I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France

Chapter 1004 Target: Enemy Aircraft Carrier
More than 50 Camel and Sandpiper aircraft flew in from France.

They took a small detour and chose to approach the battlefield from the north.

This is a very wise approach.

It was morning, and the sun was rising in the east, casting golden rays across the sea.

If you don't change direction and enter the battlefield from the west, you'll be facing the sun and only be able to see the blurry shadows of enemy planes, while you yourself will be clearly seen by the enemy.

However, if they take a detour and approach from the north, even if it costs them a little precious fuel, they can reverse this disadvantage.

Colonel Will raised his hand to signal his men to prepare for battle, and gave the order to attack the instant the enemy planes entered the battlefield.

More than twenty SE5a fighter jets, like eagles, fiercely swooped down toward their target amidst the roar of their engines.

Although their numbers were fewer than the enemy aircraft, they were not afraid at all because the SE5a had a huge advantage: high speed.

This almost guarantees its invincibility on the battlefield: as long as it is in an unfavorable position and is tailed by enemy aircraft, it only needs to step on the accelerator to speed away.

However, Colonel Will and his men soon discovered that real combat was not as simple as they had imagined.

The French Camel and Sandpiper planes completely ignored the SE5a swooping down from above, focusing instead on chasing the British seaplanes at low to medium altitudes, even when the SE5a were tailing them.

Colonel Will is chasing a "camel," which in turn is chasing a British seaplane.

(The image above shows the British-made Felixstor F2 seaplane, which had an impressive range of 1000 kilometers, could carry 1000 pounds of bombs, and had a speed of 153 kilometers per hour. It was mainly used for anti-submarine warfare against Germany in the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.)
The skies above the battlefield were filled with this "mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind" three-plane chase pattern.

The British forces appeared to have the upper hand, as their losses of seaplanes were relatively minor.

But Will soon discovered that this was not the case: the SE5a had enough speed but not enough maneuverability. The French "Camel" was moving up and down, left and right in the sights, sometimes rising and sometimes diving. The SE5a was always half a beat too slow to grasp the firing window.

Sometimes, even when they have aimed, they dare not fire easily.

Because bullets could easily penetrate the "camel's" wing and accidentally injure friendly forces in front of it.

The "Camel" fighter jet, on the other hand, has no such concerns.

Amidst the cacophony of machine gun fire, the massive seaplanes instantly lost their balance and crashed headfirst into the sea.

Many seaplanes did not explode, but broke into several pieces on the sea surface, some sinking to the bottom of the sea while others floated on the surface and drifted with the waves.

Colonel Will, burdened by guilt for failing to shoot down enemy planes and rescue friendly forces in time, clung to the "camel's" tail.

But the "camel" performed some outrageous maneuvers:

It suddenly slammed its nose down, and just as Colonel Will followed suit, the target suddenly climbed vertically. Then the plane flew upside down overhead, followed by a roll and dive.

Colonel Will only felt a blur before his eyes, and in a moment the enemy plane that had been biting his tail was now biting his tail from behind.

"Charles upside down!" Colonel Will cursed.

It is said that this was a maneuver that Charles taught to the French Air Force. Ordinary aircraft would find it difficult to perform due to insufficient speed, but it has now become a common practice in the French Air Force.

(Note: This action is Immelmann inverted)

Colonel Will had no choice but to speed away from the enemy aircraft's pursuit. When he finally managed to shake off their pursuers and turn back to look for his target, he discovered that the French aircraft had already left the battlefield.

In just over ten minutes, the enemy planes flew like the wind, swiftly entering the battlefield, attacking their targets, and then disembarking, cleanly and decisively without the slightest hesitation. If it weren't for the wreckage of British-made seaplanes scattered all over the sea, Colonel Will wouldn't have even believed they had been there.

"Fuck it!" Colonel Will cursed angrily as he watched the French warplanes speed away into the distance.

He then realized that the "SE5a" might not necessarily have an overwhelming advantage over the much slower "camel".

The enemy can "use offense as defense," and when bitten on the tail, it can use its mobility to perform a "Charles Reversal" to bite the tail back.

In principle, if every French pilot knew this maneuver, the SE5a would have had a very difficult, if not impossible, time to shoot down an enemy aircraft.

Unless British pilots also learn this maneuver and stick with it.

However, British pilots spent too much time training for carrier takeoffs and landings, and the SE5a's poor maneuverability meant they needed to spend several times as much time training as French pilots to complete that maneuver.

One by one, the fighter jets under his command approached Colonel Will and awaited orders.

Colonel Will checked the fuel gauge; there was still half a tank of fuel left.

Unwilling to return empty-handed, he gestured for his fighter jets to attack the French seaplanes.

Colonel Will thought: If you shoot down our seaplanes, we'll shoot down yours, so nobody benefits!

However, Colonel Will was completely unaware that he had fallen into a trap set by Charles.

……

Southwest of Malta, about 100 kilometers from the battlefield, the main French fleet is approaching a British aircraft carrier at a speed of 22.5 knots.

Those were three French aircraft carriers that had been refitted: the Normandy, the Languedoc, and the Flanders.

In addition, there were more than twenty destroyers providing cover.

Their decks were filled with fighter planes and bombers, including the Jenny A, the Jenny B bomber variant, and the Jenny C variant, which could carry torpedoes.

(Note: During World War II, these three aircraft were respectively called carrier-based fighter, carrier-based bomber, and carrier-based attack aircraft. The former was used to gain air superiority, while the latter two were used for anti-ship warfare. In order to improve combat effectiveness, they have now been integrated into a multi-role fighter that can both gain air superiority and fight ships.)
There were a total of 5 Normandy-class battleships, of which 3 have been refitted and 2 are in the final stages of refitting.

Charles was quite satisfied with their performance:

These aircraft carriers can carry 40 aircraft.

This is 15 more than the 25 HMS Argus and HMS Furious of the United Kingdom.

They have two runways that can accommodate two fighter jets taking off simultaneously, with an average of one fighter jet taking off every two minutes.

Compared to the UK's single runway, which has limited space and requires 6 minutes to take off a fighter jet, this is much more efficient.

They can reach speeds of 21 knots, and can increase to 22.5 knots when operating at high power.

This is much better than the UK's top speed of only 20 knots.

In addition, French aircraft carriers were converted from battleships, giving them better survivability.

However, Charles believed that this was unnecessary, as Britain did not yet have dedicated bombers at this time, making it difficult to pose a threat to French warships!
"Target: enemy aircraft carriers." Charles ordered fleet commander Pierre via telegram: "Take care of this trouble before the British discover them!"

(End of this chapter)