Bismarck

The sixteen fighter planes of the two squadrons led by Thatch did not participate in the battle. The numerical advantage of sixty-four planes against thirty was not fully utilized in the first round of collision when the two sides approached each other at a speed of nearly 800 kilometers per hour.

After all, three super ace pilots, Zeppelin, Graf and Buckhorn, led the charge. Although McCampbell was leading the charge on the opposite side, the scattered interceptions and the gap in average quality meant that most of the fighters eventually broke through the first wave of interception by American carrier-based aircraft.

Four to two! In the first wave of interception, the American fleet did not gain any advantage.

"Instructor, the Americans are pulling back with the 'Immelmann'!"

With the help of the moonlight from the waning moon, Graf looked back and saw that the "shadows" that had just passed by him were now pulling up their noses in unison and rushing into the sky. Apparently, the Immelmann maneuver, which trades speed for altitude, shortens the turning radius, and can use altitude to dive and accelerate again, was the first choice of the American aircraft fleet!

Compared to Graf, Zeppelin didn't even need to look back. With her vision for early warning and commanding fighter jets, every move of the enemy was under her control.

Not only McCampbell and others who were pulling up frantically behind him, but also Sage who was following in the front.

A swarm of F6Fs and F4Us, relying on their sturdy fuselages, rushed over from the front without hesitation. The six heavy machine guns on both wings, relying on the effective range of direct-fire ballistics of over a thousand meters, madly weaved a network of fire towards the FW190s.

Moreover, in Zeppelin's eyes, the rhythm between the interception in front and the pullback in the back was so perfect that there was no room for error!

Thinking about the gap when they were surrounded by the American aircraft fleet, Zeppelin knew very well that this must be related to the "aircraft carrier girl who is good at command" on the opposite side!

"All BF-109s, listen up, follow me and maneuver upwards (high YOYO) and pull back; FW-190, dive and intercept! - I will hold back the super ace on the opposite side, and the rest is up to you!"

"Roger that!"

The remaining 190 planes of the two FW-109 squadrons of Buckhorn and Engels, after passing the interception line of the American fighters, started to dive directly. The remaining BF-s led by Zeppelin and Graf also pulled their noses forward one after another at the moment before crossing, and started a high YOYO leading turn (turning one step ahead of the opponent to gain a more advantageous position). Seeing this scene, Thatch did not hesitate, and at the same time as saying "Dive, follow up", he pushed the joystick in his hand hard to the bottom.

After all, considering the existence of the "sound barrier" under high-speed dives, even the FW-190 cannot dive all the way from an altitude of 4 to 6 meters at an acceleration. The time difference in between is enough for the FU and FF, which do not have very good dive performance, to catch up.

However, the prerequisite for everything is to be able to "catch up"...

Sixteen FW-190s diving at full speed were a fatal blow to the bomber group below!

Especially in night battles, the enemy could not be seen clearly at all, and the 7.62mm light machine guns in the rear hemisphere of the American bombers were completely useless!

The black shuriken's iron wings swooped down with the momentum, instantly cutting a bloody storm among the US bombers! Even the F4Us that followed hard behind wanted to kill the enemy, but their dive performance was not as good as that of the BF-109! Not to mention the F4F, whose dive performance and high speed were even inferior to those of the F6U.

In one round of sweeping by the Death Scythe, 190 carrier-based attack aircraft were swept down by the FW's iron wings! Even though the ace squadron led by Thatch was very good at covering each other and killing each other, it was useless if they couldn't catch up with the target.

While the damage control team was busy on the main body of the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier, the slender Sara, who was sitting in the middle seat of the air traffic control command hall, slapped her military cap with some regret.

"...Sachi did nothing wrong, but even so, we won't be able to catch up with these guys in a short time..."

Saratoga was a little depressed: there was no problem with her command ability, but the problem was that the opponent's high-speed dive was too abnormal...

"Forget it. Fortunately, Zeppelin only has ten planes left, and McCampbell still has sixty. Send two squadrons to reinforce Thatch, and surround the rest of them. Even if we can't kill Zeppelin, at least we can kill all the people around her!" Saratoga's face turned grim, and she immediately thought of a plan to wipe out the whole family.

In the next second, this plan of extermination was conveyed to Thatch and McCampbell in the sky. Soon, Zeppelin found that the battle situation in the sky became very wrong - the American planes on the opposite side, as if they had planned it, began to hunt down their companions on a large scale!

Even the leader of the opposing plane (McCampbell) gave up fighting with him, turned around and ran at full speed, chasing down his own pilots!

Although all her pilots were aces due to her hard work and training day and night, it was not difficult for them to slaughter the enemy's captain with the same combat power as her!

In less than two encounters, six out of ten BF-109s were lost!

"Do not--"

The angry Zeppelin didn't care that there were several F6Fs chasing her from behind. She turned the joystick in her hand and chased in the direction of McCampbell. At this moment, she was like an old hen eager to protect her "children". She ignored the threat of the 12.7mm rain of bullets spraying like the wind behind her, and only focused on the fire line of her 151mm MG axis gun tightly biting the opponent's six o'clock direction. At the same time, the electronic jammer mounted on her belly was also fully activated - she wanted to do her best to save the pilots she had brought up!

"Everyone, pay attention! Retreat immediately! Retreat immediately! I will cover you, you retreat immediately!"

"But, instructor, you..."

Graf, who had managed to escape McCampbell's gun thanks to Zeppelin's rescue, looked back in astonishment - although his beloved instructor had caught the opponent's super ace at the six o'clock position, he was also in danger of being besieged.

"Listen, you are all the offspring of the Greater German Reich Air Force. You can't die in a place like this (dudududu)... Throw away your radars and run! - Do you understand? Run! Run!"

Zeppelin shouted through gritted teeth.

She had no way to avoid it!

The guy in front of me is a master of the same level as me. If I make the slightest mistake, I will definitely be thrown off by him! And if I don't bite this guy to death, he can kill all the remaining subordinates by himself!

However, this way, his route was fixed! Even in the pitch-black night with electronic jamming, he could not avoid the siege of forty planes behind him!

Because if there is a guy of the same level on the opposite side who guides their attack, there will always be a few lucky guys who can hit themselves!

If this goes on, I won't be able to hold on for long - but before I get shot down again, I have to let these guys escape first!

The performance of the F6F is about the same as that of the BF-109T2, and its high-altitude climb rate seems to be even worse based on the data I observed. It should not be difficult for these guys to get rid of their "cumbersome" radars and escape.

But... these guys are still hesitating!

Didn't you see that your plane was already smoking? !

Normally they even dare to do such things as teasing, so why are they all taking advantage of the stubborn straight men now?

At this point, can't you be a little smarter?!

"You can't help in this kind of battle. Fighting again will only lead to your death... I'm holding them back, why don't you run! Hurry up and run! Get out! Get out! Get out!"

"This... Instructor, you..."

"What do you mean to me? Get out of here! This is an order! An order!!"

Under Zeppelin's command, which was almost hoarse, the pilots of the few remaining BF-109 fighters, along with the FW-190s below that had just disengaged from a wave of attacks, wiped their eyes one by one and pressed the stick to accelerate their disengagement.

Only when he "senses" that the pilots under his command are starting to turn around and leave, does Zeppelin heave a sigh of relief.

However, even so, in order to prevent being caught up by the American planes, she still needed to hold on in the sky for a while, at least to cover everyone and fly far away.

"Come on, come on... Do you really think I'd be Bismarck if I didn't show off my power?"

Anyway, the pursuing fighter would soon be out of the angle of her jammer. Zeppelin saw an opportunity and threw the jammer mounted on the belly of the aircraft without saying a word. The cockpit of an F4U fighter that could not control its speed and "passed" below her was crushed on the spot by the -kilogram jammer at a whistling speed. Zeppelin felt the fuselage lighten. Although it was damaged by bullets and lost some performance, it was now free from the drag. She pressed the gun button of the joystick hard again, forcing the "super ace of man-machine integration" in front to interrupt the pursuit route. Then she did an offensive barrel roll and began to continue fighting alone.

only……

"It's not okay to just walk away like this... If the instructor is in such a mess, the threat from the other ship girls is probably..."

At the edge of the FW-190 formation, Engels had a plan in mind.

While no one was paying attention, he did not discard the mounted radar as his instructor instructed, but quietly turned on the passive receiving mode. Then, with a downward dive and a rolling maneuver (an S-breaking maneuver, an S-separation maneuver), he broke away from the large aircraft group at a low altitude of three thousand meters and sneaked towards the direction where the enemy air strike group had attacked.

Engels was very lucky. Neither his own wing commander, who had been hit by multiple bullets in the sky but still insisted on killing the enemy's leader, nor the "American ship crew" on the opposite side seemed to pay attention to him - at least, the two radar warning devices in his rear hemisphere and directly above him did not receive any warning sounds of the enemy's airborne radar aiming at him.

Of course, even if he was discovered, Engels was not afraid.

It dived to a speed of 800 kilometers per hour and the whole plane was shaking. It must be a dream if it wants to catch up with me at this speed!

As for single-machine penetration...

After all, he was an ace bomber pilot, and now he has the advantage of speed, so who is he afraid of? !

Even though he was not talented in air combat, at least he could see that American fighter jets could not stop him!

Chapter 848: The Last Power

"Zeppelin's interception failed..." Bismarck said bitterly.

"Well, not surprising. The three aircraft carriers on the other side really make it difficult for her..." Lütjens was shocked at first, but soon he figured out the cause and effect and quickly came to his senses: "By the way, what's the specific situation over there?"

"They have too many planes. Our fighter planes suffered heavy losses under siege, but the damage inflicted on the enemy was very minor. In addition, the enemy's super ace is too strong, so it is meaningless to continue fighting, so Zeppelin asked her pilots to evacuate the battlefield..."

Listening to Bismarck's narration, Lütjens' face remained motionless, but he also sighed in his heart.

After all, for a country like Germany that is extremely short of fuel, pilot training is really not easy...

Even though Lütjens had never heard of the saying "The training cost of a pilot is equal to two hundred kilograms of gold", how did Zeppelin train when the GR-186 wing was first boarded?

Not to mention that he had seen the whole process. Bangtai was more active than himself and even took the pilot's license test. He also blurted out, "How can you be the captain of an aircraft carrier if you don't know how to fly?"

However, if this is the case, I guess this battle will be a bit troublesome...

Lütjens didn't know why, but he felt inexplicably depressed.

It was three o'clock in the morning, and they were still ninety nautical miles (167 kilometers) away from the port of Brest. However, the U.S. aircraft fleet was only 120 kilometers away from their fleet. Whether it was the huge number of U.S. carrier-based aircraft with super ace support, or the German aircraft fleet that had finally broken through the encirclement and began to regroup under the desperate cover of Zeppelin, but there were only a few BF-109s left, or the remaining FW190s, which were numerous but could not seize high-altitude air supremacy. All of these were clearly displayed on the radar screen.

After the radar data was synchronously provided to the electronic computer, it was also clearly arranged on the mechanical display controlled by the command computer. How could he not see it when he was sitting directly in front of the mechanical display?

Regarding such a battle situation, Lütjens always had an intuitive premonition in his heart.

If we are unlucky, this may be the end of the German fleet...

"Bismarck, tell everyone to prepare an anti-aircraft formation. We will resist to the end!"

Suppressing the uneasy thoughts in his heart, Lütjens calmed himself down, maintained his expression and voice unchanged, and issued a new order.

"Yes... But, Captain, if we face a powerful enemy, can we trust Kumets' courage?"

Seeing his captain's bloodshot eyes full of worry, but he had to sit upright and pretend to be calm, the Persian cat knew that this was to stabilize the morale of the troops, but he still felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, so he stood silently behind him.

However, this was a question that really concerned her, so she gently asked her captain.

Hearing this, Lütjens rolled his eyes at his cat in annoyance.

To doubt the loyalty of friendly forces without any reason on the battlefield is simply... merciless!

So, knowing full well the "human nature" of Kumets being as cowardly as a mouse, his face quickly fell.

Who among the navy leaders doesn't know that guy is a coward?!

Especially when I just heard that the Americans had three aircraft carriers and even the Zeppelin was shot down...

Kumets, who was panicking, "made the most important decision of his life": in order to occupy a seemingly safe position at the end of the wheel formation, he forced the two destroyers to "give way" to him...

A battleship, relying on its tonnage and status, forced its way into the original position of a destroyer. The destroyer was forced to give way. In order to avoid being hit by the battleship in the dark night, although it was not pitch dark, it was still dark enough. So it had to make a big circle to avoid it. However, in this way, other warships had to follow suit, and wartime discipline strictly prohibited turning on navigation lights and turning on high-power radars to sense position information. As a result, the west side of the formation was in chaos!

Even Lindemann, who was originally following Kumets for 2,000 meters, was almost hit by the destroyers who were almost blind at night, even though he had the perception of grapes! He had to turn around urgently and make a big circle, and obviously wasted several minutes!

If it weren't for Top and Prince Eugen, who were frantically but indispensablely commanding the destroyers to return to their positions, Lütjens would dare to say with confidence that the aircraft carrier wheel formation would 100% definitely make big news!

Moreover, this big news came out when the American aircraft group was about to launch an air raid!

--

Under the dark moon, Bonte, who had taken over Zeppelin's command, was reorganizing the German fleet to continue interception. The FW-190s, which had pulled away from the enemy, formed a small formation and launched a hit-and-run attack from both wings at the same time, relying on their high speed.

With no way to ensure air superiority, the once invincible GR-186 wing has been forced to use this method, which looks aggressive but actually has extremely low attack efficiency and rhythm.

However, the opponent also had the command of the ship girl. Although the FW-190 was unmatched in speed, the long distance was a real flaw - every time it rushed over, the American fighters could accurately block the impact route of the German fighters.

Although the FW-190 is not afraid of anyone in a head-on firefight, the number of enemies far exceeds its own!

and……

"It's just like what Zeppelin said before. The opponent's super ace is fine, but their tactics of cutting and covering each other are really a headache..."

Looking at the German aircraft fleet being chased in a panic on the display screen, listening to the dismal report of few kills but heavy losses, and the old injury on his back still aching from time to time in this winter sea night, Bangtai shook his head helplessly.

The intercepted assault fighters were either seriously damaged and lost their combat effectiveness, or evaded and the threat to the enemy bomber groups almost disappeared.

And after this glimpse but missed opportunity, in order to avoid the enemy's pursuit, it could only flee far away. After getting rid of the enemy's pursuit, it pulled back to high altitude and continued to dive under the cover of the BF-109 in the distance - but the time for this round trip was basically wasted!

Bangtai, who was in charge of the combat command center, saw it clearly - with this combat mode, each group of FW-190s basically had only two chances to intercept the enemy before they dropped their bombs!

However, right now, this is all I, and even the fighters under my command, can do...

The battle situation was very worrying. In addition to the fact that they could not hold on, the Brest base on the other side had also been heavily bombed. Although according to the news from his superiors, the Imperial Marshal had already dispatched eight fighter squadrons of reinforcements, under the suppression of the bombing, there was basically no hope for too many reinforcements to be dispatched.

From what I heard on the headset, the commanders of the two squadrons that came this time were actually the old men who had been transferred from the Zeppelin before - Heinrich Eichler and Theodor Wiesenberg, who were the famous twin brothers in GR-186 and are now commanders of the JG-5 "Arctic Ocean" Wing.

This is really... a pair of lotus flowers blooming together!!

When thinking of the twin lotus flowers, Bangtai suddenly sat up in shock from his dying illness: Wait! Why did my head suddenly want to step on the emergency brake? !

Shaking his head, Bangtai continued to think about the current battle situation - although there were more than 20 fighter jets coming to reinforce, it now seemed that in the face of the opponent's aircraft carrier's super strong attack power, relying solely on such a refueling tactic would be completely useless.

However, the current situation is that the airport, aircraft carrier, and flight team have all suffered heavy losses, while the US Navy is deployed in full force on the opposite side. Based on Bontai's many years of combat experience, even if there are still 48 missiles on the two battleships on the Kumets side, unless at least two or three full-strength squadrons can suddenly come over and launch a general offensive at all costs, it will be possible to repel the US fleet on the opposite side.

Otherwise, facing the powerful attack power of the three aircraft carriers, if we can't get air superiority, everything will be nonsense...

The feeling of defeat... huh...

When thinking of the defeat, Bangtai thought of another war twenty years ago. The bitterness of trying one's best as a commander but ultimately being powerless to reverse the situation was even more bitter than the bad taste of "substitute coffee" in the chaos and depression after the war!

"Someone, send a message to the commander and tell him that the GR-186 wing has tried its best, but it is estimated that it can no longer stop the enemy's air strikes..." While saying this, Bangtai glanced out the window in the direction of the flight deck runway.

A figure in white clothes climbed onto the third fighter plane of the night in two or three steps after repeated failures.

As the captain of an aircraft carrier, he knew very well that this was a plane that had been hastily prepared, without ammunition and fuel, and had no time to check...

Apart from that, on the flight deck at this moment, except for a dozen planes that were seriously damaged in the previous air battle and barely made an emergency landing, lying in the standby area half-dead, waiting to be lowered into the hangar by the side elevators, there was only the entire empty area in the sea fog.

The GR-186 squadron has really used up all its strength!

We don't seek to defeat the enemy's fleet, we just want to delay the enemy as much as possible and reduce some pressure...

A moment later, Lütjens on the battleship Bismarck also received the news.