It was getting dark, so he made several calls to the dispatch room. There was still no news from the 303 and 304 Squadrons, and Zhou Zhihan couldn't help but worry.
Departing from the Port of Dover to Dunkirk, the hospital ship can arrive in up to an hour on this route. It stands to reason that the 303 and 304 squadrons should have returned half an hour ago. It is already completely dark now. They Before he came back, Zhou Zhihan started to feel restless.
After waiting for another ten minutes, there was still no news from them. Zhou Zhihan asked Karen to wait at home. He reached for his flight jacket and went to the airport dispatch room to ask if there was any news about the two squadrons at the Royal Air Force headquarters. When a squadron comes back, coastal radar will detect it first.
"Zhihan, I'll go with you!"
Karen put on his jeans and slipped into his short boots without having time to put on his socks. He reached for another flight leather jacket that Zhou Zhihan had on the hanger, sat on the back seat of the bicycle and hugged his waist, and headed to the airport dispatch room together.
"Any news about them?"
As soon as he entered the dispatch room, Zhou Zhihan asked the communications staff.
The room was full of people, all airport personnel who were concerned about the 303 and 304 Squadrons.
The communications officer looked serious: "Not in the signal area! Sir!"
Zhou Zhihan nodded: "Keep in touch at all times!"
"Yes, sir!"
Zhou Zhihan walked to the office and answered the phone in the dispatch room of the Royal Air Force headquarters in the monastery. The news he received was that in the afternoon, the British and German sides launched a life-and-death battle around the hospital ship. The casualties on both sides were extremely heavy. In order to reduce the pressure on the night battle hurricane, 303 , 304 Squadron, and five other fighter squadrons, all persisted until dark. It was not until the night hurricanes went to escort the day fighters that they returned. There is currently no news about them.
The current information is too underdeveloped and the band is short, so the British mainland cannot connect the calls on the Dunkirk battlefield.
When the fighter jets are in Dunkirk, the Royal Air Force headquarters can know the air force's battle status through telegrams from the ships performing missions in Dunkirk. After dark, everything can only rely on the fighter squadrons themselves.
Now, Zhou Zhihan and the others can only sit in the dispatch room and wait.
Ten minutes later, the caller stood up and shouted loudly: "We have news about them, the call is connected." After that, he turned on the hands-free.
Everyone in the room stood up at the same time. The staff waited to hear that the brothers were back, and then immediately went out to prepare for landing.
The correspondent asked: "303 and 304 Squadron, please report your current situation."
"We encountered a strong enemy today. We lost four Hurricanes, five Spitfires, and three people were killed. Several other fighters were injured to varying degrees and need to make an emergency landing. We need to make an emergency landing!"
This was the voice of Lieutenant Dolbanovich, with a hint of crying.
This was the most casualties suffered by the two squadrons in a single day since Dunkirk, almost half of them were killed or wounded.
Everyone in the room was silent for a few seconds, and then all the ground staff rushed out of the room, preparing to make an emergency landing for the returning fighter plane. There was no time to be sad now.
Zhou Zhihan and Karen also ran out with the crowd.
The entire airport was brightly lit, and landing guidance signs were set up on both sides of all runways. In particular, several emergency landing runways were full of people.
Finally, Zubach led the eight uninjured fighters to the airport first and landed steadily. The ground crew pushed the fighters aside to a safe position as quickly as possible.
Zubach ran off the plane and ran over to tell Zhou Zhihan that the four fighters were seriously injured and needed to make an emergency landing. The squadron leader and deputy squadron leader stayed at the end to assist them in making an emergency landing.
All of them had very little fuel left. Some of them had already run out of fuel when they arrived at the British coast. They wanted to make an emergency landing at Dover Airport, but Dover Airport said that there were too many injured fighter planes today and the emergency landing runway was tight. Dover Airport There were still several injured fighter planes struggling and circling over the airport, unable to land, so the Allied Legion's fighter planes could only fly back reluctantly.
Zhou Zhihan ordered a Texan to take off in the air to assist in the emergency landing, and to use flares if necessary.
A minute later, the Texans were hovering over the airport, ready.
The loudspeaker at the airport came from the tower's call: "All staff are preparing for emergency landing on runways No. 1 and 2. Two planes have made an emergency landing at the same time. Two planes have made an emergency landing at the same time."
All staff are in place, tense and orderly.
A Spitfire and a Hurricane fighter jet appeared from the sky one after another. The serial number could not be seen clearly. Both aircraft were emitting black smoke and swaying. It looked like they were seriously injured. The Spitfire must have run out of fuel. The propeller stopped running, and it was a miracle that he could fly here just by gliding despite his injuries.
The Spitfire landed first, and the plane descended slowly. The pilot was Staff Sergeant Janus Zewicz. When the plane was still more than ten meters above the ground, he imitated the commander-in-chief and pulled the control column upward with all his strength, and the Spitfire slightly raised its nose. He jumped up a few meters, then connected his heavy belly to the ground and slid forward on the soft sand surface, flying sand flying in all directions. Fortunately, he just pulled the nose of the plane upward and jumped to eliminate part of the momentum, and landed safely.
Several ground staff rushed up to help him open the cabin, and several others controlled the smoking area to prevent a fire. As soon as Janus Zewicz came down, the trailer had already hooked up the nose of the engine, and the brackets with wheels on both sides were holding it up. The fuselage quickly pulled out of the emergency landing runway.
All ground staff cooperated very skillfully, and doctors quickly arrived to check whether Januszewicz was injured.
The Spitfire's fuselage was riddled with scars and its skin was torn in many places. There were two bowl-sized holes on the left wing, and half of the right rear flap was missing. You can imagine how fierce the battle was.
Immediately afterwards, the hurricane made an emergency landing. Two of his flaps were knocked off directly, and he was aimed crookedly at the emergency landing runway. However, when he was still more than ten meters above the ground, he suddenly deviated from the course and plunged into the ground beside the runway. Like a war horse that suddenly stumbles while running, its two front legs and neck are connected to the ground first, and it staggers forward for twenty or thirty meters. The huge inertia pushes its rear and tail to flip forward, and then the entire machine A big bump was taken from his back, and he was pushed for dozens of meters before he stopped in the dust.
"Help!"
Zhou Zhihan shouted, and he ran over in front of the soldiers, using both hands to dig up and bury most of the nose of the machine, piling up a hill-like pile of soil.
All the ground crew members rushed over and scraped the soil together with their hands.
A few minutes later, Zhou Zhihan sat back, his hands trembling, his fingers bleeding, and he stared blankly at the body in the cabin that had lost half of its body. There was blood everywhere...
Karen walked to Zhou Zhihan's side, quickly wrapped his hand with gauze, and waited for anti-inflammatory treatment when he returned, then silently held his head.
Tonight, for the first time, she saw this ace who made enemy pilots fearful. When he mentioned the tragedy of China's Anti-Japanese War, he cried like a child, which made her feel heartbroken.
The third fighter plane also landed without incident. The aircraft's body was also riddled with bullet marks, there were several bullet holes in the glass, the pilot's arm was injured, and the cabin was full of blood. Fortunately, his life was not in danger.
Finally, the little man Joseph appeared in the sky. His fighter plane was out of fuel. The landing gear could not be opened when descending, so he could only pull up the nose of the plane and let the belly of the plane land on the ground.
"Bang!"
The belly of the aircraft hit the sand hard, and the fuselage was broken into two parts. The rear half was stuck in the sand, and the front half slid forward dozens of meters and burrowed into the sand before stopping.
Everyone rushed forward again and dug up the sand with their hands to rescue Joseph, who was almost suffocated to death.
