Chapter 126: Aerial Contest
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While reminding his wingman, Werner Mölders dived his plane downwards. He needed this maneuver to gain higher speed and an ideal attack position. He knew his wingman was tied up with the enemy planes, and if he didn’t attack and break up their formation, his wingman could be shot down.
When he saw out of the corner of his eye that his wingman had entered a climbing spiral, he breathed a sigh of relief. The Me-109 had an unimaginable aerodynamic advantage in this maneuver, so disengaging from a fight under its cover was generally not a problem. He then focused more intently on dealing with the enemy planes that were chasing his comrade.
He adjusted the nose of his plane, aiming at a Soviet I-16 fighter below that was firing fiercely at his wingman, Seiler.
The Soviet I-16 fighter had a short, stubby fuselage. The body was made of high-quality wood, and its engine was powerful, making it a very advanced new type of monoplane fighter. However, its design was heavily influenced by World War I experience, featuring an open cockpit and unremarkable aerodynamic performance.
Furthermore, the I-16s that the Soviet Union provided to the Republican army had a fatal flaw. Due to the limited industrial capacity of their own country, the number of engines they produced by copying a British fighter engine was slightly insufficient (the blueprints were for a British civilian engine, whose performance was very average to begin with). They had to reduce some performance specs to meet the Spanish Air Force’s demand for quantity. This, in turn, degraded the overall performance of the I-16, which was otherwise quite advanced.
This downgrade meant the I-16s flying over Spain had a top speed of only 290 km/h, not the 340 km/h of the version used in the Soviet Union. This figure was somewhat pitiful compared to the German Me-109’s top speed of 570 km/h. This was the main reason why the Republican I-16s had to set a trap and fly in large numbers to compensate for the performance gap.
Therefore, Werner, with the speed advantage gained from his dive, rapidly closed in on the Republican plane. The wings of the Me-109 cut through the air, approaching the I-16 diagonally below like a grey bolt of lightning.
“Seiler! Once you’ve climbed, find a position to cover me! I’m going in!” Werner shouted into the microphone, then he pulled the machine gun’s charging handle. The fuselage of the Me-109 trembled slightly as the two machine guns in its nose spat fire.
Tracer rounds drew brilliant trails of light across the grey sky. One after another, the bullets’ primers were struck, and they were ejected from the chamber, spinning and accelerating down the barrel before flying toward the enemy plane. They then slammed into the enemy’s skin, shattering the wooden panels and metal frame inside, finally embedding themselves in the other side of the fuselage.
This I-16 was directly torn apart in mid-air by the Me-109’s 13mm large-caliber machine guns. The tail section broke off and flew far away, while the entire fuselage, spewing thick smoke, spiraled downwards. The pilot inside could be seen being thrown about by the centrifugal force. Whether he was already dead, no one seemed to care.
Adjusting his direction, Werner’s fighter shot past the altitude of the enemy plane. He was already very low, only managing to stabilize the diving Me-109 at around 1,000 meters. Although this plane’s speed and performance far surpassed its opponents, it was also much more complex and precise to fly.
Now his plane had leveled out, but his speed was still at 450 km/h, which was significantly faster than those I-16s. What he needed to do now was to take advantage of the I-16s’ delayed reaction to pull up and find a higher attack position.
“Werner! Thanks for the cover! I’ve regained altitude now! There are two enemy planes behind you! The I-16s are turning! They’re coming after you!” Seiler shouted over the radio, warning his flight lead.
“There are four of them in total! The numbers are wrong! There’s one plane on your tail!” Werner shouted back as he pulled his plane up. The G-forces pressed him into his pilot’s seat, but he could still flexibly control the joystick, which gave him immense confidence.
“I’m diving to attack! I’ll take out the two behind you, Werner!” Seiler shouted from his cockpit. “The enemy plane behind me won’t be able to catch up!”
“I’m climbing! Can you see me? We’re too spread out! I’m looking for you! Maintain your flight path! I’m looking for you, Seiler!” Werner yelled. The two of them were now essentially fighting on their own, which was a very dangerous practice in air combat, so he needed to regain control of the situation quickly.
“I’ve already dived! If you’re high enough, you should be able to find me! Oh God! I’ve got him locked! I’ve got him locked! I hit him! My God! I hit him! Haha!” Seiler’s excited shouts came through Werner’s headset. The monitoring room back at the control tower probably heard his near-maniacal cries as well.
“I still can’t find you! Seiler! I can’t find you!” Werner climbed in frustration, searching. He confirmed that he had shaken off the two I-16s behind him with his climb and speed. But hearing Seiler’s shouts, Werner knew that of the four I-16s that had threatened them, only two were left.
He anxiously looked around the cramped cockpit, trying to find his wingman’s position in the vast sky. But he didn’t find Seiler. Instead, he spotted the I-16 that had been tailing Seiler, now climbing high and preparing to enter the clouds.
“Seiler! I see an I-16 fighter! It might be the one that was following you! It looks like it wants to run! I’m going up to engage it! Can you handle the last one?” Werner asked loudly.
“I don’t know! I’m climbing! I can’t find that enemy plane anymore! But it shouldn’t be behind me; it can’t catch me!” Seiler shouted back.
But by this time, Werner could no longer pay attention to Seiler’s reply. He climbed into the clouds and found that the I-16 had vanished. He suddenly realized he had done something very foolish. He pushed the joystick forward and once again descended.
After diving out of the clouds, he circled around and easily found the last remaining, pitiful I-16. Without the slightest hesitation, Werner once again charged toward his enemy. His close comrade, the Me-109, gave him immense confidence, making his fight feel as leisurely as a hunt.
Soon, he was approaching his prey from above. This time, he didn’t conserve his ammunition. He first fired a few bursts from his 13mm machine guns, then let the 20mm cannon in the nose open fire. With the shaking of the fuselage, Werner could almost hear the clinking sound of the cannon shells being ejected from the plane.
The power of a 20mm cannon was not comparable to a machine gun. With the roar of the cannon, the I-16 in front of Werner’s nose erupted into a ball of fire in mid-air. The entire plane broke into five pieces, blooming like a splendid flower in the sky.
Werner banked the joystick, and the plane veered to the side, dodging the wreckage of the exploding enemy. It streaked like lightning past the right side of the fireball, the engine-driven propeller letting out a sharp screech. At this moment, he finally located his wingman from above.
“Maintain your heading, Seiler! I’m coming to rendezvous with you!” Werner began to circle and climb, while also searching for the two old Republican biplanes that had been used as bait. But they had evidently realized things had gone south and had already fled, not staying in a sky that was now dominated by the Me-109.
“Lead! I see the crashed plane! You shot down two fighters! That was amazing!” Seiler said loudly, his excitement and surprise still audible in his voice. He had scored a kill in his very first combat, which was very happy news for him.
A faint smile played on Werner’s lips. He nodded and replied to Seiler, “I did hit it. I blew that plane to pieces.”
“One plane got away! What a pity,” Seiler said regretfully.
“It’s no pity. I can’t see those two old Republican biplanes that were used for ground attack anymore. Can you see them from your altitude?” Werner asked.
“Can’t see them! I think they’ve already flown away,” Seiler replied after a moment.
“Fighter 79 calling control tower!” After regrouping with Seiler, who had remained below the clouds, Werner circled over the battlefield one more time before contacting the rear command post. “Those two old planes were the enemy’s bait. We were ambushed by four I-16 fighters, likely flown by Soviets. One plane escaped; the rest were shot down by Seiler and me.”
“Werner Mölders! That is your 4th enemy aircraft shot down! Congratulations on becoming an ace pilot!” The voice from the tower came through the headset, full of congratulations. “Fighter 79, Fighter 53, you may now return to base! You are cleared to return to base immediately!”
On the distant horizon, the face of a Soviet pilot in an I-16, stiff from the wind, showed an expression of exhaustion. He descended slightly, reduced his speed, and let out a sigh that was drowned out by the noise of the engine and the wind.
In the skies over Spain, the German Air Force, which had never been here before, and the Soviet Air Force, which had never appeared here before, were fighting fiercely. Every day, dozens of fighter planes engaged in combat in the sky. From time to time, a fighter would trail black smoke as it fell from the sky, creating a final firework on the ground.
That winter, 61 excellent Soviet pilots were laid to rest in the soil of Spain; 4 German pilots also closed their eyes here forever. Not many people remembered their passing, because they were never officially acknowledged in any documents. Of course, in the last few months, over 15 German Air Force pilots had received the Spanish Cross, personally awarded by Franco, for various strange and bizarre reasons. The most absurd reason for an award was because a pilot had placed third in a car race.
