Chapter 418： Royal Air Force

Anyone who has studied geography a little should know that there are two most important canals in the world, the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal.

Among them, the Suez Canal extends from Port Said in the north to the city of Suez in the south, with a total length of more than 190 kilometers. As it is located in the three continents bordering Europe, Asia and Africa, its strategic position is very important.

The Suez Canal connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, connecting the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, greatly shortening the voyage between East and West. The goods transported through the Suez Canal account for 14% of the world's total maritime trade each year.

Because of this canal, Egypt became the target of a great power.

In fact, as early as 4,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Sostris dug a canal on a tributary of the Nile River, later known as the "Pharaoh Canal". The potential economic and strategic benefits of this ancient canal are coveted by all countries and continue to fight for it.

Later, Egypt filled the canal out of military considerations.

In this way, until the 19th century, both Britain and France focused their expansion goals in the rich East.

France tried to connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea and reach the east, breaking British control of the Cape of Good Hope channel. In order to protect its interests in the East, especially in India, Britain opposed the construction of the canal.

France signed a concession contract for the construction and use of the Suez Canal with Egypt in 1854, and established the "Universal Suez Canal Company" in 1857.

Although the canal was dug jointly by France and Egypt, the British government used various means to obtain shares of the Suez Canal Company. Eventually, the Suez Canal became the private property of Britain and France.

Later, Britain simply relied on its strong military power to take over Egypt by armed forces in 1882, completely control the Suez Canal, and established the largest overseas military base in the canal area, with nearly 100,000 troops stationed there.

Until 1922, after Britain recognized Egypt's independence, it still retained the right to station troops in the Canal Zone.

As a result, in the 1930s, due to Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, Britain used the excuse to defend Egypt’s “security” and “stability” and forced Egypt to sign the 20-year Anglo-Egypt Alliance Treaty, stipulating that British troops should continue to be stationed in the Canal Zone. British military port, etc.

Now, Egypt’s Canal Zone is the largest British military base overseas.

At this time, the military base is in a lively scene.

On the tarmac, the bombers are in the final preparations before takeoff. It seems that dozens of them are so huge, but if compared with the Germans, they are simply pediatrics.

German bombers include the four-engine Junker-290, the two-engine Junker-88, and the single-engine Stuka, etc., with complete range of light, medium and heavy, and advanced performance.

What about the British?

There are many varieties, but most of them are quite old.

For example, on the farthest lawn, a biplane bomber with an open canopy was parked. This beautiful-looking single-engine bomber was the main British bomber Hawke’s stag in the early 1930s. bomber.

This single-engine biplane light bomber still exists in large numbers in the Royal Air Force, but this time, it did not participate in the bombing mission.

Because its range is too short, less than a thousand kilometers, it can only conduct tactical bombing.

Therefore, the pilots of these biplanes can only look at other bomber squadrons close to them with envious eyes.

Next to them, there is a modern monoplane, which is a "fighter" bomber from Fairey.

This aircraft is a single-engine, two-seater monoplane, and it is finally a big improvement over the previous bombers. This aircraft was designed by Marcel Robelle and used light alloy and stress skin for the first time.

At the same time, historically, this aircraft was equipped with Rolls-Royce's "Grey-backed Falcon" i-type 12-cylinder liquid-cooled engine, or Merlin engine.

However, Rolls-Royce has closed down, and the Merlin engine is dead. Therefore, this bomber has to use a 21-liter Kestrel engine. This old-fashioned engine has insufficient power, but because it is a liquid-cooled engine, it faces the wind. The small area helps keep the aircraft in a good streamline shape, thereby increasing the flight speed.

Now, more than forty "combat" bombers of the 12th and 218th bomber squadrons are the main force of this attack!

If you look at the Royal Air Force before World War II, you can find an interesting thing, that is, the sun never sets, the Empire is really at sunset.

In the 1930s, the Royal Air Force bomber force had dual-engine heavy bombers such as Handley-Petti "Hayford" and Fairey "Hendon", but their numbers were scarce.

Most of their equipment are single-engine biplane light bombers such as Hawker Bucks and Vickers 131 Warriors.

You know, the Royal Air Force is a firm believer in Julio Duhé's "Air Force Win" theory, and they firmly believe that the Air Force will change everything. However, in terms of their equipment status, the important bomber force seems to be closer to a tactical air support force.

After the First World War, although Britain won the war, Britain's national strength declined greatly, and Britain's decline began at that time.

At the same time, the people yearn for peace and are unwilling to fight, so defense spending in a peaceful environment is greatly reduced. In the case of insufficient funds, in order to maintain the appropriate size of the bomber force, the purchase of relatively low-priced single-engine light bombers has become an inevitable choice.

Although Britain had a large number of advanced bombers in World War II, the service of these bombers was almost 40 years later.

Carrying his flight cap, Philip, the squadron leader of the 12th bomber squadron, came to his bomber.

The bomb bay of this bomber is located inside the wing. There are two bomb bays in each wing. There is a hydraulic lifting pylon in the bomb bay. When loading bombs on the ground, the pylon can be extended out of the bomb bay and retracted after hanging bombs.

In general, for convenience, the pylon is not placed in the bomb bay after the bomb is mounted. At this time, the bomb is equivalent to hanging under the wing, so the aircraft can also be used for dive bombing. Moreover, if there is a malfunction, the revenue The bomb bay can no longer be bombed, so the bombing can continue.

He looked at the bombs mounted under his wing, all of which were incendiary bombs, and this time, he wanted to ignite the entire Libyan oil field!

"Vengeance for our navy!" Philip said to his crew members.

The cockpit of this bomber is large from front to back, with three panting seats. The crew consists of three people, consisting of a pilot, a pilot/bomberman, and a radio operator/gunner.

But now, Philip is waving his fist and shouting to his crew members. Their eyes are very firm. This time, let the Germans know how powerful they are!

They are quite determined, but they don't know that this time they set foot on a road of no return.