Zhou Zhihan successfully glided the bomber to the airport and prepared for an emergency landing under the guidance of the airport tower.
The three crew members silently made the sign of the cross.
The bomber crews who had returned early stood on both sides of the runway, looking nervous.
The Hampton bomber has twin engines. On rare occasions, both engines will suddenly stop working. Since the existence of this base, the bomber has never been short of fuel. The fuel tank of this bomber can be self-sealing, even on the battlefield. It was hit by a bullet and leaked very little oil.
It is too difficult for bombers to make an emergency landing. Moreover, the runway at the airport specially used for emergency landing has been bombed countless times by the Germans. The quality is far inferior to before, and it may be damaged.
Whether a fighter or bomber is hit, the pilot has a narrow escape. Under the strong inertia, the glass cover of the cabin will break, and mud will pour into the cabin, which can easily crush the human body.
Since it was an emergency landing, several guidance lights were turned on on the runway.
Suddenly, an air defense siren sounded at the airport, and then a loudspeaker sounded. Two German bombers were flying this way and would arrive in a few minutes.
Zhou Zhihan, who had already arrived at the airport, asked the tower to turn off the runway guidance lights. He would make a complete blind landing and leave the guidance lights on. The incoming Germans would spot him first.
The tightly closed lips of several crew members were pale and their whole bodies were trembling. The bomber made an emergency landing without fuel + encountered an air attack = death was imminent.
Skydiving is no longer possible at the current altitude.
The alarm is shrill!
Around the airport, the few remaining anti-aircraft machine guns were ready. The war losses were too great, and the arsenal was bombed continuously. Especially the air defense situation was very tight. Since the bombing of Berlin, anti-aircraft weapons have been prioritized around London. Many airports have anti-aircraft weapons. The losses were serious and could not be replenished.
Airport personnel standing on both sides of the runway were all evacuated to ground air raid shelters not far away. When bombers arrived, the runway and parking lot were the first to be bombed.
Unlike the forced landing of a fighter jet, the huge bomber loses power and descends very quickly, and this is where the greatest danger comes.
Zhou Zhihan took a deep breath to calm himself down. If he wasn't careful at this moment, both man and machine would be destroyed, even though the Germans would arrive at any time.
Zhou Zhihan drove the bomber in a circle over the airport, reduced the speed to the lowest limit for forced landing, found the best wind position, and then slowly descended to altitude.
All the people hiding in the air-raid shelters on the ground were sweating and admired in their hearts. The number one ace of the Allied Forces really had a huge heart. He was still so calm at this time. Someone else might have landed desperately.
"Tu tu tu tu..."
The airport's anti-aircraft machine guns opened fire on the incoming bombers, but with little effect.
"boom!"
A refueling truck parked at the end of the airport was hit by a bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe before it could drive away. It exploded, turning a radius of two to three hundred meters into a sea of flames. Then another German bomber dropped a bomb and hit a jeep, which ignited. Fire.
In the light of the fire, a German pilot saw the landing Hampton bomber. He immediately raised the nose of the plane, adjusted its direction, and prepared to harvest.
Several anti-aircraft machine guns on the ground organized crossfire in an attempt to stop the German bombers, but the distance was too far and beyond reach, and another German bomber began to suppress these anti-aircraft machine guns with fire.
The Hampton bomber was still rushing forward very quickly. The pilots hiding in the air raid shelters on the ground watched the bomber's tires about to touch the ground. They were all so nervous that they were suffocating. This was the rhythm of getting a big top!
What's even more terrible is that after pulling up, the German bomber completed a U-turn and dived towards Hampton, where it had made an emergency landing.
Suddenly, just when everyone thought that the tires of the bomber's landing gear, which were still a few meters above the ground, were about to rub against the ground, the Hampton bomber made an incredibly light jump, rising several meters and almost exhausting the energy of its forward thrust. Amid everyone's exclamations, the speed instantly slowed down by half. The front two tires touched the ground first and slid forward. The fuselage shook violently several times and the rear tires connected to the ground.
Zhou Zhihan braked with all his strength and shouted: "Quick, quick, quick, get off the plane..."
Before the plane came to a complete stop, the three people in front climbed out of the cabin, stepped onto the wings and jumped to the ground. The rear gunner also ran down from the belly. The four people had just ran out more than ten meters away, and the one behind them The bomber was hit by an aerial bomb and exploded into the air. The powerful shock wave knocked four people over at the same time. After floating a few meters, they fell to the ground. The torn fuselage and fragments flew into the air, and flames danced with alarming momentum.
The four people lay on the ground and did not dare to move. It was not until they saw the German bombers roaring and pulling up again that they got up in shock and ran to the air raid shelter.
Now the German pilots are bad. When they bombed British airports, they would kill the airport personnel when they saw them. What the two sides lack most now is not airplanes, but pilots.
A few minutes later, the Germans dropped all their aerial bombs on the airport, almost destroying the runway, and then pulled it away, leaving behind devastation, big craters everywhere, flames everywhere, and thick smoke billowing. Yunxiao.
After the German bomber flew far away, the airport personnel ran out to put out the fire. The bomber piloted by Zhou Zhihan was almost destroyed by the fire, leaving only a mutilated empty shell.
After extinguishing the fire and rescuing the injured, the first thing the airport staff did was to repair the runway. Even if the Germans would come again just after it was repaired, it would have to be repaired.
The airport runway was destroyed and Zhou Zhihan could not leave. He had to go to the underground air raid shelter to sleep. It was not until nine o'clock the next morning that the airport runway could barely take off and land planes.
At noon, Zhou Zhihan took off in the A214 Spitfire, passing by the thorny bushes in the wilderness he saw last night. He lowered his height and looked down. The green fields on the ground were vast, and he could no longer find the place where a dozen people were digging last night. .
In the distance, fierce air battles took place over the English Channel, leaving messy condensed contrails in the blue sky. From time to time, fighter jets from both sides were pouring smoke, falling into the sea or leaving the battlefield. Major cities and airports in the UK were also attacked. The Germans were bombarding them fiercely, and the ground was full of smoke and fire. The whole of Britain was on the verge of collapse.
After these two consecutive man-made accidents, Zhou Zhihan no longer had the intention to fight anymore, and it was in line with his wishes that the Royal Air Force headquarters did not allow him to fight. Now he only thought about how to quickly leave the UK and leave this place of right and wrong.
Now he finally understands that the hearts of most people in the UK are good, but for some Zheng Zhijia, they always adhere to the saying "people who are not of my race must have different hearts" and never regard him as one of their own. Integration is more about use and deep-seated distrust.
Zhou Zhihan avoided the warring parties and flew back to the allied base. He now wished he could stay with Karen every day.
In the past few days, he has been thinking about whether to take Karen back to China.
Compared with his life, everything else is secondary. As for the Polish 303 and 304 Squadrons, as well as the other two squadrons composed of foreigners, he can no longer take care of them. At this point in the war, the UK is seriously short of pilots and pilots who can fly. They are all in a state of overload fatigue, especially pilots from Poland and other occupied countries.
In the next two days, the British Air Force continuously sent bombers to attack Berlin, but Zhou Zhihan was not allowed to fight again. This may be because the incident that the bomber he piloted was mysteriously out of fuel was rumored in private.
Zhou Zhihan also enjoyed his leisure time. He was not as active as before in training the rookies in London. During this period, he took the time to visit the embassy to discuss how to get him to return to China.
After a few days, everything was ready, and Zhou Zhihan thought that the opportunity to return to China was coming.
