"Sir, our SBD has hit a German aircraft carrier hard, and this aircraft carrier has been surrounded by fire" The good news that the Potsdam had turned into a "fireship" reached the flagship of the British Home Fleet, the King George V.
The people in the command tower almost cheered, starting with the bombing of Scapa Bay, the British Royal Navy, the former maritime hegemon, seemed to be running out of bad luck, with fewer ships and less territory.
Even when the German and Italian capital ships were sunk, they all killed 3,000 enemies and lost 10,000.
"Losses" Cunningham did not cheer with the others, but immediately asked about the loss, don't come to the air raid group, the loss of two-thirds or something, this is more than worth the loss.
"At the moment it is certain that 11 F4F fighters and 28 SBD dive bombers have been lost."
The aviation staff officer immediately reported on the latest statistics of losses. 24 F4F 11 and 72 SBD 28.
A total of 39 aircraft Cunningham finally showed a smile, the loss was not small, but after all, it was not more than half, and it also hit a 30,000-ton aircraft carrier, suspected of being Zeppelin-class.
This shows that the British Royal Navy is coming out of the trough, and the "Falk Storm" that once swept Europe has lost its power.
Under the entanglement of Mustang fighters, the Fokker Zero could no longer calmly cope with waves of British bombers and torpedo attack aircraft.
As the squadron leader of the carrier-based fighter squadron at the forefront of the line, Captain Novotny can be said to have a deep feeling about this.
His squadron participated in three air interception operations this morning, shooting down six 51 and two F4Fs, and four of its own planes were shot down, sacrificing two very good pilots.
"Their planes are too hard to fight, they are not as strong as they can be, they have more firepower than our Fokker Zero, and they are so agile that they dive as soon as you grab their tails" Coming down from the sky, Novotny, who was already tired and couldn't walk quickly, was eating a nutritious lunch specially for pilots in the officers' canteen, while complaining to his regimental commander, Major Heinzbar.
"But we still shot down at least 100 planes today," Heinzbar smiled and comforted his old subordinates, "and that's just the Fokker Zeros on five aircraft carriers, and if you count the fighters flying from Bergen, we shot down at least 180 enemy planes."
Moreover, the airspace of this engagement was over our fleet, and it was simply impossible for them to salvage the pilot who had fallen overboard. ” "But the Potsdam was badly damaged," said Novotny with some incomprehension, "I really don't understand why we are wandering around the Faroe Islands, is it really going to take the island, but I don't look like it, we didn't have a landing force with us, and the fleet has been sailing north since the morning."
It's getting farther and farther away from the Faroe Islands."
While Novotny was talking, someone suddenly shouted: "The Potsdam has been shot again, it's capsizing, oh my god it's sinking" Novotny and Barr immediately ran to a porthole where a number of pilots had gathered, and when the others saw their regimental commander coming, they all dispersed.
Novotny and Barr looked out and saw that thousands of meters away, the bow of the aircraft carrier, which had been billowing with smoke, had been raised high, and the stern had sunk into the water.
"Oh my God, it got a torpedo" Although Novotny is not from a true naval background, he still has this vision.
"Is there a British submarine nearby?"
"No, it was sunk by ourselves," Major Barr did not see a destroyer dropping depth charges, "and it was abandoned, which means that we will soon accelerate north to the Danish Strait."
The Potsdam was abandoned in order not to be slowed down by it, the speed of the Potsdam was severely reduced by the fire, and the smoke from the burning was also a huge target, which could easily expose the fleet, and the Potsdam was really unlucky, and it sank in the first sortie. ” "So what the hell are we doing in the Faroe Islands," Novotny muttered in a bewildering voice.
"Sir, what's going on" In the wartime cabinet headquarters in London, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill saw that First Sea Secretary Pound had received a war report, and he read it again and again, and his brows were furrowed, so he opened his mouth to ask questions.
"It's dozens of Italians 108s, they didn't go to bomb the north of Scotland, they didn't go to bomb Shetland or Faroe, they have now crossed the Faroe Islands and are flying west."
"Crossing the Faroe Islands" Churchill was also stunned, "what is there west of the Faroe Islands" "There are several aircraft carriers and battleships of the home fleet" "Haha, sir, you're kidding," Qiu Fatzi disagreed, "if it is possible to bomb a fleet under sail with a high-altitude heavy bomber, it will be good news for our American friends."
They have a lot of big guys like B17 and B24. ” Dudley Pound shrugged, "Prime Minister, in fact, I also think that it is not possible to use high-altitude horizontal bombers against surface ships under sail. ” "Is it necessary to take precautions, then?"
asked Churchill, "such as sending Mustang fighters and Mosquito planes to cover Cunningham's fleet?"
The current 51 fighter does not have the Grayback Falcon 60 engine, so the high-altitude performance is very poor, but it can still fight at an altitude of 80009000 meters.
And this time and space in the British Royal Air Force service Mosquito aircraft are equipped with machine guns and cannons, can be a cameo heavy fighter, this is actually forced out of Germany's high-altitude fighters, and now Germany's BF109, F200 high-altitude version.
This makes the RAF urgently need high-altitude aircraft with combat capability, so all Mosquitoes have some air combat capability.
"It's too late," Dudley Pound shook his head, "the 4th Strike Wave of the Coast Air Force has taken off.
In the north of Scotland, all the Mustang and Mosquito planes that could be put into action were put in.
Mobilizing planes from the south could not catch up, and the Germans were now bombing ports and airfields along the English Channel. ” Churchill thought for a moment and said with a smile: "It's just dozens of high-altitude bombers, and they will definitely not threaten the fleet, and Sir Cunningham will definitely be able to deal with it." ” "Dozens of 108s are coming at us, what are the Italians thinking" Cunningham was only amused when he learned that his fleet was about to be bombed by Italian high-altitude bombers.
Cunningham might have been a little worried if it was a German plane, but he had already seen what the Italians were in the Mediterranean.
Cunningham thought for a moment and ordered: "When they get close, let the F4F take off, don't go above 10,000 meters, just hold 6,000 meters."
Then he turned his mind to the German fleet, "which is heading north."
"Yes," replied Lister, chief of staff of the Home Fleet, "they are heading north at a speed of about 10 knots. ” "So slow" "It is estimated that it was dragged down by the 30,000-ton aircraft carrier that suffered heavy losses."
"That is, it has not been sunk yet," Cunningham thought to himself, "and when the carrier-based planes come back, another wave of attacks will be arranged, and a German aircraft carrier will be blown up and sunk anyway."
The two discussed for a while, and the radar officer of the King George V suddenly reported loudly: "A cluster of enemy aircraft has been detected, more than 30 in number, 36 in direction, 100 nautical miles away, and about 10,000 meters in height." 10,000 meters is really lovely Italian Cunningham and Lister looked at each other for a moment, and both smiled contemptuously.
"I saw the British fleet, they are so small."
"Where are they?"
"Direction 222, distance about 20,000 meters."
"Okay, let me see, I see, there are 4 motherships, 1 battleship, and there is not even an air defense formation, but there are direct cover planes over them."
"It's F4F, its performance at high altitude is not very good, it flies very slowly at high altitude, and it is very easy to fight."
"I know, Lieutenant Colonel Castellana, now give me the command."
"Understood, Major Mussolini, now in command from you."
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Although the Italian army was generally unreliable, the bomber aviation regiment commanded by Bruno Mussolini was an outlier.
This son of Mussolini was in fact a very distinguished military man, and under his leadership the 10th Bombardment Aviation Regiment of the Royal Italian Air Force became the best bomber aviation regiment in all of Italy, surpassing in many ways even the German bomber aviation regiments equipped with HE177, JU89 and DO19.
Moreover, the HE177, JU89 and DO19 are only produced in small quantities, and the performance of the German heavy bomber to maintain the factory's manufacturing capacity is not as good as that of the 108.
However, the Luftwaffe also did not intend for the Italian 108S to be the first aircraft to be armed with the HS293 gliding bomb.
The original plan was for the German JU288 medium bomber, which had an impressive speed and range on paper, and was an ideal vehicle than the 108 as the main vehicle for the HS239 and Fritz X, two controllable glide bombs.
However, the development of the 2,500 hp 24-cylinder liquid-cooled JU222 engine from Yumo was delayed, slowing down the progress of the JU288.
Therefore, it was not until December 1941 that the JU288 was finalized, and a large number of equipment troops were probably delayed until after June 1942.
Therefore, the 108, which has long been developed and improved, and has been equipped with troops and participated in real combat, has become the only aircraft in the European Axis that can be used to carry HS239 gliding bombs.
Note: In this time and space, because there is no raw material bottleneck, German aero engine companies can get better performance alloy materials, so the development of JuO222 is finally completed. t1706231537: