Chapter 274 Channel Aerial Battle (2)

"Oh? Could it be that all the experienced hands in the British Air Force are dead, and they can only send out rookies?"

Little did they know that their joking speculation was half correct.

The experienced pilots of the British Royal Air Force certainly hadn't all perished. Still, Dowding knew that this mission was essentially a suicide mission with little chance of return. How could he possibly send experienced pilots to their deaths? Many of these pilots were trainees, and more than half of them were still in the early stages of learning to fly. They were by no means a match for the experienced German pilots, and in the blink of an eye, more than ten Hurricane fighters were turned into fireballs.

Inside the headquarters of the British Royal Air Force, Dowding was pacing anxiously. He had originally intended to order the fighters to return once the losses reached a certain level. Even if they were trainee pilots, he wanted to minimize the casualties as much as possible. However, he never expected that he would lose contact with them. The technical department speculated that radio communications were being jammed, and they would have to wait for the interference to clear before communication could be restored.

"Commander! Calling Commander!" Joseph, holding onto a glimmer of hope, put on his communicator again and loudly called out to his airborne commander. He had narrowly escaped death several times, and his aircraft now had a terrifying bullet hole. Although it didn't affect the flying operation yet, he had no idea how long his luck would last. He could only hope that his commander could help him, even if it was just providing some cover.

Unfortunately, the headphones still emitted the annoying and jarring crackling interference, and he couldn't hear any response from anyone. Of course, others couldn't hear his calls either.

Support for the Dunkirk expedition had become a luxury, and even the possibility of a full retreat became a severe problem.

Thinking of escaping? Turning away from the enemy was tantamount to seeking death. Even if, by some miracle, one managed to fly back, there was a chance of being arrested by military police. Desertion during battle could lead to immediate execution as a deterrent.

In the high-altitude sky, the two fighters continued to comment on the ongoing battle below.

001 seemed to have grown tired of this one-sided slaughter, yawning and joking, "Tsk, maybe if we go down, we can scare the wits out of them."

002 agreed with his words. "Yeah, I wonder what kind of aircraft we'll be flying once these aircraft are mass-produced. Engineers say these fighters are already the pinnacle of propeller-driven aircraft."

"Have you ever heard of jet engines?" Just as the two of them leisurely discussed the intricacies of jet engines, the aerial battle below had reached its climax.

In the intense dogfight, one British aircraft after another was harvested by the German Bf 109F, turning into fireballs swaying and plummeting into the ocean.

The sky was a battlefield, and the sea was full of wreckage.

When another batch of German reinforcements arrived, the remaining British fighters and German fighters reached a ratio of 1:3. That is, one British fighter was pursued by three or even four or five German fighters.

Without reinforcements and with communication completely disrupted due to interference, the British pilots, left to fend for themselves, were in dire straits.

After evading an assault from two enemy planes, Joseph was once again cornered by two other enemy planes. This time, the opponents didn't seem like rookies. Even though he tried several maneuvers in succession to shake off their pursuit, the adversaries held on tightly. The situation was quite unfavorable.

"Oh, bloody hell!" Joseph didn't know how many times he had cursed. Seeing the tracer bullets from the opponents getting closer, he gritted his teeth, violently yanked the control stick, causing the plane to roll ninety degrees suddenly, then abruptly pulled it back, spewing fire as it left the diving axis, climbing to one side.

The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine roared wildly, pressing Joseph tightly against his seat under the force of gravity. He could even hear the aircraft's metal beams emitting painful groans.

But he had no mood to worry about whether the plane would disintegrate now. His field of vision was narrowing, and the light around him was starting to dim. A second later, everything turned pitch black, and he entered a state of complete blackout!

Undoubtedly, many people have experienced a momentary blackout when standing up suddenly after squatting for a long time. In most cases, this is a normal phenomenon. The main reason is that when a person squats for a long time, the body's circulatory system has "adapted" to the "situation." When standing up suddenly, due to the "gravity" of the liquid (blood), the heart cannot "adapt" immediately, causing a temporary cerebral ischemia phenomenon known as "transient cerebral ischemia", resulting in dizziness and blurred vision.

Similarly, when an aircraft undergoes sudden high-G maneuvering, due to the effect of centrifugal force, blood in the human body moves in the direction of gravity. In the case of positive G-force maneuvering, blood flows toward the legs, and the brain, due to instantaneous ischemia, temporarily loses vision, and in severe cases, even consciousness. Conversely, during negative G-force maneuvering, blood rushes into the brain, causing the blood vessels in the eyes to expand and rupture. Pilots will experience "redout", worse than blackout, and once it occurs, they basically lose their piloting ability, accompanied by severe after-effects. However, for the Spitfire with a float-type carburetor, this danger doesn't exist because, under normal circumstances, the Spitfire doesn't enter the "redout" condition. The Merlin engine has already cut off the fuel long before that.

This time, Joseph made a fatal mistake at a critical moment. When performing high-G maneuvers, he should have pressed the superior foot pedal for the Spitfire, but due to extreme fatigue or perhaps fear of death, his thoughts became confused, and he forgot about it. The foot pedal of the Spitfire fighter has both upper and lower levels. When performing high-G maneuvers, the pilot steps on the higher-level pedal, allowing the legs to be raised, effectively delaying the onset of blackout.

Unable to see, Joseph's sense of hearing became unusually sharp, even hearing the sound of enemy bullets cutting through the air, which grew increasingly closer, causing him more panic.

"Ah!" Joseph desperately shook the control stick, swinging the aircraft in an attempt to make it difficult for the enemy to aim before restoring his vision. However, all his efforts were in vain. Accompanied by the clattering sound of metal collisions, at least a dozen bullets hit the aircraft, colliding with the steel plate behind the fighter's seat. These plates provided some ballistic protection, but they couldn't withstand short-range large-caliber bullets.

Having been pierced by several 12.7mm machine gun bullets, Joseph slumped weakly. The Spitfire, with its cockpit and one wing torn into shreds, continued to climb a dozen meters, then tilted to one side and began to rotate downward like a falling leaf, its body enveloped in black smoke from burning engine oil.

However, he was just a microcosm on the entire battlefield. As more British fighter planes were shot down, the British fighter group couldn't hold back any longer and finally dispersed, scattering in all directions.