The German Heinkel 111 bomber, which has a clear division of labor like a ground tank crew, is equipped with multiple crew members who perform their own duties, including a navigator who is responsible for guiding the flight direction, a driver who is responsible for controlling the flight and maneuvering of the fighter aircraft, and a driver who is responsible for operating the fuselage for self-defense.
Machine gunners with weapons firepower, and bombardiers responsible for throwing death on the enemy's head. These well-trained elite German pilots and their vehicles together formed a powerful aerial killing machine.
The goal of this German twin-engine medium bomber group, which was assigned the task of bombing the Soviet defensive positions, was very clear, that is, to eliminate as much as possible all the Soviet technical equipment on the position while inflicting maximum damage to the combatants.
I don’t know if there was a mistake by the air force liaison officer stationed on the ground, or if there was a real communication problem and some misunderstanding occurred.
All in all, when these nine Heinkel 111 bombers, fully loaded with 250kg aerial bombs, took off from the airport, they did not hear the important news in the mission briefing that the Soviet defense positions on the ground were actually equipped with tanks.
The only reminder and warning received was that a Soviet fighter force appeared in the airspace near this battlefield yesterday, and a large-scale air battle broke out with a German escort fighter force.
In the end, after destroying and damaging a dozen Stukas and BF109s, the Germans withdrew from the battle due to serious losses. What remained on the ground battlefield were the blazing fires of more than thirty Soviet fighter jets and attack aircraft.
Dark, scalding wreckage.
"Do you think those Ivan planes will come today? We don't have BF109 protection on this trip. Those fighter pilots are simply busier than the hard-working Dr. Goebbels."
The pilot holding the joystick in his hand asked the bombardier who was prostrate in the transparent canopy under the nose of the aircraft as if to pass the boring time. The latter who had his hands lying in front of his bombsight obviously didn't have much.
Use your free time to answer words that will affect your concentration.
"Why are you talking so much? Steady the plane. The cross mark is already close to the edge. Pay attention to maintaining the flying attitude!"
The German pilot who was mercilessly scolded by his comrades had nothing to say, and then began to concentrate on the operation of the fighter plane based on the supreme truth above the mission.
Because the mission intelligence received by the Luftwaffe field airport in the rear area was that the bombing target was just an ordinary Soviet field defense position, equipped with a small number of anti-aircraft guns and light artillery, and it was almost impossible to attack the German bombers in the sky.
The swarm poses a substantial threat, and all it takes is a wave of coverage bombing to completely wipe it from the surface.
In line with the mission goal of aiming to kill and inflict damage on the target, the German Heinkel 111 bombers who were on standby at the airport were refueling, loading and preparing to take off.
It provides the most diverse combat options for mounting eight 250kg aerial bombs.
After all, unprotected ground infantry and artillery units do not need those 1-ton heavy-duty aerial bombs that can only carry two at a time to destroy them. If they really want to do that, it can be said that it is completely fussy.
The most common 250-kilogram-class aerial bomb not only has great damage to unprotected soft targets, but can also carry multiple bombs at one time to cover every blind spot of the Soviet defense positions as much as possible, even the first
If a fish escapes the wave of bombs and survives, it can still fly and turn, straighten the attack channel, and then hit a wave of last hits. It can be called the most versatile battlefield mounting solution.
But now, the German bombardier couldn't help but frown when he saw the Soviet heavy tank troops on the ground through the perspective of his optical bombsight.
The accuracy of the Heinkel 111 bomber that dropped bombs in horizontal flight was not as accurate as that of the Stuka dive bomber. The optical bomb sight equipped on the Heinkel 111 bomber was not designed for ground targets the size of tanks.
It is essentially a rough targeting system made for bombing ground buildings and large-area defensive positions.
The bombing error rate at a flight altitude of 1,500 meters is approximately within the range of 50 meters, and this is the theoretical bombing error range after excluding the possibility of human factors and errors.
In actual combat operations, some German bombardiers who were inexperienced and unable to accurately grasp the best time to drop bombs even made a joke of dropping the bomb 200 meters away from the target.
A simple optical bombsight based on the operator's own experience and timing is simply not as accurate and efficient as the later generations of airborne bombsight computers.
If a mere 250-kilogram ordinary aerial bomb is not thrown directly at a very close range of the KV1 heavy tank, it will not be able to cause any substantial damage to this extremely thickly armored steel behemoth. It was enough to explode in an instant.
The miserable record of the German engineering troops who used TNT explosives from a two-story house to blow up the side of a KV2 heavy tank, only to break one track, speaks volumes.
In actual combat, the German bombardiers, who had tried horizontal bombing of Soviet ground tank units many times with little success, naturally knew that the mere 250-kilogram sweet potato in their hands could not carry away a few Soviet heavy tanks.
, with the accuracy of bombing at a horizontal flight altitude of 1,500 meters, it is almost as difficult to accurately throw a bomb on the face of a Soviet tank as a machine-scoped rifle without a scope to hit a person from 800 meters away.
There is no difference between a gunshot and a headshot.
The German bombardier, who could clearly see the Soviet tank target on the ground, had no confidence in the unreliable instrument in his hand. After much hesitation, he finally made up his mind to attack the pilot on the seat next to him.
Speak decisively.
"Descend to altitude, Hank, now! At this flying altitude, I can't be sure to kill those Ivan tanks with these 250 kilograms of small sweet potatoes. Only by descending to a flying altitude of less than 1,000 meters can I be sure to kill them!"
"Damn it! Burns! You little devil from Bavaria always likes to play pranks! This wave of attack channels is ruined. We have missed the opportunity to drop bombs. Let's wait for the next wave of attack opportunities after I turn around! You take advantage of this!
Use this little time to quickly adjust the broken sight in your hand, I don’t want to hear it malfunction again later!"
Due to the sudden requirement to lower their flight altitude while maintaining a level flight speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour, the German bomber group that temporarily changed their tactics has lost the best opportunity to drop bombs. The relatively heavy and fully loaded Heinkel
The 111 bomber must be redirected before it can enter the next wave of attack channels.