War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1310 Air Raid on London
Inside the rescue buoy, illuminated by dim lights, a metal quill drew a black and white picture looking down on the pale yellow paper.

In this picture, a small wooden box is placed with a people's radio, a German P38 pistol, and a British Webley revolver, and some playing cards are scattered around it. , there are several empty wine bottles around the box.

But that's all there is in this picture. There are no people and nothing else. Instead, something seems to be deliberately blurred around the edges of the picture.

Almost subconsciously, Wei Ran raised his head and glanced at the hatch above his head. He was almost certain that the photo was taken from the hatch.

When he turned his gaze back, the metal quill pen had already written lines of text:
Act One

As soon as these three words came out, Wei Ran's heart trembled. The last time the three words "act one" appeared, he was on the moss battlefield. Now that it has jumped out again, it is inevitable that he will be more vigilant.

It was his business to be vigilant, but the metal quill did not stop at all and continued to write out the following requirements:
Character identity: bomber starboard gunner Victor
Return mission: Assist in the air raid on London and take at least one photo outside the cabin.

空袭伦敦？！
Wei Ran didn't even react, let alone prepare himself mentally and physically. Everything in front of him was covered in white light, but in this dazzling white light, all he saw was the wine bottle that appeared in a malicious way. and Robert camera bag.

Before the white light dissipated, he also heard rumbling noises and continuous tremors coming from under his butt, back, and even his hands.

The opening scene won't be on a plane, right? Wei Ran's heart sank, but he didn't dare to move his hands and feet easily.

He finally regained his vision after blinking repeatedly, but before he could see clearly what was going on around him, he already felt that his body posture seemed to have tilted, and then he was tightly grabbed by the seat belt.

Taking a quick look around, the first thing he saw was the leaky porthole with a row of bullet holes on the edge. Of course, there was also the MG17 aircraft machine gun that poked out of the porthole.

And outside the porthole, you can vaguely see the edge of the sky with dots of stars, and there is a red line that is not sure whether it is sunset or rising sun.

Looking next to him, there was another machine gunner in charge of the port machine gun, but he was busy lighting the cigarette in his mouth at this time.

Taking one last look at his outfit, Wei Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, in addition to the thick and warm flight suit and flying boots, I also had a parachute bag on my back that might have a chance of saving my life.

Not only that, but on his head, in addition to the flight helmet with communication function, he also wore a steel helmet that the machine gunner next to him did not have.

At the feet of the two of them, in the "pit" of the belly gun position, lay a third machine gunner. He also lit a cigarette and put a thick bullet casing on the lit cigarette butt.

"New here, do you want one?"

The machine gunner next to him asked loudly in German, and at the same time, he handed the cigarette case, lighter and a bullet shell to Wei Ran.

"Thank you"

Wei Ran thanked him politely, took it, lit a cigarette, and then skillfully put on the bullet casing.

This bullet casing not only serves as an ashtray, but is also a "firefighting measure" that can prevent a fire in the cabin.

"The last person in charge of that machine gun had bad luck."

The belly gunner lying between the two people turned over and shouted in the clouds of smoke, "He was half-headed by the British machine cannon. At that time, all his blood and brains flowed to the I got it on my ass and by the time we got back, my dick was stained red.”

"He's just unlucky!"

The machine gunner who was distributing the smoke to the guard shouted in the rumbling noise, "No, it should be said that the starboard gunner of this aircraft is not very lucky!"

"Thank you for the cigarettes and the reminder!" Wei Ran shouted in response, "I am Victor, what should I call you?"

"When you come back from London alive, let's introduce ourselves!"

The machine gunner next to him shouted, "I have introduced myself four times in this position! I even doubt whether my self-introduction contains a curse!"

"Then just wait until you come back!"

Wei Ranke was not frightened by the other party's malicious joke. He just finished the cigarette in a few puffs, then stuffed the butt of the cigarette into the cartridge case, and poked it out through the gap in the porthole that let in the air.

Just from some details, he had already judged that this was a HE111P bomber. It was not backward in the days of air raids on London, but it was definitely not very advanced - especially when encountering the British Spitfire and Hurricane fighter jets.

Amid such worries, the plane flew into the sky amidst tremors and harsh noises. Weiyan also judged from the sky outside the window that it was already evening. There is no doubt that bombing at night is safer than during the day. many.

Looking at the gradually denser formation of bombers in the night sky outside the porthole, he looked at the machine gunner lying at his feet and the machine gunner next to him who leaned towards the porthole and looked out.

Seeing that none of them noticed him, Wei Ran immediately turned sideways and took out Robert's camera bag. After putting his hand in and groping for a while, he first found the camera and removed the lens attached to it, and then found the wide-angle lens which was a bit laborious. Put on.

Finally, he took out the camera and took a look to make sure it contained film. He then put the camera bag away, wound up the camera, hung it around his neck, then attached the lens to the porthole and took the photo. A group of bombers outside.

Putting the small camera in his arms, Wei Ran took out the flask and poured the boss a sip of gin. Then he put on some oxygen masks and goggles that could help withstand the cold at high altitudes, and put them on and fastened them to his belt. cold-proof gloves.

During the slightly long and anxious wait, the sky outside was getting darker and darker, and Wei Ran could vaguely see the English Channel on the surface through the porthole.

"be ready!"

Almost as soon as Wei Ran saw the strait below, a very recognizable hoarse voice came from the earphones.

This voice is not unpleasant, but the undisguised condescension and arrogance and contempt in the tone make people feel particularly inferior.

Less than half an hour later, through the portholes, Wei Ran could already see a city ablaze with flames soaring into the sky. He could also see the bombs dropped by bombers in formation in the distance, as well as the fire that exploded on the ground one after another.

Seeing that there were no enemies around, he pulled off one of his gloves as quickly as possible, then took out the camera in his arms and looked out through the porthole to capture a few shots of the flaming surface.

Before he could put away the camera, he found that the wings of the plane were momentarily shrouded in a beam of light from the ground, and then the bright light disappeared in a flash.

searchlight! broken!

There was something wrong with the security secret, but he did not move the camera. At this time, far and near outside the portholes, there were smoke balls exploded by anti-aircraft gun shells and random beams of searchlights, as well as those huge anti-aircraft balloons that were occasionally illuminated by the beams of light. Even the planes that were blown up by anti-aircraft guns or dragged down with black smoke were particularly clear and terrifying against the city that turned into a sea of ​​flames on the ground.

Just when he pressed the shutter out the window again and again to consume all the energy accumulated by the camera's spring, the bomber's fuselage trembled violently and rose slightly at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, he felt the hot air blowing in from the bomb bay, as well as the smell of gunpowder smoke and soot mixed in the hot air.

It's bombed!
Wei Ran immediately realized what had happened. At the same time, the machine gunners beside him and at his feet also opened fire one after another. He didn't know what kind of enemy he was defending.

After looking out the window and seeing no threat, Wei Ran re-wound the camera as quickly as possible.

However, when he put the wide-angle lens on the porthole again and pressed the shutter, he suddenly saw the air force iron cross drawn on the end of the right wing of the bomber, which opened a gap in the boss!
Fortunately, at this moment, the bomber, which had completed its bombing mission over London, which was in flames, also began to climb and prepare to leave the battlefield.

Seeing this, Wei Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could take his second breath, he heard a series of muffled sounds!

He subconsciously followed the sound and looked over. In just a blink of an eye, the machine gunner in charge of the belly turret had stopped moving. On the floor of the cabin, there was also a string of bodies cutting diagonally across the prone body, and finally Small bullet holes spreading towards the machine gunner on the left!

Not only the lying machine gunner, but also the machine gunner in charge of the left machine gun stopped firing at this time and covered his crotch with a look of pain.

But through the bright beam of light coming from the bullet hole, Wei Ran could clearly see that between his fingers, blood was dripping continuously, dripping on the dead machine. On the gunman's body!
It's over, locked by the searchlight
Wei Ran's heart grew colder and colder, he hurriedly untied a safety belt, and moved to the machine gunner on the left like a man on a swing, looking out and shouting, "Are you okay? !”

"My name is."

Before he could even finish his belated self-introduction, the machine gunner tilted his head and stopped moving.

Through the searchlight beam outside the window that seemed to have locked onto the bomber, he could even see that the machine gunner's stomach seemed to have been torn open by bullets or even artillery shells.
Forcing himself not to think too much about what weapon had just hit the plane, Wei Ran glanced at the left side window and saw that there was no enemy at all, and immediately returned to his position.

Then, he saw a Spitfire fighter jet rushing over at high speed!

“Ssssssssss—!”

Amidst the rapid gunfire that was covered up by the explosions outside, Wei Ran only had time to fire a series of long bursts at the aircraft, but the bomber he was on lost sight of the target due to its turning and climbing movements.

Gritting his teeth, Wei Ran unfastened the other seat belt, and then moved the body under his feet as quickly as possible, lying on the "pit" that leaked air, light, and blood at the same time, and held it. machine guns, anxiously searching for the plane that must still be chasing them.

At this altitude of several thousand meters, whether he could destroy the British plane was no longer a matter of justice. It was just a simple multiple-choice question of life or death.

At this time, the bomber had already flown away from the flames over London, and the position where he was lying on his back was actually the best "viewing position". But at this time, no matter how big his heart was, he had no intention of taking out his camera and pressing the shutter button, because he knew that the British plane would definitely bite him and not let go!

Sure enough, just a few minutes later, the plane reappeared, and each launched a dense barrage with Weiran in no particular order!

Under the instruction of tracer bullets, he could clearly see that in the short three or four seconds of firing, he not only hit the engine of the Spitfire behind him with the MG131 machine gun, but also seemed to hit the machine on the left. wing.

Seeing the Spitfire turn around with black smoke, Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, even the beam of the searchlight suddenly went out, and the cabin fell into darkness again.

He took out his camera and hurriedly clicked the shutter towards the burning London. Wei Ran did not dare to lie down in this unlucky pit, grabbed the surrounding shelves and climbed up, buckled the seat belt on the hanging point again, and returned to the place he was responsible for. The starboard machine gun position.

However, just for a moment, he discovered that the right wing outside the porthole seemed to have been shot just now. Not only did the fuel tank in the wing seem to be leaking oil, but even the engine over there seemed to be abnormal!
"Loss situation," the arrogant voice in the earpiece said calmly.

After a moment of silence, Wei Ran saw that no one was speaking, so he pressed the microphone on his throat and said, "I am on the starboard side. The belly and port sides of the aircraft were killed. The right wing fuel tank seems to have been shot, and the engine is also somewhat abnormal. "

As soon as he finished speaking, the engine outside the window suddenly burst into flames, as if to prove that he was not lying.

"The right engine is on fire," Wei Ran quickly added.

"I saw it, the top of the camera?"

That annoying voice first answered Wei Ran's reminder, and then asked another question. At the same time, he also controlled the plane to start climbing, and then dived fiercely. After easily extinguishing the engine fire, Then it continued to climb.

"New guy, what's your name?" the thin voice asked arrogantly in the earphones.

"Victor" Wei Ran replied patiently, "What about you?"

"Don't you have a last name?" Instead of answering Wei Ran's question, the former continued to ask.

"Karp" Wei Ran made up one casually and asked again, "What about you?"

"Julian"

In the earphones, the thin voice said, "Julian Klinsmann."

"Your surname is Klinsmann?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

"Is it strange?"

Yurian paused and then said, "Victor, find a way to get to the cockpit. We are the only two alive in this plane now. I need your help."

"You should have told me your special code earlier."

Weiran cursed secretly, quickly unfastened his seat belt and oxygen mask again, and trudged through the bombing bay. He looked up at the top machine gunner who was dripping blood into the cabin.

This crew member who also served as the radio operator died quite miserably. He seemed to have been shot in the side, and the glass fairing above his head was also smashed.

Continue to move toward the cockpit of the nose of the aircraft with difficulty. As the distance got closer, he also felt the cold wind blowing against his face.

Then, he saw the broken transparent glass nose and the dead body of the navigator lying behind the cannon on the nose. He also saw a hand that seemed to have been shot but was still there. Julian, the pilot who insists on flying the plane.

Seeing this, Wei Ran first hung the seat belt on the hanging point, then took off the belt from the navigator's body, and motioned to Julian to stretch out his injured right hand.

Wei Ran couldn't help but frown as he helped the opponent pull off his gloves. The palm of Julian's right hand near the tiger's mouth had been torn open. The only things that were still connected were the thenar muscles behind the little finger and ring finger of his right hand and the bones inside.

"How did you get hurt?" Wei Ran shouted and asked as he tied the opponent's wrist with a belt, and at the same time plugged the headset's communication cable into the port originally used by the navigator.

"anti-aircraft shrapnel"

While holding the throat microphone, Julian raised his chin in the direction of the navigator, "One of the shrapnel hit my right hand."

"Are there any other injuries?" Wei Ran tightened his belt and asked, holding the microphone at his throat.

"Left leg, the shrapnel is in my left leg." Julian replied, "Help me find a rope and tie it up first to stop the bleeding."

Hearing this, Wei Ran looked at the wound on the other party's left leg through the light on the dashboard, removed a seat belt from the navigator's body as quickly as possible, and helped Julian tie up the wound on his left leg. Distal end.

"We need a navigator, you"

"I'm just a machine gunner, but I can't pilot it."

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already pulled the navigator's body back, "But I can fly the plane, so how about you do the piloting and I do the driving?"

"Can you really drive?"

Julian asked suspiciously, "The fuel tank on the right side is damaged. Now we have insufficient fuel, and the engine on the right side is in danger of stalling at any time. In addition, our radio is also damaged."

"I don't even know where to fly."

Wei Ran answered truthfully, he had simply learned some basic knowledge about piloting, but he didn't know which airport the bomber took off from.

Hearing this, Julian said after a moment of silence, "Go to the radio operator's position, help me find our fleet, and take a look at what's wrong with our radio."

"I'm just a machine gunner"

Wei Ran muttered again, then unplugged the headset communication cable and wrapped it around his neck, then returned the same way and climbed to the feet of the machine gunner and radio operator on the top of the machine.

With a little effort, he pulled down the leaking corpse, and took off the telescope hanging around his neck, with only one lens barrel still intact, and the compass on his wrist.

This wasn't over yet. Wei Ran even took off the six-round flares fixed at the top of his boots and even the flare gun in the other boot and equipped them on himself, then climbed up to the position where the blood remained and sat down. , first fastened the seat belt as quickly as possible and put on the oxygen mask.

Although the shooting range of the machine gun in this position is not very good, its field of view is very good. But correspondingly, when the glass fairing above the head was shattered, the wind here was strong enough, especially in the night sky thousands of meters above!

Shiveringly, Wei Ran connected the headset communication cable. Wei Ran immediately put on his gloves, pressed the microphone on his throat and called Julian. After getting the other party's response, he raised the telescope and searched the night sky.

However, he didn't know whether it was because he had deviated, fell behind, or returned early. After looking around this time, he did not find any aircraft belonging to the German side.

"How's the radio equipment going?"

Julian asked into the communication headset.

After looking at the radio that had been hit by at least three or four bullets, Wei Ran replied helplessly, "It can't be repaired, so it can only be replaced with a new one."

"We only have enough fuel to last about 20 minutes more."

Julian said in the communication headset, "I will try to raise the altitude as much as possible, so that we can fly farther, at least we don't have to worry about landing on British territory. Victor, I will parachute for you if necessary. Signal."

"No problem" Weiran responded, and at the same time he noticed that the plane was slowly climbing.

With nothing to do, he simply continued to hold up the disabled telescope with one hand and the Robert camera with the other hand.

Or look at the night sky around you and above you, or look at the pitch-black earth and London with only a speck of light left.

However, just when Weianyan saw the English Channel on the surface of the earth again through the telescope, a thick smoke drifted from the direction of the nose of the aircraft behind it and drifted towards the direction of the tail of the aircraft.

Turning his head subconsciously, Wei Ran immediately dropped the telescope, pinched the microphone at his throat and reminded, "Urian, there is smoke coming from the right engine!"

"saw"

Julian responded in his harsh tone, but the words had just reached Wei Ran's ears, and the latter saw the propeller of the engine turning slower and slower, followed closely by another A flame blew whirring in the wind.

But this time, Julian did not continue to climb or dive to put out the fire. Instead, he tried hard to maintain the current height. At the same time, he said through the communication headset, "Victor, throw out their bodies, machine guns and ammunition, and try your best to To reduce the weight of the aircraft, let’s see if we can fly across the Channel.”

(End of this chapter)