Chapter 63: The Fall of the Kingpin

  Huang Xinrui's 56th squadron also dived down, and the fighter planes of both sides became entangled in a dogfight. Those BF109s carrying bombs dropped their payloads and re-accelerated to join the aerial battle. The sky was soon shrouded in thick smoke and flames, with several flight trails adding lines to the battlefield. Explosions, gunfire, and engine roars provided the soundtrack for this intense battle scene.

  Although the German air force's fighter jets had a slight numerical advantage and slightly better performance after dropping their bombs, Squadrons 55 and 56 took the initiative. First, Liu Zhesheng used his squadron leader's plane to make an empty-handed blow, which shook the hearts of all German pilots. Then one by one, small teams dived down, making German pilots wonder how many such fighter jets existed.

  Huang Xinrui temporarily commanded the 50 or so fighter planes in the air to calmly await battle, at this time he had already shot down two fighter planes, and there were still around 60 BF109s left in the air. Moreover, he knew one thing, that the BF109 would soon have to return to base.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  "Right on cue, more than 10 minutes later, the BF109s began to show signs of weakness. "Now's our chance, full power attack!" Huang Xinrui excitedly roared over the radio, and the other pilots responded in kind, pulling out all the stops to keep the German air force at bay."

  Due to the determination of the German Air Force, it was unable to maintain its twin-engine formation. The Chinese Air Force, on the other hand, strengthened its formation training from the start, with the lead and wing aircraft almost moving in tandem, achieving a 1+1>2 effect. This approach often left the German fighter planes at a loss for what to do when attacking, while being caught off guard when defending. Within just a few minutes, another dozen or so German Air Force fighters went down, and the remaining fighters no longer dared to engage in dogfights, abandoning their protection of the rear and increasing throttle in an attempt to escape the area. Of course, those planes trailing smoke or with damaged wings or tails were destined never to fly back to French airfields again.

  After chasing for a while, Huang Xinrui ordered the 55th and 56th squadrons to return. He jumped out of the cockpit with a smile and ran in front of Liu Zhesen, today's competition was still won by their squadron. Although Liu Zhesen got the first prize, he was shot down, and inadvertently helped Huang Xinrui get married. Huang Xinrui achieved his 10th victory, although Liu Zhesen's overall victories had reached 20, but the 56th squadron still shot down 5 more German BF109s than the 55th squadron in the competition.

  "That's not right, the plane I shot down today also set off a few others nearby, that should count too." Liu Zhe Sheng was insistent, after all, the bet was a month's allowance, and pounds were very valuable at this time.

  "That only counts as a graze, it's only considered a hit if you knock me down. Luckily we all reloaded afterwards. Thanks for that." Huang Xinrui said with a smile.

  "Hurrah! What a victory!" Major Pack, the airport commander, ran over, panting and out of breath. "Do you know what German air force unit you were up against just now?"

  "Which one is it? I don't know? But their technology is really great." Huang Xinrui said curiously.

  "It's not just great, you know? They're the ace flying squadron of the German Air Force - JG2, Richthofen Squadron, named after the 'Red Baron'. Haven't you noticed the emblem on their tail, that red 'R' embedded in a white shield?" Major Packard exclaimed excitedly, having just received notification that they had shot down many JG2 fighters today.

  "Now that you mention it, I seem to recall that they indeed had a white shield painted on their tail, just like the Chinese dragon on our own tail. And if I'm not mistaken, we even clashed with them at Dunkirk last time, where I shot down two of those fighters, one of which was quite a handful!" Liu Zesheng said thoughtfully, stroking his chin.

  "Do you know? According to German reports, this squadron has already shot down 400 fighter planes, which is an astonishing achievement. Especially the first squadron that participated in today's battle, they are one of the earliest squadrons to be formed. Their squadron leader, Vick, had shot down 40 fighter planes over Britain and was the number one ace. It seems like he was shot down today, our people found fragments with his plane number near the airport." Major Pike said excitedly, spitting saliva onto Huang and Liu's faces.

  Liu Zesheng quietly took a step back, pulled Huang Xinrui and said: "I just remembered that the plane I shot down was probably their captain. I remember that number, in that case, our squadron's record should be counted as a draw?"

  "That doesn't count, just because you shot down the enemy's ace doesn't mean we add extra, we only count planes not heads." Huang Xinrui said stubbornly.

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  The 3rd Air Force was headquartered in Paris.

  General Sperrle listened gravely to the combat report of JG2, the first group had lost 30 fighters in one sortie today, accounting for a third, and even the group commander, the chief ace pilot Oberleutnant Wick was shot down. It seems that the British Air Force has already seen through this tactic, and it makes no sense to continue. He personally picked up the phone and connected to the Luftwaffe Command in Berlin.

  A few minutes later, G?ring put down the phone with a face of iron, the Battle of Britain has been going on so far, and the situation is becoming more and more unfavorable to the German Air Force. First, the large-scale air raid was defeated by the British Royal Air Force on September 15, then his own proposed fighter-bomber approach also failed, even the ace flying squadron JG2 suffered heavy losses, the squadron leader, ace pilot Oberleutnant Wick's life or death is unknown.

  G?ring is now under great pressure, since the British bombing of Berlin and German ports in France, Holland and Belgium. Both the German press and the Army and Navy are attacking the Air Force violently. Although G?ring is at present Hitler's heir apparent and the second most important man in the Third Reich, the papers do not spare him but belittle him with all sorts of innuendos, cartoons and jokes.

  "Marshal, it is necessary to stop the current method of using fighter planes to carry bombs for bombing, which not only fails to cause substantial damage to London but also results in the loss of many fighter pilots. This is unfavorable for the continuation of Operation Sea Lion. Moreover, it will affect our combat plan on the Eastern Front." A senior staff officer advised that at this time, the German High Command had already begun to formulate a plan to attack the Soviet Union.

  "But if the Air Force can't force England to surrender, then we'll just have to rely on the Army and Navy to land. I don't believe the Imperial Navy can take on the British Royal Navy," G?ring said with a self-assured smile.

  "Can't we try a small-scale raid at night, after all, our last one was quite successful." This senior staff officer was the very one who had planned the night raid on Bletchley Park. In that raid, Major Joachim Haig brought back the entire bomber squadron intact, while Bletchley Park became a ruin, with thousands of people killed in the bombing, and the British cryptanalysis team was destroyed in one fell swoop, a feat unprecedented in warfare. "And our X wax is ready too."

  "It seems that we have no choice but to try this method." G?ring clapped his hands together, having made up his mind. "Issue the order to the 2nd and 3rd Air Fleets to adopt small-scale night bombing raids starting today, with targets including London, Coventry, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Southampton!" The stenographer immediately recorded the order and then handed it over for G?ring's signature. After checking it carefully, G?ring signed his name on top.

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  Xu Huan-sheng has been in the UK for ten days, during which he led 40 pilots from Squadron 57 to quickly familiarize themselves with the "Handsome Warrior" night fighter. This fighter is a twin-engine, two-seat aircraft, with the pilot in the front seat responsible for flying and attacking, and the pilot in the rear seat responsible for communication and radar. Currently, Squadron 57 has 20 such planes, plus four spare ones. Originally there were 25 such planes, but one crew crashed one during training, fortunately without casualties.

  As Xu Huan-sheng saw the achievements of Liu Zhe-sheng and Huang Xin-rui getting higher and higher, he felt a bit anxious in his heart. Since yesterday, the 57th squadron had begun to enter actual combat, sending out several night fighters at night under the command of ground radar for patrol, but with no gains. Looking at the four 20mm Hispano machine guns on the nose and wings of the aircraft, Xu Huan-sheng smiled helplessly, with strong firepower but no targets to shoot. Xu Huan-sheng had to insist on training every day to vent the excess energy of the night fighter squadron members, fortunately, the British had sufficient fuel, even the rear-seat pilots got a lot of flight training time, which was difficult to achieve in the domestic shortage of materials. Xu Huan-sheng seemed to understand why he came all the way to Britain.

  "The Handsome Warrior" is similar to Germany's Bf 110, a heavy fighter. Before the start of World War II, most countries did not pay much attention to twin-engine, multi-purpose fighters, as single-engine fighters were already capable of performing daytime combat tasks. Only Germany had been developing the heavily armed and long-range Bf 110 since the early 1930s. After the war began, the British Royal Air Force discovered that it lacked a heavy fighter with longer endurance than the "Hurricane" or "Spitfire", which could perform multiple tasks. Thus, the "Handsome Warrior" was put into service as a makeshift heavy fighter at the most critical time - one year after the start of the war.

  Although this is a fighter, its wingspan reaches 17.64 meters, which is equivalent to the size of the Soviet SB-2 medium bomber that was originally driven domestically. The key is that its empty weight is as high as 7 tons, and the maximum takeoff weight is even higher at 11 tons, surpassing the SB-2 medium bomber. The two Bristol Hercules XVII piston engines installed on it have a single power output of 1725 horsepower, giving this aircraft relatively good maneuverability, with a maximum speed of 514 km/h, a ceiling of 5800 meters, and a range of 2800 kilometers.

  But even so, this aircraft cannot compete with the current daytime fighter planes. The defeat of Germany's BF110 has already shown that heavy fighters are not suitable for today's dogfighting aerial warfare, despite its thick armor and strong firepower. In simulated air battles, the 57th squadron often lost to the 55th and 56th squadrons by a large margin. Therefore, Xu Hengsheng wisely gave up the idea of resisting the enemy during the day and increased the number of nighttime takeoffs and searches for enemies, focusing on doing his best as a night fighter pilot.

  Collect, click! Thank you!