The next day, the 305th Bomb Group prepared to launch an attack on a submarine base in Brest, France. This location was not far from the United Kingdom, and it was within the escort range of the Royal Air Force Spitfire for almost the entire journey. However, the enemy had little control over this target.

The defense is also extremely tight.

In November and December 1942, the German submarine force's attack on the Allied merchant fleet was at its most glorious period. Due to the success of the wolf pack tactic, the tonnage of the merchant ships sunk by the German army significantly exceeded that of the Allied forces.

The production volume. The supplies that can be shipped to the UK are constantly decreasing. Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare and wolf pack tactics are like a noose that is firmly around the neck of the British and is gradually tightening, making the United Kingdom feel

In order to avoid the danger of suffocation, Prime Minister Churchill later said that the most dangerous time in the war was not the Battle of Britain when German bombers were like black clouds over the city, but the period of 42 years of unrestricted submarine warfare at its peak."

For the first time they made me doubt the prospects of war and feel the danger of defeat." ("Churchill's Memoirs")

Precisely because the threat posed by submarines is so great, the Allied forces now focus almost all their strike forces on how to deal with submarines. Submarine bases, submarine manufacturing plants, and other related factories and facilities have all become bombers.

The key target of the troops. Brest was one of the most important submarine bases of Nazi Germany in the Atlantic. Attacking it was a top priority.

The bomber force will set off in the afternoon, with the purpose of ensuring that it arrives at the German submarine base at around 5:30 pm local time. This is a carefully selected time. At this time, the sun has tilted to the west, but the light is still relatively strong, especially

It is at an unobstructed altitude of 7,000 meters. Enemies who attempt to launch a head-on attack will find that they will have to attack facing the sun, and the strong rays of the sun will interfere with their line of sight and reduce their attack precision.

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At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Ron boarded a B-17 "Flying Fortress" heavy bomber. And Li Mei was sitting on another plane. The entire 305th Bomb Group almost came out, with 24 bombers forming 2 boxes.

The formation began to fly toward the target in a mighty manner. Half an hour later, 20 B-17s from the 303rd Bomb Group also appeared in the field of view. I just didn't know if Clark Gable was among the aircraft in the attack.

Ten minutes later, the fleet expanded again, and 12 B-17s from the 306th Bomb Group also joined in.

As they approached the English Channel, a new call sign came from Ron's earphones:

"We are the 52nd Fighter Group of the Royal Air Force. Boys, we are very happy to meet you. We will escort you. I wish you all the best!"

Looking out the window, I soon saw a group of Royal Air Force Spitfires appearing in front and above the formation. Looking out the window, I could see the unique oval wings of those graceful fighter jets trembling slightly in the wind.

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The English Channel is not wide. The narrowest point near Calais is only about 40 kilometers. However, now the fleet does not cross the channel directly from west to east. The target is in the southeast direction of the United Kingdom. The fleet will fly south first.

Then turn to the east to ensure that the sun is directly behind them when they pounce on their target.

Thirty minutes later, the fleet began to turn east. At this moment, a message from the escorting Spitfire came through Ron's headset:

"German fighter jets are found ahead! We will try our best to protect you, good luck!"

Ron understood that the German radar had already discovered them. The purpose of this group of fighter jets coming to intercept might not be to shoot down the bombers, but to consume the Spitfire's fuel.

The Spitfire series of fighter jets is an immortal legend. This extremely graceful fighter plane was continuously improved throughout the war and had dozens of modifications. It was the pride of the Royal Air Force from the first day of the war until the war

In the end, it is one of the fighters with the most excellent performance. It can be said that at almost any moment in World War II, the Spitfire could gain an advantage in a certain performance compared to any opponent, and it was not faster than others.

It can climb, but it can turn faster than it can climb, and it can turn faster than it can. No matter who it faces, it can always find a corresponding countermeasure.

However, Spitfire is not perfect. It has two problems that have not been changed. These two problems are: thin skin and short legs.

The so-called thin skin refers to poor ability to withstand strikes. Of course, it also depends on who you are comparing it to, and products from old American steel mills, such as the P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning, or even the old-fashioned P-40.

Compared with the navy's f4f, f4u and the like, or compared with the German's fw-190a8 and other heavily equipped buddies, this guy is definitely a thin-skinned guy, but when compared with those Japanese aircraft,

Spitfire's defense is pretty good too.

But if the legs are short, then they are really too short. This guy is an airport wall protector. Well, that is a bit exaggerated, but there is absolutely no problem in saying that it is a strait protector. Its combat radius is small.

It's pitiful. At most, it can only go around the English Channel. The current routes are already at the limit of their range. If they are entangled with the German planes again (the fuel consumption will be astonishingly high in an air battle), there will be absolutely no chance.

We managed to escort them all the way to Brest.

Sure enough, the German fighters retreated after a few minutes, and the Spitfire escorted them for a few more minutes. Then they apologized on the radio, shook their wings, and flew away. Alas, the sunset was infinitely beautiful, and the Spitfire ran away.

The road ahead will have to rely on the bombers themselves.

"Keep the formation, no matter what happens, don't dodge!" Li Mei's calm voice came from the earphones.

Ahead, the vast European continent gradually appeared in the eyes of the pilots. At the same time, a large group of German fighter jets appeared.

William Green is a FW190 fighter pilot who has been serving on the Eastern Front. In the battle, he relied on his extraordinary skills to achieve one victory after another and quickly grew into a super ace. In a certain battle

, he even shot down 7 Soviet IL-2 attack planes at once, which was a miracle. Because he killed 7 of them at once, and his name happened to be the same as one of the Brothers Grimm who edited "Grimm's Fairy Tales"

They were all the same. The teammates immediately thought of the little tailor in the Grimm's fairy tale who "killed seven with one slap". So he got two nicknames, one was called "Slap" and the other was called "Little Tailor".

After arriving on the Western Front, "Slap" discovered that there are aircraft in the world that are stronger than the IL-2. When he attacked the B-17 for the first time, he almost burned out all the shells before he defeated a B-17.

Seriously injured. And he accidentally got chewed twice by .50.

Fortunately, the head-on attack method that was implemented later brought about a turn for the interception. This attack method allowed the fighter aircraft performing the interception mission to receive the smallest attack, and the time exposed to the bomber's self-defense firepower was also the shortest. More importantly: this head-on attack

The way up puts more pressure on the bomber pilots. Faced with the enemy planes that are hitting them head-on, many pilots will reluctantly dodge. In this way, the bomber formation may be destroyed.

But this time, the formation of the bombers on the opposite side seems to have changed from the previous times. It seems to be divided into several layers and looks like a big box. But there is no time to worry about this now. According to the original plan, we will pounce head on.

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As the distance between the two sides approached, "Slap" immediately felt the power of the new formation. In the past, when attacking head-on, he would only be hit by the forward machine gun tower on the opposite bomber, but now,

The two planes above the bomber also began to fire at him with their belly turrets.

Relying on the extremely excellent roll of the fw190, Slap easily dodged these attacks, but this dodge also seriously interfered with his aim. He barely fired a string of shells, but most of these 20mm shells

They all missed. Maybe one or two rounds could hit the enemy aircraft, but apart from leaving one or two small holes in the enemy's huge fuselage, the damage to the enemy aircraft was almost negligible.

After missing a hit, he gently pulled the lever, and the "Slap" passed by the bomber. His fw190 rushed into the bomber's box formation. It only took a few seconds to pass through the bomber formation, but right before

In these few seconds, there were at least four turrets and more than eight .50 machine guns firing at him from different angles. Fortunately, Slap did seem to have a special talent in flying, especially in dodging enemy attacks.

, he can sometimes even avoid enemy sneak attacks by relying on instinctive movements without even noticing the enemy at all.

This time he still found a gap in the enemy plane's fire net and rushed out. Although he was successively attacked by more than twenty .50 machine guns, "Slap" remained unscathed.

However, other aircraft that launched the attack together with "Pa Palm" may not have such luck. At least, the situation of "Pa Palm"'s wingman was not good. His aircraft was hit by more than a dozen .50 machine gun rounds. The engine was damaged and the oil was lost.

It sprayed out, and the front windshield was completely covered. The ailerons were also damaged. It seemed that he had to retreat. The plane was seriously damaged. It was hard to say whether it could fly back to the airport, but at least he could parachute.

In this first round of attacks, all but one of the 20 bombers of the 305th Bomb Group had some problems, and the rest were basically intact. However, the fw190a and bf109g that launched the attack suffered greater losses. Two fw190a were damaged and withdrew from the battle.

, there was also a bf109g that was also hit, and its damage was more serious. It is estimated that... well, the pilot had already parachuted.

However, the bomber that got into trouble happened to be the one Ron was on. A 13mm machine gun bullet fired by a bf109g that rushed straight over killed the captain and the co-pilot was also seriously injured. Now he is manipulating this

The man on this plane was Ron, who was originally an observer.

"Ron, are you okay?" Li Mei's voice came from the earphones.

"It's okay, I can barely fly this kind of plane, although I'm not used to the steering wheel." Ron picked up the phone and replied. The strong wind blowing in from the big holes in the windshield immediately blew his voice away.

"What are you talking about? I can't hear you! Just remember! No matter how the enemy attacks, never make dodge movements, never!"

If a B-17 flying in the sky is a flying fortress, then a group of B-17s forming a box formation is a flying fortress. As long as the formation is not chaotic, it will have no blind spots.

Wherever an attack is launched, there will be concentrated attacks from self-defense machine guns on multiple aircraft.

After the first head-on attack, it takes a lot of time to circle back to the head-on position. There is not so much time to waste on the battlefield, so the interceptor group has to attack from the side. In this way, they are exposed to the self-defense machine guns.

The time in the fire net was longer. In this round of attacks, several more bombers were hit, but they were basically unharmed because of their thick skin. On the contrary, the attackers suffered losses again. During the attack

Among the enemy aircraft in the box formation of the 305th Bomb Group, three fighters were shot down, including an fw190a, and another was injured and withdrew from the battle.

However, the Germans who were attacking the bomber groups of other bomber units did take advantage. In the first round of the Germans' first round of head-on attack, several bombers of the 303 group were damaged, and the formation was also in chaos. In this way,

Almost all the German fighter jets stared at it like bloody locusts. Now the 303 side was naturally miserable, but the pressure on Li Mei's 305 side was greatly reduced. After two rounds of attacks, it seemed that there was no more

Enemy planes are willing to attack them.

At this time, the fleet had also entered the anti-aircraft gun firing zone. Li Mei's calm voice came from Ron's earphones again:

"Stay in formation and don't dodge! We can withstand it!"

Large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery shells exploded near the aircraft group, and the sky was instantly filled with black clouds left behind after the shells exploded. They were like black roses symbolizing death.

En held the steering wheel tightly with both hands and kept thinking in her heart:

"Keep on course, keep on course, keep on course!"

All the enemy fighter jets have retreated. They don't dare to pursue them here. The anti-aircraft artillery doesn't have eyes. It would be such a tragedy if their own anti-aircraft artillery hits them.

A 127mm shell exploded just in front of Ron. The shock wave shook the plane like a small boat in the stormy sea. But the plane still flew forward firmly, passing directly through the smoke of the explosion.

The death rose formed does not dodge and keeps moving forward!

"Close to the target! The lower bombers accelerate! Prepare to drop bombs!"

Following Li Mei's order, the B-17's magazine opened, bombs roared down one after another, and soon a string of fireballs suddenly appeared on the ground, followed by rising smoke.

"Completely covering the target area! Well done guys! Continue to maintain formation, climb, and return!"

Viewed from a high altitude, a large river of bombers trailing long silver trails turned around over Brest and began to fly northwest...

On the way back, he was once again attacked by German fighter jets, but faced with the unbreakable box formation of the 305th Bomb Group, the Germans, who had already seen its power, could only retreat sadly.

20 minutes later, the bomber group met up with the Spitfire group of the Royal Air Force that came to meet them. When the lights came on, the bomber group finally returned to the airport safely.

In this battle, the U.S. military dispatched a total of 56 bombers. During the interception by enemy planes, the 303rd Bomb Group lost 3 bombers and seriously injured 3 of them, shot down 2 enemy planes and injured 1; the 306th Bomb Group lost 1 bomber and seriously injured 2.

, shot down 0 enemy planes and damaged 3; while the bombers of Li Mei's 305th Bomb Group not only suffered no losses or serious injuries, but also shot down 4 enemy planes and damaged 3 in the air battle. The box-shaped formation
Chapter completed!