60 P.108s, which seem to be divided into 5 teams......

When 60 P.108s of the Italian 10th Bombardment Aviation Regiment flew over Cunningham's A fleet, Sir Cunningham finally stopped his discussion with Lister, Chief of Staff, and both walked to the side of the bridge, raised their binoculars and began to watch. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

This bomber aviation regiment of the Italians was not yet formed, there were only 2 brigades, 4 squadrons, each squadron had 12 P.108s, and the other 2 brigade headquarters and 1 regimental headquarters had 4 P.108s, for a total of 60 P.108s.

The 60 P.108s were now divided by Bruno Mussolini into five squadron-sized formations - the original four squadrons, plus a temporary squadron consisting of four P.108s from two brigade headquarters and four P.108s from one regimental headquarters.

The five squadrons were each responsible for an aircraft carrier or capital ship, which broke through from an altitude of 10,000 meters, basically avoiding the artillery fire of surface ships and the F4F at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

At this time, the weather conditions were very good, only a small number of white clouds were floating in the sky, and even at an altitude of 10,000 meters, it was possible to see very clearly the large ships on the surface of the water and the white tracks trailed behind them - at an altitude of 10,000 meters, these white tracks were easier to detect than the ships themselves, and they could not be blocked. According to the requirements of the training, once the target is obscured by smoke, then the bombardier has to estimate the position of the enemy ship based on the track.

However, today is the first battle of HS293, and the British have no idea that these four-engine heavy bombers in the sky can threaten surface ships. Therefore, Cunningham did not order the destroyer to release smoke, but generously showed both the battleship and the aircraft carrier to the enemy in the sky.

"Now reduce the altitude to 9,000 meters, keep the straight-line distance from the target at 11,000 meters, and pay attention to maintaining the formation."

Bruno. Mussolini's voice reached the headphones of every Italian pilot. Although the visibility is good today, the altitude of 10,000 meters is still a bit high. Bruno is ready to drop the altitude by 1,000 meters so he can see better.

"Commander, they've lowered their altitude." On board the King George V, Lister spotted enemy aircraft in the sky circling to descend altitude.

"If you want to hit, it's not enough to go down to 9,000 meters, at least 3,000 meters." Cunningham smiled, "But that's impossible, the F4F won't agree, and we still have anti-aircraft guns on our ships." ”

"They don't lower their altitude anymore, maybe 9,000 meters." Before Lister's words fell, the sound of ping-pong artillery firing had already come in.

The 16 5.25-inch anti-aircraft guns on the King George V and the 4.5-inch anti-aircraft guns on the four Tejas class aircraft carriers had already fired, and suddenly bursts of black smoke in the sky. However, the rate of fire of these two anti-aircraft guns was not very fast, and the turret of the duplex could only fire 7-8 shells a minute.

"The firepower is still a bit weak." Bruno. Mussolini muttered, and then he commanded loudly, "All right, now start dropping gliding bombs, drop them in detachments, be careful, just like in training, drop them as fast as you can, and then return triumphantly, God bless Italy!" ”

One detachment consisted of three P.108 aircraft, each dropping one HS293 at a time, and the dropping was completed when all three bombs were cut off, and then another detachment dropped them.

"God bless us!"

With a prayer, the bombardiers shouted "release" loudly, and at the same time, with the push of a button in their hands, 15 HS293V3 gliding bombs were dropped one by one.

These bombs are different from ordinary SC-500 high-explosive bombs, not only strengthen the missile body, but also install a tail on the missile body that can change the flight course and attitude, and a pair of missile wings that can automatically eject after being dropped, and there is a wire barrel at the tail of the missile body. The barrel contains 14,000 meters of wire. One end of the wire was attached to a remote control, and a specially trained operator placed his eyes on a sight, holding the steering wheel in both hands, and "drove" the gliding bomb to the ship on the surface of the sea as if it were driving.

Before the bomb hits the target, the P.108 aircraft that drops the bomb must circle around the target at a certain angle and course.

"It's ...... What is it? Lister had sharp eyes and saw a bomb with wings gliding rapidly.

"It looks like a bomb, but it seems to have wing......s installed," a staff officer replied immediately.

Bombs with wings installed? An ominous premonition suddenly rose in Cunningham's heart, and he suddenly shouted loudly: "Let the F4F raise the altitude and go get rid of those Italian planes!" ”

"Yes, sir." The staff of the fleet aviation replied loudly.

But before he could give the order, the first batch of 15 HS293s had quickly slipped near their respective targets, and at this time all ships were doing S-shaped evasion, twisting around on the water, but for HS293 gliding bombs that could change course on their own, such evasion was almost useless. What really determines whether a gliding bomb can hit or not is the skill of the operator and the stability and visibility of the aircraft hovering in the air. This wire-controlled glide bomb is somewhat similar to the first generation of anti-tank missiles in later generations, both of which rely on wires to transmit signals for control, and they are also "artificial intelligence" things. The difference is that the anti-tank missile hits a tank of tens of tons at a distance of two or three thousand meters, while the HS293 hits a warship of tens of tons at a distance of 10,000 to 11,000 kilometers. The latter's target is a thousand times larger, and the big guy with a length of more than 200 meters is still very easy to aim, so it is not particularly difficult to hit without the operator being disturbed.

So in Cunningham's telescope eyepiece, he soon saw a bomb with wings coming down at an angle of 55-60 degrees, like lightning from high in the sky, and it was getting bigger and closer when he saw it.

"Bomb! Crash ......"

Someone shouted, and before the sound could be heard, the bomb had already slammed into the side of the stern turret of the battleship King George V. Cunningham only felt his retina freeze in an instant, and he saw a huge and dazzling ball of fire explode from the side of the twin turret, and the entire battleship shook violently as if it had been kicked by someone.

With the wings, tail and control system and cable barrels installed, the HS293V3 gliding bomb, with a total weight of 600 kg, failed to penetrate armor up to 12 inches (305 mm) thick. However, the violent explosion still caused considerable damage to the turret, and some overly sophisticated parts of the fireproof linkage door and shell delivery device of the A turret were jammed due to the violent explosion, making the main turret with four 14-inch cannons temporarily incapacitated.

The fact that the main turret is prone to failure is actually an old problem of King George V, but now it is not a fleet artillery battle, but an air defense operation, and the main turret failure is not a problem. However, the shrapnel from the explosion of the bomb hit the unarmored secondary gun commander in the stern, and immediately the four twin 5.25-inch high-level dual-purpose guns on both sides of the battleship lost their targets and could only fire indiscriminately into the sky.

However, Cunningham did not know that the secondary gun commander had been damaged, and he saw that the side of the Y turret had not been penetrated, and as soon as he had taken a breath, he heard someone shout: "Aircraft carrier!" The aircraft carrier has been hit! ”

Aircraft carrier!?

Cunningham hurriedly turned his head to look in the direction where the aircraft carrier Radiance and the aircraft carrier Victory were, and suddenly the corner of his eye seemed to be pierced by something, only to see billowing smoke coming out of both aircraft carriers!

Before he could react, there was another violent explosion in his ears. Then I heard the shouts of the Chief of Staff, Lister, with a crying voice: "God, the Dreadful has been shot!" ”

The Dreadnought has been shot again! What the hell is going on? Cunningham staggered to the other side of the Command Tower, and as soon as he raised his telescope to check on the Dreadnought, a dazzling fireball rose from the eyepiece, followed by another loud bang.

"The Indomitable is ......" Canning looked at it and saw two aircraft carriers floating on the sea, which were burning and smoking!

4 aircraft carriers, 1 battleship were bombed in the blink of an eye! How did this Italian bomb drop? How can it be so accurate? Could it be that a bomb with a wing can increase the hit rate?

While Cunningham was confused, someone yelled, "Bomb, bomb again!" ”

Again?

Cunningham hurriedly raised his binoculars and searched the sky, and soon saw a bomb with wings swooping down from the sky at a high speed visible to the naked eye, looking like a dive bomber. But it is much smaller than a dive bomber, and it can dive much faster, allowing it to easily penetrate the fire net of a ping-pong gun.

"Bang!"

The muffled sound of collision was heard, and the HS293 gliding bomb penetrated the thin bow deck of the King George V at an angle of nearly 60 degrees (although the HS293 was designed on the basis of ordinary high-explosive bombs, the body was thickened and a time-delay fuse was installed, which was equivalent to a semi-armor-piercing projectile). However, the explosion did not follow closely, it was a dud.

"Go and see, what the hell is that bomb!" Lister reacted quickly, and immediately sent a staff officer to check on the bomb that had not exploded - there must be something wrong with this bomb, otherwise how could it be so accurate?

Before the staff officer ran out of the conning tower, the huge hull seemed to be struck by something, and the stern of the ship jerked to the left, and the command tower suddenly staggered, and when everyone regained their footing, a bad news had come from the telephone.

"Sir, the stern of the ship has been hit, the bomb has penetrated the underwater armor, a large hole has been blown open, and the stern is rapidly entering the water!"

"What!? What else can the bomb hit below the waterline? Is this a bomb or a torpedo? Cunningham was speechless with astonishment, and large beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

His fleet is being attacked by a terrible bomb that has never been seen before! (To be continued.) )