Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 754: Chapter 11 The New Regulations of the Eighth Air Squadron

August 15, United Kingdom Mainland, Federation Army Air Force Eighth Air Force Headquarters.

Lieutenant Colonel Miles had just sat down when Major Johnny next to him leaned in and asked, “Have you heard?”

The lieutenant colonel looked puzzled, “Heard what?”

“Our new commander wants us to bomb the Prosen mainland without any fighter escorts.”

Lieutenant Colonel Miles: “I thought it was something else. Haven’t we always bombed the Prosen mainland without escorts before the auxiliary fuel tanks were in use?”

Major Johnny: “I have ten more bombings before I can go home, and I don’t want to dance on the knife’s edge for the next ten bombings!”

“You see Fang Jimo over there; he can go home after four more missions. He’s the closest pilot to going home among those who haven’t yet, and he should be the first to raise an objection,” said Miles.

Johnny was about to say something when a command came from the doorway, “Everyone stand up!”

Although the pilots were somewhat relaxed, their basic military training remained, and upon hearing the command, they reflexively stood up straight, heads held high, chests out.

Vice Admiral Dulite, the new air force commander, walked into the room, threw the documents he was carrying onto the lectern, and leaning on the table, looked down at the crowd: “I think you already know me. I made the front page headlines when I bombed the capital of the Empire of Fusang.”

Major Johnny raised his hand.

Vice Admiral Dulite: “Please wait a moment, Major. I want to finish. At that time, to get the B25s off an aircraft carrier, we stripped off all unnecessary weight. We removed many defensive machine guns and didn’t bring the machine gunners either.

“Ultimately, we successfully completed the mission. If the Empire of Fusang hadn’t discovered the fleet early on, scaring the weaklings in the Navy, we would have had enough range to reach Ceres.

“But because the weaklings in the Navy made us take off 200 kilometers early, many good young men were forced to ditch at sea. During the entire operation, not a single plane was shot down by the Empire of Fusang’s fighters.”

Major Johnny: “Are you trying to say, because of this, you won’t provide us with escorts?”

Vice Admiral Dulite: “What I’m saying is, I too have piloted bombers on missions that were a matter of life and death! I know what these missions entail.

“You might already know, in the upcoming bombing missions, the fighter squadrons won’t stick to you like nannies anymore, so they won’t ever block your gunners’ fields of fire again!”

Many pilots laughed, though it was a laugh from hell.

Major Johnny pursed his lips: “General, while it’s true that gunners hesitated to fire for fear of hitting our own fighters, but…”

“But!” Vice Admiral Dulite interrupted him, “Our fighters will enter the Empire of Prosen’s airspace ahead of the bomber formations and will attack those Prosens fighters as they are assembling and climbing around the airfields!”

During Prosen’s air defense operations, fighters must first complete combat assembly and group formation, then approach the bomber formations guided from the ground.

Conversely, if the Allied Forces’ fighters patrolled the airspace above the airfields in advance, they were likely to catch the Prosens fighters while they were still assembling.@@novelbin@@

Lieutenant Colonel Miles raised his hand: “How do we know exactly when the enemy planes are assembling? What if we reach the airfield and find no enemy aircraft? Although the Prosens are known for their punctuality, can we really stake our battle plan on the enemy being on time?”

Vice Admiral Dulite: “They will definitely spot the enemy planes. Those on the ground are also enemy planes, and strafing them can prevent them from taking off.

“Moreover, our fighters will also carry rockets and bombs. If they encounter enemy aircraft, that’s great—they can drop their rockets, bombs, and auxiliary fuel tanks to engage the enemy more freely.

“If they don’t encounter enemy planes, then they can drop their rockets, bombs, and auxiliary fuel tanks on the enemy airfields. In any case, the fighter squadrons’ mission from now on is to decide the superiority in the air with the enemy fighters and bleed the enemy Air Force.”

Vice Admiral Dulite paused and scanned the briefing room.

“Initially, your casualties will be high, but I’m sorry. Given time, this policy of bleeding them out will definitely work, as Marshal Ante of the Federation claims!”

The pilots immediately started a clamor.

Colonel Fang Jimo, whom Colonel Miles had mentioned earlier, immediately stood up: “That Marshal Ante fights well in land battles, but has he ever shot down an enemy plane? Has he ever bombed a Prosen city?”

Vice Admiral Dulite: “He hasn’t, but he understands war; he knows the essence of war. In any case, this new rule has been approved by the President himself, and it must be carried out, starting from the next bombing! You have one day to write letters to your families.”

The pilots, just noisy moments ago, fell silent.

Lieutenant Colonel Miles slammed the table hard: “It’s just like going back to how it was before! Without fighter escorts, we can still bomb Prosen factories!”

After speaking, he stood up and left the briefing room.

The other pilots didn’t speak, but stood up and followed Miles out of the briefing room.

—

August 16, Prosen Air Force Gelman Mayer Air Force Base.

As usual, at 10 a.m., the stationed JG52 Fighter Squadron’s Focke-Wulf fighters began warming up, preparing to take off to confront the enemy.

Ace pilot Erich was the last one to arrive at the briefing tent and immediately noticed a few empty seats and asked, “Walter and Otto haven’t returned?”

“Yes, and no one saw them get hit. It might be a mechanical failure that forced them to land far from the base,” said Erich’s wingman, Ginte.

Erich: “Damn Mayer, ever since his order was issued, our casualty rate has increased by thirty percent!”

Only the Air Force pilots would dare to talk about Duke Meyer like this.

Air Force Commander Duke Meyer had ordered the fighter squadrons to shoot down the Allied bombers at all costs, even publicly ordering pilots to ram the enemy bombers after they had fired all their bullets.

Of course, the pilots were quite savvy, and currently, aside from a few die-hard loyalists of His Majesty the Emperor, no one actually rammed their planes; they knew that after landing and reloading ammunition, they could achieve more success.

However, the order “to attack the bombers at all costs” inherently significantly increased the casualty rate among fighter pilots, as this meant they had to attack bombers surrounded by escort fighters, without seizing the altitude advantage or gaining energy superiority.

Even if they managed to shoot down the bombers, the pilots would be at a disadvantage in the subsequent dogfights.

It could be said that the orders from the high-ranking officers of both sides’ air forces were equally detrimental: one side had the fighters accompany the slow bombers, preventing them from gaining speed, while the other prohibited the fighters from seizing the initiative.

Erich: “What’s the air intelligence report for today? Have the radar stations and surveillance posts spotted enemy planes?”

“It’s a bit strange.” His wingman, Jinto, handed over the thing clamped on his map board, “The earliest report mentioned seeing a large number of – dense contrails clustered together, which looked like a large number of fighters entering the Empire’s airspace. Then only later did they report seeing the contrails of bombers.”

Erich reviewed the report and saw the words “mass foil strips interfere with detection” in the radar detection section.

“The enemy has dropped foil strips, which means they have a big operation today. But what does it mean to let the fighters enter first?”

As soon as he finished speaking, a piercing alarm sounded.

A messenger rushed into the tent: “Arau! Radar has spotted enemy planes heading towards the airfield! They’re fast! Emergency takeoff!”

Erich stuffed the map board back to Jinto, grabbed his flight cap, and burst out of the tent, running towards his fighter jet.

His ground crew chief ran up to him: “Full fuel, full ammo, in good condition, Lieutenant Colonel, sir!”

“Got it!” Erich shouted as he sprinted towards the fighter jet.

That’s when the anti-aircraft guns began to fire.

Aside from a few 88mm anti-aircraft guns near the airfield, the main arsenal consisted of 25mm and 37mm machine guns.

The sound of anti-aircraft guns firing filled Erich’s ears.

He had just reached his plane and was about to climb the ladder when the ground crew chief tackled him from behind.

Erich yelled, “What are you doing? I need to take off!”

Before he could finish, the strafing started.

Bullets hit the ground making BIUBIU sounds, while those hitting the plane made a loud “dang dang” noise.

Erich looked up just in time to see his stricken aircraft catch fire, the flames promptly engulfing half of the kill marks by his cockpit canopy.

It turned out the ground crew chief was trying to save him.

“Thank you, Kruse!” Erich turned to thank the ground crew chief, only to see his dilated pupils.

“Kruse?”

Erich pushed away the veteran who had always serviced his plane and saw that his uniform was soaked red with blood.

“Damn it!” He closed the chief’s eyes, stood up, and began searching for another operational aircraft. He saw an FW190 attempting a forced takeoff, only to be strafed by a diving enemy fighter and turned into a fireball.

Erich shouted, “The enemy’s fighters entered first to disrupt our air defense deployment! They’ve changed their escort strategy!”

Another ground crew member tackled him to the ground.

Then the strafing came again, bullets hitting the ground and making BIUBIUBIU sounds.

Explosions sounded in the distance.

Erich looked up to see a P47 with a red tail paint job swoop overhead, and the cockpit even had a Black pilot!

“Hell, I saw a Black man flying a plane!” Erich exclaimed.

The ground crew member who had just saved him said, “That’s alright, I was transferred back from the Eastern Front, and one pilot told me he saw a woman flying a plane. You two must both be crazy!”

Erich: “I need to find a plane to take off in!”

“Don’t dream it, sir, the planes ready for takeoff are dragged out of the hangars and lined up on the tarmac, as you know. Do you see any planes without holes in them now?”

As Erich turned around, another P47 swept over the tarmac, strafing the lined-up FW190s, leaving even more holes in them.

Erich: “Damn it!”