Volume 1 Chapter 52 Bombing Antwerp (2)
Liu Zesheng led the 55th squadron in a demonstration of attacking Antwerp Airport, while Colonel William had already commanded a large formation to break into Antwerp Port. There were no German air force fighter jets interfering in the air, but it still took great courage to accurately drop bombs on the port area. Because the German army had set up many anti-aircraft guns and machine gun positions at the commanding heights of Europe's second-largest port. The FK 88mm anti-aircraft gun had a large caliber, high initial velocity, and high firing rate, posing a huge threat to aircraft in the air and even tanks on the ground. Even if a bomber with thick skin was hit by one shot, it would disintegrate in mid-air.
At this time, bursts of anti-aircraft fire had already begun to appear in the sky, which were the traces of high-explosive shells fired by the German 88mm anti-aircraft guns. The Germans in the port began to release smoke, trying to cover up important targets. Seeing this situation, Colonel Williams ordered a squadron of bombers to bomb the port area horizontally at a relatively high altitude. He himself led another squadron to swoop down on the transport ships and barges that had stopped moving and were stuck in the Skaw River, where there was no defense at all.
Although the Wellington bombers could carry no more than two tons of bombs, a formation of over 30 aircraft could still deliver nearly 60 tons. The bombs fell into the smoke-filled harbour, with flashes of exploding fires flickering through the haze. The task for the other bomber squadron was much easier, merely diving down to aim at the ships that had already weighed anchor and were milling about in the confined space of the inner harbour. Several transport vessels were hit by bombs, and these small ships usually sank immediately after being struck by a single bomb. This bombing continued for five minutes until German Luftwaffe fighter aircraft based in Holland, Belgium and north-eastern France arrived, at which point most of the British bombers had completed their attack and begun to withdraw.
Under the summons of Colonel Wilhelm, the 55th squadron finally returned to the port area and joined the convoy fleet. Liu Zesheng and his men did not choose to attack the ground personnel at the airport because China and Germany were not mortal enemies, and even the more intense battles between Britain and Germany were more beneficial to China. This allowed Major Werner M?lders to safely observe the entire attack process of the 55th squadron, and he concluded that except for a few fighter planes, the others were all amateurs in ground attacks. Some had too large an angle of dive, resulting in too little time to attack, while others had too small an angle of dive, missing the opportunity to attack. As they left, Liu Zesheng even made a diving attack on the flagpole outside the airport's waiting room, breaking it off at the waist, and the wind direction signal flag slowly floated towards the air raid shelter, falling at Major Werner M?lders' feet, leaving this German ace pilot crying with laughter.
When the 55 Squadron returned to the skies above the harbour, the harbour area was already in a state of chaos, with the ground shrouded in explosions and dust, while dogfights were unfolding in the air. The German fighters were driving off the British aircraft two by two. Since both No. 85 Squadron RAF and No. 501 Squadron RAF were ace squadrons, with two aces, Armand and Lacey, having scores of over 10, making them double aces, these two fighter squadrons were not scattered by the German fighters but instead escorted the bomber formation while fighting and retreating.
Liu Zhe Sheng has now fallen in love with this kind of battle that doesn't require expending his own fuel and ammunition. In the past, when supplies were scarce at home, even training time was shortened. Now, as long as he wants to fly, he can fly; as long as he wants to attack, he can attack. This life is just right for Liu Zhe Sheng, a madman of aerial combat. So when he sees the outbreak of air battles, he immediately drives Red Dragon No. 1 forward, with the other five fighter jets of the Red Dragon squadron closely following behind. They have already been trained by their captain into madmen of aerial combat, while the three squadrons of Typhoon fighters are slightly slower and fall behind.
Liu Zesheng quickly found his target, a flexible BF 109 that had wounded a British Spitfire fighter and was making a left turn, attempting to regain altitude for another attack. This angle was just right for Liu Zesheng's Spitfire, and he lightly stepped on the left rudder while manipulating the control stick to the left, making a small-angle cut-in that perfectly framed the BF 109 in his sights. Then, seizing the opportunity, he pressed the machine gun button and fired. The eight hot bullets shot out of the machine guns all hit the BF 109's fuselage, breaking the control wires and piercing several holes in the wing. The German pilot of the BF 109 still tried to control the plane, but just as Liu Zesheng was about to continue his attack, he suddenly caught a glimpse of another BF 109 firing at him from the rearview mirror. He subconsciously made a left horizontal roll, dodging several attacks. It turned out that it was the wingman of the BF 109 he had attacked, and the mutual cover-up tactics of the dual-machine battle were indeed very good.
"It seems I also need to find a wingman for myself." Liu Zhe Sheng muttered to himself, but it was not easy to find a wingman who could match his reaction speed and control level.
"Red Dragon One, watch your six, two enemy planes behind you." Lin Heng had just finished a round of attacks with the lead plane when he suddenly discovered that two BF109s had sneaked up to Liu Zhesen's rear, preparing to launch a surprise attack, and hastily warned him.
"Damn it!" Liu Zhe Sheng hastily dived, the speed of the Spitfire was slightly higher than that of the BF109, but Liu Zhe Sheng had just made a climbing action, and his speed couldn't keep up. The distance between the three planes was still getting closer and closer. Liu Zhe Sheng used all his skills to shake off the two German fighter planes behind him. The pilots of the three planes were all extremely surprised. This was the first time Liu Zhe Sheng had encountered such a strong enemy, not one but two, and he was sweating profusely. The pilot flying the BF109 behind was Adolf Grand, a German ace pilot from JG26 squadron, and his wingman. Now these two men were amazed by the agility of the red-nosed Spitfire in front of them. Every time they entered shooting position, this Spitfire could always anticipate and escape beforehand. It's worth noting that Adolf Grand and his wingman had adopted a twin-machine tactic when dealing with single planes, which was almost invincible, having shot down more than 35 British Royal Air Force fighter jets. With this impressive record, Grand ranked among the top three in the German air force.
But today, the plane in front was as agile as a mudskipper, difficult to catch. As the Spitfire's speed gradually increased, the BF 109 found it increasingly hard to bite its tail and had to give up the attack.
"We will meet again." Grand said quietly to the retreating Flamethrower.
In the cockpit of the Spitfire, Ryuusei was also getting angry. Although he wanted to turn back and teach those two fighter planes a lesson for losing face in front of him, Colonel Williams ordered them to return because they needed to preserve Britain's fighter strength.
"Next time I'll get you!" Liu Zhe Sheng said fiercely, although the fatal attack had just flashed by, there were still several bullets that had pierced the wing of the Spitfire. Moreover, this time the 55th squadron did not return in full, Lin Heng's wingman, Jiang Dongsheng, was shot down under the attack of two BF109s, and at that time Lin Heng was also entangled by a BF109 and could not go to rescue him. The performance of the Spitfire fighter was still somewhat inferior compared to the BF109, and it was difficult to match. Lin Heng reported over the radio that he saw Jiang Dongsheng successfully parachute out, but even in the best-case scenario, he would be captured.
However, the bombing achieved very good results overall. At least one train and a warehouse were hit, and the materials prepared for landing operations ignited a raging fire. The transport ships that were not covered by anti-aircraft fire on the Skagerrak River were even more unlucky, with at least dozens sinking, and many more barges were also hit by bombs and emitting thick smoke, and sailors are now busy putting out fires and bailing out water. Colonel Williams ordered people to take pictures of the scene of the raid, which is very good propaganda material that can greatly boost the British people's determination to fight back.
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It wasn't until Liu Zhe Sheng landed that he knew today was lucky. It turned out that a shell fragment from the anti-aircraft gun had hit the oil tank, but fortunately it did not cause a big fire. The self-sealing function of the oil tank worked, and this time the flight distance was shorter, so he was able to fly over safely.
Just then Colonel Crossley of Fighter Squadron 11 appeared while the ground crew was repairing the plane.
"Hi, dear Liu." Ever since Liu Zhesong saved Crosley, Crosley's tone had become more affectionate, which made Liu Zhesong, who grew up in traditional Chinese culture, feel very uncomfortable. "Congratulations on adding two more planes to your score. Today we gave the Germans a good thrashing, who let them gather under our noses!" Crosley had obviously received the battle report one step ahead of time.
"Colonel Crossley, it seems our squadron needs more Spitfires. One of our comrades didn't make it back today, his Hurricane can't keep up with the BF 109s. If not for the speed of the Spitfire, I wouldn't have made it back either from being surrounded by two BF 109s." Liu Zhaosheng said gruffly. These six Spitfires were still cobbled together from scraps, the British Hurricanes were decent against bombers and BF 110s but still inferior to the agile and fast BF 109s.
"I have come this time formally for this matter, I brought 8 Spitfire fighter jets. To know that our aircraft factory's production has decreased under the bombing of Germany, it is still possible to squeeze out these 8 thanks to the Prime Minister's personal approval, which was made after the glorious performance of Squadron 55 in the air battle on September 15." Crosley today not only brought 8 Spitfire fighter jets but also a batch of caliber aviation machine guns, these machine guns are quite numerous because currently only bombers are equipped with them.
"Oh, that's great, thank you!" Hearing that a new plane had arrived, Liu Zhesen became excited and quickly pulled Crosley to receive the new Spitfire. Zheng Songting also came over, this time he must get a Spitfire, he didn't come to England just to stay on the ground, these days were so boring that his hands were itchy.
The Spitfires were quickly allocated, and both the Red Dragon and Black Dragon squadrons of 55 Squadron were equipped with Spitfire fighters. Ryu Chosun planned to use these Spitfires to counter the BF109 and seize air superiority, while the remaining Hurricanes would mainly deal with the German large aircraft, such as bombers and heavy fighters BF110. Before that, one more thing needed to be done, which was to replace the wing machine guns of the Hurricanes with larger caliber ones, so that they could counter the large-caliber self-defense firepower on large aircraft without having to get close to 100 meters to fire.
After dinner, Liu Zhe Sheng and Zheng Song Ting led a few mechanics to tow a Hurricane fighter plane into the repair shop, remove the canvas on the wing, and replace the 6 aircraft machine guns with 4 aircraft machine guns. After busy for half a day, they finally got it done. When the mechanics connected the gun trigger line to the control stick, a group of people pulled the fighter plane to an open space, preparing for test firing. Liu Zhe Sheng personally sat in the cockpit and pressed the machine gun button, and the large-caliber machine gun was indeed powerful, even on the ground, he could feel the fuselage slightly shaking. The bullets hit the target 400 meters away, which made Liu Zhe Sheng very satisfied. After discussion with everyone, the intersection point was set at a position about two hundred meters in front of the aircraft head.
Everything is now left to tomorrow's heavenly test.
Thank you for your attention and collection!
