The air battle in Cyprus did not end with the heroic performance of the first wave of British fighter planes, but continued to intensify. Fighters from Cyprus continued to join in and fight with the Romanian air raid group.
The fierce battle between the two parties also spread from outside the island to the inside of the island, and the anti-aircraft firepower on the island also enthusiastically joined the battle. After entering the island, the bomber groups dispersed, and they pounced on each island on the island.
A military facility is located and planned to be bombed.
Naturally, the British fighter jets did not want to see this situation, so they rushed towards it and wanted to shoot it down. However, how could the escort HF201 fighter jets let it do what they wanted, and they refused to let it leave.
Speaking of this air strike, the ratio of fighter jets was extremely high, and it was also prepared to deal with such a situation. The nearly a hundred FH201s that took off from the aircraft carrier, plus the two brigades that escorted them all the way, are fully capable of dealing with such a situation.
Although the Hurricane was held back by the HF201 fighter plane, it did not mean that the British army had no other options.
"Buzz~"
A squadron of Gladiator fighter jets roared towards an incoming group of bombers.
"Da, da, da~"
Before the Gladiator could get closer, the bomber's 12.7mm self-defense machine gun opened fire.
Moreover, seeing the bomber being attacked and getting rid of the HF201 fighter in his hands, he quickly rushed over to rescue him.
Before the HF201 fighter plane arrived, the Gladiator fighter, which seized this good opportunity, immediately used its four British 7.7 machine guns to approach the bomber from the side and lower wing.
"Ta, tower, tower~"
After a burst of machine gun fire, the bomber, riddled with bullet holes, continued to fly forward. Only one bomber had a puff of dark smoke coming out of its wing.
This was a surprise to the Gladiators who had just completed an attack. There was nothing they could do about it. The British 7.7 aviation machine guns they were equipped with were a bit difficult to deal with metal bombers, not to mention that bombers generally had armor to protect their core areas.
Even the bomber, which was smoking black, was still flying in formation tenaciously.
The Gladiator fighters naturally did not intend to give up like this, and they pounced again, planning to launch another attack.
"Da, da, da~"
The HF201 fighter plane that finally came back immediately used its powerful cannon to give these biplane fighters a fierce blow that only dared to appear secretly. With its speed of up to 560 kilometers per hour, it was not afraid that these biplanes would have any chance to escape.
.
Sure enough, as the HF201 fighter jets opened fire, several Gladiators immediately fell to the ground with thick smoke. The characteristics of their biplanes were completely incapable of competing with the Romanian Zero.
And these gladiators also knew this, and fled immediately after the HF201 fighter jets came back. The HF201 fighters that rushed back were worried about the safety of the bombers, and they only chased for a few kilometers before returning to protect the bomber group.
Faced with the situation where fighter jets could not penetrate, the British army was extremely anxious. Even the air force commander, Brigadier General Blanc, once wanted the bombers to attack the opponent's bombers. However, considering that this might lead to a military court,
And gave it up.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The airport and air defense became the first targets to be bombed, and a large number of bombers carried out non-stop bombing.
In fact, Romania did not want to bomb the airport. It wanted to save it for its own use after the paratroopers captured it. However, it was too strange that the air strike did not attack the airport. It was just giving the enemy ideas, so this air strike also treated the airport equally. It was just that more bombs hit the airport.
Use 50KG bombs to bomb the airport to facilitate the repair work of the defenders.
The fierce bombing caused heavy losses to both the airport and the air defense. Although there were only more than 100 Romanian bombers this time, the power of the concentrated bombing of four airports and air defense facilities was clearly demonstrated. Except for the bombers that had already left, there were no other bombers at the airport.
More than seventy aircraft of various types that could not escape were all destroyed on the ground.
Faced with the bombing of the airport, the British fighter planes in the air battle went crazy, and they began to ignore their own casualties.
"boom!"
A Hurricane fighter jet collided with an HF201 fighter jet in a common-death approach. The pilot of the HF201 fighter jet, who did not notice the danger beside him, was killed on the spot without even being able to parachute.
Faced with the somewhat crazy style of British fighter planes, the Romanian side was not without a response strategy. They first used the excellent performance of their fighter planes to spread the battlefield apart, widening the distance between the fighter planes, and at the same time, each fighter plane paid attention to reminders.
This move of the Romanian aircraft made the British fighter planes a little blind. Because the Hurricane fighter aircraft was far inferior to the HF201 fighter aircraft in terms of speed, climb, and flexibility. Therefore, the response to the Romanian fighter aircraft made the situation even worse.
Difficult. The fighter planes dropped from the sky are basically British Hurricanes.
After the bomber began to return, the HF201 fighter jet began to break away from the battle and left protecting the bomber.
It's just that this was too uncomfortable for the British Air Force. Not only did they not stop the opponent's bombers, but they also failed to escort the fighter planes. In this battle, the opponent's fighter plane left a deep impression on them, its flexibility
, the speed and climb are much better than their hurricane.
But before they were ready to talk about anything, there was a more important question that was bothering them. How should the plane land now?
Although airport personnel immediately stepped forward to repair the runway after the bombing, it could not be repaired so quickly. Although the 50-kilogram bomb was not very powerful, the large hole caused by the explosion could not be filled immediately. And except for the 50-kilogram bomb, the
kilogram aerial bombs, and other types of bombs exploded at the airport.
So no matter what, the fighter planes in the air need to come down to refuel, not to mention that these fighters are the only fighter planes the defenders have. Losing them will completely give up air superiority, so the British army immediately thought of a solution.
Needless to say, I have actually figured out a way. In Palalim, in the east of the island, there is a flat pasture that belongs to a nearby dairy factory. This pasture is large enough for an airplane.
Landing and docking.
After receiving this news, Brigadier General Blanc quickly asked Ran to temporarily set up an airport there. So under the command of the ground crew, fighter planes that had run out of fuel docked here one after another.
As more than 80 fighter planes in the air docked on the ground, Brigadier General Blanc was relieved. Although his bombers were temporarily transferred to French-controlled Syria, the fighter planes could not be transferred and needed to be strengthened.
Just when Brigadier General Blanc was about to send a telegram requesting more fighter support, a piercing air defense siren sounded again.
Without waiting for Brigadier Blanc to ask, an officer rushed in directly.
"General, the Romanian air strike is coming again. It is currently less than 30 kilometers away from us. The number is about 340, half of which are fighter jets."
The officer's words made Brigadier General Blanc's face change greatly, because currently his fighter planes were still refueling on the ground, and the number of them was not even half that of his opponent's.
"Immediately order them to hide their fighter planes and tell them to hurry up."
Brigadier General Blanc, who had issued the order, could only hope that the fighter jets that made an emergency stop at Paralim would not be discovered by the air raid force.
But how can his idea be realized? Thirty kilometers is only a matter of minutes for a fighter plane. In this short time, it is impossible to hide a fighter jet parked on the grass. Just hugging the grass is not enough.
It's just that these fighter jets are out of fuel, and the oil truck has just arrived here. Just refueling takes dozens of minutes. Only a madman would do this while refueling under enemy bombing, so he had to choose to stay in seclusion.
There were no enemy fighter planes in the sky, which surprised the Romanian officer who led the team. In order to prevent possible accidents, he made a wise decision and ordered several planes to immediately disperse for reconnaissance. Three of them were coming from the east.
When a fighter plane flew eastward over Nicosia and over a hilly area, he was immediately stunned by the scene in the distance. Dozens of fighter planes were parked densely together, and British military personnel were constantly trying to cover them with grass and trees.
With.
Such a situation naturally required a report. After the pilot told him what he saw, he showed a smile. He lowered his altitude and started strafing the densely packed fighter planes on this side. At the same time, the 30 kilogram bomb on the belly of the plane was also dropped.
.
"boom!"
The blast of air blasted the vegetation into the air and set it on fire. The smoke gradually rose, pointing the direction for the incoming fighters from behind.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Unlike the reconnaissance fighter planes, the incoming bombers destroyed all the parked fighter planes. The British soldiers present had tears in their eyes, but there was nothing they could do to save the situation.
In the subsequent bombing, various British military facilities were bombed, but the port was not damaged. This made Major General Dowding Hughes certain that the landing in Romania was just around the corner, so his telegram for help was updated
It's because he worked hard.
Although he is asking for reinforcements, it is just that it is difficult for Britain and France to get reinforcements to the island. That is, they do not have sea control. In the past, they relied on the threat of the air force to keep the Romanian fleet from approaching Cyprus.
However, it is now experiencing large-scale and cost-effective bombing by Romanian aircraft, which has caused all the casualties in the island's aviation force, and is unable to resist Romania's control of the air.
Of course, Britain and France were not satisfied with Romania's control of the air over Cyprus. They then organized large-scale reinforcements on the third day, an air combat force consisting of 80 MS.406 fighter jets, 48 Spitfires and 81 Hurricanes, in an attempt to recapture the island.
Air supremacy.
On this day, more than 600 fighter jets from both sides fought over Cyprus for a whole day. Facing fighters like the HF201, except for the Spitfire, which could compete with it, the other two fighters could only be suppressed by it.
In one day's fighting, Britain and France lost 127 fighter planes, of which 31 Spitfires were shot down and 96 other two fighter planes. Such huge losses made it impossible for Britain and France to prevent Romania from gaining air supremacy.
In this air battle that lasted for one day, although Romania won the victory, it was also uncomfortable. 53 HF201 fighters were shot down and 9 bombers were lost.
Including the losses in the previous two days, Romania lost 104 fighter jets, mostly HF201 fighter jets (one RF20 fighter jet crashed into the sea, and one rolled over due to a landing error), and 39 bombers were also lost.
In order to win this air battle, both the navy and the air force suffered a very heavy loss of fighter aircraft, but fortunately the result was satisfactory.
Now that the air power of Cyprus has been defeated and the air defense force has been almost eliminated, the next phase of the operation can begin.
