the B-36 "Peacemakers" were still carrying American atomic bombs, the result was an extremely serious large-scale nuclear leak after the destruction, which brought great consequences to the clean-up and reconstruction work. Huge trouble: if anyone will clean up this pile of radioactive debris in the future...

In addition, the Soviet Air Force also bombed Sucre, the capital of Bolivia, because after the US nuclear bombed Argentina and other countries, the Bolivian government, which had just surrendered to the armistice, felt that a turning point was coming, and immediately tore up the armistice agreement and joined the allied camp headed by the United States again. , trying to take the opportunity to pretend to be arrogant to neighboring countries, but forgot that the Soviet strategic bomber fleet was still beside him... Therefore, the Bolivian government's self-assertion turned into suicide in the blink of an eye. The capital Sucre and most of the country The central government team were all reduced to ashes in the mushroom cloud of the Soviet atomic bomb...

Next, this kind of mutual stabbing nuclear attack is still going on-because all the large airports in Brazil have been destroyed, for the sake of safety, the B-36 "Peacemaker" fleet that lost the Brazilian relay station had to shrink the combat radius , no longer tried to expedition to Chile and Argentina, but turned the target of punitive nuclear explosions to the northern part of South America, Ecuador and Peru, which are closer to the continental United States, and successively nuclear bombed the capital of Ecuador, Quito, and the capital of Peru, Lima.The Soviet Union also retaliated. First, it carried out a nuclear strike on Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and then nuclear bombed the colonial capitals of the Netherlands, France, and Britain in Guyana, South America, forcing the governments of these three countries to move to the Caribbean again, such as Churchill. The government-in-exile of the British Empire was moved to the Cayman Islands, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands moved her court and cabinet-in-exile to the Antilles, and Charles de Gaulle's Free French organization moved to Martinique... Thanks to these veterans The great powers really have a big family and a big business, and they have land to settle down wherever they go.

Due to the technical limitations of this era, the strategic air forces of the United States and the Soviet Union can easily penetrate high altitudes and drop atomic bombs on enemy cities, but it is difficult to establish a solid homeland air defense system to intercept enemy bombers carrying nuclear bombs outside the country ——As a result, as one mushroom cloud after another rose into the sky over the land of Latin America, all the once romantic and optimistic South American people had to seriously face a desperate multiple-choice question: Do you choose the American atomic bomb? , or choose the Soviet atomic bomb?No matter which one you choose, you can die without leaving any bones!

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As of the end of [-], apart from Chile, which is the most remote geographically, and Colombia, which was deeply involved in the red-white civil war and fought inextricably, the whole of South America was blessed by misfortune and had not been bombed by nuclear bombs. All other South American countries, whether they are pro-American or anti-American, have already suffered more than one atomic bomb, and every major city has been reduced to radiation ruins in a mushroom cloud, and the death toll is tens of millions.

Moreover, after suffering the saturation bombardment of nuclear bombs, the vast majority of South American countries have fallen into the dark age of the collapse of government functions and the collapse of social order.As for the ground war between the pro-American and anti-American camps, it basically came to a halt—because the rear of the country was destroyed by nuclear explosions, the armies of all parties fell into an unprecedented predicament of paralyzed command and cut off logistics, and their morale fell to the point of collapse. At this point, it is pointless to continue fighting.

It can be seen that the B-36 ultra-long-range bomber equipped with an atomic bomb really lives up to its name of "peacemaker"-after all, war still needs people to start it, as long as people are almost dead , the war is bound to cease, and the world will naturally be peaceful...

With the escalation of nuclear retaliation and counter-retaliation, hundreds of mushroom clouds have been rising in various parts of South America.Seeing the scorched-earth strategy put forward by the U.S. military, the Russians couldn't help but think of the past when their country used General Winter and the burning of Moscow to drag down Emperor Napoleon to death, so they repeatedly weighed the command, and the Kremlin had to give up completely. The plan to "stride forward in one go and use South America as a springboard to attack the mainland of the United States" instead recalled the fleet and aviation troops sent to South America, and threw a mess full of radioactive ruins back to the Americans.

And the Pentagon, which was also exhausted, did not intend to take over this hot potato. After confirming that the joint fleet of the Soviets and the Japanese Navy had withdrawn, it stopped bombing South American countries and withdrew the ground troops trapped in Brazil and other places. After coming out, they just left some no-name troops symbolically in several coastal strongholds, and then retreated to the mainland to lick their wounds to recuperate, leaving the South American countries that "restored peace" to fend for themselves.

In this way, the life-and-death contest between the United States and the Soviet Union in South America came to an end with the devastating blows suffered by South American countries.

Then, amidst the unprecedented catastrophe of hunger, war and turmoil, the human beings on the whole earth ushered in the coldest winter in this century...