Chapter 469 British Turkey
Blue sky, white clouds, blue waves.
The Norwegian Sea in early summer is the best season of the year. Both the sea and the blue sky appear exceptionally clear and transparent, making it difficult to move away.
A buzzing sound suddenly came from above the clouds, breaking the tranquility between the sea and the sky. Then I saw dozens of SBD and TBD fighters with three-color or four-color concentric circle emblems painted on the fuselage and wings emerging from the white clouds like an oil painting. Bombs and torpedoes hanging on the belly of the aircraft could be vaguely seen. People felt waves of murderous aura scattered around!
This is a huge attack group of 50 SBDs and 39 TBDs, one less SBD dive bomber than the one that took off from four aircraft carriers an hour and a half ago - this aircraft stopped due to engine failure 30 minutes ago Turning around, I had to make an emergency landing at sea, but the emergency landing failed and I fell straight into the sea...
However, this aircraft crash and fatality did not dampen the high morale of the British pilots. In the past two or three months, they have been used to all kinds of accidents, and they have also heard about the past experiences of the carrier-based aircraft unit. Heroic deeds - it can also be said to be heavy losses! Therefore, life and death have long been regarded as relatively indifferent.
In addition, all of them know that today's battle is directly related to the survival of the British Empire! As members of the Royal Navy, they must fulfill their duties.
Now, all eyes are fixed on searching the sea over and over again, looking for the legendary main force of the German High Seas Fleet!
These aircraft have been flying in the sky for an hour and a half. If you include the time it takes for them to take off from the aircraft carrier one by one and then form a formation, most of the aircraft have been flying for more than 2 hours! If the whereabouts of the main force of the German High Seas Fleet are still not found in another 45 minutes or no more than an hour, then the only option is to throw away the bombs and return home. This is so depressing. These planes already knew the coordinates of the German High Seas Fleet when they set off, and they also received two corrected coordinates during the flight. If they couldn't find this and tell them, wouldn't it be a disaster for naval aviation all over the world? laughing stock?
At this moment, Lieutenant Smith, the air attack commander of these 89 British bombers/torpedo bombers, suddenly saw a line of black smoke moving rapidly down from the sky in front of him!
Lieutenant Smith, who had fought many battles with German planes over the English Channel, immediately recognized that it was a crashed plane dragging black smoke!
"It must be the plane taking off from the Faroe Islands, they got here first!" Captain Smith thought to himself, and quickly turned the joystick in his hand to accelerate the plane in the direction of the crash.
Within a few minutes of flying, a picture of an air combat that he would never forget (he didn't have much time left in his life) was displayed in front of him.
Explosions, smoke, flames, and countless airplanes circled around something.
Captain Smith looked down at the sea and saw only about 20 German ships of various sizes that had formed an anti-aircraft formation on the sea. On the outside is a circle of light cruisers and destroyers, guarding 2 aircraft carriers and 2... as if they were heavy cruisers in the middle. The anti-aircraft guns of all the German ships were firing, and the firepower was so dense that it almost formed a protective net in the air. From time to time, Bristol "Beaufort" torpedo bombers that broke through the obstruction of German aircraft and forcibly penetrated the defenses from low altitude were smashed into pieces!
At high altitude, many "Wellington" heavy bombers were being chased by Fokker Zeros and were scurrying around. Some even dropped strings of bombs indiscriminately. Unfortunately, these bombs were very deflected. Not to mention hitting, not even one of them hit the target. There are no near misses. On the contrary, one "Wellington" was beaten into a "turkey" by a Fokker Zero in front of Captain Smith's eyes, and fell into the sea.
…
"Lieutenant General, there are dozens of enemy planes coming, all single-engine planes..."
On the aircraft carrier "Seidlitz", Helmut Haye, who was calmly commanding the fleet to engage in air defense warfare, had just received information from the lookout post - the radar had actually detected another wave of enemy planes approaching, but it was I don't know how many engines these planes have.
"Single-engine plane? Is it a fighter jet?" Helmut Haye quickly walked to the side of the bridge, raised his telescope and looked into the sky.
Captain Fritz Hinze, the captain of the "Seidlitz", put down the phone receiver and shouted to Heyer loudly: "The lookout report is not a fighter jet, but an SBD Dauntless dive bomber and a TBD Destroyer torpedo attack aircraft!"
"Is it an American plane!?" Lieutenant General Haye was shocked by the news. These aircraft have not previously appeared in the Royal Air Force and Naval Air Forces' lineups, and the UK introduced them in strict secrecy. Although the German intelligence agency has obtained some information, it is not sure.
"We don't know yet..." Colonel Fritz Hinze shook his head and said, "The enemy plane is still 20 kilometers away, and the lookout post can't see the aircraft emblem clearly."
Haye gritted his teeth, "No matter how many there are! Immediately transfer 1, no, 2 squadrons to intercept them. Don't let the Dauntless aircraft enter the dive position!"
After nearly a year of war, both the Luftwaffe and the Navy now knew that dive bombers posed a fatal threat to surface ships. Because this kind of aircraft can drop bombs with extremely high accuracy! The German Fokker 99 theoretically has a bomb hit rate of more than 85%! Ju88's bomb hit rate is lower, but it is not difficult to reach 50% in training. If dozens of SBDs are allowed to successfully penetrate the defense, it will be a big deal.
"1st Squadron and 2nd Squadron follow me to stop those damn Americans!"
Hertz, who was flying in the air, received an order from Major Max, the flight controller of the "Sedlitz", and quickly shook off a P-51 that was fighting with him. While increasing the altitude, he gave orders to the 1st and 2nd squadrons of the 1st carrier-based aircraft group through the airborne radio.
"Kill the Yankees!"
"Kill the Yankees!"
The 30 pilots of the two squadrons (including Hertz, a total of 31 people, one plane was shot down in the previous battle) had long been irritated by the "freedom of navigation" "Catrina" seaplane - they were fighting a world war, and you just came in with a "freedom of navigation" sign. Isn't this bullying the Germans?
Now that they received the order, everyone rushed up with red eyes and drove the plane to fight the Americans.
"Captain, Fokker Zero!"
When Captain Smith, the British Navy commander of these "American planes", was thinking about how to arrange the SBD and TBD to attack in a coordinated manner, the machine gunner sitting behind him suddenly shouted and called out a name that frightened everyone who heard it - Fokker Zero!
"They are coming!" The machine gunner's voice sounded extremely panicked.
Captain Smith also discovered the Fokker Zero planes that were rapidly rising in altitude and rushing towards him. He hurriedly shouted: "Disperse! Fight in teams! Charge!"
As soon as he saw the number of the enemy, he knew that it was impossible to maintain the formation, so he immediately ordered to disperse the formation and fight on their own. The intention was very simple.
How many Fokker Zeros could there be on the German aircraft carrier? Everyone dispersed and rushed together. With more people and more planes, there would always be a few that could successfully break through. As long as a few bombs hit the aircraft carrier, the next thing would be easy.
With this mentality, the 89 SBDs and TBDs didn't care about the formation or mutual cover. They didn't hide when they saw the scary Zeros, and all rushed towards the anti-aircraft firepower network of the German fleet.
Not to mention, such a desperate attack was still useful. There were only 31 Fokker Zeros with little Hessman. How could he stop 89 oncoming planes? Although these German carrier-based pilots were all elites, they were a little confused when they encountered such a bayonet fight. Only about 20 Fokker Zeros opened fire in time to intercept, hitting 6 SBDs and 3 TBDs. However, these American planes were very strong, and even if they were hit by 20mm shells, they would not necessarily be finished immediately. As a result, only 3 SBDs and 2 TBDs fell.
"Damn it, hurry up and catch up!" Little Hessman was also anxious. He had "lost" an aircraft carrier, but it was an Italian aircraft carrier, so he didn't feel bad. But this time it was two German aircraft carriers, and he was the acting captain of the carrier-based aircraft fleet of one of the aircraft carriers. He couldn't make any more mistakes!
The 31 ace pilots reacted quickly. When Little Hessman gave the order, everyone had already rolled and moved their planes in the sky, adjusted the direction of the nose, and then accelerated to chase the SBD and TBD in front. Most of the pilots turned on the jet combustion system, which temporarily increased the power and speed by "taking drugs" for the engine. Soon more than 20 SBDs and TBDs were bitten, and then a string of flames rolled over.
The difference between the ace and the rookie soon became apparent. The ace had superb driving skills and very accurate shooting. The rookies only knew how to rush the plane, and the machine gunner in the back seat couldn't shoot accurately, and only knew how to shoot randomly.
15 British planes were hit instantly and fell down with thick smoke. Little Hessman also shot down one this time, increasing his number of kills to 23 - two more planes would get the Blue Max.
However, the remaining SBDs and TBDs were not ambiguous either, and all plunged into the fire net composed of anti-aircraft artillery fire. Suddenly, seven or eight planes were turned into "turkeys" by the dense rain of bullets.
This time it was Little Hessman's turn to be dumbfounded! Now the anti-aircraft firepower of German surface ships is very powerful. After the Scapa Flow air raid on September 3, 1939, the anti-aircraft artillery of German surface ships was upgraded. After the Eastern Mediterranean Sea Battle, it was upgraded again. It was equipped with a large number of Bofors twin-mounted 40mm water-cooled anti-aircraft guns, which could fire dense fire nets. Therefore, according to regulations, carrier-based aircraft cannot rush into their own anti-aircraft firepower circle to chase enemy aircraft without permission...