Most of the destroyers were guarding around all the carriers, and a few were cruising around the perimeter, ready to catch any ships they might encounter. The plane on air patrol also received a clear order at this time www.biquge.info to shoot down all the planes it saw, this plane has no way to be merciful, it must be shot down at the first time, if the people in the plane can parachute out, then it can be rescued. Fortunately, this is the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, and it is not on the route of the plane, so there are relatively few planes passing by.

No one cared about Germany's aircraft carrier formation going to sea for sea trials, and even after Britain's MI6 confirmed through its allies Iceland and the Kingdom of Iceland that Germany's aircraft carrier group was indeed conducting sea trials and training, it did not pay attention to this huge aircraft carrier group.

The British and French intelligence systems put all their energy on the Soviet front, closely watching all the military intelligence on the Soviet-German front, and Churchill could not help but be nervous! Once Germany really defeated the Soviet Union and occupied it all, Britain would not escape the fate of annihilation.

No one paid attention to the aircraft carrier formation led by Dönitz, which was the best, just in time to make the surprise attack achieve unexpected results, and the aircraft carrier formation, which had remained radio-silent, rode the wind and waves and rushed towards Scapa Bend.

At four o'clock in the morning on February 30, 41, Dönitz and Stephen and Schmidt urgently arranged various tasks in Zeppelin's operations command room, Schmidt was supposed to personally lead the team to the air raid, but Dönitz sternly refused, what a joke, Schmidt is the commander-in-chief of all carrier-based aircraft, in case there are three long and two short, it will be a big trouble.

The destroyer commander was on the destroyer, the submarine commander was on the submarine of course, and only Schmidt and Stephen remained on the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, and now they have also become Dönitz's most important staff officers.

"Stephen, how many hours are left until dawn? How far is Scarper Bend? ”

"Commander-in-chief, according to our records in the past few days, the sky appears white at 6:25, and the sun begins to show the horizon at 6:37, and there are still two hours and thirty-two minutes before dawn, and we are three hundred and twenty nautical miles away from Scapa Bend."

"Three hundred and twenty nautical miles, the distance is a bit far, Schmidt, can you tell me how much range our BF109 has when it is not equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks? And what is the range of the ju87? ”

All three of them leaned over the sand table, discussing a little and pointing at the sand table:

"Commander-in-chief, the range of the BF109 without carrying auxiliary fuel tanks is 210 kilometers, which is equivalent to about four hundred and eighty nautical miles, and the combat radius is about two hundred nautical miles."

One kilometer is equal to about 0.54 nautical miles, and Dönitz almost ignored this crucial issue. After listening to Schmidt's words, Dönitz calculated in his heart that now it is three hundred and twenty nautical miles away from Scapa Bend, and Dönitz must take off the BF109 fighter in one hour, which cannot be changed in any way, and the aircraft carrier formation can only sail thirty nautical miles in one hour, and at that time the entire aircraft carrier formation is still two hundred and eighty nautical miles away from Scapa Bend, which is nearly 500 kilometers away, and the BF109 that takes off to perform the mission will absolutely not have fuel to return to the aircraft carrier:

"Schmidt, what if you add an auxiliary fuel tank under the belly of the BF109! What is the maximum size of the auxiliary fuel tank? How will other mounts be adjusted? ”

"Commander-in-chief, BF109 has three hardpoints, respectively under the wings and under the belly, if you hang a disposable auxiliary fuel tank under the belly, you can mount a drop fuel tank of 300 liters or 500 liters, and under his wings you can also carry two 100-kilogram aerial bombs, and its range will increase by four to six hundred kilometers."

"Can you add a 500-liter auxiliary fuel tank, you see the wind speed is level 4 tonight, we are extending the take-off distance a little, can we take off?"

"Commander-in-chief, we can try it now, after all, the plane has enough time to stay in the air to annihilate more enemies, and at the same time allow itself to return safely."

"Okay, then you can organize a few fully loaded planes to test now."

After Schmidt finished speaking, he hurriedly went to organize the test, and Dönitz and Stephen quickly came to the conning tower to watch the test presided over by Schmidt.

"The entire fleet is sailing at high speed against the wind, ready to take off and land at night with a full load."

Dönitz just gave the order, the specific course was commanded by Stephen, and soon all the aircraft carriers were lit up with countless spotlights, the deck of the aircraft carrier was illuminated as daylight, and the ground crew was preparing quickly, in fact, now the planes parked on the deck have all been mounted, but the mount under the belly needs to be replaced.

Five minutes later, a BF109 aircraft entered the flight runway, the BF109 carried two 100-kilogram aerial bombs under the wings, and a 500-liter disposable fuel tank under the belly. It's just that Dönitz's current BF109 is already an F model, and if it is an early BF109 model, this payload will definitely not be able to take off.

"Buzz...... Buzz ......"

The test BF109 began to start the aircraft, the roar of the aircraft is getting louder and louder, the propeller is getting faster and faster, the blocking plate in front of the aircraft tires, blocking the BF109 on the flight runway, and when the BF109 pushes the throttle down the maximum, suddenly "clang", the blocking plate is put down, the aircraft rushes out like an arrow from the string, and the speed is getting faster and faster.

The fourth-level sea breeze was blowing head-on, and with the fact that the Zeppelin aircraft carrier was running wildly at a speed of 32 knots, and at the same time had a 20-degree glide take-off angle, the BF109 rushed out with a "whoosh" after rushing onto the skiing runway.

The BF109 roared "buzzing ......" into the sky more than 30 meters, and then began to fall, seeing that all the people here were so nervous, for fear that the plane would really fall into the sea, the plane continued to roar, while flying a little at the falling height, five meters, ten meters, fifteen meters, this time the BF109 is not at the falling height, but gradually climbing in height, it seems that it has gradually gained enough lift.

"Oo......oo It worked...... It's a really good level 4 sea breeze...... God's favor only. ”

All the ground crew on the deck cheered, as long as the BF109 could take off with a 500-liter disposable drop tank, Dönitz would have a lot more tactical options.

Other aircraft carriers have also carried out relevant tests, although the aircraft carrier of the merchant ship modification cannot withstand the beating, but the speed is faster than Zeppelin, their speed is at least more than 30 knots, as long as the Zeppelin aircraft carrier can take off, other modified aircraft carriers are not a problem at all.

The range of the BF109 can be increased to 1,400 kilometers with a disposable fuel tank of 500 liters, and the combat radius is about 700 kilometers. (To be continued.) )