Chapter 236 The French Doomsday (6)

The German helicopter units continued transporting engineers and materials needed to build pontoon bridges to the banks of the Meuse River.

As the engineers worked tirelessly to construct the pontoon bridge on the Meuse River, a large group of aircraft approached from a distance, accompanied by the piercing sound of air raid sirens.

As mentioned earlier, the French Air Force was not as formidable as the German Air Force, not only due to differences in aircraft performance and other reasons but also because of differences in command and operational philosophies.

Following the Blitzkrieg doctrine, the air force was tasked with delivering the initial strikes against the enemy. The success of the first round of bombings directly influenced the effectiveness of subsequent armored assaults. Germany had a dedicated Air Force High Command for coordinated command, with various combat units such as air fleets, squadrons, groups, and squadrons of different sizes, making their operations more flexible.

During bombing missions, the German Air Force operated in waves, leaving no breathing space for the enemy. In contrast, the French Air Force adopted a strategy of sending a large group of planes for bombing, completing the mission, and then leaving. The next wave would not arrive for half a day, providing the enemy with enough time to regroup and launch a counterattack.

The Bf 109F squadron, already circling above the fortress, received orders from the air commander. "Drop all external fuel tanks and prepare for combat. Our target is the enemy fighter planes; the bombers are for the Mosquitoes to handle." In the previous Battle of the Meuse River near Liège, the Anglo-French coalition's bombers broke through ground anti-aircraft fire, dropping bombs onto the pontoon bridge. Although the horizontal bombing lacked precision, the German Air Force recognized the problem.

They had to deal with enemy fighter planes first, leaving little time to handle enemy bombers, which could be exploited by the enemy.

So, this time, they enlisted help—Mosquito bombers.

The Mosquito bomber was originally a versatile bomber in World War II, serving as a cornerstone of British wartime versatile aircraft. It had various variants, such as photo-reconnaissance planes, fighter-bombers, night fighters, bombing guidance planes, torpedo bombers, anti-submarine aircraft, daytime patrol planes, mine-laying planes, trainer planes, special transport planes, and countless others.

The Mosquito used the American-invented "molded plywood construction" to create a model first. Then, balsa wood sheets were glued together, placed and compressed into compressed air. After the adhesive material solidified, the result was a lightweight wooden structure. Aircrafts manufactured using this material were significantly lighter than metal and traditional wooden structures. Under constant engine power, planes made with this material combined the payload and agility of both bombers and fighter planes.

Moreover, compared to the four 12.7mm machine guns on the Bf 109F, the Mosquito was equipped with four 20mm cannons, making it quite formidable.

Soon, the Bf 109F squadron engaged in a dogfight with the Anglo-French coalition's fighter squadron. German pilots noticed some new types of fighter planes in the enemy squadron that they hadn't seen before.

"Be careful, those are the British Spitfires!"

During World War II, the Bf 109 had four main model series: Bf 109E, Bf 109F, Bf 109G, and Bf 109K. Correspondingly, the Spitfire also had four main models: Spitfire Mk1, Spitfire Mk5, Spitfire Mk9, and Spitfire Mk14.

Their introduction timelines and performance roughly corresponded. Bf 109E corresponded to Spitfire Mk1, Bf 109F to Spitfire Mk5, Bf 109G to Spitfire Mk9, and Bf 109K to Spitfire Mk14.

The current opponent of the Spitfire Mk1 is the Bf 109F, akin to the story of Tian Ji racing horses—using a medium-quality horse against a lower-quality horse, the lower-quality horse cannot possibly outrun the medium-quality one.

Moreover, Wilhelm had already made several improvements to the Bf 109.

The original timeline's DB (Daimler Benz) engine adopted the most advanced fuel injection and variable-speed supercharging technologies of the time.

Fuel injection technology allowed the aircraft to withstand negative G maneuvers, while the Merlin engine still used conservative carburetor technology, which could result in engine stall under high negative G conditions.

Variable-speed supercharging technology automatically adjusted the compression ratio based on altitude, while the Merlin used a single-stage two-speed supercharger, which had poor adaptability to altitude changes.

Although these advancements seemed impressive, behind the scenes, there were costs to be paid. The DB engine with these new technologies achieved temporary performance superiority over British engines. However, it completely lost room for further improvement.

Fuel injection was too advanced, leading to fuel inefficiency. Fuel injection technology wasn't perfected until the 1950s-60s in future timelines. Additionally, German engines didn't prioritize float-type carburetors, making lean fuel combustion impossible and resulting in higher fuel consumption.

Moreover, under high intake pressure conditions, spark plugs were prone to carbon buildup with fuel injection. Solving this issue required high-octane fuel, but high-octane fuel was Germany's Achilles' heel.

Although wartime Germany had an abundant supply of high-quality Romanian crude oil, high-octane gasoline didn't magically appear from the ground or get obtained through regular distillation. It required extremely advanced chemical industry, which Germany lacked. The octane rating of Germany's B4 fuel was only 87, and despite all improvements during the war, it never reached 100.

In 1939, only the United States had the capability to produce 100-octane gasoline, and the British mainly purchased it from the U.S. At that time, although the octane rating wasn't widely used to indicate gasoline performance, the British required gasoline to have a level of 100/125. By the start of the Battle of Britain, British Spitfire fighters on the home front had already switched to using 100-octane gasoline.

Therefore, Wilhelm vigorously developed the chemical industry, even recruiting a large number of relevant talents from the United States during the Great Depression ten years earlier. He knew that the U.S. might sell to Britain, but not necessarily to Germany. While they might be willing in the early stages, if the war escalated, the U.S. could likely cut off supplies.

So, it was crucial to master this technology themselves.

Unexpectedly, this research took a full ten years. The research department had only recently developed a mass-production fuel additive, tetraethyl lead (TEL). The raw material was lead, and fortunately, Spain's Rio Tinto was Europe's second-largest lead-zinc mine, providing enough lead for their needs.

Soon, German aircraft would be able to use high-quality aviation fuel with an octane rating reaching or even exceeding 125.

Wilhelm also ordered the removal of the Bf 109's cannon, so now, the supercharger didn't have to be placed on the left side of the engine, and an additional stage could be added.

Unfortunately, the frustrating part was that, no matter how much they improved it, the Bf 109's small airframe remained a bottleneck. Breaking through that would be equivalent to designing a new aircraft.

However, Wilhelm believed that after these extensive modifications, the Bf 109 should be able to outperform Spitfire models up to Mk10 and could barely compete with Spitfire Mk14.

Of course, these were all future considerations. The 30 Spitfire Mk1s that had just entered the battlefield were already being shot down. What puzzled British pilots was that German pilots seemed to understand the performance of the Spitfire very well. Spitfire pilots who managed to get behind German aircraft were quickly shaken off. In contrast, once a Spitfire was caught, it was essentially shot down.