CHAPTER 241: ORIGINAL TEXT: CHAPTER 241 BOMBER SQUADRON AFTER REVISION:

Major Yin Maiman hid within the clouds and did not make a move, satisfied with observing the battlefield below, where his first flying squadron was mercilessly slaughtering the unsuspecting French aircraft.

He knew these French planes were organized by Xia Fei.

The real threats were Shire’s "Aphro" fighters, which needed to be "cautiously dealt with;" the ones below were just practice targets.

However, Major Yin Maiman discovered that one of these aircraft was able to launch a counterattack under ambush, successfully shooting down a German warplane!

Intrigued, Major Yin Maiman let out a "Hmm," then pushed down the nose of his own aircraft, diving towards this "Newport 10."

(Note: The tactic of using clouds for cover and diving at the enemy, invented by Major Yin Maiman during WWI, eventually led to his own demise when he was shot down by a British aircraft using the same tactic.)

Soon, Major Yin Maiman noticed something different about this "Newport 10"; its maneuvers were extremely agile, swaying left and right unpredictably, performing feints that nearly deceived him.

This was a flying ace, Major Yin Maiman thought, I must do my best to take him down, or he will become a potential threat.

Unbeknownst to Major Yin Maiman, Major Godfrey, whom he was tailing, was already terrified to the point of trembling, having exhausted all his skills yet unable to shake off the tail.

Suddenly, the plane behind him opened fire.

Bullets whizzed just above Major Godfrey’s scalp, striking the fuselage and tail, with wood splinters flying onto his face, causing sharp pain.

Fortunately, none of the bullets hit any critical parts, and Major Godfrey still managed to control the plane.

Relying on years of experience, he could sense the plane’s condition with just a slight twitch of the wing, knowing if it was still under control.

At this moment, Major Godfrey realized that the plane was not badly damaged and planned to continue escaping.

However, he thought again: the tail behind him would not let him go, and continuing like this would only lead to one outcome: death.

Unless the "tail" ran out of bullets, while he was still alive.

But that was unlikely.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Major Godfrey, and he slightly reduced his speed, controlling the plane to wobble towards the ground.

This was a stunt often performed by Major Godfrey during air shows, aimed at drawing gasps from the audience below before pulling up just before the plane appeared to crash.

This trick had earned Major Godfrey many rounds of applause and francs, with many people coming specifically to see this thrilling spectacle.

In his panic, Major Godfrey resorted to this move.

It was also a gamble, as it required slowing down; if the "tail" did not fall for it and kept attacking, Major Godfrey would be doomed.

Fortunately, the "tail" did not follow, instead pursuing other aircraft.

Major Godfrey breathed a sigh of relief. Once the "tail" flew far away, he quickly sped up, returned to a normal attitude, and escaped the battlefield.

On the other side, Major Yin Maiman also noticed this. Realizing he had been tricked, he muttered, "Coward, using such a method to evade, how is this different from fleeing the battle!"

Major Yin Maiman believed this opponent was not worthy to be called a warrior.

But Major Godfrey did not think so much; he just wanted to survive and escape from this dreadful place, never to return.

In the end, only 3 of the 29 aircraft made it back to the airport, each with bullet holes, one of the pilots with a bloody shoulder wound, who, even if saved, had to bid farewell to being a pilot.

Yet Colonel Egg still naively asked Godfrey, "What about the others? Did they get separated from you?"

...

The German Air Force immediately launched implacable attacks on the French Air Force whenever they revealed their fangs.

They seemed to know the situation of the French Air Force very well, launching sneak attacks on three frontline French airports in one day.

As Shire had said, these airports were too close to the frontline, most within 10 kilometers, some only 7 kilometers or even closer.

This made them vulnerable to sneak attacks by the German Air Force, with plane after plane destroyed on the ground or runways before they could take off.

One airport was even hit in the fuel depot, igniting a raging fire.

The fire burned all night, many planes that couldn’t take off were consumed by the flames.

This also ignited the anger of the French people, who furiously criticized Xia Fei:

"We should entrust the planes to those who know how to command them."

"This is the result of the Army owning planes, this approach is wasting planes and the lives of pilots!"

"Xia Fei was wrong, now, shouldn’t Xia Fei be held accountable for his mistakes?"

...

At this time, the media controlled by capitalists continued to speak for Xia Fei:

"This might be because the Germans have surpassed us in training their pilots, finding an effective way to fight."

"Another reason might be that the new ’Albatross B’ plane the Germans have deployed outperforms our planes across the board."

"They might even outmatch Shire’s ’Aphro’ in performance!"

...

The implicit meaning of these statements was that while Xia Fei indeed lost a battle, Shire’s first flying squadron wouldn’t necessarily have won against the Germans’ new planes and tactics, so it wasn’t Xia Fei’s fault.

Seeing these reports in the newspapers, Gallieni believed the time was ripe. He smiled and nodded at Shire, "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Shire retorted, "Sending the first flying squadron to battle these German pilots? No, I won’t do that!"

Gallieni looked at Shire in confusion, wasn’t this the plan all along?

Shire explained, "I have a better way to defeat them, General, they are just planes."

...

At dawn the next day, Shire’s Caproni Bomber Squadron took off from Paris.

The bomber squadron had twenty aircraft, divided into two squadrons of ten each, flying to the German Humesen and Erkilet airports respectively.

These two airports were exposed during the German and Xia Fei’s army planes’ skirmishes, with most of the German planes and pilots concentrated there, including a newly established flying school at the Humesen airport with over two hundred new and old trainees, instructors, and teachers.

Shire ordered the bombers to fly boldly towards their targets in broad daylight, without any concealment.

He knew that in this era, people did not guard against bombers, thinking they were just pilots manually throwing small bombs at the ground, which had low accuracy and limited power, almost unable to harm their targets.

The Germans saw the ten "Caproni" from afar, assuming they were transport planes.

What they didn’t expect was that the Caproni could indeed be considered a kind of transport plane, just that it was "delivering" bombs to them!