In the waters of the Orkney Islands to the north, the British fleet encountered unexpected difficulties, and around the same time, Newcastle-upon-Tyne welcomed the second batch of aircraft of the day. There were three of them www.biquge.info and the wings of the fuselage were painted not with the German Iron Cross, but with the brightly colored flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The three Sopwves-D seaplanes, which belonged to the Royal Navy's Air Service, soon landed on the River Tyne before arriving at Newcastle Docks under their own power. The pilots, who had handsome faces and handsome clothes, were warmly welcomed by the local military and civilians, and their morale, which had been depressed, was suddenly restored. On orders from the Admiralty, the naval units stationed there were prepared to fill the planes from Grimsby with petrol, provide the pilots with cold drinks and chocolate, and show them the exact direction in which the German planes had flown away, nearly two hours after the arrival of the German planes in Newcastle.

Like Schott Brothers, Thorpois Aircraft is a British company, which is an important reason why they receive orders from the Royal Flying Service and the Royal Naval Air Service. However, when the war broke out, the birth of the aircraft was only 11 years, the design ideas and mechanical technology are still in the initial stage of exploration, almost every year of the flight event will have amazing models appeared, so the military of various countries to buy the aircraft is also varied, the British army is equipped with nearly 60 aircraft there are more than 10 models, respectively from six aircraft manufacturing companies, this not only brings a great challenge to the logistics and maintenance of the aviation unit, but also makes the commanders quite a headache in combat use.

Surrounded by flowers, the six British pilots confidently got on their planes, but seeing them struggling out of the water and staggering along the Germans' trail, many of them muttered in their hearts: Can these three clumsy geese find the German fleet and get out of it?

The vast majority of people have such thoughts and can only be in a hurry, but there are also people who are not destined to be mortal. Shortly after the departure of the three Thorpurves seaplanes, another plane flew over Newcastle with a deterrent roar, and some sharp-eyed people suddenly exclaimed: Isn't that Johansen's "little dragonfly"?

In the first few years of the airplane, governments and the military showed little interest in them, and it was the civilian people who were really enthusiastic about and supported the development of the aircraft, who saw flying as a new sport, investing money in the pursuit of faster speed and longer range, so before the great war gave the aviation force a new military status, the latest and greatest aircraft were usually held by the civilian aviation sports enthusiasts. In Newcastle-on-Tyne, Foss-Johansen is one such young rich man with "special ambitions", he has a penchant for French flying machines, and he has never been absent from the annual air exhibitions and competitions held in France, and his new toy, the "little dragonfly", which he is proud of, is the French-made Depedisant B. The monoplane was a lightweight, compact aircraft that was the quintessential land-based racing aircraft, having set an unofficial flight record of 173 km/h in 1913, almost twice as fast as the two-seater Sopweis seaplanes.

Without any air traffic control, Johansen and his "little dragonfly" quickly crossed the coastline of England and effortlessly caught up with the three stupid geese. As far as aviation technology at the outbreak of the war is concerned, the Soprovis-D seaplanes were not without merit, they had a maximum time of three and a half hours in the air, were able to descend and take off in relatively difficult sea conditions, and could carry an additional 200 kilograms of weight with two pilots and full fuel, making it possible to carry radio equipment or combat weapons, and if the British Air Force had 60 Thorpurvis-D aircraft at this time instead of six, the doom of the British Navy's main force had every chance to be reversed.

After a brief hello to the uniformed pilots, the wealthy Johansen drove off in his sleek private jet. There was only blue sky, white clouds, and blue sea in front of him, and although his heart was not very steady, he still flew straight forward with pride.

Thirty minutes passed quickly, and the three stupid geese were no longer visible when they looked back, and the sea below the wings was empty, except for the occasional tiny shadow of the ship. Johansen deliberately distracted from the dwindling readings on the fuel gauge as he struggled to look into the distant sky, and after a few more moments, several flying objects appeared at the end of his line of sight that were different from the clouds. It was possible that they were high-flying seabirds, but a strong instinct told Johansen that it must be a German plane!

The fuel gauge reading had finally dropped to half the position, and Johansen was ready to sacrifice the plane for the sake of the country's victory. He lightly stepped on the accelerator and smoothly pulled the plane up. Even though it was the height of summer, the chill kept coming, penetrating the clothes and penetrating the bone marrow. With chattering teeth, Johansen poked his head right out of the cabin, where the flying objects were already under the wings and looked the size of flies. Johansen pulled out his binoculars, and the vibration of the planes made it a struggle for him to identify several German planes with the Iron Cross emblem.

However, there was no sign of the German fleet in the sea below these German planes, and Johansen soon realized that they were still flying eastward, at this time, he simply ignored the fuel gauge of this plane, and continued to fly away from England along the course of the German planes, and only a few minutes later, black smoke clouds appeared in front of him, and then columns of smoke merged into smoke clouds, and a group of ships appeared on the sea surface in the telescope!

Johansen took out his pocket watch and looked at it, and at the average speed of this way, he estimated that he was 150 kilometers offshore, and the position of the German fleet was still 20 kilometers away, that is, the Germans were less than 100 nautical miles from the mouth of the Tyne, which was only a little more than four hours for the new capital ships.

As a civilian, Johansen did not know what military significance this distance had for both warring parties, but he knew that the location of the German fleet must be the information that the British Navy desperately needed.

Despite his reluctance, Johansen looked at his fuel meter, which was less than a fifth of the full amount of fuel left, and even with the extra 10 litres of petrol he carried, it was certain that the plane would not be worth 2. The £60,000 "Little Dragonfly" was brought back to land.

Johansen breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to count the number of German ships, when he saw two "flies" flying to a height about the same height as himself, and they were aggressively approaching from the right side.

During the period of tension between Britain and Germany, when the press was keen to portray the Germans as cold-blooded war machines, Johansen personally traveled to various European countries and was well impressed by the Germans' industriousness, punctuality, and first-class education, but also disgusted and worried about the Germans' expansionist mentality. In general, the Germans were by no means terrible man-eating monsters in his mind, and judging from the flight exhibitions and aviation activities of various countries, airplanes were not like guns, but were tainted with the violence and bloody smell of war from the moment they were invented, so Johansen not only felt nervous and frightened at this time, but was even ready to play a little joke with the German pilots in German - until a series of bullets hit and a row of bullet holes appeared in the wings, Johansen realized that heroes were not so good, especially in this time of war!

There was no time to think about what kind of machine gun the Germans had put on the plane, Johansen hurriedly steered the plane, and the German plane fired continuously at a distance of about 100 meters.

After narrowly escaping the disaster, Johansen hurriedly stepped on the accelerator to the end, and the speed advantage of the racing aircraft quickly became apparent, and the two German planes were quickly left behind him, and when Johansen looked back again, the German fleet on the surface was no longer visible.

Gloomy and regretful, Johansen shrank alone in the cabin, shivering, hoping to meet the three stupid geese, but that hope was not fulfilled until all the fuel ran out.

As the engine and propeller stopped running, Johansen's "little dragonfly" went into an unreliable gliding state. If the plane suddenly loses control, falling from the height of the clouds may be the end of no bones. Under Johansen's incessant prayers, the plane flew a long distance in the direction of the coast with the wind, the sea became closer and closer, and a British warship miraculously sailed not far away!

Half an hour later, when the British sailors aboard the protective cruiser "Spartan" rescued Johansen who was floating alone on the surface, the wealthy adventurer seemed to be enjoying the temperature of the water. Had it not been for the sight of him and his plane falling from the sky, the crew would have had a hard time believing what he was saying, given that the Royal Navy had used hundreds of ships and more than a dozen seaplanes, and until this time there was no accurate information about the German fleet. Of course, because of the constraints of the means of communication, ships and planes did not have time to sound the alarm when they were attacked by the enemy, thus creating the illusion of "invincibility at sea" in a short period of time.

The Spartan, a 23-year-old ship with slow speed and weak firepower, made it vulnerable to the enemy's new warships, but these shortcomings did not prevent it from sending a critical telegram at a critical moment. Although the strength of the German fleet was still uncertain, its exact location gave the British Admiralty and Grand Fleet Command their way, and powerful radio waves soon passed over the North Sea, summoning two extremely large groups of mine-striking ships to the waters east of Newcastle, and the British fleet trapped in the waters of the Orkney Islands was less worried. With the help of minesweepers, Sir Bailey's large ships begin to escape from the Swamp of Death step by step.

(End of chapter)