Chapter 364 Night Battle (1)

Germany, Berlin Palace.

Marshal Kesselring, the Air Force Commander-in-Chief, stood in front of Yannick's desk with high spirits, reporting the results of the Calais air battle. "Your Highness, our Air Force has repelled the invading enemy and won a brilliant victory!"

Yannick lazily leaned on the comfortable office chair, pointed to the file handed over by Catherine, and smiled. "Marshal Kesselring, just tell me briefly." Before, he only received the news that the British fleet was repelled, and did not know the detailed losses.

"Yes." Catherine opened the file and began to report. "At 1:32 p.m., the radar station in the Calais area detected a group of aircraft taking off from the UK. We immediately launched fighter jets to intercept them. At 1:53 p.m., an air battle broke out over the English Channel. By 2:41 p.m., the British Air Force was defeated, and 97 of our fighter jets were shot down, of which 41 pilots were salvaged and rescued. The British side lost more than 200 fighter jets and bombers. We salvaged nearly 100 pilots."

Yannick nodded with satisfaction and asked casually. "Is the record watered?"

Catherine's originally straight body became even straighter, and she could draw a straight line with a pen. "Your Highness, even if there is an error, I promise it will not exceed 10%."

At this time, the performance of German fighter jets was better than that of British fighter jets. German pilots understood the performance of British fighter jets more thoroughly than British pilots themselves. Coupled with the crushing number, they should have delivered an amazing record.

"The British have suffered heavy losses. They will either retreat or become more courageous. If they still don't give up, the only thing left is night bombing."

Catherine assured confidently. "Don't worry, Your Highness. I guarantee with my life that the current German Air Force has the strongest night combat capability in the world. If an enemy plane can break through our interception at night, I am willing to be punished by military law!"

As if to confirm his words, the air defense alarm in the Calais area tore through the silent night sky. "Alarm! Alarm! British bomber formation! Take off the night fighter!"

The Mosquito bomber, which had been ready for battle, turned its propeller and began to slide forward along the long runway.

The Mosquito bomber was originally a multi-purpose bomber, and its modifications are quite numerous: photo reconnaissance aircraft, bomber, fighter-bomber, night fighter, bombing guidance aircraft, torpedo bomber, submarine hunting aircraft, daytime patrol aircraft, minelayer, trainer aircraft, special transport aircraft, etc.

Soon, the first batch of 20 Mosquito night fighters flew into the night and disappeared at the end of the darkness.

These night fighters not only installed the "Oblique Music" weapon system consisting of 4 20mm caliber aircraft cannons on the back of the aircraft (this weapon system is a cannon system fixed on the back of the aircraft and firing obliquely upward. With this weapon system, the aircraft can obtain a safe attack position without flying to a dangerous place. In the original time and space, when the German night fighters equipped with oblique music appeared near Berlin, the losses of the Allied bombers instantly increased by one-fifth, and even many bombing plans were forced to be cancelled.), but also installed a simple radar guidance device on the nose, and equipped the pilots with "Vampire 0 version" infrared night vision goggles.

According to the guidance of the ground signal station, these aircraft can quickly fly to the vicinity of enemy aircraft, and then rely on small radar guidance devices to find the attack target, and finally rely on infrared night vision goggles to accurately attack the target.

Originally a bomber that could carry tons of bombs, it could load more than 3,000 rounds of 20MM cannon ammunition, and there was no need to consider the problem of ammunition consumption. If the range is long enough, a night fighter can slowly kill at least a squadron of bombers on the other side.

It was precisely because of this epoch-making weapon that General Kesselring dared to issue a military order to Yannick.

Embarrassingly, the original concept of the oblique music was proposed and first practiced by the Royal Air Force before the war, but the British concluded that the system had no practical value. As a result, after it came into the hands of the Germans, it was installed on all types of night fighters, giving the British a crisp slap in the face with brilliant actual combat results. Facts have proved that being the first to invent does not mean that it can be successfully used. Blitzkrieg was also first proposed by the British, but it was not until it came into the hands of the Germans that the blitzkrieg theory was transformed into actual combat results. I wonder if Churchill wanted to immediately shoot those British officers who came to the wrong conclusion when he saw the report on the heavy losses of the bomber unit.

A fierce air battle in the dark night, or more accurately, a one-sided slaughter, is about to begin.

The attacking side is more than 100 Wellington and Blenheim bombers taken off by the UK; the defending side is the German night fighters that are taking off continuously.

"Turn on the infrared headlights!" The commander of the Mosquito night fighter interception force looked at the target distance displayed on the simple radar and ordered calmly.

Each night fighter has a 60-centimeter diameter short cylinder on its back, like a searchlight, but no visible light is emitted. However, the light it emits, which is invisible to the naked eye, can illuminate the target 1,500 meters away.

"This is Nighthawk II! Nighthawk II has visually discovered the enemy aircraft! It has entered the attack position and can be shot down at any time!" In the cabin without any lights, the voice of pilot Heinz Schnaufer sounded with the roar of the engine.

His current position is more than 300 meters behind and below the belly of the opponent's aircraft. Through the "Vampire Version 0" infrared night vision device, he can clearly see the target.

Take the American B-17 "Flying Fortress" bomber as an example. Up to 13 7mm heavy machine guns are installed around the fuselage. Even the old British Lancaster bomber has the self-defense firepower of 8 7mm machine guns. The best way to deal with these fire hedgehogs is to shoot their "soft" bellies from bottom to top, especially the Lancaster bombers used by the British Royal Air Force for night bombing. Their bellies are empty and have no self-defense firepower. If you are a night fighter pilot, you will also choose to start here.

The commander quietly listened to the report in the earphones until all the squadron personnel found the target of the attack and then gave the order. "Nighthawk Squadron 1! Nighthawk Squadron 1! Fire! Fire!"

"receive!"

"clear!"

"Fire!"

Amid the din, shouts filled the earphones. This was the Nightingale Force's first actual combat attack, so the pilot's shouts were somewhat nervous.

"Tu tu tu! tu tu tu!"

The dull sound of machine guns echoed in the night sky, mixed with the sound of engines, and the entire battlefield immediately boiled.