Compared with the Navy, although the Royal Air Force failed to take advantage in the air battle until the end of the Dunkirk evacuation, there was still an aircraft that broke the myth of the fw190's invincibility, and that was originally designed as a bomber.
British "Mosquito" fighter-bomber. Originally, even if the "Mosquito" fighter-bomber was used as a fighter plane in terms of aircraft performance, it was no better than several of the world's advanced fighter jets that were in service in 1941.
How much is the difference, but the problem is that the fw190 in this time and space is actually derived from the American F4U carrier-based fighter that was only put into service in the middle and late stages of World War II. With the technological upgrade rate of aircraft during World War II, which was one grade per year, the gap is actually quite large, but the British
However, the air battle in the Strait was mainly conducted at night and in hazy weather. As a result, the "Mosquito" fighter-bombers unexpectedly gained a huge advantage that the Luftwaffe had almost no solution for...
Because the fuselage of the "Mosquito" fighter-bomber is made of balsa wood and glue, the reflectivity of these non-metals to radar waves is much lower than that of metal materials such as aluminum alloys. Today's radar technology is far less advanced than later generations.
, let alone an airborne radar with insufficient power, even a ground or shipborne radar.
It is also difficult to spot wooden planes in the sky. After the "Mosquito" fighter-bombers joined the war, they were basically only dispatched at night or in dense fog. The German airborne radar could not detect them at all. Even though its other performance was not as good as the German fighter planes, the two sides fought.
The result is almost without any suspense...
As a result, a mere dozen "Mosquitoes" that were not dedicated to combat actually shot down 54 German fighter jets during the Dunkirk evacuation, but only 2 of them were shot down. The exchange ratio reached an astonishing 1:27. This is
Compared with other British aircraft models, the gap is more than 300 times. If the number of "mosquitoes" equipped by the Royal Air Force at this time was not so small, the German Air Force would even be forced to give up attacking at night and in haze.
...
This "wooden miracle" caused a great sensation in the UK and even the entire West, and the "Mosquito" pilots did not forget their own jobs. In addition to competing with German fighter jets for air supremacy over the English Channel, they also fought many times
It participated in night bombing operations on the German mainland, and the British took advantage of its extremely low mission loss rate to publicize it, making the "Mosquito" famous all over the world.
German Air Force Commander Göring once boasted that not a single enemy aircraft could fly over Berlin safely, but the "mosquitoes" that came and went freely were tantamount to a slap in the face. At that time, Göring roared angrily. "When I see it,
When it came to the 'Mosquito', I was furious, but very envious! The British had made such a perfect wooden airplane!"
However, because the "Mosquito" had just been put into service during the Dunkirk evacuation, the number of British Royal Air Force equipment was very small. It was not able to fundamentally reverse the unfavorable situation in the air battle. Therefore, air superiority over the English Channel remained firm.
controlled by the Germans. However, as the anti-aircraft firepower of the British fleet in the Channel became increasingly stronger, the German Air Force still
It suffered the greatest losses since the outbreak of the European War. More than 1,100 aircraft were shot down in just ten days. The loss rate exceeded five or six times that of the historical air raid on London. Even now, the number of aircraft of the Luftwaffe is greater than that of the historical London air battle.
The Luftwaffe had more than doubled on the eve, and such losses still made Göring heartbroken...
In addition to the Air Force, the German Navy also lost more than a dozen "U" submarines and more torpedo boats in the battle in the English Channel. More than a thousand people were killed or missing. In addition, the German Navy's top brass realized that a large number of British destroyers were concentrated in the English Channel.
It was a great opportunity for the submarine force to destroy the British sea lines of communication and withdraw from the Channel battlefield earlier, starting the legend of the "Wolf Pack".
In the end, the British miraculously withdrew about 250,000 British and French troops from Dunkirk within ten days, saving a large amount of the army's effective strength. However, Germany claimed victory because the British paid a much higher price than
Germany is even more expensive...
First of all, more than two-thirds of the civilian ships participating in the rescue were sunk, with a total displacement of no less than 2 million tons (but this is equivalent to the production capacity of the British shipbuilding industry for one quarter. Even taking into account the damage of the war, it only takes four to five
It can be recreated in just a few months. The old naval power is indeed not built.), the total number of dead and missing crew members is no less than 30,000...
As for the military, the Royal Air Force suffered the greatest losses, with the total number of aircraft shot down close to 2,000. This is only the statistics for the first five days, because starting from the sixth day, the Royal Air Force except for the only aircraft type that took advantage of "
"Mosquitoes", they no longer dared to send planes to fight the Germans over the English Channel. At that time, the British included planes that needed repairs.
, the total number of fighter jets has dropped sharply to less than 1,000, and the loss of skilled pilots is even more heartbreaking (most of the parachute jumpers who crashed in maritime air combat will not be able to come back, but in local air defense operations, more than half of the parachute jumpers will not die.
The loss rate is at least twice as bad.) If it continues to be consumed at such a rapid rate, the Royal Air Force will not even have the power to defend its homeland.
Even if they stopped midway, the loss of so many aircraft, especially the skilled pilots with less than one-third of the survivors, still severely damaged the vitality of the Royal Air Force. In the following year, the British even had to move most of the aircraft to the ground.
Some qualified pilots were sent back to aviation schools to become instructors, leaving many undertrained pilots
The new pilots went to fight the Germans to ensure that after the enrollment increased significantly, the educational level of the aviation school would not decline sharply to meet the needs of the Royal Air Force's substantial expansion in the future. However, in this way, the Royal Air Force would be under pressure for a long time.
You will have to endure greater casualties within...
Since the air force was unable to fight anymore, the Royal Navy, the long-standing pride of the British, naturally became the main force of air defense in the Strait. However, although proximity fuzes and artillery sighting radars played a huge role, more than 80 air defense ships,
The powerful anti-aircraft firepower composed of thousands of anti-aircraft guns (including small-caliber anti-aircraft guns) is unprecedented in human history. However, aircraft still have obvious advantages as the active attacker, especially the aircraft.
Impact bombers are originally the most difficult to shoot down among all kinds of bombers, and the heavy bombs carried by the Stuka will definitely kill the British cruisers and destroyers in the strait if they hit one. In addition, so many ships are coming one after another.
Arriving at the English Channel, the air defense network was not that strong at the beginning, so the British Royal Navy still paid an extremely heavy price in this sea and air battle... (To be continued...)