The sea level is more than 3,000 meters, and the 24 ju17s from the "Swabian", "Joachim I" and "Emanuele III" are formed into a spectacular goose-shaped echelon. Because they are going to deal with enemy aircraft carriers, these thunder hammers are loaded with a 250 kg high-explosive armor-piercing bomb and two 50 kg high-explosive bombs, rather than the most common 500 kg armor-piercing bombs. The lighter load means faster flight speed, more flexible air maneuver, and correspondingly improve the attack hit rate and battlefield survival rate.

Major Carllet from the "Swabian" serves as the battlefield commander of the group of dive bombers. He flew the Ju17 with the number SW31 to occupy the "Yantou" position. During the flight, the major turned on the high-frequency encrypted radio telephone and mobilized the accompanying bomber pilots before the war: "Everyone, we expect to arrive at the bombing area in 15 minutes, and the battle in the air is likely to begin before this. Please keep your formation and rely on teamwork to deal with threats that may come at any time. Once you arrive over the enemy fleet, you will launch an attack according to the pre-war plan. Finally, I hope good luck will be with us."

Shortly after Major Carllet finished speaking, the fighter team that was leading and alerted at the front found the oncoming enemy fighter jets between the clouds, and immediately issued an alarm to the entire group of enemies. Considering that the enemy fleet had strong air defense capabilities, as many as 32 he25s and 50ts escorted the first wave of attack aircraft, accounting for nearly half of the attack fighter jets. Seeing that the enemy fighter jets intercepted in front were about one squadron, the German Navy ace pilot, Major Lomedes from the "Swabian", led 15 he25s to meet, and the remaining 8 he25s and 8 50ts continued to remain alert at an altitude of 4,000 to 4,500 meters.

At the beginning, Major Lomedes, like his outpost pilot, believed that the enemy fighter jets coming to face were mixed with the British "Seahawk" and the American "Hunter". The latter was a biplane fighter of the same level as the i, and it was easier to deal with head-on confrontation. The former's overall performance was comparable to the He25, so it was difficult to deal with, but this was not a problem for the confident German Navy ace. However, after the first round of battle, he suddenly realized that these "Seahawks" were different from those they had fought in the past. They were faster, had stronger firepower, and the layout of the first half of the fuselage seemed to be different.

Lomedes didn't know that these "Hawks" were new US fighters that arrived on the Atlantic front a few weeks ago. Based on the British "Seahawk", they used the Pratt & Whitney "Hornet" engine with a higher thrust and were equipped with a secondary turbocharger. The unarmed test-type maximum speed was 18 more than the "Seahawk". The Americans just thought that the "Seahawk" prototype was not strong enough, so they assembled their new fighter with the German Folk G51 firepower standard. In this way, the final "Hawks" not only had a slightly less maneuverable nature, but all the performances exceeded that of the "Seahawks". Faced with the German Navy's main carrier-based aircraft He25, it has obvious technical advantages, and can even face the land-based model Folk G51.

But because of these complex changes, Grumman, which undertakes the project, had to spend a lot of time correcting the aerodynamic design of the aircraft and conducting corresponding tests. It was not until the eve of the war that the "Hawk" passed the assessment and commissioning of the US Navy. When the Battle of the Azores broke out, the first mass-produced "Hawk" was still in assembly. It was not until the end of the Battle of Flores that the first "Hawk" arrived at the Atlantic front. Due to the short equipment time, American and British pilots were unable to fully grasp the characteristics of this new weapon, and they still needed to explore aerial tactics that were suitable for it in actual combat. If this were not the case, Major Lomedes and his elite pilots would probably suffer a lot here.

Despite encountering a new opponent he was unfamiliar with, Major Lomedes still tried every means to make the encounter go at his own pace. While reminding his subordinates to respond carefully through radio, he led his wingman to attack one of the US single-wing fighters. There were no fancy air combat actions, no repeated tentative adjustments, and with first-class flight skills and rich practical experience, he accurately captured the best time to fire and used two strings of machine shells to make the enemy planes break their wings in the air.

After successfully shooting down the target, Lomedes immediately used radio to call his own fighter pilots: "Avoid their fronts, avoid long-distance pursuits, and open fire from behind them as much as possible."

Out of trust in the commander, the pilots of the Allied Powers did not have to think about why, and acted directly as Major Lomedes told. This was a lot of trouble and consumed a lot of fuel, but it could shoot down or drive away the enemy planes one by one at the lowest possible cost, opening up a safe passage for their own bomber groups.

The final voyage passed by. Below the wings, the blue sea was dotted with ship shadows dragging white water marks. They were spewing sparkling lights, and balls of gunpowder spread around them, and the sky was full of explosions. Later, the US and British fighters took off no longer cared about the danger of being hit by their own artillery fire. They rushed over in groups of three or three-legged ones, but were blocked by the He25 sprayed with the iron cross logo or the 50t with the clover logo. Occasionally, a group of carrier-based bombers broke into the Allies, rushed around, poured bombs, and failed to scatter the flight formation.

The sound from the headphones of "Enemy aircraft carrier group was found on the sea in the front right" made every Allied bomber pilot excited instantly. Following the direction guided by this person, people saw the aircraft carriers with different shapes from ordinary ships. After many naval battles, both sides of the war had realized the power and value of naval aviation. The biggest change this brought to maritime tactics was to allow people to choose to attack enemy aircraft carriers first under the same conditions.

All tactical modes have been mastered in daily training, and the specific tactics have also been deployed before departure. At this time, Major Carllet had to issue attack orders. The dive bombers from the three German aircraft carriers belonged to three different squadrons, each squadron was responsible for attacking an aircraft carrier. The squadron dropped bombs in turn according to the established order. Only when the target was confirmed to have suffered a fatal blow, the pilots could transfer the target to the next aircraft carrier.

The dive bomber squadron from the "Swabian" was directly commanded by Major Carlwit. The target of its attack was the aircraft carrier sailing at the forefront of the formation. It was a British Glory class and claimed to be the aircraft carrier with the best protection capabilities. The Battle of Azores has continued to this day. There are five aircraft carriers of both sides put into the battlefield, and four Glory class ones sink and one injured. Two are still fighting on the front line. Based on the comprehensive calculation of continuous combat time and battlefield survival rate, they are indeed ranked first.

The battlefield situation was changing rapidly. Major Carllet and his pilots were not sure that their target was the Glory Class. In fact, if the escort fighter jets failed to control the situation, they might not even have any choice and would blow up any ships when they caught. Now, they locked the target without hesitation, found the attack point in the 3,000-meter airspace, and then two aircraft and one group of them braved the anti-aircraft firepower of enemy ships to conduct a "high-level dive".

Major Carllet always led the way, and this time was no exception. As the fighter entered the dive state, the speedometer's reading increased rapidly. He focused on the front, holding the joystick with both hands to prevent the plane from deviating from the course due to the impact of the explosive airflow. His ears ignored all the noise around him and only focused on the words of the bomber.

"Hold hold hold hold hold press low pressure low hold hold"

When the flight altitude of the ju17 dropped to 400 meters, the sound of the bomber stopped abruptly, and the fuselage trembled, and the reaction power from the joystick changed suddenly. Without the need for the bomber to remind him, Major Carllet understood it and immediately pulled the plane. The huge centrifugal force pressed the two tightly on the seat. When the fighter started to climb from the lowest point, its height almost touched the mast of the warship

A violent explosion came from the sea, followed by the sound of the bomber: "One hit the deck, one hit the port side and one missing the ship's tail, which is a pity. It's a pity that the one hits a flick."

The so-called "flash" is a 50-kilogram bomb hanging under the wings. This kind of bomb is itchy to the battleship-level targets, but it is different when thrown on the aircraft carrier deck. The power of the explosion is enough to blow up a big hole. Before the crew repairs it, the carrier-based aircraft basically cannot take off and land normally.

After a while, the bomber shouted again: "Ha, it was Willy and Carl. They bombed the enemy ship and had a big fireball. It seemed to be a heavy bomb. The Iron Cross they had always dreamed of wouldn't run away."

Although a 250-kilogram high-explosive armor-piercing bomb was not enough to determine the death penalty of a Glory-class aircraft carrier, its combat effectiveness was basically destroyed. This dreamy opening made Major Carlette feel a little unbelievable. He just waited for the plane to return to a height of 1,000 meters, and he adjusted his course and watched the sea. Two ships of the enemy aircraft carrier formation had already raised rolling black smoke. There were still ju17 diving down in his sight, and some of them climbed up after the bomb dropped. There were also several fighter jets shuttled through low altitudes. During the fierce battle, the enemy's originally orderly air defense firepower had become chaotic. The rain of bullets with tracer bullets followed the traces of the Allied fighter jets, and they intersected from time to time. The anti-aircraft shells roared violently, and the fighter jets were constantly injured and shot down. However, to achieve such results, some losses were completely bearable.

Through several consecutive air maneuvers, Carllet successfully returned to a height of 3,000 meters in his fighter plane. Unless attacked by enemy fighters, this flight altitude was enough to allow him and his crew to safely escape from the battlefield.

At this moment, the excited bomber called out again: "Look at the bottom left, the Major is such a beautiful firework."

Carllet looked at it and saw that the enemy aircraft carrier leader and Guci's aircraft carrier were dragging black smoke. The ship located at the back of the formation had just exploded violently. The rapidly expanding smoke obscured its original appearance. It was impossible to tell whether it was an aircraft carrier or an escort warship. Several long and thin white lines could be seen vaguely on the nearby sea surface, as if they were traces left by torpedoes passing by.

"It's an aircraft carrier" Major asked his bomber.

The bomb dropper did not answer directly, but instead speculated: "The intelligence said that there were enemies and seven aircraft carriers, and now only six can be counted. I think the seventh one should have occurred."

"It would be great if this is true." Major Carllet's mentality gradually became excited. "If we can use this opportunity to annihilate the enemy's aircraft carrier formation, we can take back the initiative step by step and eventually drive the enemy out of the Azores."

The bomber responded loudly: "Many people said before that we would withdraw from Europe in the near future and completely give up the Azores to the enemy. Now it seems that we have survived the darkest days and returned to the road to victory. Another hit, another hit is the victory day that is destined to be the Allies today?"
Chapter completed!