490: Chapter 487: Just Lucky 490: Chapter 487: Just Lucky From the ground, the Super Tucano aircraft seemed to be deliberately crashing into the bullets fired from the anti-aircraft gun, but everyone knew that this was a result of Glolov’s ultra-precise anticipatory attack, having predicted the plane’s speed and flight angle, and being extremely familiar with the anti-aircraft gun.
How difficult is it to shoot down a plane with anti-aircraft artillery?
This question can be answered by watching any old documentary footage from World War II.
To take down a plane with small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, at the very least, several guns must work closely together to fire simultaneously, forming a dense net of firepower, which poses a somewhat larger threat to aircraft.
As for anti-aircraft machine guns, frankly speaking, they at best serve a deterrent role, and for most pilots, they don’t even register as that.
A barrage of bullets mostly hit the Super Tucano’s propeller, shattering its blades on the spot; and naturally, without its propeller, the aircraft could only plummet.
With an anti-aircraft machine gun and only a few dozen bullets, Glolov took down a Super Tucano.
Glolov’s miracle was not over yet.
After the bullets hit the first Super Tucano, the second one behind it began an emergency climb while suddenly carving an arc to one side.
Glolov, deftly maneuvering the anti-aircraft machine gun with an extensive turn, fired anew, the bullets tracing another arc.
The arc of bullets hit the wing of another Super Tucano.
It is indeed difficult for a 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine gun to bring down an airplane, but this has nothing to do with power.
The 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine gun bullets are very potent, exceptionally handy for direct fire at ground targets and capable of piercing light armor.
Although the Super Tucano was only hit by a few bullets, its wing was immediately riddled with holes.
It wasn’t enough to cause a crash, but continuing combat became much more difficult, so the Super Tucano that was hit turned tail and fled immediately.
The Super Tucano with its shattered propeller plunged into the forest.
Despite being a propeller-driven aircraft, the Super Tucano was not outdated in the slightest: advanced avionics, the 1553 data bus; a dual glass cockpit with a head-up display, computerized fire control system—modern fighter jets have everything it should, and notably, the Super Tucano also had rocket ejection seats.
Flying too low and with the propeller destroyed, the pilot of the hit Super Tucano didn’t have time to glide away from the battlefield before ejecting; as the plane dove headlong, the canopies of both the front and back cockpits were ejected one after another, immediately followed by the ejection and parachute deployment of both pilots.
As the pilots were ejected, Glolov jumped down from the back of the pickup truck and yelled at the few people in a state of shock, “Run for it!”
Gao Yang, as though waking from a dream, took to his heels and ran.
The enemy didn’t have just two planes but six.
After revealing its position, the anti-aircraft gun that had taken down and damaged one Super Tucano each was bound to be bombed.
Without needing an order, everyone who was close to the anti-aircraft machine gun that Glolov had just operated took off at a mad sprint.
After Gao Yang started running, he realized his injured left shoulder was a serious hindrance to running.
Although not too slow, he still fell short of his maximum speed, and after covering a short distance, he tripped and pitched forward to the ground.
Cui Bo, who was running ahead, thought Gao Yang was moving too slowly and slowed down to check on him.
Seeing Gao Yang fall, Cui Bo immediately turned back, grabbed Gao Yang’s arm and ran with him.
Gao Yang could have gotten up on his own, but with Cui Bo tugging at him, he couldn’t even manage to stand.
“Let go of me, let me run by myself.”
As Gao Yang was shouting, Brejinsky turned around and ran back too.
Seizing his left arm, he and Cui Bo dragged Gao Yang away together.
Gao Yang felt his left arm being pulled so hard he thought it would snap.
The pain was so intense he couldn’t even scream, stumbling and scrambling on the ground.
Forget standing up to run by himself; he couldn’t even stop.
Gao Yang was pulled away backward, witnessing the rapidly receding scenery.
Surprisingly, he found the time to reflect on how incredibly painful it was to be dragged like this.
In mere seconds, Gao Yang felt he was at least a hundred meters from the anti-aircraft gun.
Then, without seeing anything fall, the area around the anti-aircraft gun suddenly erupted into a sea of flames, with countless rockets striking it in an instant.
Hearing the explosion behind him and feeling the shockwave, Cui Bo and Brejinsky simultaneously dove forward to the ground, and Gao Yang, dragged by them, slammed his head hard on the ground.
Fortunately, he wore a helmet, and the ground was relatively soft.
Though his head spun from the impact, fortunately, he was not seriously injured.
The area around the pickup truck that had been carrying the anti-aircraft machine gun was reduced to a mess, with broken trees scattered all around.
As Gao Yang propped himself on one hand and shook his head trying to sit up, he heard Cui Bo shout behind him, “Damn it, that’s real luck.”
Brejinsky first expressed his astonishment loudly in Russian and then said, “Ram, you’re a real lucky fella.”
Gao Yang shook his head, looked forward, and immediately drew in a cold breath as the hair on his body stood on end.
A tree branch, broken by the explosion and about as thick as an arm, approximately forty to fifty centimeters in length, had its bark stripped away by the blast, revealing the pale wood underneath.
One end was jaggedly broken, while the other end was lodged between his legs.
When Gao Yang had fallen, he was on his back, and the location where the branch had pierced the ground was just a foot forward from rendering him a eunuch.
An inch to the left would have impaled his left leg, and an inch to the right, his right leg.
While Gao Yang was still reeling from the scare, Nate walked up beside him, looked down, and clicked his tongue, saying, “Ram, I know you are lucky, but now I am certain your luck is extremely, extremely good.”
Gao Yang didn’t dare to move forward, as if any movement would cause the branch to injure him.
He carefully shuffled backward before tremblingly saying, “Pull me up, f**k, that was really lucky!”
It was then that he heard Glolov shouting, “Someone, help me load the ammo!
Bring those bullets over.”
After the pickup trucks carrying the anti-aircraft guns entered the woods, one didn’t go far before stopping, while the other went deeper.
Now, the anti-aircraft gun near the road along with its pickup was completely destroyed, while the other remained intact.
After Glolov’s recent performance, no one thought of the anti-aircraft gun he operated as useless anymore.
Instead, it was their only effective method of counterattack.
Right after Glolov called out, people immediately ran to help him load the ammunition, and at this moment Gao Yang certainly wouldn’t stop Glolov anymore.
On the contrary, he had to do everything possible to create shooting opportunities for Glolov.
Once he had gathered his wits, Gao Yang immediately said with urgency on the walkie-talkie, “The enemy pilot has parachuted.
He can only land in this area.
Send four people, try to capture the pilot alive.”
“Report, the enemy has landed helicopters about eight hundred meters to my northeast in a farm field.
Three Black Hawk helicopters, the enemy is spread out, numbers currently unknown, unable to confirm if the enemy helicopters have offensive capabilities.”
“Report, the enemy has begun an air assault about seven hundred meters to my northwest in a clearing, two Black Hawks and three Iroquois.
The air assault is not yet complete, please advise whether to conduct a ground attack.”
After receiving two reports in quick succession, Gao Yang immediately said, “Snipers, find your fields of fire, fire at will.
Mortars, move to positions where your fields of fire are not obstructed and open fire, keep an eye on the enemy’s movements, over.”
Positioned in the woods, to fire they had to advance to the edge of the treeline.
But as soon as he gave the order, the sound of sniper rifles firing could be heard immediately – it seemed the snipers had long been prepared to shoot.
Gao Yang knew that the Angel Mercenary Corps had several snipers.
At least two of them used .50 caliber anti-material rifles, and there was one shooter with an MSG-90 and another with an SSG69.
The MSG-90, strictly speaking, is a precision rifle with high accuracy within six hundred meters, while its limit is around seven to eight hundred meters.
Nevertheless, the weapons the Angel Mercenary Corps used were definitely not standard issue but obviously modified sniper rifles.
Once Gao Yang ordered the snipers to commence firing at will, he soon heard the quick-firing MSG-90 among the sounds of the large-caliber rifles, with the MSG-90’s report easily distinguishable.
After the gunfire began, the sound of artillery quickly followed.
The mortars made little noise when they were fired, but the sound of the shells exploding was quite loud.
At this moment, Gao Yang, too, should have been shooting as a sniper, but his left shoulder was injured, making it impossible for him to join the fight.
Cui Bo hadn’t brought a sniper rifle this time.
Their rifles were all strapped to their backs, while Gao Yang’s rifle was still in the bag, currently carried by Bruce.
Gao Yang grabbed Cui Bo and said, “I’m lending you my Blade of Satan, be careful with it.
If you scratch or bump it, you can forget about ever touching my Blade of Satan again in your life!”
Cui Bo had wanted to play with Gao Yang’s Blade of Satan countless times, but after letting him shoot a dozen or so rounds, Gao Yang never let him touch it again.
However, now that Gao Yang was injured, Cui Bo finally had another chance to get his hands on the coveted Blade of Satan.
Cui Bo’s eyes immediately lit up, and then he took off running, but after a few steps, Cui Bo stopped and urgently asked, “Is the scope sighted in?
What’s the zero range?”
“Zeroed at two hundred meters, go.”
But after Cui Bo ran off, Nate came beside Gao Yang with a grave expression, saying, “Something’s not right.”
Gao Yang replied solemnly, “What’s wrong?
What’s not right?”
“Colombia doesn’t have that many helicopters to begin with, but we’ve already seen eight here.
This is almost a third of the Colombian Air Force.
Almost all the helicopters that can fly near Bogota have come.
This is highly unusual.
It’s clear now; the enemy intends to surround us.”
Gao Yang confidently said, “Whether it’s normal or not, that’s how it is.
Fighting on the ground, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” (To be continued.
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