White clouds, sunset, blue waves.

Towards evening, the Mediterranean Sea is extraordinarily tranquil, like a landscape of its finest.

But this poetic painting is very incongruous and is destroyed by dozens of Fokker Zero and Fokker 99 planes shuttling through the white clouds. The iron cross pattern on the wings and tail is particularly dazzling, and the 250-kilogram armor-piercing bombs hanging on the belly of the Fokker Type 99 carrier-based dive bomber exude a fierce murderous atmosphere.

Suddenly.

A Fokker 99 that had opened the way at the front of the group suddenly veered to the left, carrying two crew members in the cabin out of the clouds. At the same time as the vision of the two crew members suddenly widened, a magnificent picture of the battlefield was displayed in front of their eyes!

On the sea, a huge naval fleet is forming three circular anti-aircraft formations, flying all the way to the east. And in the center of each air defense array, there are two British battleships like floating castles on the water!

"Captain Barr, Report 028, found them! Found the British fleet! ”

The navigator/bombardier on this Type 99 bomber, Walter Brown. Sergeant Graf turned on the on-board radio and reported the discovery of the British fleet to Heinz, the commander-in-chief of the entire air raid formation. Captain Barr.

"I'm Captain Barr, the commander-in-chief of the air raid!" Soon after the radio came Heinz. Barr's voice, "The British fleet has been spotted and is preparing to launch an air strike." Now number the targets and assign the squadrons to the mission......"

Right here in Heinz. When Captain Barr assigned attack missions to his four bomber squadrons, air defense alarms were sounded on all British warships on the sea. The German planes attacking from the air did not evade the detection of the 279 radar, and the British sailors, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed to the anti-aircraft artillery positions. One by one, the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns were all raised and aimed at the sky where bombs would fall at any time.

The P-39 "Flying Snakes" of the 2 squadrons circling over the British fleet (now the British fighters have also learned to form four-finger formations, so the shore-based fighter squadrons are all 16 aircraft) and the P-39 "Flying Snake" also quickly and desperately pulled up according to the radar guidance to seize the high-altitude position.

The British pilots who flew these P-39s already knew that their planes would not be able to beat the Fokker Zero in a low- and medium-altitude dogfight, and their only hope was to dive from a high altitude. As the two fleets approached rapidly, some British pilots flying the P-39 "Flying Snake" had spotted the German Fokker 99 carrier-based dive bomber.

Since the bomb load and range of this aircraft could not be compared with the double-engine Ju88, it was not widely used in German naval aviation, and only bomber squadrons in carrier-based aircraft groups had such aircraft. For such a situation, the British Royal Navy is certainly aware.

Therefore, as soon as he received the report of the P-39 pilot, Cunningham knew that this wave of enemy aircraft was sent from an Italian aircraft carrier.

"The aircraft carriers of the Italians sent out carrier-based aircraft!" Cunningham exhaled softly, "Then their air defense will definitely weaken...... How many planes did we sortie? ”

Major General Krachley replied: "6 squadrons of Blenheim and 2 squadrons of P-39 are fully formed squadrons. In addition, there are 24 'Tubenose Swallows' and 60 'Big Mackerel'. It should be enough......"

Six fully staffed Blenheim light bomber squadrons with 72 aircraft, two P-39 squadrons with 32 aircraft, plus 24 "Tubenose Swallows" and 60 "Big Mackerels", for a total of 188 aircraft.

In Cunningham's original plan, the number of fighters dispatched was much larger than 188. But in the third and fourth waves of assaults launched by the German and Italian air forces, the British P-39 suffered heavy losses.

In the third assault, the P39 lost 12 aircraft - 1 was accidentally hit by British artillery fire and 1 was lost on the way back. Cunningham then had to order more P-39s to cover the fleet, resulting in the loss of 46 aircraft in the fourth assault wave launched by German and Italian aircraft, of which 35 were shot down by the escorted Fokker Zero, 5 were shot down by the self-defense fire of the Ju88 and S.M.79 (they also shot down 3 Ju88 and 5 S.M.79), 3 were accidentally shot by British fire, and 3 were missing or crashed on landing.

Fifty-eight P-39s were lost in two air battles, while Cunningham mobilized another 70 P39s to take turns escorting his fleet. As a result, the RAF in Crete was able to muster only 32 P-39s (more than 100 were planned) to escort 72 Blenheim bombers. And what awaits them over the Italian aircraft carrier are 24 Fokker Zeros!

"Attention all of the 9th Squadron of the 1st Brigade, don't care about the British's fighters, the Blenheim bombers are our target! All, rush with me! ”

Little Hersman's voice trembling with excitement came from the headphones of every pilot of the 1st Squadron of the 9th Carrier-based Aircraft Group. The influx of enemy planes was certainly not good news for the Italian Admiral Aquino, but for Hersman Jr. and his companions, it was a shortcut to ace pilots.

The "Sea Beat" radar on the aircraft carriers "Eagle" and "Sparrowhawk" detected the British plane attacking from a high altitude in advance, so Hersman Jr. and his 11 men had already piloted the plane to an altitude of 4,000 meters, seizing a favorable altitude in advance. Although the practical ceiling of the Blenheim bomber is nearly 2,000 meters higher than that of the Fokker Zero, the bomb dropped at that altitude does not pose a threat to ships on the surface at all, and the probability of hitting the target is about the same as winning the lottery jackpot. So these Blenheim bombers broke through from a height of 3,000 meters, and now they are being caught by the Fokker Zero, which dived down from a height of 4,000 meters.

The Blenheim planes flying in formation also spotted the incoming Fokker Zero at this time, but they did not disband the formation and threw away the bombs to escape, but continued to maintain the formation, and at the same time counterattacked with two top machine guns.

Hesman Jr. is also an experienced "old bird" now, and when the enemy's machine guns are fired, he knows that his opponent is just a novice with little experience, and he is very panicked, because most of the machine guns are fired too early, before the Fokker Zero is in effective range.

Hersman Jr. piloted the plane to dodge left and right, using the agility of the Fokker Zero's metamorphosis to weave through a web of fire made of machine-gun bullets. Soon, a Blenheim plane was within the best firing range of the little Hersmann's plane. He was not in a hurry, he first fired a burst shot with two 7.92mm machine guns, and after seeing the two strings of flames accurately sweeping from the back of the enemy plane, he did not hesitate to press the firing button of the machine gun and the machine gun at the same time. Two 20mm cannons and two 7.92mm machine guns roared and fired lethal munitions, making terrible holes in the wings and fuselage of a Blenheim plane, and even one of the engines was hit and set on fire.

"This is the 6th one!" Little Hersman muttered under his breath and flew the plane towards a P-39 "Flying Snake" that was flying towards him.

The "6th" is the "number shot down" by Hirschman Jr., and the road to the ace pilot must be paved with the wreckage of one enemy plane! Today's air battle will undoubtedly allow Hirschman Jr. to take a big step forward on this road.

When Hersman Jr. shot down a Blenheim light bomber, the other Fokker Zero pilots opened heavy fire. In the first round between the two sides, six Blenheim light bombers were shot down by Hersman Jr.'s squadron. At the same time, the 10th Fokker Zero of the 12th Carrier-based Aircraft Group also shot down 5 "Blenheim" aircraft.

However, the remaining 61 "Blenheim" bombers did not give up, and after a short period of confusion, these planes once again assembled into formation and continued to pounce on the Italian aircraft carrier fleet that was forming an air defense formation dozens of kilometers away.

However, these "Blenheim" aircraft, which could only carry out horizontal bombing, were not the only means of the British. At the same time that the "Blenheim" planes and P-39s were penetrating from a high altitude, at an ultra-low altitude only twenty or thirty meters above sea level, 24 "Guanbi Yan" fighters were escorting 60 "big mackerel" carrying torpedoes and quietly approaching the Italian aircraft carriers.

"Your Excellency Marshal, the aircraft carrier fleet has been attacked by air!"

With the report of the staff officer, the atmosphere in the Medici villa suddenly became tense.

"The number of enemy aircraft, is it carrier-based?" Hersman asked immediately.

"The number of enemy aircraft is about 100, and some of them are 'Blenheim' light bombers."

Hersman and Admiral Kavnyari exchanged glances, and Kavnyari said, "Can you send shore-based planes now?" ”

Jeshunek replied: "There are 3 squadrons of BF-110 and 3 squadrons of Fw-190. However, the range of the FW-190 is only 835 kilometers, and it needs to be hung up with auxiliary fuel tanks to barely arrive, and it is not left empty for a long time. ”

"Send them all out!" Hersman immediately said, "Let the Fokker Zero, who is serving as a direct cover for the battleship troops, also rush to reinforcements!" ”

"Marshal, there is no need," said Jeshunek with a relaxed face, "there are now 24 Fokker Zeros covering the aircraft carrier, there will be no surprises." ”

"There's nothing wrong with being cautious!" Hersman frowned slightly, "I don't know where the British aircraft carrier is...... By the way, send all the Ju88s that can be sent out to the vicinity of the aircraft carrier fleet. If the enemy plane returns, follow it. (To be continued.) )