Chapter 387: The Air Battle of London

These days, Heinz Bär as the German Air Force’s ace pilot with 33 downed enemy aircraft, could be said to be bored to the extreme. He soared through the skies in his FW-190D fighter, his wingman following close behind. And all around them were 50 German fighters, each equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks, their engines roaring as they moved at lightning speed.

Directly below these fighters were a full 130 German Do-217 medium bombers. They had been ordered to visit London once again, to completely level the city. The bomber pilots were thrilled to the extreme. They could drop their bombs on their targets without any scruples. But the fighter pilots were at a bit of a disadvantage. They could only wait with difficulty on the side.

Because of the weight restrictions, the FW-190D fighters, carrying auxiliary fuel tanks, could no longer carry small bombs for ground attack—or rather, they could not carry them on a maximum range mission. This had made ground attacks by the fighters a luxury. In addition, after suffering a small loss, the FW-190D fighter units had also strictly forbidden their fighter pilots from lowering their altitude to carry out ground attacks.

During one bombing mission, a bored fighter pilot had lowered his altitude and had used his cannon to attack some civilian targets on the ground. As a result, he had been met with a frantic attack from the British anti-aircraft units and fighter units. Fifteen German fighters had been shot down on that day, and the fifteen pilots, because they had bailed out over enemy territory, had never been able to return to their motherland—they had been shot one by one, without even a chance to be captured.

Britain currently still had nearly 1,400 fighter planes of various models. It was only because their high-altitude combat capability was insufficient that they had allowed the German Air Force to come and go at high altitudes. They had not completely lost their ability to resist. And these British air defense forces, which had already been driven to a state of near-madness by the German Air Force, had been ordered not to take German Air Force prisoners. As soon as a German parachuting pilot was discovered, he was to be killed on the spot. For the German army, which was carrying out a full-scale bombing of Britain, this could be considered another kind of bloody revenge.

So the high altitude of ten thousand meters was generally a free corridor for the German Air Force. They could come and go as they pleased. But once the altitude dropped to 4,000 meters, the British small-caliber anti-aircraft guns and the P-36 fighters bought from the United States would leave a very deep impression.

The bombing accuracy of the bombers at an altitude of ten thousand meters was indeed not high, but the German Air Force had an absolute advantage in the number of bombers it could dispatch. The scene of the overwhelming Allied bomber formations that had appeared over Germany in another timeline had been slightly replicated by Akado in this timeline and had been directly sent back to the British.

The bombers came one after another, like a swarm of locusts with no end in sight. Even Heinz Bär, who was flying his fighter above these bombers, could feel the spectacular sight of this massive cluster. These new weapons represented destruction. The heavy bombs and napalm they were carrying were enough to destroy everything they passed, to turn the British cities to ashes.

Through the gaps between the bombers, Heinz Bär saw the giant beast-like British metropolis on the ground in the distance. The great fire caused by the German air group’s bombing the day before seemed not to have been completely extinguished. The entire city was filled with thick smoke. From the sky, he could see the places that had been hit and had burst into flames, like scars left on the face of this city.

According to the words of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the German Air Force, the Commander-in-Chief of the German bomber force, Dick, London had already been destroyed by Germany. Whether it could be rebuilt depended on whether Britain surrendered, and also on the Führer’s mood. And seeing this burned and destroyed city again, Heinz Bär felt that General Dick’s words were not an exaggeration at all.

“Bär! Bär! This is Squadron Leader Biel. The bomber units are adjusting their altitude. They are preparing to drop their bombs. We will also descend and protect them from interference by the British fighters,” the squadron leader’s voice came through the headset.

“Heinz Bär understands!” this ace pilot, who had been feeling bored and could only sigh in his mind, replied. He then controlled his fighter and began to descend, maintaining a corresponding altitude with the bomber group.

Around him, the fighters were all descending. The roar of their engines could be heard clearly even at an altitude of ten thousand meters with a headset on. The shadow of British fighters appeared around them, but these late-coming British pilots did not dare to easily approach such a large-scale bomber group. And they also understood that to engage the German FW-190D liquid-cooled fighters at an altitude of 8,000 meters was essentially no different from suicide.

To use the backward P-36 fighters from the United States to challenge the FW-190D, which had already dominated the whole of Europe, was undoubtedly unwise. The two sides were worlds apart in both speed and handling performance. If one were to say that the pitiful P-36 was an old Santana, then the FW-190D was at least at the level of a BMW 3 Series. The two planes were not opponents of the same order of magnitude at all.

The weapon configuration of the FW-190D liquid-cooled air superiority fighter was a 30mm hub-mounted cannon plus 13mm machine guns on the two wings. This weapon configuration was not ideal for a novice, because the ammunition capacity was relatively small. But this weapon configuration was just right for dealing with the British Air Force, like a pair of steel pliers clamping the throat of the British Air Force.

This large-caliber weapon configuration would often cause the plane to explode and disintegrate in the air when attacking British planes. Most of the pilots would also lose the chance to bail out because they were hit or because of the explosion. The 30mm cannon and the 13mm machine guns would pierce the fragile armored steel plate around the cockpit and directly take out the pilot inside.

This had caused the survival rate of the British pilots who engaged the German Air Force to be very low, which had directly led to an embarrassing situation where the British pilots had a shortage of replacements. In less than a month of fighting, the Royal Air Force had been beaten to the point where it had planes that had been transported from the United States but could not be supplemented in time with the pilots that these planes needed.

The bomber group opened their bomb bays over London and, under the sporadic fire of the anti-aircraft guns, calmly began a new round of bombing. With one after another of the bombs’ screams as they cut through the air, one after another, 250-kilogram aerial bombs were dropped toward the ground.

A short while later, the sound of the explosions on the ground came, and a cloud of black smoke shot into the air. The first bomb had already landed. London was destined to become a victim once again. The entire city was trembling slightly in one explosion after another. Churchill, in his basement, felt the vibrations and stared silently at the huge map of Britain on the wall.

In the sky above, two British Hurricane fighters were provoking the German fighters on the perimeter of the German bomber group. The German Do-217 bombers were clearly not as comprehensively equipped with defensive weapons as the Butcher bombers, which had made the British fighters act with impunity. These two British fighters were clearly very skilled. After several provocations, they had found a Do-217 that was flying on the edge of the formation and was a little flustered. They had charged up and had caught the German plane off guard, hitting it until it was emitting a light smoke.

“Bär! The opponent is an old hand. You go down and have a careful fight. We’ll cover you from high altitude,” Squadron Leader Biel’s voice came through the headset again. “Be careful of the ground fire. Don’t go too low.”

“Heinz understands!” Heinz Bär replied, and at the same time, he chose a place that would not affect the bombers and pressed the drop button on his plane. With a light “click,” the auxiliary fuel tank under the belly of the FW-190D fighter detached from the plane and fell toward the ground.

He pushed the plane’s control stick, and his mount, the FW-190D, began its high-speed diving maneuver like an eagle. With the roar of the fighter’s engine, this reliable plane had already reached a speed of 620 kilometers per hour, which pressed Heinz Bär’s back tightly against his seat.

The German engineers had worked day and night to modify the engine equipped on this FW-190D liquid-cooled fighter, and it had undergone a heaven-and-earth change, from an initial speed of 550 kilometers per hour to 600, and finally to over 630. Now, the dive speed of Germany’s newest fighter was already close to 660 kilometers per hour, and in tests, it had even broken the record of 700 kilometers per hour.

This German fighter dived at high speed. The inertia pressed Heinz Bär’s entire body against the back of his seat, but he still felt good. The numerous air battles had brought him unparalleled combat experience. Every time the plane entered a high-speed dive, Heinz Bär could feel a state of near-invincibility.

The two Hurricane fighters that had successfully launched a sneak attack clearly sensed the arrival of danger from high above. They immediately began to accelerate and at the same time began to dive and accelerate—as long as they entered a low altitude, both the cover of the anti-aircraft guns and the aerodynamic performance of the planes would be favorable to the British fighters. This was also an experience that countless British pilots had learned with their blood, and it was a real one without any speculation.

At a relatively long distance, Heinz Bär had locked onto a British Hurricane in front of him with his gunsight. He gently wiggled the plane’s control stick to make his own shaking frequency roughly the same as that of the diving British fighter in front, and then he suddenly squeezed the trigger.

“Thump! Thump!” The 30mm cannon in the nose fired a few shells, short and rapid. The tracer rounds, trailing bright tails, flew toward their target. But just as they were about to hit the other plane, the plane opposite suddenly made a sharp turn to the left, and the few shells scraped past the tail of the Hurricane.

“Indeed an old hand! Not simple at all!” Heinz Bär followed the other’s turn, keeping the angle of his plane consistent with the other’s. At the same time, he began to use the intercom to contact his own wingman. “Cover my tail. The other side might be looking for an opportunity! This is the other side’s ace. Don’t be careless! Pay attention to maintaining altitude. Don’t fall into the other side’s ambush.”

“Wingman understands! I am climbing,” the wingman replied loudly as he followed Heinz Bär and changed his flight direction.

Hearing the wingman’s reply, Heinz Bär continued to bite at the tail of the enemy fighter and began a new round of aerial pursuit. With the experience of the first missed shot, Bär did not rush to open fire, but tried every means to close the distance between the two sides. And the other side was constantly changing its own flight direction in an attempt to shake Bär off. A fierce aerial life-and-death struggle had thus begun.