Chapter 93 Stuka Strikes (3)

　　The operator of that 85-millimeter anti-aircraft gun was frantically cranking the gun to put it up, and the loader had already unpacked the ammo box and had the shells inside, ready to be stuffed into the chamber.

　　Just then they heard a horrible hissing sound rushing down into the sky, like a death wish from hell, choking their hearts and making them almost breathless!

　　Early World War II model Stukas were fitted with a special buzzer called the "Horn of Jericho", which produced a horrific whistling sound. The purpose was to cause great psychological pressure on the enemy, coupled with the Stuka's precise and fierce attacks. At that time, all the countries fighting against Germany knew that the Stuka would bring death to their heads as soon as they heard the sound, which made the enemy soldiers scared, and indeed achieved the purpose of psychological warfare. However, the special "Horn of Jericho" was canceled in the late model because it affected the flight attitude and speed.

　　The loader was holding the shell in his hand, but he could not move as if he was immobilized. The men could only watch as the screaming bomber dropped a large bomb and climbed quickly.

　　That bomb even coincidentally hit the barrel of the anti-aircraft gun, instantly causing a violent explosion that swept across everything around it.

　　The Stuka was known as the strongest dive bomber of the Second World War, it had a sturdy structure that could withstand rapid and large angle dive operations, at the same time, its airplane was extremely stable when diving, basically no shaking, greatly increasing the hit rate of the bombs dropped, and it was even claimed that skilled pilots could drop the bombs into the chimneys.

　　However, this almost perverse stability brought some trouble to the pilot's combat, and it has the kind of excellent dive performance to produce a sharp contrast, its maneuverability to the other extreme.

　　The Stuka's maneuverability was atrocious, and while the huge ailerons allowed it to get out of high-speed dives, the resulting sluggishness drove pilots crazy at times.

　　When attacked by enemy fighters, the pilot's maneuvers could not get a timely response on these two ailerons, delaying every movement by a second or two before getting a response, and a second or two is enough time for those lighter fighters to drill dozens of holes in the Stuka's body.

　　And the Stuka's longitudinal stability prevented it from making large maneuvers in time; even the slowest fighter was more agile than it. Although its sturdy fuselage allowed it to withstand more damage than a fighter plane, it only prolonged its survival a little, and it was only a matter of time before it was shot down.

　　In addition, its speed was a real pain in the ass. Although it was designed to reach a maximum speed of 410km/h, it could only reach a speed of 190km/h with a full load of bombs. Not to mention advanced monoplane fighters, even biplanes can abuse it hundreds of times, it is simply the enemy's most ideal prey.

　　Especially in its dive, any little external interference will make it lose control, at that time the fighter just need to gently give it a blow will be enough to make it become a burning piece of metal on the ground.

　　The performance it possessed made it an unquestionably good weapon and an irrefutably good target on the battlefield, and that was the Stuka, a weapon of contradictions.

　　But no matter what, with its extremely excellent ground support capabilities, Wilhelm wouldn't abandon it.

　　At this time, the Stuka piloted by Edelman had already dropped below a thousand meters, and its speed had reached the upper limit of six hundred kilometers, and the solid earth came crashing down on him like a wall.

　　A few seconds later the alarm indicator on the altimeter finally lit up, which signaled that the plane had reached the altitude for dropping bombs, Edelman fiercely pressed the bomb drop button on the joystick, a two hundred and fifty kilograms bomb hanging under the belly of the plane immediately detached itself from the plane, and then as if it was attracted by the ground sped towards the 85mm anti-aircraft gun on the ground.

　　Edelman pressed the automatic leveling control button on the joystick, and the plane's nose began to fly up, the six g's of gravity pressed him dead into his seat, and the plane changed out of its dive at a speed of ten degrees per second.

　　As soon as the plane's nose returned to level, Edelman immediately retracted the dive gear, set the propeller pitch to the takeoff position, opened the cooler flaps and then pushed the throttle, the engine let out a loud roar under nine kilograms of maximum boost dragging Stuka's cumbersome body towards the high altitude and climbing slowly.

　　Edelman let out a small breath of relief and began to hover and ascend to observe the results of the bomb drop.

　　He was very satisfied with the results, his bomb had hit the target accurately, blowing up the anti-aircraft gun.

　　All of the other Stukas had largely completed their respective missions as well, and were in the process of leveling off from their dives. "Crews report on their respective situations, any losses?"

　　After hearing the reports of his men who were unharmed, Edelman breathed a sigh of relief, this mission was relatively simple, it would have been a shame if there were any losses. "The mission continues, the first formation will follow me down to blow up their planes, the second formation will destroy the surrounding buildings, especially the small three-story building that looks like a warehouse."

　　At this time someone suddenly interjected. "Hold on, there are enemy planes lifting off, you guys can continue after we've cleared them." It was the Bf109's from above, before the words left his mouth, he saw one Bf109 after another whistling and swooping down towards those I-16's that had just taken to the air.

　　Because Stuka's primary target was the anti-aircraft gun positions, he didn't have time to bombard the airport runway, and as a result, those I-16s on the tarmac, and even the I-15s rushed up into the air with a brain, with the intention of fighting them to the death.

　　Edelman was a bit depressed, if they had a few more Stukas, they could have easily destroyed the runway and wiped out these enemy planes on the ground. Then he dismissed his naive idea, knowing that most propeller planes don't require much in the way of runways, and flat, firm ground would be enough for the planes to take off and land.

　　Even if they did blow up the runway, enemy planes could still lift off through the flat ground next to it. After all, it wasn't the latter-day jet airplanes that required asphalt or concrete runways, which were inspected almost daily by a platoon of people who couldn't even have a screw.

　　The six Stukas could only hover and watch the air battle below.

　　Because most of the newly arrived I-16s had not yet had time to assemble, only thirteen were able to lift off for combat, the rest being seventeen I-15s.

　　This number was only enough to stuff ten bf109s, and soon the thirteen I-16s were knocked to the ground one after the other, followed by the even less able to fight back I-15s.

　　These valiantly rising Soviet planes gave the German pilots an easy 30 combat scores. What's more, it allowed Frank to step into the ranks of ace pilots, as he had hoped.

　　Without these obstacles in the way, the Stuka bombers once again swooped down and blew up every building on the ground that could be seen.