When the Italian 10th Bombardment Aviation Regiment under Major Mussolini completed the first round of attacks, dropping 1 HS293 bomb per aircraft, there were 58 S left in the sky.
One aircraft was directly hit by a 45-inch anti-aircraft artillery shell and blown to pieces, and another aircraft was damaged by shrapnel from an anti-aircraft gun shell, one engine was damaged, the fuel tank was also leaked, and it was forced to return ahead of schedule.
And the "artificially guided" HS293 gliding bombs dropped by these 108S bombers are not a hundred shots, after all, the current "artificially guided" and the GS guidance of later generations cannot be compared.
Dropping 59 bombs, about 40, that is, 24 hit the target, but still blew up the British fleet on the surface and scarred.
The battleship King George V was hit by 5 HS293 bombs, and all but 1 did not explode.
One of them hit the stern Y turret, causing the stern of the turret to malfunction the secondary gun commander; One pierced the upper deck of the bow and exploded between the upper and middle decks, causing a small fire; 1 bomb hit the conning tower, which was protected by strong armor, and did little damage; Another bomb went into the water before hitting the battleship, only to hit the stern of the battleship before exploding, blasting a large hole in the thin mine-resistant armor of the King George V class.
However, such injuries are not fatal to King George V.
But the four aircraft carriers USS Radiance, USS Victory, USS Dreadnought and USS Indomitable were not so lucky.
The HS293 gliding bomb is actually a 500-kilogram semi-armor-piercing bomb, which is not as penetrating as an armor-piercing bomb, and is a bit difficult to use against a battleship like the King George V class.
But the flight deck for bombing aircraft carriers is more than enough.
Even an armored aircraft carrier like the Tejas class could not block the attack of 500 kg of semi-armor-piercing shells.
Because the so-called armored flight deck does not mean that the entire flight deck is armored, but only a section of the flight deck can ensure the basic take-off and landing requirements to have relatively strong armor, otherwise the armored deck of this class of aircraft carriers will be heavy.
In the rest of the section, there is either only a thin layer of steel plates, or there is simply a wooden deck, which cannot withstand the impact of HS293.
In the first round of attacks alone, the Radiant was hit by 4 bombs, the first bomb penetrated through the unarmored bow flight deck, and penetrated several decks in succession before detonating in the internal non-commissioned officer's cabin.
The first bomb hit the chimney of the Brilliant, blowing up the thick chimney on the spot and causing the steam pipe to burst, dropping the speed to 15 knots, and at the same time the shrapnel from the explosion swept across the deck like raindrops, but fortunately, all the planes had already taken off, and there were not many crew members on the deck, so there were no major casualties; The third bomb penetrated the lifting platform near the bow of the ship, which is also a thinly armored area, and then exploded outside the hangar, although it did not penetrate the bulkhead of the hangar, but completely destroyed the bow lifting platform and caused a fire; The fourth bomb landed on the heavily armored amidship flight deck, although the 500-kilogram semi-armor-piercing projectile fell from a height of more than 5,000 meters enough to penetrate the armor of the 185, which was far more than the thickness of the flight deck armor of the Tejas class.
However, since HS293 is a gliding bomb, it does not fall as fast as a normal bomb, so it is not able to form a penetration, but gets stuck in the middle of the steel and wood boards of the flight deck, and there is a big explosion, or a huge hole in the flight deck.
The Victory had slightly better luck than the Brilliant, as two of the five HS293 gliding bombs that hit it were duds.
The other three HS293 gliding bombs hit the carrier's bridge, aft flight deck, and port side turret with twin 45-inch secondary guns.
Although it also caused a fire and caused the 45-inch shells to be killed, the aircraft deck function of the aircraft carrier was not lost, and the power system remained intact.
The Dreadnought, on the other hand, was the unluckiest of the four Radiant ships, with six HS293 gliding bombs hitting it.
Moreover, one of them also hit the stern waterline, which was not at all a key protective area of the Radiant-class aircraft carrier, and the huge force generated by the explosion of 250 kilograms of explosives suddenly opened a big hole in the terrible stern, and even the bulkhead of the nearby engine room was blown out.
A large amount of seawater poured into one of the engine rooms, quickly submerging it and depriving the aircraft carrier of a third of its power.
The other five bombs hit the bow deck, the amidship deck, the stern lifting platform, the upper part of the bridge and the bottom of the chimney, causing great damage, especially the bomb that hit the bottom of the chimney did not penetrate the engine room and exploded, and blew up another engine room, and also damaged the pipeline that transported steam, so that the power of the aircraft carrier was completely lost, and it was impossible to carry out drainage operations The Indomitable was also lucky, as four HS293 gliding bombs hit its flight deck, three of which formed a penetration, blowing up the non-commissioned officer's cabin, the bow lift platform, and several minor compartments in the stern, causing a fire.
Another crashed into the amidship flight deck at a small angle, not forming a penetration, nor blowing up the deck.
"God, are you going to abandon the British Empire" Cunningham looked at the aircraft carrier that was still burning and staggered on the sea, and listened to the chief of staff Lister report the damage in a trembling voice, and even had the heart to die.
Obviously, dozens of four-shot heavy bombers dropped bombs horizontally at an altitude of 9,000 meters, which should have been inaccurate, and they were hit one by two with excellent luck.
How can it be "100 shots" now, in the blink of an eye, all four aircraft carriers have been severely damaged Is this British Empire really coming to an end?
"The enemy plane is coming, it's coming close to us" Just when Sir Cunningham was almost unable to think about it, 24 F4Fs with direct cover missions finally received orders to climb to an altitude of 9,000 meters.
For carrier-based fighters that focus on medium and low altitudes, it is very difficult to fly so high, which requires a specially designed supercharger and aerodynamic shape.
The supercharger used for high altitude is purely cumbersome at medium and low altitudes, and the aerodynamic shape is conducive to climbing high and is not conducive to maneuverability, so there is no high-altitude all-you-can-eat model in World War II, but a large series of high-altitude all-you-can models exist, such as the 51 series, under which there are high-altitude models and low-altitude models.
Hearing the report of his subordinates, Major Bruno Mussolini did not want to take any risks, and hurriedly ordered the flight altitude to be increased by 2,000 meters, to an altitude of 11,000.
Of course, those F4Fs can climb up, but their engines don't have turbochargers, and at altitudes like 11,000, the power output drops very much.
In front of the 58 108S heavy bombers that maintained a flying formation covering each other, the 24 F4F6 127 machine guns that were panting and struggling to maintain altitude and were a little lacking in firepower were a huge threat to the Fokker Zero, but the solid 108s were not enough to pose much of a threat.
"Continue to stay in formation and be careful to cover each other."
By the time all the planes had climbed into place, Bruno Mussolini had already ordered loudly in a tone of irrepressible excitement, "Continue to attack the British aircraft carriers and battleships on the surface, for the sake of Italy and the Roman Empire, we will sink them all" "Commander, that's one, a bomb with wings and tail and wires in tow."
The staff officer, who had been sent by Lister to see the bomb, was out of breath and ran back to the command tower, and began to report his findings to Cunningham and Lister.
"Dragging wires" Cunningham turned his head to look at Major Jackson, the fleet's communications staff, if there was anyone in the Home Fleet Command who was most familiar with things like wires and signal transmission, it was undoubtedly Major Jackson.
"Commander, I think the Germans have invented a bomb that can be flown remotely" Major Jackson immediately guessed what was going on, "no wonder they were so accurate" "A bomb that can fly remotely," Cunningham immediately asked, "is it difficult to make such a bomb?"
Cunningham had already thought of replicating this "eye-growing" bomb, and if such a bomb could be dropped by a Mosquito plane, then the defense of the British homeland might still have to be fought.
"It's not difficult in theory, because it's wired, and it's technically completely feasible."
Major Jackson replied, "I think we'll be able to build the same weapon soon."
However, such a bomb must be difficult to operate, and it is impossible to hit the target with it without months of training. ” He was right, the HS293 gliding bomb was very difficult to control, and its operators had to undergo at least six months of rigorous training before they could take up their posts.
"A few months," Cunningham smiled bitterly, "I hope before this time the Germans will not rush across the Channel in the millions and tear our empire to shreds." ” "Bomb, it's coming again" Someone suddenly shouted, interrupting Cunningham and Major Jackson's conversation.
The 58 108S heavy bombers in the sky have set up new attack formations at an altitude of 11,000 meters, and a new round of remote-controlled gliding bomb attacks has begun Sir Cunningham sighed bitterly at the sight of the small black dots gliding down the sky, he knew that his fleet was finished, and the British Empire would be finished later, and the sunset of the empire on which the sun never set would soon come. t1706231537: