Western Campaign German Naval Aviation

  While the German Marine Infantry was busy with training, the German Naval Aviation also announced its establishment.

  Under the urging of German Navy Command, the fitting-out work on the first aircraft carrier 'Graf Zeppelin' of the 'Graf Zeppelin' class is being carried out day and night.

  The British aircraft carrier 'Furious' captured by the German Navy during the Norwegian campaign has also joined the German Navy's combat sequence after repairs and modifications by German technicians, and began sea training in the Baltic Sea.

  Due to the initial opposition of Hermann G?ring, the German Air Force was not established, but its excellent performance in the Norwegian campaign greatly increased Hitler's confidence in the Navy.

  When the German Navy proposed accelerating the construction of naval aviation, Hitler readily agreed to the Navy's report.

  However, due to G?ring's opposition, the Navy was unable to arrange for a batch of experienced air force pilots from the German Air Force as originally planned. Only a few were transferred, and this was done reluctantly by Field Marshal G?ring under Hitler's orders.

  However, after the German Navy secretly bribed him, Luftwaffe Commander-in-Chief Hermann G?ring agreed to allow the German Naval Aviation Department to recruit a batch of students at the German Navigation School.

  Zhou Tianlei said calmly after learning about the matter: "The naval aviation is different from the air force, many places are not the same. If those old slippery guys from the air force come, they may still find it difficult to adapt to the aircraft carrier's takeoff and landing in a short time. We can go find some new people to train and avoid many problems. But aerial combat must require the help of old pilots."

  The German Navy had problems with carrier aircraft in the 1930s and ordered planes from several major aircraft manufacturers through the Air Force. These planes were basically modified versions of those used by the Air Force, but they also made their own demands, requiring that the landing gear be stronger than that of the Air Force and that the wings could be folded to fit into the relatively small hangars on carriers. However, most of them were later diverted to the Air Force.

  However, due to the excellent performance of the German Navy and Hitler's orders, the construction of aircraft dedicated to naval aviation has accelerated significantly.

  According to Zhou Tianlei's suggestion, the navy first began training naval aviation troops on land. They set up a hook cabin at the tail of the training aircraft, equipped with an arresting hook for landing, simulating the situation where the aircraft hangs on the arresting wire on the aircraft carrier deck, so that it can stop quickly, and the strength of the aircraft body also needs to be increased.

  Because the aircraft used by German Naval Aviation were not yet available to the Navy in time, German Naval Aviation initially used Luftwaffe trainers to train their flight students.

  The German Naval Aviation first went to the German Air Force Flight School, starting to recruit advertisements for themselves: one of which was a picture of an airplane landing on an aircraft carrier, with the caption: "Do you want to challenge yourself? Do you want to make the old pilots of the air force praise you? If you want to achieve these two goals, come to the Navy, and the Navy can realize your dreams."

  Another one is a comparison chart of the air force attacking ground targets and naval aviation attacking ships, with the caption below: "Are you tired of attacking things that don't move? Come to the Navy, we attack moving targets." Such advertisements were posted everywhere in the flight school, and a considerable number of flight students were motivated by these advertisements and signed up at the German Naval Aviation recruitment point.

  These enlisted future German naval aviators, after passing the strict physical examination of the German Navy, were pulled to an airport in Hamburg, Germany. There they would undergo training with the German Naval Air Service.

  In training, the German naval air force secretly hired some Japanese naval aviators from Japan at a high salary to serve as instructors for the German naval air force (no other way, can't find anyone to teach, besides this matter is not something the protagonist can decide).

  Japanese instructors first required these German naval aviation novices to land at the slowest possible speed. Takeoff was done with maximum engine power. Before takeoff, Japanese instructors also used wind direction and speed indicators to measure wind direction and speed, requiring German naval aviators to take off against the wind before taking off, saying that this could effectively reduce the distance of the aircraft's takeoff run. Because they were no longer flying air force planes but naval planes.

  And this also laid the foundation for taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier later. After completing their initial education, Japanese instructors took German naval aviation pilots to a runway with white lines drawn on it and asked them to taxi within the distance of these white lines.

  The German naval aviation pilots took one look at the white line that marked the takeoff distance and saw that it was a good third shorter than the run they had used in their previous training, and several of them complained that this distance was too short, and that their planes would not be able to take off in such a short distance.

  Japanese instructor Oyama didn't say much after hearing that, he got into a trainer aircraft and drove it to the front of the runway, started the engine at maximum power, released the brake, and the plane zoomed out. More than 10 meters away from the white line, he pulled the control stick, and the plane lightly lifted its head and flew into the sky.

  The German naval aviation pilots were stunned to see this, and after the plane circled twice in the air above the airport, it lined up with the runway and slowly descended along the glide slope. The German naval aviation pilots saw the Japanese instructor's movements and knew that their level was still quite far from the Japanese instructor's level. No one dared to complain again, and everyone began to train seriously according to the Japanese instructor's guidance.

  It wasn't long before someone was able to take off in front of the white line. After everyone had learned to take off in front of the white line, a German naval aviation pilot came to the airport one day and found that another red line had been drawn behind the white line, with a run-up distance only one-third of the original.

  The German naval aviation pilots were shocked, and before they could come to their senses, the instructor gathered them together and told them: "What you see now is the red line, which is the distance for takeoff on an aircraft carrier. Now we are going to practice taking off with a full load of ammunition and fuel within this distance, simulating real combat situations. I know your warships have catapults, but as an old pilot, I'm telling you that machines can fail, but the enemy won't wait for your ship's equipment to fail before attacking you. Do you understand?"

  In the subsequent training, what the Japanese instructors said was like a ghost story, and the German naval aviation pilots were trained like circus animal trainers, starting to train themselves in this devilish training, and finally, all students could drive fully loaded aircraft with ammunition and fuel within this red line distance.

  The Japanese instructors finally required them to take off and land in the dim light of night, and after more than three months, all the students mastered the skills of flying on a simulated aircraft carrier deck on an air force base runway.

  At this time, some twin-seat trainers manufactured by various aircraft manufacturers for the German Naval Air Service had also arrived at the naval base where the aircraft carrier Rheinland (formerly Furious) was located.

  The German naval aviation also ended the simulated training at the airport and came to the naval base where the aircraft carrier "Hamburg" was located, starting to conduct real flight training on the aircraft carrier. On a morning with very suitable weather for training, the aircraft carrier "Rhine River" left the dock under the escort of several destroyer escorts, heading deep into the Baltic Sea, carrying trainer planes and German naval aviation trainee pilots and their instructors.

  When the aircraft carrier reached takeoff speed, the flight squadron commander gave the order to start the flight experiment. The flight deck became lively as ground crew quickly pulled out a BF-109H naval trainer from the hangar elevator and towed it to the flight line. Next, the ground crew unfolded the plane's wings and set up the boarding ladder. Japanese instructor Oyama and German naval aviation trainee pilot Lahl climbed into the cockpit through the ladder.

  Flight commander looks at the wind direction and speed, gives a ready-to-fly gesture to German naval aviation trainee pilot Rahl. Ground crew also inquires about the inspection of German naval aviation trainee pilot Rahl's aircraft instruments with gestures, after getting his gesture that the check is complete without any problems, makes a beautiful allow-takeoff gesture.

  The German naval aviation pilot, Larl, started the plane's engine and the propeller at the front of the plane began to spin rapidly. When it reached maximum power, the flight commander gave a thumbs-up signal, and with a roar, the BF-109H naval trainer aircraft took off immediately.

  People on the deck and in the flight tower were staring at the plane with bated breath, only to see it sliding all the way down the runway until it was almost at the end of the deck before finally lifting off and slowly climbing into the sky. People on the deck and in the flight tower couldn't help but cheer.

  "In the air, Japanese instructor Oyama asked Ralph through the intercom: "How is it, are you nervous?" German naval aviation trainee pilot Ralph also replied to Japanese instructor Oyama through the intercom: "A bit, just now when I was taxiing on the deck, I thought I couldn't take off and would fall into the sea." Japanese instructor Oyama said: "It's okay, I was worse than you at first, the plane slid to one side before taking off, if my instructor hadn't quickly turned off the engine and pulled the brake, I might have gone to the sea to accompany the dragon king."

  "What's this 'Dragon King' you're talking about? Isn't a dragon a fire-breathing monster that lives in caves? How did it end up in the sea?" asked Lar, a German naval aviation trainee. "Our Eastern dragons are different from your Western ones," replied Instructor Oyama from Japan. "They don't breathe fire and are gods of rain in our culture, so they live in the sea. Even their appearance is quite different from yours. Enough chit-chat, focus on maintaining altitude: at 3,000 meters, circle twice; at 2,000 meters, circle four times; at 1,000 meters, circle twice, then establish a glide path and prepare for landing."

  "Affirmative, instructor," replied German Navy Aviation pilot Lahr. The BF-109H naval trainer variant circled in the air a few times before finally appearing above the aircraft carrier, beginning to fly around it and prepare for its glide slope. People on the aircraft carrier also spotted the plane with binoculars, and the flight commander received a call from German Navy Aviation pilot Lahr: "1-42 requesting landing." The flight commander said: "42-42, 1 is ready, you can land now."

  At this time, people on the aircraft carrier saw that after the BF-109H naval trainer made its final circle and flew low over the flight deck from back to front, it began to climb into the middle air and then started turning towards the rear of the aircraft carrier. After circling three times at the rear of the aircraft carrier, the plane began to descend, aiming for the rear of the aircraft carrier in preparation for landing.

  Everyone knows that the most critical moment has arrived, and whether the plane can land smoothly on the aircraft carrier is a key issue for naval aviation. The flight commanders stared at the plane's descent altitude without blinking. Only to see the BF-109H naval trainer approaching the aircraft carrier, while the aircraft carrier was swaying up and down with the small waves on the sea.

  BF-109H naval trainer aircraft took off from the carrier at a distance of about 1000 meters, the flight commander suddenly found that the plane's glide slope angle was too small, if the plane landed, it would not be able to catch the arresting hook on the carrier. The flight commander immediately called out over the radio to the BF-109H naval trainer aircraft: "42, 42, this is 1, your glide slope is incorrect, go around, go around."

  Japanese instructor, Lt. Cmdr. Oyama, also noticed this and said over the intercom: "Rahl, your glide slope is too high, you can't catch the arresting hook, pull up." Rahl replied over the intercom: "Instructor, I want to get a feel for landing on the ship."

  Japanese instructor Oyama said, "Okay, but you have to pull the plane's power to the maximum. Otherwise, you won't be able to take off again." Then he told the aircraft carrier flight commander about his plan to train German naval aviation pilot Lale. The aircraft carrier flight commander agreed with their plan and allowed them to conduct a 'one-pull instant feel flight'.

  BF-109H naval trainer version in front of everyone, with a loud roar, landed on the deck, but the plane was still head-up, under the control of German Navy Aviation pilot Larr, took off again.

  BF-109H naval trainer version after circling twice, flew back to the tail of the aircraft carrier, this time its descent route was established very well, even Japanese instructor Koyama couldn't help but say through the intercom: "You did too well, I'm proud to have taught such a good student."

  The BF-109H naval trainer landed lightly on the deck, its tail hook catching the third arresting wire of the aircraft carrier. The plane stopped after sliding 50 meters, and German naval aviation pilot Lahr turned off the engine. Together with Japanese instructor Oyama, they opened the cockpit cover and hugged the crowd that rushed up after coming down the ladder set up by the ground crew.