Chapter 1186 Landing in North America 2

At the same time, the earphone of Captain George Herbert Walker Bush also heard the low London accent of Brigadier General Major, the air commander: "The enemy is at an altitude of 7,500 meters, with more than 300 people, and there may be carrier-based Fokker aircraft escorting. I order the first attack group to occupy an altitude of 8,500 meters and prepare to give the enemy a head-on blow..."

The total number of Allied fighters that attacked today exceeded 500. They were divided into three attack groups according to different aircraft types by Brigadier General Richard Major, the air combat commander and ace pilot of the British (Canadian) Royal Air Force who had shot down more than 20 German aircraft in the air battle in England.

Among them, the first attack group consisted of 138 F7F twin-engine fighter-bombers of the US Navy and Marine Corps, responsible for giving the German large fleet a head-on blow from the front.

The second attack group consisted of 248 P-47 fighters, responsible for launching the second wave of major offensives. According to the estimate of the Northeast Air Command of North America, the head-on impact of 138 powerful F7Fs could definitely break up the large formation of 300 Me264 bombers. The bomber group whose formation was broken up could not form a formation like an "air fortress", nor could they use their machine guns and cannons to cover each other. The scattered large bombers would become the prey of the P-47 fighters that formed a 4-plane formation.

As for the third attack group, it was composed of 139 "Sky" high-altitude twin-engine fighters of the British (Canadian) Air Force. The "Sky" high-altitude fighter was developed by the British Westland Company before the fall of the British mainland. It first flew on November 1, 1942, and trial production began in early 1943. A small number of "Sky" had been received by the Royal Air Force before the fall of the British mainland. These aircraft, as well as the production drawings owned by Westland Company and the aircraft designers, were all evacuated to Canada when the British mainland fell.

Since this twin-engine aircraft is a high-altitude, high-speed interceptor designed to counter the Ju288, it was valued by the British King's government in exile in Canada and the United States, and became one of the few aviation weapon projects that were retained and continued to be developed and produced.

In the second half of 1943, the British established a production line for the "Sky" high-altitude fighter in Canada. They began to assemble this fighter with excellent high-altitude performance using parts provided by the United States. So far, the cumulative production has exceeded 1,500, becoming the main model in the Royal Air Force (Canada) that can be on par with the Spitfire fighter. The number of equipment (common number) is close to 500, mainly deployed in eastern and western Canada and Australia.

Because the Americans have withdrawn a lot of fighters from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to support the Caribbean, the British government in Toronto had to withdraw the "Sky" fighters in western Canada to supplement Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

Colonel Major, who was responsible for commanding today's air battle, let these "Sky" fighters, which are very valuable to Britain (Canada), take on relatively easy tasks. Circling at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, waiting for the Me264s that were panicked after being attacked to climb up, and then give them the final blow!

…

No matter what the climate is on the sea or on the ground, at an altitude of 8,500 meters, it is always cloudless, and the visibility is the best during the day.

Captain Bush, wearing an electric flight suit and an oxygen mask, was concentrating on looking ahead without any obstruction. Looking up, everything is in sight.

"Captain, I seem to see enemy planes!" The voice of "farsighted eyes" Tom came from Captain Bush's headset. That man was an ace pilot in the squadron led by Bush, who shot down 12 enemy planes (all Japanese planes). And he also has superb eyesight among pilots, and can see large aircraft 15-20 kilometers away in the air above the clouds during the day without the help of a telescope!

"Great!" Bush squinted and looked forward, but found nothing. "Thom, where are they?"

"Directly in front, about 10 kilometers away...above us."

"Above? How is that possible?" Bush raised his head and saw nothing except a deep blue. "Thom, could you have seen it wrong? Just now the early warning aircraft reported that the German bomber group was at an altitude of about 7,500 meters. Did they climb?"

"No, not Me264, but...Oh, my God, they are flying so fast!" The voice of farsighted Tom sounded very panicked, "They are fighters, German fighters!"

Fighters? Captain Bush was still calm, "Maybe escort fighters, it should be Fw190 taking off from the aircraft carrier."

Although the range of the shore-based fighters taking off from the Azores Islands could not reach Newfoundland, they were escorted by the Fw190 and Fokker 264 on the German aircraft carrier, so Captain Bush had already prepared for a battle with the Fw190. Moreover, the F7F fighters equipped by his squadron were not easy to deal with. They were not afraid of the German Fw190 at high altitudes.

"Guys, let's fly higher, follow me...circle and increase the altitude to 2,000 meters." Captain Bush ordered.

In the era of machine guns, air combat was about diving and firing from a high position, and the F7F was originally a large twin-engine aircraft, and it was definitely not as good as the single-engine Fw190 in circling (the Fw190 was not good at dogfighting, but it was still better than the twin-engine aircraft), so all the squadron leaders of the F7F squadrons, including Captain Bush, issued orders to increase their altitude.

At the same time, in the sky about 50 kilometers away, the little Hessman, who was also an air combat expert, was also using code words to order the 12 Me262 squadrons.

"Everyone, pay attention, go upstairs, don't meet, keep your distance, and move freely after you are above the 9th to 11th floor."

"Go upstairs" means to move up, "don't meet" means not to engage in fire with enemy aircraft, and "to the 9th to 11th floor" means to climb to 9,000-11,000 meters. "Free action" means to fight however you like... Little Hessman's command ended there.

However, don't underestimate this simple command. Under the command of little Hessman, the 12 squadrons of Me262T jet aircraft did not blindly close the distance with the Americans, but led more than 100 American F7Fs to the extremely high altitude of more than 10,000 meters by circling and pulling up.

Although the F7F has good high-altitude performance and can fly to about 10,000 meters. But at this altitude, the engine performance of the F7F has dropped very sharply and it can't fly fast at all. The two jet engines used by the Me262T can still perform well at 11,000 meters, so the F7F using piston engines at this altitude is not the opponent of the Me262T at all.

So little Hessman believes that there is no suspense in the decisive battle at an altitude of 10,000 meters!

"Glasses call the electric fan..." Little Hessman then called 8 Fokker aircraft squadrons through the radio.

There is no suspense in the extremely high-altitude battle, but it is not the first time that the American piston fighters have fought against German jets, so they also know how to deal with it.

Normally, when American piston planes encounter German jets at high altitude, they will immediately choose to dive and disengage. As long as the altitude is reduced to medium and low altitude, the piston planes can get rid of the pursuers with their flexibility. However, the Germans also have ways to deal with it. One way is to form a high and low double formation of jet planes - that is, to turn the 4-plane formation into two double-plane formations, one in front and one behind, with a height difference of 1000-2000 meters.

Another way is to deploy Fokker 636 at medium and low altitudes, and wait for the American piston planes to rush to low altitudes, and then use the German medium and low altitude king Fokker 636 to deal with it.

"Captain, they are flying very fast... How is it possible at this altitude?"

When little Hersman continued to command the Fokker planes to set traps for the Americans, the farsighted Tom had already found something wrong, and he hurriedly reported to Captain Bush through the communicator.

"Flying very fast?" Bush looked at the altimeter. It was already over 10,000 meters. What kind of plane could be fast? Could it be... a jet plane? Although he had never seen a jet, he had heard many terrible rumors about them.

Over Buenos Aires, the Germans

"Captain, they are still rising!"

"Captain, they are rushing towards us! Flying very fast..."

"Captain... They are jets! They have no propellers, God, they are jets!"

The terrified voices of Tom, who had farsighted eyes, came one after another, and finally he shouted and reported the bad news of finding a jet!

At this time, Captain Bush, who only had 2.0 eyes, also saw a lot of black spots in the sky, as if there were seventy or eighty of them, approaching at a very fast speed. The black spots quickly grew larger, and soon Captain Bush also found that those things were a twin-engine aircraft, which seemed to have no propellers!

"It's Me262!" Captain Bush shouted, "Dive, dive quickly, lower the altitude!"

Seventy or eighty Me262s cannot be defeated. The F7F is so slow at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, and those Me262s can attack from the most advantageous angle. So more than 100 F7Fs in the sky chose to dive and escape - this is also the standard tactic when encountering jet aircraft at high altitude.

But as soon as Captain Bush started to dive with his plane, he heard the scream of farsighted Tom: "There are also Me262s below! There are also Me262s below... Damn it, I was bitten by them..."