Chapter 41 Death Vulture (Part 2)
When the last ray of darkness at dawn finally disappeared on the distant horizon along with the dazzling sunlight, the German attack aircraft group led by Colonel Fernando, commander of the 4th Air Force of the German Southern Army Group, finally arrived at the front line where the war was in a stalemate at the last moment.
Before the successful invention of auxiliary equipment such as night vision equipment and high-power airborne radar and their final application on fighter planes, taking off and landing fighter planes and even combat missions in the dark was undoubtedly a highly risky and death-related task.
For the same reason, Colonel Fernando, who was commanding at the rear airport, received a telegram from his old friend Dietrich requesting air support. Although he was extremely anxious, he could only sigh at the hazy dawn that had not yet brightened.
Like an ant on a hot pot, he paced back and forth in the command post at the rear airport for more than ten minutes. Seeing the rising sun on the horizon, the lighting conditions required for takeoff and combat were basically reached. Colonel Fernando, who was already impatient, sent a reply telegram to Dietrich's front-line command post, and immediately led the team to the battle.
Holding the joystick tightly in his hand, he drove his BF109E3 fighter with the wing commander logo soaring above 3,000 meters above the ground. He slightly tilted the joystick in his hand and took the opportunity to look down at the earth. Colonel Fernando, who had excellent eyesight, could clearly see his own position outside the town of Broad, which was shrouded in flames and smoke.
Realizing that the war situation had reached the most urgent point of deterioration, Fernando, who had hardly thought much about the safety of his old friend, immediately pushed the joystick in his hand and led the fierce German attack aircraft group behind him, more than 50 aircraft, to rush down.
This German aircraft group, which belongs to the wing of the Fourth Air Force of the German Southern Army Group, mainly dispatched two types of fighters in this ground attack operation.
One is the JU87B-2 Stuka dive bomber, which is also known as the Death Vulture and is also the main aircraft type for ground attack support. Its number accounts for the absolute majority of 38 in the entire German attacking aircraft group.
In addition, another type of fighter, which occupies a small proportion of the entire fleet, totaling 20 aircraft, is the mainstay of the current German Air Force's main air control fighter unit, and is a legendary BF109E3 fighter in the entire history of World War II air combat.
Although the well-planned and prepared German Air Force had taken the initiative to hit the air force with absolute superiority at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, almost all Soviet fighter planes in the entire Western Theater were destroyed on the airport and runway, thus clearing the way for the subsequent ground force to attack and completely winning the air supremacy on the battlefield.
However, the rigid and rigorous Germans who have always pursued absolute perfection and excellence will not relax their carelessness because of this small achievement.
In order to ensure the absolute safety of their Stuka dive bombers, which have almost no air combat capabilities, in the air raid operations and not be harassed by any possible remaining Soviet Air Force, the large-scale and well-manpowered German Air Force will send fighters commensurate with the number of Stukas to escort in almost every ground attack operation.
But if you think that the BF109E3 fighters responsible for bodyguard missions and dedicated to air defense do not have ground capabilities, you are wrong.
As the latest model in the huge family of BF109 fighters, the E3 109 fighters all have an external ammunition rack under the belly. With the surging power of up to 990 horsepower output by the Daimler Benz DB-601A 12-cylinder inline water-cooled engine, the BF109E3 fighter can completely carry a 250 kg aerial bomb under its belly to play a guest role as a ground attack aircraft.
In the death scream of the rapid dive, while staring at the ground target, the belly bomb hook in his hand was released. The 250 kg aerial bomb with 125 kg warhead TNT charge immediately fell straight down towards the Soviet attacking forces on the ground who were like lambs to be slaughtered and had no ability to fight back against the air.
Boom--
Even these smaller 250 kg aerial bombs dropped by the BF109E3 fighters are definitely not as powerful as traditional large-caliber howitzers of the army.
In terms of the power of a single round of 250 kg aerial bombs with 125 kg of TNT in the warhead, the damage caused by the explosion is 18 times the TNT charge of the 8 kg warhead of the 152 mm high-explosive grenade of the KV2 heavy tank.
Even if the B-4 203 mm heavy howitzer is brought out, the paper data of the 203 mm high-explosive grenade with 17 kg of TNT in the warhead is only one-seventh of the German 250 kg aerial bomb.
When these 250 kg aerial bombs with absolutely destructive destructive power exploded in the center of the Soviet offensive formation, the Soviet infantry-tank coordinated forces, which were originally in a dense charge formation and some infantry were still hanging outside the tanks, were immediately swallowed up in the flames and explosions like a cream cake that was bitten by a mouse.
After a short and precise dive attack, he pulled the joystick in his hand and pulled the entire flexible fuselage upward. After hitting the target accurately, Colonel Fernando was unwilling to give up. After a beautiful horizontal roller turn, he once again controlled the agile fighter to dive straight down from the airspace less than a kilometer high.
Da Da Da——
The two MGFF 20mm wing-mounted aircraft cannons originally installed to strengthen the air-to-air firepower of the BF109E3 fighter became fierce weapons to slaughter soft targets on the ground at this time.
These 20mm aircraft cannons, which are many times more powerful than the so-called anti-material sniper rifles of later generations, can be imagined in a bloody scene of hitting fragile human bodies in a fierce burst of fire.
In the bloodsplatter, there was a miserable wailing sound accompanied by the continuous sound of machine guns.
The Soviet infantry group that was swept by the 20mm aircraft cannons on the wings and the two 92mm aircraft machine guns on the nose immediately became a river of blood. The bloody limbs and arms were even torn apart by the powerful 20mm shells and flew away.
Even more terrifying than not being able to find your arms while struggling to survive is the miserable scene of those who were cut in half by the powerful 20mm cannon shells, dragging their blue-gray intestines on the ground, howling and crawling like evil spirits crawling out of hell.