As the Irish paratroopers landed on the Cohen Peninsula in North Wales to make their mark on British soil, a blue-grey painted Albarrot H-25 was soaring alone over the waters of southeastern Ireland. This single-wing single-engine fighter made of aluminum alloy has a beautiful aerodynamic shape, and has been favored by the German Navy before it has been tested, and after its official service in the spring www.biquge.info of 1932, it has received rave reviews and is regarded as a symbol of the strength of the German naval aviation. At the request of the Luftwaffe, the Albarrot Aircraft Building Company launched a modified land-based version of the He-29 in the autumn of 1932, which was also a success.

The combination of advanced materials, cutting-edge technology and high cost of construction has made the H-25 and H-29 few buyers outside of Germany. Somewhat surprisingly, Ireland became the H-25's largest overseas patron, and they ordered a total of 39 aircraft, half of which were used for naval aviation training, and the rest were incorporated into the reconnaissance and alert unit -- the most important feature of the H-25's performance is that it is fast, has a long range, and is equipped with a set of high-frequency radio transceiver equipment, which can not only conduct long-distance aerial reconnaissance, but also be competent for medium- and long-range air alert.

In the cockpit of this Irish fighter plane, whose fuselage is painted with a shamrock insignia, 23-year-old sergeant pilot David Sanahan scrupulously patrols the sea and the sky. More than four hours after the outbreak of the war, only Germany, Ireland, and Britain are still involved, and exciting news has come from many fronts, which makes many Irish people full of confidence in the rapid defeat of Britain, but the instructions issued in the name of His Majesty King Joachim, the commander-in-chief of the three Irish armies, do not have such optimistic ideas, and every Irish soldier is required to devote 100% of his attention to this war that is vital to the fate of the country, and be mentally prepared to fight a tough and hard battle. Sanahan and most of his companions regarded this instruction as a spiritual guide and a code of conduct, and they did not have to speculate whether Britain would have made Ireland a major target at the outset of the war, but had to defend Ireland's airspace wholeheartedly, so that the efforts and dreams of the five million Irish people for more than a decade and centuries would not be ruthlessly destroyed by the war.

Under the scorching sun at noon, in order to avoid long-term exposure to strong light and even dizziness symptoms, Sanahan wears a pair of sunglasses produced in Ireland, although it is not as fashionable and foreign as imported goods, but it is better than cheap and practical enough, and in the eyes of most Irish pilots, IR-30 and He-25 are like the difference between domestic sunglasses and American Ray-Ban - the cost of a He-25 is equivalent to two IR-30, but can a "peregrine falcon" deal with two "low-altitude dog fighting kings"?

As a pilot who flew the He-25 Peregrine Falcon and the IR-30 Royal Griffon, the young Sanahan knows first-hand the pros and cons of both aircraft. When production costs and maintenance requirements are ignored, the He-25 is ideal for attack, while the rugged IR-30 is a reliable weapon for homeland defense. Just before Sanahan took off from the airfield in northern Wickfordshire, two full squadrons of fighters departed from there and headed east, seemingly heading to North Wales to assist the German air force and compete with the British Air Force for air supremacy on the battlefield - it is said that the Coalition forces sent 100,000 troops to land in North Wales, thus avoiding the Channel defense line that the British army had painstakingly managed, and as long as the coalition landing force gained a foothold, hundreds of thousands of German Army troops would pass through this breach and go ashore inexorably into the heart of Britain.

The two Irish fighter squadrons were equipped with IR-29 and IR-30, which made Sanahan vaguely worried: if the Luftwaffe was not able to fight well, wouldn't the Irish air force suffer with it?

With this hidden concern in mind, Sanahan kept looking to the east and sent his blessings to the robes who were fighting on the front line. At this time, a lightweight naval battle broke out in the sea area he patrolled by plane, and six British warships chased two Irish destroyers on reconnaissance and alert missions to this point, and the two sides shelled each other, but there were no casualties among the ship's personnel, but the air forces of both sides that came to help suffered losses. Some people say that the Irish Air Force shot down 20 British fighters at the cost of 5 fighters and 3 bombers, Sanahan feels that such news is not very credible, you must know that in recent years, the British Air Force has worked hard, and its excellent technical and tactical qualities have been recognized by the outside world, and it has sharpened its blade through the South American war and the Persian dispute, and it will never be as easy to bully as in 1914.

The cannon smoke of the naval battle had long since dissipated, there were not a few birds in the sky, there were only endless waves on the sea, and there was no trace of the battle at all. Sanahan glanced down at the dashboard, flew for more than half an hour, and consumed less than one-fifth of the fuel, the large range of the He-25 can indeed save people a lot of worry, if it is not for the mission, he can completely drive the fighter plane to kill a few back and forth over North Wales, and then calmly return to the base, with outstanding technical willfulness!

This conjecture only flashed through his mind, and Sanahan continued to concentrate on his reconnaissance cruise. It wasn't long before he noticed a group of black dots in the eastern sky that he had to look up at, meaning that they were flying at least 6,000 meters or more, and the young Irish sergeant pilot soon realized that the number of black dots was quite impressive, and their formation looked very different from the large formations of the Irish or German air forces.

Could it be the German-Irish joint combat aircraft group that has returned from exhaustion after a fierce battle?

Undecided, Sanahan turned on the radio intercom and reported his findings to the airport control tower.

"It could be our own plane returning from the battlefield in North Wales." "A total of 172 German and 102 Irish fighters have been put into battle, and our fighters have a shorter range and may return earlier than expected, and if they deviate slightly from course, they may be in the position you are talking about." We'll try to get in touch with them. ”

Sanahan tried to observe for a while, and always felt that the large group of planes under the pressure of black pressure was far more than two hundred, in fact, he had never seen such a large group.

"Request confirmation of target." Sanahan said, "Repeat, request confirmation of the target. ”

"Permission to confirm, stay safe." The tower of command replied, "The people who have just come down from the battlefield are said to be still in a hot state of mind, and their nerves may be a little sensitive, so don't let them think of you as a British plane." ”

"Understood!" Sanahan replied, "I'll try their communication frequency now, and the call ends." ”

With that, Sanahan turned the radio knob and adjusted the communication frequency to what he knew of an Irish fighter squadron, which would normally not be allowed due to the possible interference with the normal communications of friendly forces.

Between the rustling noises, Sanahan finally found a familiar voice, but almost everyone who spoke shouted:

"Firefox 4, you're being targeted, quickly maneuver to get rid of ......"

"Firefox 7, where are you? I need cover! ”

"Damn, Firefox 3 was shot down, repeat, Firefox 3 was shot down, I saw Jon parachute, I hope he doesn't fall into the hands of the British!"

"Firefox 4, the roll on the side works, keep maneuvering, get rid of that difficult guy, and then let me take care of him!"

Through these contents, Sanahan can imagine the environment of his comrades, the fighters of both sides are chasing and shooting each other in the sky, constantly making rolls, climbs, dives and sharp turns, what a blood-boiling picture!

However, since the Irish fighter squadron that took off first was still fighting, and there was no reason for the fighter units that departed to return early, Sanahan had a speculation that made him feel terrified: what appeared in sight was an unprecedentedly large group of British aircraft!

Sanahan narrowed his eyes, squeezing his senses, and at this distance, he faintly made out the outline of a monoplane twin-engine. The only way to know if this is a delusion caused by your own nervousness is to fly closer. Sanahan tugged on the lever, stepped on the throttle, and began to climb at a tight angle, and the high-horsepower Daimler water-cooled engine made an exceptionally dull roar at full capacity.

"There's not much fuel left, the Firefox squadron is ready to withdraw from the battle, be careful not to get bitten by the tail."

The sound coming from the headphones was a little muffled, but Sanahan still made out the contents. Although Germany is the main force attacking the British mainland, Ireland's investment on the first day of the war is still very resolute, most of the aviation units deployed in southeastern Ireland have already participated in the war, if these are really British fighters, the Irish Air Force may not be able to draw enough fighters to intercept in time, once the British planes break through the air defense line, they may attack the airfields, towns, ports in the southeast of Ireland, and even fly westward, posing a threat to the capital of Ireland, Limerick!

When he was still about ten kilometers away from the target, Sanahan was sure that he had seen many twin-engine aircraft, large and small, with single and double wings, and roughly divided into two formations, the front and rear, adding up to more than 200 aircraft.

Sanahan hurriedly reverted back to the frequency of contact with the airport control tower: "Firefly 3 reported that most of the fleet that crossed the St George's Channel to the direction of Thetfordshire was bombers, some with wide wings and particularly slender fuselages, and it was possible that they were American-made Boeing B-9 bombers. ”

The voice was silent for a while: "About two hours ago, our bomber group attacked the British mainland target, but they have already returned, and the ones that were not shot down are now parked at various airfields to replenish fuel and ammunition, as for the bomber units of the Luftwaffe, their flight path is far from where you are, and they do not have a particularly slender fuselage, sergeant, you found that it is indeed possible that it is a British bomber group, but I need to verify the situation with the command." ”

Sanahan was speechless, and as the distance closed, he became more and more recognizable as he made out the outline of his target's appearance, feeling more and more strange and dangerous. After nearly two years of armament expansion, the British Royal Air Force's combat aircraft have increased to more than 9,000, of which at least 3,000 are bombers, including the Boeing B-9 monoplane twin-engine fast bomber imported from the United States, the Blenheim Type III single-wing twin-engine light bomber developed by Britain, and the Handley-Petti HP-38 that began to be installed in the mid-to-late 20 s -- although this biplane twin-engine heavy bomber is clumsy and slow, it has a strong self-defense capability. There is a Lewis machine gun on the back and belly of the machine for self-defense, which is resistant to attacks from all directions.

(End of chapter)