章 340: Chapter 417 Bombing (2)
Upon hearing the message from the radar station, Dowding furrowed his brow in confusion.
During the day, the German air force had deployed thousands of bombers in a frenzied bombardment, so what was the meaning of launching just nine aircraft at night? Moreover, some eyewitness reports claimed to have seen "several bright horizontal flames speeding across the sky," which puzzled him even more.
The enemy aircraft were very fast, exceeding 600 kilometers per hour. Judging by the speed, they should be the German Mosquito bombers, known for their velocity. But what was with the flames? How could the planes have flames? Unless they were on fire? But if they were on fire, they should have fallen.
However, it was clear that these planes had no intention of falling. As the course of these aircraft was continuously updated, Dowding's expression grew increasingly grim—they were heading straight for London!
"Scramble the night fighters!" Dowding had no choice but to issue the order. After all, he couldn't just watch London get bombed by planes; being bombarded and bombed were two different matters.
The British night fighters were far less advanced than the German ones. Ordinary fighters piloted by those skilled in instrument flying made up the night fighter combination, using Hurricane night fighters armed with four 20mm cannons. The biggest difference between these fighters and the daytime fighters was that the entire aircraft was painted with dark matte paint, and protective plates that shielded glare were installed on the engine exhaust pipes and cockpit windshields.
At this time, two more V-1 missiles from the formation fell and exploded due to malfunctions.
The remaining seven missiles were less than fifty kilometers from London, and at their speed, they would enter the city in less than five minutes.
Inside a bomb shelter in London, citizens Arnold and Carter quickly stepped out and ran towards a nearby location. They weren't fleeing the area—after all, there was no safer place than a bomb shelter at such a time. They simply wanted to go home to get some food. The food distributed in recent days had been getting scarcer, and they weren't eating well. Arnold remembered that there was some dry food at home, and Carter's house had some canned goods. The two decided to go together to retrieve them.
They had been planning this for several days.
The German artillery shelling was about every eight minutes. Arnold's home was a five-minute walk from here, while Carter's was a bit further, about a ten-minute walk.
Their plan was to first go to Arnold's house to get the dry food and avoid a round of shelling, then go to Carter's house, avoid another round of shelling, and then return the same way.
They crouched at the entrance of the bomb shelter, counting the German artillery rounds until the tenth shell fell, then they left the shelter and quickly ran towards Arnold's house.
Although the shelling had not stopped these days, London was still a large city, and with only 150mm caliber bombs, it was far from being completely devastated.
However, their neighborhood was rather unlucky, having been hit by five shells. Three shells exploded on the roadside, creating three not-so-large craters, while the other two demolished half of two houses.
Just as the two were panting and running to Arnold's house, in the sky over the outskirts of London, ten Hurricane night fighters took off and arrived in the airspace where the target was about to reach, guided by ground radar.
"My God, what is that?!" Night fighter pilot John was shocked to see several bright flames speeding past in the distance, murmuring subconsciously.
With the light of the flames, he could vaguely see that those were indeed the outlines of aircraft, although not Mosquito bombers. However, the speed of the opponent clearly exceeded 600 kilometers per hour, while the maximum speed of their fighters was only 540 kilometers per hour, making it impossible to catch up. "Command, command, interception failed! They're too fast, we can't catch up!! They're not Mosquito bombers!"
Dowding's frown deepened. Not Mosquito bombers? So, had the Germans developed a bomber that could exceed 600 kilometers per hour?
If the fighters couldn't intercept, then they had to rely on ground anti-aircraft positions. But as mentioned earlier, due to a severe shortage of anti-aircraft guns in Britain, they had to temporarily sacrifice the defense of London and other cities, deploying the guns in more important places.
There was only a small-caliber anti-aircraft gun position in front of the V-1 missiles. The ground searchlights suddenly turned on, and bright columns of light shone into the sky.
In fact, without the searchlights, the ground anti-aircraft gunners could see the tail flames of the V-1 missiles with the naked eye. But before they could fire a few rounds, the V-1 missile formation had already flown over the anti-aircraft gun position and entered London.
The mechanical timer inside the missile activated the fuel cut-off device, cutting off the fuel supply, and the missile instantly lost power, only able to fly forward by inertia. At the same time, the opened airbrake significantly reduced the missile's speed, and one by one, the missiles dived downward.
At this moment, Arnold and Carter were filling their bags with dry food when they suddenly heard a strange noise in the sky outside.
They were startled, thinking it was artillery fire, but then they realized it wasn't the whistling sound of shells falling. Thanks to the continuous bombing day and night, many Britons could now distinguish the sound of falling shells and even roughly discern their direction.
"What's that sound?" The sound seemed like a motorcycle with two engines running at full speed, but motorcycles don't run in the sky.
The two curiously approached the window to look outside, and they saw a bright flame descending from the sky, crashing heavily onto the ground.
"Boom!!"
The V-3 cannon's 150mm high-explosive shell had a charge of about 6 kilograms, while the V-1 missile's warhead was loaded with 850 kilograms of high-energy explosives, so its power can be imagined.
The earth-shattering explosion even woke Prime Minister Churchill, who was dozing in his underground office.
"What's that noise?!"
Startled awake, Churchill heard a series of explosions, and the light bulbs on the ceiling flickered as if they were about to go out at any moment. He quickly picked up the phone to call Dowding. "What's this explosion about, is it German bombers?"
Dowding was somewhat uncertain. "Uh, it should be."
Hearing this, Churchill was infuriated. What did "it should be" mean? Just as he was about to get angry, he heard Dowding's voice on the other end of the phone, somewhat incredulous. "It seems to be a new type of German bomber. Our radar detected nine of them, and two fell en route. The remaining seven broke into London, their speed exceeding 600 kilometers, and our night fighters couldn't catch up. But after they flew over London, they just dived straight down and exploded on the ground."
"What?" Churchill was also stunned. What was going on? "Could it be a plane malfunction?"
"It shouldn't be, Mr. Prime Minister. I think the Germans did it on purpose." If it were a malfunction, then the failure rate would be 100%, and the Germans would be insane to equip such planes.
"On purpose? A kamikaze attack?" Even as he said it, he found it absurd. The Germans were clearly at an advantage, so why would they launch such a crazed kamikaze attack? "Is it a drone?" As the first country to develop target drones, Churchill immediately thought of this possibility.
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