The Rise of the Third Reich

March 26, 1942, morning, 4:30.

The "Zeppelin" aircraft carrier has begun to gallop against the wind. On the flight deck of this aircraft carrier with a standard displacement of up to 30,000 tons, 36 Fokker Zero fighter jets have been arranged neatly, and the 36 three-blade propellers are rotating rapidly, making a buzzing sound. There was a lot of noise, and it was about to soar into the sky just waiting for the flight controller to wave the flag.

Around the "Zeppelin" aircraft carrier, the "Strasse" aircraft carrier, the "European" aircraft carrier, the "Bremen" aircraft carrier and the "Potsdam" aircraft carrier are all galloping against the wind like the "Zeppelin". This is the preparation before the aircraft carrier releases carrier-based aircraft, as the deck wind begins to howl.

On the "Zeppelin", the Fokker Zero aircraft flown by Captain Walter Nowotny, the squadron leader of the 6th Squadron of the 4th Group of the 3rd Carrier Aviation Regiment of the German Navy, was at the take-off assembly point. He will be the first to fly today. A pilot who takes his plane into the air to fight enemy aircraft.

In the past few months, while his good friend Hersman Jr. was fighting side by side on the Pacific battlefield with a group of Japanese pilots who took to the sky without parachutes but with machetes, Walter Novotny had been fighting hard On the front line against the British, he increased his number of kills to 38.

This number placed him among the most decorated German ace pilots. Unlike most ace pilots who leave the front line after scoring 25 kills, Captain Walter Novotny is still fighting on the front line so far and has even been transferred to the "Zeppelin", one of Germany's two most valuable aircraft carriers. , served as the squadron leader of the "Air Superiority Squadron" with heavy responsibilities.

During these days of fighting on the front line, Nowotny began to feel that the Fokker Zero aircraft he was piloting was becoming more and more powerless. Facing the newly upgraded version of the Spitfire (equipped with a Merlin 60 engine) and the P51 with superior low-altitude performance, even after two upgrades, the performance advantage of the Fokker Zero has been lost.

If the performance of the Fw-190 were not still sharp (compared with the Fokker Zero, the Fw-190 has a lot of room for upgrades and can continuously introduce improved versions with superior performance), it would be difficult for Germany to maintain its air superiority.

However, the Fw-190 carrier-based version, jointly managed by Fokker and Fokker-Wulf, is still undergoing test flights (the Fw-190 requires major modifications to the aerodynamic shape to be put on the ship), so Nowotny Now we can only continue to rely on the Fokker Zero, which is no longer superior in performance, to fight against the superior P51 and Spitfire fighters.

Since the afternoon before yesterday, Nowotny and his comrades had been preparing to attack the invading British aircraft. But until yesterday evening, there was no movement from the British. Just when everyone thought that the British would ignore the German High Seas Fleet, early this morning, an SP-class reconnaissance cruiser wandering in the waters south of the Faroe Islands sent an urgent message, reporting that its radar had detected a large number of intruders. enemy aircraft.

"Squadron 6, attack!"

Nowotny did not wait too long. When the flight controller's order sounded in the headset, the takeoff controller on the deck suddenly waved his arm, the flight command flag fell heavily, and the plane piloted by Nowotny took the lead in rushing out of the deck. .

Then one Fokker Zero after another rose into the sky!

…

"When will the Fw-190 arrive?"

In the bridge of the aircraft carrier "Zeppelin", Lieutenant General Helmut Heyer took his eyes back from the Fokker Zero that was taking off, and asked the aviation staff officer behind him, Johannes Steinhoff, somewhat anxiously Lieutenant Colonel.

"It will take about 40 minutes," Lieutenant Colonel Johannes Steinhoff replied. "All 48 Fw-190s from 3 squadrons took off 45 minutes ago. In addition, 48 high-altitude Fokker Zeros from 3 squadrons all took off 15 minutes ago. They will escort 108 P.108s and Amio 357 is coming to the Faroe Islands...it will arrive in about 55 minutes. There will be a fierce battle by then!"

"Where is the British? When will they arrive?"

"In about 15 minutes."

"Is there any problem?" Lieutenant General Helmut Haye asked worriedly.

"No problem," Lieutenant Colonel Johannes Steinhoff said, "Lieutenant Admiral, Zeppelin and Strasser each sent 24 Fokker Zeros, and Bremen, Europa and Potsdam each sent 24 Fokker Zeros. 16 Fokker Zeros were dispatched, a total of 96 Fokker Zeros took to the sky, and there were 48 more Fokker Zeros on standby on the deck... With so many aircraft, are you afraid that they won’t be able to hold on for 25 minutes?”

Currently, the two 30,000-ton fleet aircraft carriers Zeppelin and Strasser each have 72 commonly used aircraft, of which 36 are Fokker Zero and 36 are Fokker 100. Bremen and Europa each have 60 commonly used aircraft, including 24 Fokker Zeros and 36 Fokker 100s. There are 48 commonly used aircraft on the Potsdam aircraft carrier, 24 each of Fokker Zero and Fokker 100.

As at the beginning of the war, there were still no carrier-based torpedo bombers among the carrier-based aircraft of the German naval aviation.

In addition, the Fokker 100 carrier-based dive bomber was improved from the Japanese "Comet" carrier-based dive bomber, and the DB601E liquid-cooled engine was changed to a more powerful BMW801D-2 engine.

Because this engine has a jet-assisted MW50 system, the Fokker 100 carrier-based dive bomber's ultimate speed can exceed 660 kilometers (which can only last 10 minutes), even faster than the Fokker Zero. In theory, it is possible to attack without an escort, relying entirely on speed to penetrate and break away from the battle.

"Get all the Fokker 100s on the deck!" Lieutenant General Helmut Heyer saw the Fokker Zeros rising into the sky one after another, and then issued another order.

"All?" Lieutenant Colonel Johannes Steinhoff was stunned.

"Yes!" Vice Admiral Helmut Heyer nodded, "All 168! In addition, each aircraft carrier sends three Fokker 100s to search the F3, F4 and F5 waters."

"Lieutenant General, do you want to search the British aircraft carrier?"

"Yes!" Helmut Haye said, "The British are likely to go all out to launch an attack! We must discover their aircraft carrier as soon as possible and then launch a counterattack!"

"Now set up Air Defense Formation No. 2!"

On the battleship "Hindenburg", Admiral Gunther Lütjens also issued an order: "Hindenburg and Zeppelin are in a group, Ludendorff and Strasser are in a group, Barbarossa The "European" was in a group, the Schlieffen was in a group with the "Bremen", and the "Admiral Scheer" was in a group with the "Potsdam."

The so-called "No. 2 Air Defense Array" actually places a battleship/heavy cruiser/armored ship and an aircraft carrier in the center of a circular air defense array. However, the primary target to be protected by the air defense array is the aircraft carrier. In other words, use large surface ships such as battleships, heavy cruisers and armored ships to serve as human shields for the aircraft carrier.

After the Scapa Flow air raid, Germany's large surface ships generally improved their anti-aircraft firepower and installed a large number of Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns, making them very good anti-aircraft firepower platforms.

…

Almost at the same moment when the five German aircraft carriers released carrier-based aircraft, four British Brilliance-class aircraft carriers were also sailing at full speed against the wind on the Atlantic Ocean about 600 kilometers west of the Faroe Islands.

"Commander, do you really want to release the carrier-based aircraft?"

On the bridge of the King George V-class battleship not far from these four aircraft carriers, Lieutenant General List asked Commander Cunningham of the Home Fleet.

"Of course!" Cunningham nodded and replied.

"But we are 600 kilometers away from the Faroe Islands, and the distance from the German aircraft carrier is at least 650 kilometers... This is really too far."

The maximum range of the F4F currently equipped with the British Royal Navy is less than 1,300 kilometers; the maximum range of the SBD is relatively large, 2,200 kilometers; and the TBD torpedo bomber has the smallest range, and can only fly more than 700 kilometers with torpedoes mounted. Therefore, the attack distance of about 650 kilometers is indeed too far for F4F and TBD.

"It doesn't matter," Cunningham waved his hand, "TBD doesn't need to be dispatched, F4F and SBD just fly one way... After dropping the bombs, we will land in the Shetland Islands. This way we will be safer, and we will go after releasing the carrier-based aircraft. Stand by in the Atlantic waters northwest of Ireland and wait for those carrier-based aircraft to fly back after refueling in the Shetland Islands."

Cunningham stayed up all night and finally figured out a method that seemed very safe. Let the aircraft carrier get a little closer to the Faroe Islands, and then fly away immediately after releasing the aircraft. And those carrier-based aircraft flew back to the aircraft carrier after completing the air strike mission. In this way, if today's air strike does not sink the German aircraft carrier, but instead causes the Germans to severely consume the P51 deployed in northern Scotland, then Cunningham can use the aircraft carrier to set up an ambush in the North Atlantic again. Give the German fleet a fatal blow when it breaks through the Denmark Strait!

Cunningham's plan was good, but the pilots who executed it were no longer the elites at the beginning of the world war. In order to shorten the training time, some "not very necessary" training subjects were canceled, so they were not trained to take off and land at night on an aircraft carrier.

Therefore, Cunningham had no way to dispatch carrier-based aircraft before dawn. In this way, while the four Illustrious aircraft carriers dispatched carrier-based aircraft, a huge force consisting of 96 P51s, 66 Beaufort torpedo bombers, 65 Boston attack aircraft (A-20) and 21 Mosquito reconnaissance bombers The fleet has already approached the main force of the German High Seas Fleet. Therefore, the carrier-based aircraft dispatched by the aircraft carrier and the shore-based aircraft of the Coast Air Force have no way to conduct coordinated operations. Instead, they will arrive one after another, which becomes a refueling tactic.