Late at night, the Graz military airfield in western Austria-Hungary was still brightly lit, and the IK-48 twin bombers painted with the gold clover logo converged on the airstrip from their respective parking stands, and the roar of powerful engines filled the entire airport.

These new night bombers, which have been in service for less than a year, are part of the 73rd Air Wing of the Royal United Kingdom Air Force, an established night bomber unit. During World War II, the 73rd Air Wing participated in the night bombing of Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and other places in the United Kingdom, and provided night tactical cover for the front-line troops many times, and then went to Central and North America to cooperate with the German army to carry out combat operations, and carried out night bombing of Atlanta, New Orleans, Norfolk and other industrial and military towns in the southern United States, during which a total of 165 people were awarded the Red Eagle Medal by the Kaiser.

As a new generation of "Irish Nighthawk", the IK-48 night bomber, which was finalized and put into production in 1948, is a two-seater light high bomber. They are equipped with the new United Kingdom's self-developed two-stage pressurized engine and high-precision airborne navigation/bombing radar, with a maximum level flight of 686 kilometers per hour in the no-load state, a ceiling of 14oo meters, an effective combat radius of 75o kilometers, and a maximum bomb load of 12oo kilograms - in addition to conventional bombs, they can carry four N-3oo condensed four powerful S-3oo steel ball mother bombs at one time.

In terms of tactical performance, the IK-48 is undoubtedly the best night bomber of the moment. They did not become the general-purpose bombers that the Western allies were vying to order, partly because they were not cheap to build, and partly because their maintenance costs were almost equal to those of strategic bombers.

On the 6th, there are fixed radar bases and mobile radar vehicles to conduct 24-hour air detection, and in the sky, there are IA-45 6-based early warning aircraft to provide omnidirectional alert without dead ends, coupled with a mature radar navigation system, the pilots of the coalition forces have embarked on the journey with confidence.

On the IK-48 bomber, tactical number 73-O21, the pilot, Second Lieutenant John Dillon, gently pushed the throttle valve with one hand and released the brake lever with the other. ”

The bombardier replied heartily: "I have a hunch that this will be an easy and pleasant operation, the Italian Air Force is really too good!" ”

Second Lieutenant John Dillon laughed knowingly. From Graz to the Italian-Austrian border, it only takes a little more than 100 kilometers to fly, and to Venice is only 300 kilometers. In the fierce battle for air supremacy on the battlefield, the coalition forces not only inflicted heavy losses on the Italian Air Force, greatly damaged the vitality of the Italian fighter units, but also dealt a severe blow to the ground air defense forces of the Italian army.

The Italian army's ground-based radar is not bad in terms of detection accuracy and detection range, but the Italians are still in the entry stage in the application and countermeasures of radar. In the first week of the war, the coalition aviation destroyed at least 17 Italian radar stations and uprooted almost all the radar facilities deployed by the Italian army in the entire northern region. After that, the Italian army hastily set up several temporary radar stations and put the few mobile radar equipment on the front line, which barely restored part of the anti-aircraft early warning capability.

Shortly after leaving Graz, a bomber group of 62 IK-48s joined up with 28 IR-44 fighters that had come to escort the convoy. Before this night bombing formation flew over the Italian-Austrian border, an IA-45 6-base AWACS aircraft established a straight line with the squadron leaders, providing them with real-time enemy information in the airspace of northeastern Italy: although the Italian fighters were weak in night combat, they still took off about a squadron of fighters shortly after the coalition fleet took off, and came to meet them under the guidance of ground radar.

The appearance of Italian fighters was completely expected, and the coalition fleet quickly dispatched 16 IR-44s to "break the formation". The combat environment at night was clearly favourable to the new British Air Force, which was equipped with radio-guided/radar-guided air-to-air rockets, and in the first week of the war, the ratio of Allied air losses to the Italian forces in air combat was 5 to 2 during the day and 7 to 1 at night.

Under the guidance of the leader of the captain's aircraft, the IK-48 maintained a neat and tight formation. In terms of weakness, poor self-defense is undoubtedly the biggest shortcoming of this night bomber - they are only equipped with two 2O mm forward cannons and two pairs of 13 mm backward machine guns, which is not enough firepower to fight the Italian-made MC-2O2 and G-55. However, since the outbreak of the war, the Royal Air Force of the New United Kingdom has successively invested 14 squadrons of nearly 2oo IK-48s in the Italian-Austrian battlefield, and has carried out 18oo bombing operations so far, with only 9 aircraft lost, of which 4 have returned home with injuries and crashed or scrapped during landing.

The IA-45 commanded the battlefield and the IR-44 charged, with the result that not a single Italian fighter could get close to the Allied night bomber group, and the symbolic resistance of the Italian ground anti-aircraft artillery unit did not pose a real threat to the flying formation. In this way, the coalition night bomber group successfully penetrated deep into Italian territory, and their target was the Italian ground forces assembled on the east bank of the Piave River.

"Attention! Our target for tonight's bombing was an area between 5ooo and 3ooo meters east of the city of Colernano, where the 19th Italian Infantry Division was assembled, as reported by the ground forces. As usual, we are mainly guided by radar, and the blue flame signal of the ground forces is used as an auxiliary correction target. It's about three minutes before the bombing begins, so get ready! ”

The squadron commander's instructions were unmistakably transmitted to the ears of every squadron member.

"Count down to three minutes!" Ensign John Dillon reminded his partner.

At this time, the bombardier in the back seat has activated the aiming function of the onboard radar, and after the bombing sight is set, the bombardier will let the bomber sight take over the aircraft's autopilot. From this point on, it is no longer the pilot who actually controls the plane, but the bomber sight, which controls the plane along the route calculated by the simulated computer and corrects the plane in time according to the final adjustments made by the bombardier. When reaching a pre-calculated drop point, the bomb sight automatically drops the bomb, so that the hit effect of the dropped bomb is significantly improved.

In daily training, RAF pilots of the new United Kingdom were able to control the diameter error of horizontal bombing at night within 5o meters, which is almost equivalent to the daytime bombing accuracy of traditional bombers!

"Last minute!" The squadron leader deliberately raised his volume by one degree, and his voice was like a stimulant, making the squadron members' breathing and heartbeat increase.

A moment later, another voice came from the communication channel: "Radar navigation equipment received a guidance signal from the ground forces!" ”

Immediately afterwards, the squadron leader's voice sounded again: "Visually observe our blue flame signal, tonight's performance is about to begin!" ”

The bombing is about to begin, and some people are excited, and some people are unbearable, after all, what they are about to drop is the destructive N-3OO type coagulation. Dozens of them will be dropped together, and a huge area will become a human purgatory, as long as they are in it, whether they are soldiers or civilians, young or old, they will suffer the most terrible suffering.

In the final seconds of the countdown to the bombing, Sergeant Danville, behind Second Lieutenant John Dillon, silently crossed his forehead and chest, and muttered, "May God forgive us for killing all living things...... This is the sacred military mission, we are powerless to resist, we must obey ......"

On the ground, thousands of Italian soldiers were exhausted from the day's concurring journeys and continuous attacks, many of them fell asleep and did not hear the roar of planes in the night sky, while officers at and above the battalion level had long been woken up by telephone calls and learned that dozens of enemy bombers were flying from east to west. Based on the current situation, it is not difficult to deduce that the target of their bombing was the Italian ground forces engaged in a counteroffensive on the Piave River, but the officers were hesitant to order the entire force to disperse to avoid the air attack, after all, the fighting progress during the day was unfavorable, the morale of the soldiers was greatly affected, and at night, once the troops were in disarray, the plan to start another offensive after dawn had to be postponed.

It was not until the figure of the enemy plane was clearly visible in the moonlight that the divisional air defense unit of the Italian 19th Infantry Division hurriedly opened fire, and the chaotic sound of gunfire could not hide the roar in the sky. At this moment, many Italian infantry realized that they were facing enemy night bombardment, but many of them just curled up in foxholes, or other places where they could shelter, and most people thought it was just a regular air raid, but these simple bunkers did little to protect themselves in the face of solidification.

In the night sky, one after another IK-48s opened the bomb bays located under the belly of the aircraft, and the solidified air currents with red logos on their heads trembled slightly. There were still more than two hours before dawn, and the six night bomber squadrons of the 73rd Air Wing of the Royal Air Force of the New United Kingdom bombed six Italian assembly areas on the east bank of the Piave River, and all the night bombers were equipped with N-3OO solidification, which would not only cause the Italians to suffer irreparable wounds, but also cause an indescribable impact on their spirit and psychology.

The near-silent explosion set off waves of fire, and on the west bank of the Piave River, the Horvats poked their heads out and watched the terrifying spectacle of the flames, glad they didn't have to suffer it. As the bombing progressed, some of the bombs fell close to the river beach, and soon the Italians, covered in fire, ran into the river, some fell on the river beach, and some were lucky enough to jump into the river, and the wails of pain came and went......

(End of chapter)

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