Shortly after the Italian heavy aircraft carrier Aquila sank, a water reconnaissance aircraft with a striking iron cross logo on the fuselage and wings rumbled over this noisy sea.

This He-121 water reconnaissance aircraft comes from the German Navy's "Wesenberg" battle cruiser. When the new United Kingdom Navy fought fiercely with the Kingdom of Italy in the Western Mediterranean, the "Wesenberg" and the "Dame-Splival" fleet sailed in North African waters less than 20 kilometers away from the battlefield. In accordance with the deployment of the German General Staff, this considerable two-ship formation drove into the Mediterranean, with its main task being "military observation" rather than "struggle". Before the German senior management decided to intervene in the war,

They will not put any party under military or diplomatic threats in any way. Of course, the German neutral announcement is not enough to reassure the Italians, because Germany and the new United Kingdom have always been like brothers in military and diplomatic terms. Although the alliance between Germany and Italy lasted for half a century, it has never reached the level of "uniformity and morality". Especially in more than ten years after the end of World War II, Italy had long "private" with Japan. Not only did Germany have hostility among military and political figures, but the people also had a lot of criticism.

"Hey, the Italian fleet retreated before they could contain the dead." The front-seat pilot communicated with the back-seat observer via airborne radio, "It can be seen how embarrassed they were in this battle!"

"The Italians' colorful airs are suitable for military parades and intimidation of African indigenous people!" The backseat observer said contemptuously, "In recent years, the Irish have fought in the east and west, and used war to support the war. The combat effectiveness of the army has always maintained its first-class level. Where are the Italians? They sent troops to Egypt, were chased by militia and fled; they intervened in the Ottoman civil war, and had a lot of weapons and equipment problems; they confronted the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the army was mobilized slowly and chaotic."

"The difference between first-class and second-class will be clearly reflected on the battlefield, so we see that hey, look at 3 o'clock, and there is an Irish plane falling from the sea floating there to see if there are any pilots who are skydiving and escaping nearby." The tone of the pilot in the front seat changed suddenly.

The backseat observer quickly picked up the telescope: "Yes, I saw that plane, and there seemed to be no pilots around. The Irish Navy used an orange landing, which is the most eye-catching color compared to the sea water. I think I found it, at 5 o'clock in our direction!"

The front-seat pilot immediately adjusted the flight direction. After a moment, he shouted: "You are right. It was the Irish yellow parachute. Maybe the Italian destroyer has fished the pilot and taken it away. Maybe he is still there."

"If he's still there, we have to take him back?"

"That's certain."

"But how do you bring it?" the backseat observer asked, "Want to squeeze the wet guy into a seat with me?"

"Hey, boy, don't pay too much attention to these details." The front-seat pilot responded, "Maybe you had a drink with him at the same table a few months ago!"

"The last time I sat with the Irish people and drank was half a year ago," said the backseat observer. "They have a good alcohol tolerance, but they are even worse than us!"

While speaking, the front-seat pilot had already piloted this high-performance German water reconnaissance plane near the yellow parachute floating on the sea, but while hovering at low altitude, he and his partner saw neither the traces of survivors nor the remains of the dead. It should be noted that the standard life-saving equipment of the New United Kingdom Navy Air Force includes rocket ejection seats, anti-tangled parachutes, waterproof and warm clothing, inflatable life jackets and life-saving signal transmitters. As long as the pilot did not die before the plane fell, he could persist for a long time even in very bad weather. His escape survivor rate ranks among the forefront of the world. In this era, only the German Navy can compare with it.

The search was fruitless, and the front-seat pilot said humorously: "It seems that this unlucky guy has been taken away by the Italians. If he is still alive, I hope he has a good life in the Italian prisoner-of-war camp."

Without having to squeeze together with a wet guy, the backseat pilot was obviously relieved: "From the battle situation in the past few days, the Italians should take great care of him. After all, if the battle continues like this, the New Olympics will win soon."

Looking at the debris on the sea, the pilot in the front seat said: "The performance of the Italian Navy and Air Force is not as good as this, so their 6th Army will be even more unreliable. It is estimated that the coalition forces will soon advance into the Apennine Peninsula and attack the city of Rome. From then on, no European country will dare to go against us secretly."

"Hey, at 3 o'clock, there is another orange thing, go and have a look?" the back seat observer reminded.

The front-seat pilot happily replied: "Of course we are going, who told us to be the Irish volunteer lifeguard?"

But before the plane could fly far, the backseat observer shouted again: "Wait, there is a white life jacket on the sea in the right front of us. The tenth of them are Italian pilots, can you save them?"

"Let's go down and have a look."

After saying that, the front-seat pilot pushed the joystick to reduce the throttle output, driving the two-seater water reconnaissance aircraft, which was not much cheaper than the current fighter, to the sea surface. After a smooth gliding of more than 100 meters, it stopped next to the lucky one without any hesitation.

The backseat observer pushed open the hatch and shouted in German without waiting for the propeller to stop rotating, "Italian?"

Realizing that it was a German plane, the fallen man in a white life jacket waved his hands hard.

After the engine was turned off, the backseat observer asked again: "Italian?"

"Yes, yes!" the man replied in broken German, "I am an Italian, a RAF pilot."

"Look, we are neutral countries!" said the front-seat pilot awkwardly. "Under the law of war, if you accept our rescue, then we have the right to detain you indefinitely until the end of the war, or to resolve the matter through consultation."

The person who fell into the water hesitated for a moment: "Okay! OK! I have no objection!"

The front-seat pilot turned around and looked at his reluctant partner, shrugged and whispered at him: "As citizens of neutral countries, we have the obligation to carry out humanitarian rescue on the high seas against belligerent combatants."

“What a noble duty!”

The backseat observer muttered, stood up, overturned the seat back, took out the rope from the toolbox, and threw it to the Italian who seemed to have no strength to swim. He pulled him up in just a short while.

The guy introduced himself excitedly as soon as he came up, "Hey, gentlemen, I'm Lieutenant Frank Delaroca, a fighter pilot."

The backseat observer who pulled it up did not refuse to shake hands with it, but after the handshake, he said seriously: "Well, Mr. Dragaloca, please hand over your weapons, including a gun, a dagger and a lighter."

Everyone is civilized, so the tall and thin Italian pilot cooperated very well to take out the gun from the holster, then took out the folding dagger and kerosene lighter from his pocket and handed it to the other party.

"Under the noble International Convention of The Hague, we have the right to confiscate the gentleman's weapons and deal with them, right?"

The back seat observer was carrying a dripping pistol, a wet dagger and a lighter that didn't know if he could still fire, so he asked his partner for advice.

"Of course." The front seat pilot replied.

So the observer threw these objects into the sea. His agility made the Italians not have time to react.

"Oh," the Italian pilot lamented, "Sir, you may not know the origin of this gun. It is a gift given to me by His Highness ****, Italy, with the words given by His Highness ****, and the collection value is immeasurable!"

The observer didn't understand it at first, and when the other party repeated it, he understood what the other party wanted to express. What drove the Italians crazy was that the girl actually said in a questioning tone: "How can such an important gift be used to choose an ordinary Bereta pistol? It should be silver-plated, right?"

The Italians were speechless.

The environment here is obviously not suitable for in-depth communication between the two sides. The observer moved back so that the Italians could enter the cockpit. Since the design was initially considered to carry out maritime rescue missions, the rear seat of the He-121 water reconnaissance aircraft was much spacious than the front seat, and it would be no problem to squeeze two adult men. With the maximum load of the aircraft, two external "seats" can even be arranged on the float if necessary.

The pilot restarted the engine. Despite the addition of new passengers, the He-121 still shook smoothly. The plane passed through the sea covered with debris and oil stains and flew straight towards the African coast. On the way back, two blue-gray-painted fighters suddenly caught up with each other. Seeing this, the Italian pilot suddenly became nervous. He fell into the hands of the Germans, his identity was the warlord detained by the neutral country, and he still had the chance to return home early; if it fell into the hands of the Irish, it would be the identity of a prisoner of war. Unless the war sides exchanged prisoners of war, they would have to stay in the prisoner of war until the end of the war.

Seeing that the Allied Fighter was chasing, the German pilot continued to fly in a straight line. After a while, one of the blue and gray fighters caught up with the German water reconnaissance with a distinctive symbol and lowered the flight to fly with it. Across more than twenty meters, the pilots from both sides greeted each other and exchanged simple greetings with gestures. Seeing that there was a wet Italian in the back seat of the German water reconnaissance, the Irish pilot was still gesturing something with interest.

"Did he want you to throw me away?" the Italian asked with a tense face.

"No, this is a unique contact sign language between us, which means that there are still missing pilots who have not been found." The backseat observer explained. "We are over this mission and will not turn around and fly back to search the sea surface, so you don't have to worry about being left behind by us."

The Italian then breathed a sigh of relief. When he wanted to take a closer look at the carrier-based fighter jet used by his opponent, the Irish had already deflected the wings and turned around and left.
Chapter completed!