At about 11 o'clock in the afternoon of May 18, 1933, 26 ME-50 and 52 IR-30 fighters belonging to the 1st Royal Air Wing of the Irish Air Force were the first to engage the attacking British Air Force bomber unit in the Tipperary area of south-central Ireland. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Watching the Irish eagles attack from all directions with a calm, orderly and effective tactics, one can finally understand why the Irish Air Force takes the trouble to practice large formation tactics on weekdays.

Directly in front of the British bomber group, one of the most advanced fighters of the moment, the ME-50, which is jointly armed with Germany and Ireland, forms a tactical formation of four and dives down like an osprey hunt. When the two sides were a kilometer apart, the shooters on the British bombers could not wait to open fire, and the maximum range of the Browning and Lewis machine guns on board was more than two thousand meters, but the maximum range and the effective range in air combat were completely two different concepts, even if a dozen or twenty British bombers concentrated their fire to intercept an Irish fighter, as long as the Irish warhawk skillfully swung around, it could easily avoid the dense barrage and continue to approach the target in a dive posture -- in the sight of many British pilots, These Irish fighters are as fast as a bolt of lightning!

Five hundred meters, three hundred meters, one hundred meters, 27-year-old Irish ensign pilot Ugona Martin silently calculated the target distance in his mind. With the help of the potential energy conversion of the dive, the ME-50 has a speed of nearly 140 meters per second, and the relative speed of the two sides has reached 200 meters per second. The perfect opportunity to attack was fleeting, Martin decisively pressed the firing button on the control stick of the aircraft, and the four 7-point 92mm machine guns located in the middle of the wing immediately roared, and the rhythmic firing recoil was transmitted to the pilot's physical senses through the fuselage, watching the tracer bullet burrow into the body of the Blenheim-III, watching the part where it was hit splashed like a chainsaw, and the strong pressure of his heart could not help but surge, so that his mind slower by half a beat, until the figure of the enemy bomber completely left the firing scopeMartin remembered to let go of his fingers, and this thought caused at least a waste of more than 100 bullets. You must know that the MG-20 machine gun of the ME-50 has only 480 rounds per spare ammunition, and the ammunition reserve is not sufficient.

Stabbing diagonally past the front of the British bomber group, Martin's vision was wide open, and with his instinctive reaction from long-term training, he flicked the joystick to temporarily disengage the plane from the battle in an irregular line. Just as Martin turned his head to confirm the results of the battle, a few strings of bullets grazed the wings, shocking this "junior brother" with zero actual combat experience, in a cold sweat, but when he saw the British bomber he attacked smoking and downloading, his heart suddenly burst into joy.

Good job! Good job! That's it!

Martin silently cheered himself up, and after only a moment, the squadron's communication channel was as lively as a street market, and all his colleagues reported their merits. At this time, turning his head and looking back, the front of the British fleet was missing a piece due to the lack of a dozen bombers, and those who remained in the formation may not be safe and sound, the engine of one of them was smoking outside, and in the other directions of this huge fleet, the British bombers that were bombed also fell like snowflakes......

"Hey, gentlemen, it's too early to rejoice!" As soon as the squadron leader's loud voice came in, the communication channel immediately fell silent, and although the Irish pilots were extremely excited about the victory in the first battle, they did not get carried away, the battle was still going on, and the huge British bomber group did not stop in the face of this small blow, and at its current speed, it would be flying into the airspace of Limerick in another ten minutes or so.

"Everyone climb with me and attack the target from an oblique down...... Ireland wins! ”

In the blink of an eye, the ME-50s, painted with the clover logo, raised their heads one after another. At this time, the two sides were still in a state of walking in the opposite direction, and the black shadow of the crow-like was constantly flashing through the scope of the fighter, and it was difficult to aim accurately until it was close enough. On the first day of the war, the vast majority of Irish pilots lacked actual combat experience, but with good training and the experience of expatriate volunteers, they knew how to deal with various situations in air combat and always kept in step with tactics, which was an important guarantee for the team's combat effectiveness.

With an altitude difference of about 100 meters from the British fleet, Martin pressed the fire button for the second time, after which he had calmly adjusted the shooting to a two-gun firing mode. The MG25 13mm cannon has about half the rate of fire of the MG20 7-point 92mm machine gun, and the muzzle velocity of the projectile is slightly slower than the latter, but the projectile weight is three times that of the latter, and the kinetic energy and destructive power are multipliers higher than the latter. This time, Martin was able to witness up close the astonishing sight of a Blenheim III bomber being torn apart by a series of machine shells—the smooth and flawless body seemed to be magically cast into the sand, and countless debris burst out, leaving a Hessian hole; The elliptical wings are short and wide, and near the root of the wings are each an engine protected by a closed fairing, but the metallic fairing is lifted by a machine shell, exposing the dense engine lines, and the fairing fragments hit the propellers, bursting into dazzling sparks and igniting the fuel leaking from the pipes, and in an instant, the engine ignited into a ball of fire.

Martin was so shocked by this bizarre sight that he almost forgot to think, but fortunately, a lot of flight training allowed him to develop good operating habits, and while stopping shooting, he swung the joystick to the right and turned the control wheel of the control flaps, so that the ME-50 quickly changed from a small angle to a sideways sharp turn, and avoided the debris falling from the British bombers and the retaliatory fire of several other British bombers with an agile movement comparable to that of a bat. By the time Martin turned his head again, the Blenheim III he had shot was tumbling to the ground.

Turning on the communicator, Martin said in a pretended calm tone: "Bull Six shot down the second British bomber, is this operation a little too easy?" ”

"The Bull Four also shot down two, how about we continue to use Osprey tactics?"

"Bull III shot down one and wounded two, in less than two minutes, and with such efficiency, we were enough to wipe out all the British bombers in half an hour."

The heated discussion of the pilots had just begun, and their squadron leader ruthlessly interrupted them: "All the bull squadron climbs!" Climb all! Just got an order that we deal with the British fighters in the back! ”

Bombers in front, fighters in the back, what's the situation?

This kind of doubt is obviously not limited to Martin. Finding answers may not be the most urgent thing at the moment, but it has a bearing on whether the tactics and tactics are correct or not, and on the trend and outcome of this large-scale air battle.

After a while, the squadron leader ordered in the communication channel: "Attention, all climb to an altitude of 7,500 meters, the British fighter group is in the direction of 1 o'clock, we first use cavalry charge tactics to break up their large formations, and then use the strategy of luring the enemy with long planes and ambushing wingmen, everyone understand?" ”

The crowd replied in unison, "Yes."

With the loud roar of the liquid-cooled engine, the altimeter reading in front of Lieutenant Martin's eyes increased rapidly. In terms of absolute speed, the ME50 is not the fastest among the active fighters in various countries, and the combat radius is the performance shortcoming of the ME50, but its steering ability and climb rate are absolutely first-class, from 5500 meters to 7500 meters It takes only more than three minutes, and after more than 20 ME-50 and a considerable number of IR-30 are in place, the black pressure British fighter group is flying at an altitude of 7000 meters - biplanes account for the majority.

"Attention, gentlemen, we have just been informed that the fighters of the 9th Air Wing are behind us, they will follow us into battle, and there will be German fighters coming to the battle, it is best to check the paint of the target before firing, and be careful when flying, and do not collide with friendly aircraft."

Hearing the squadron leader's report, Martin subconsciously looked around, and there were indeed many four-plane formations in a slightly lower position in the rear, and it was initially estimated that there were seventy or eighty fighters used to intercept the British fighters, and if there were German fighters to join in time, then the fighters of the two sides would be roughly equal in number, and in view of the slight advantage in the performance of the main fighters of the Allied Coalition Forces, the balance of victory and defeat in this battle would undoubtedly be inclined to the side of the German-Irish coalition forces.

"Stay in formation...... Dive Attack! ”

The squadron leader gave the order, Martin pressed the joystick lightly, the nose of the plane leaned down at a small angle, and the fields, rivers, and towns at the far end of the horizon came into view, but the focus of his eyes was already attracted by the hordes of British fighters. These fighters flying from the British Isles have a variety of paints, some are lead gray grass green blocks, some are grass green grass green blocks, and some are lead gray primary colors, in stark contrast to the uniform paint work of the Irish Air Force, the colorful paint of the British fighter jets does not look serious enough, but it has the effect of confusing the human eye, Martin found it difficult to distinguish which are the British "Devil", "Long Gloves", "Gladiator", and which are the F9, P-12, **** purchased by the British Army from the United States IV。 They are similar in size and have a round engine fairing according to British standards, but there is a big difference in performance. Faced with the fact that different aircraft types often require different strategies, Martin was a little flustered, forcing himself to calm down and try to recall the physical characteristics of the various British fighters, the shape of the landing gear, the structure of the tail and the position of the cockpit......

In the face of the Irish fighters diving at high speed, the British fighters flying in the front pulled up their noses and prepared to meet them, they formed a tactical formation of six or eight, each formation maintained a compact battle formation, and the fighter livery and model in the formation were exactly the same.

The distance between the two fighter groups quickly shortened, and the pilot's simple sight had a clear outline, and between the lightning and flint, Martin's mind connected, and he recognized that his target was a "gladiator", which was the best performing biplane fighter in the British Air Force, and it was also the most equipped fighter in the British Air Force at present. The British considered themselves superior to the IR-29 and were on the same level as the IR-30 in terms of overall performance, while the Japanese Army's Gladiators had previously fought the IR-29 piloted by Irish volunteers on the battlefield in China.

Although the IR-30 is a near-perfect biplane fighter, whether it is a high-altitude volley or a low-altitude dogfight, it has strong strength, but the ME-50, which combines the advantages of metal materials and lower wing construction, belongs to a new era of technology. In the hands of good pilots, the ME50 has a heads-up win rate of more than 90% against the IR-30, which means that whether the "gladiator" can compete with the IR-30 or not, it is a piece of cake in front of the ME-50.

"Come on, Side Eat, I'll show you the power of the Irish Air Force!" Martin whispered in his heart, holding the joystick with both hands and swinging it slightly to the right, and pressing the firing button with his thumb, the four MG-20 7-point 92mm machine guns roared happily again, and the bullets rained out. Suddenly, dozens of meters away British fighter jets flew on Mars with debris......

(End of chapter)