I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 1002: Where Did These Guys Get the Nerve to Challenge Shire?
The French aircraft timed their attack perfectly with the moment when the British fleet was landing.
Although their performance exceeded that of the British aircraft in every aspect, there was no need for close combat at this point.
Because, even with only a 1% chance of being shot down by enemy planes, there is no guaranteed way to completely destroy the enemy.
They presented the British aircraft with a choice, with two options: failure or death.
The British fleet chased them for a short time, but once they realized the French planes were avoiding combat, waiting for them to run out of fuel, their mentality collapsed.
Chasing had no meaning; the speed was never enough to catch up.
More importantly, the fuel was about to run out; continuing this way would mean certain death!
So, there was only one choice: forced landing, which might offer a sliver of survival.
Thus, the British aircraft scrambled to land.
An S.E.5a aircraft lowered its altitude, approaching the rear of the "Furious" aircraft carrier.
Perhaps due to the encirclement by strong enemies, or due to a lack of fuel, it landed at a speed exceeding 100 km/h.
(Note: During World War I, the landing speed for aircraft should generally not exceed 80 km/h, with the ideal speed controlled between 70 and 75 km/h. If the speed drops below 65 km/h, it is prone to stalling, leaving little room for maneuver.)
Ground crew waved signal flags continuously, warning the pilot that the speed was too fast for landing, but the pilot couldn’t heed it, continuing to lower altitude for landing.
Perhaps for the pilot, just feeling the landing gear touch the ground could bring even a slight sense of safety.
But this was deadly.
The moment the landing gear touched the ground, due to excessive angle and speed, it bounced with a "bang," causing the aircraft to lose balance and tumble across the deck.
It was like a piece of scrap being dismantled on site, crashing into the ground, scattering debris everywhere, then bouncing again, breaking the right wing with relentless momentum.
Simultaneously, the aircraft fragments flew around like shrapnel, with a "whoosh" sound, causing nearby ground crew to scream as blood splattered.
Finally, the wreckage of the plane flew out from the front of the aircraft carrier at a speed of tens of kilometers per hour.
But it wasn’t over; as it fell into the sea, the rapidly moving aircraft carrier immediately ran over it, its sharp bow even cutting the aircraft in half at the waist.
The situation on the "Centurion" was even more tragic.
Two S.E.5as were scrambling to land on the deck, their pilots shouting at each other:
"I’m running out of fuel, move aside!"
"Me too, let me land first!"
...
Ultimately, neither avoided the other.
Because to them, it meant no more opportunities for landing, also signifying death.
Just a second before landing, the two aircraft collided.
One of the aircraft struck the rear of the carrier at a speed of 80 km/h, with a "boom," exploding into fragments.
The other aircraft lost balance due to the shock wave, crashed into the ship island, and burst into flames with another explosion.
Colonel Will hastily directed the ground crew to extinguish the fire and rescue.
But he also knew this was futile because the disaster had just begun.
Indeed.
Seeing the chaos and scramble among the enemy aircraft for landing, the French planes seized the opportunity to attack the two carriers.
Colonel Will looked at the sky in confusion, finding that the attackers were not fighters but a model never seen before.
It was an aircraft with inverted gull wings, diving at a steep angle towards the carrier with a deafening noise.
Its sound was like a giant’s roar, or a monster’s low growl, even drowning out the air raid alarms.
"God!" Colonel Will exclaimed, "Are they going to crash the aircraft into the carrier? This is madness!"
The scene indeed looked like crashing planes into a carrier, at least that’s what Colonel Will thought.
However, just as the plane was about to hit the carrier, it suddenly changed its flight path, flying over the carrier as its wing-driven wind made the British flag flutter irregularly as if scared.
Almost simultaneously, a bomb was released from the aircraft, smashing onto the carrier deck.
"Boom!"
The "Furious" shook as if pushed by a giant, then black smoke rose, engulfed in fierce fires.
Colonel Will then realized it was not "crashing planes into the carrier" but a "bomb-dropping" bomber.
"It’s the new bomber invented by Shire," Colonel Will was dumbfounded.
If it was just an ordinary bomber, it wouldn’t matter.
But it was one capable of vertical diving, precisely dropping bombs to hit targets; it struck on the first attack, hitting right at the deck center.
In the next second, Colonel Will realized the French’s target was not just the British aircraft, but the carriers; they wanted to sink the carriers.
Colonel Will’s gaze swept around; the deck was piled with fuel barrels and ammunition ready for aircraft.
The quantity even met the requirements of five to six times of a single attack.
The reason being the ground crew thought it was "better to prepare in advance" so that combat elevators could be freed for fighters during tense times.
Colonel Will’s face turned pale with fright, and he almost screamed as he ordered, "Push the fuel barrels and ammunition into the sea, push them all into the sea!"
He shouted while running, rushing to the side of the ship, quickly tipping over a barrel and pushing it with full strength into the sea. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
However, before he could tip over a second barrel, a soul-crushing whistling sound came from above.
"Woo... Ah!"
Colonel Will felt the pressure coming from above directly, the sound getting louder, closer, then a flash of darkness caught in the sunshine.
"Boom!"
Colonel Will was viciously thrown out by a gust of strong wind and shock waves.
Explosion sounds followed closely, as a fiery wave surged on the carrier deck.
Colonel Will used all his strength to roll over, only to see the flames rushing towards him.
...
The French were just trying out some small bombs.
The "Jenny B" type bomber had two types of payload modes:
One was to hang a 250 kg bomb under the belly and four 50 kg bombs on the wings, totaling 450 kg.
The other was to hang just one 500 kg bomb under the belly.
In naval combat, the "Jenny B" chose the first mode, not only because it was easier to take off but also increased attack frequency.
At this moment, when pilots saw that 50 kg bombs couldn’t penetrate the carrier flight deck, bombers tried using 250 kg bombs against the "Furious."
Possibly due to smoke interference, the first two missed the target.
The third one hit successfully.
Only hearing a deafening "boom," the "Furious" split open from the middle soon triggering a series of chain explosions, and before long, the entire ship was enveloped in flames, becoming a fireball.
Carter piloting a fighter in the air looked down satisfactorily at the two destroyed carriers below, sneering: "Where did these guys get the courage to challenge Shire?"
