Although Nelson Georgievich Stepanyan is only 29 years old this year, he is already considered experienced in the Red Navy aviation unit. This Armenian young man born in Azerbaijan graduated from the Civil Aviation School in 1935 and then served as a flight instructor. Before the outbreak of the Patriotic War, his mission was more civil. After the outbreak of the war, he grew up quickly.

When the Patriotic War broke out, Stepaniyan served in the Red Flag Black Sea Fleet and worked as a strike pilot at the Odessa base airport. On the first day of Barbarossa, Stepaniyan launched the plane to fight with the Nazi puppet Romania. In June and July alone, Stepaniyan took off to fight twenty times until he was injured by the enemy's anti-aircraft artillery while performing a dive bombing mission and was forced to recuperate.

A month later, Stepaniyan returned to the army again and joined the battle of Odessa with his comrades. In August, September and October, he took off to the air for 80 battles, almost an average of one more time a day. This is really very strong for the attack pilots!

Moreover, Stepaniyan not only worked, but also achieved amazing results. In four months of battle, he personally destroyed more than fifty cars, eight tanks and more than sixty anti-aircraft guns. In November 1941, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin.

Stepanyan soon ushered in a major turning point in his life. As an outstanding pilot of HNA, he was selected as a new group of carrier-based aircraft pilots. Soon he bid farewell to Odessa and went to the Naval Carrier-based aircraft pilot training center in Sevastopol for three months of training.

At the carrier-based pilot center, Stepanyan performed extremely well. He completed the onshore training successfully in just two months and became the first pilot to be approved for training on board. In Murmansk, Stepanyan boarded the deck of the aircraft carrier for the first time, took off and landed on the aircraft carrier for the first time, and soon fell in love with this new flight experience.

After four months of high-intensity ship training, Stepaniyan became the leader of the new group of carrier-based pilots. He was assigned to serve on the USS Leningrad aircraft carrier and was also flying the latest RO-3 multi-purpose attack aircraft.

"At the end of June 1942, the first anniversary of the outbreak of the Patriotic War, I and my comrades boarded the RO-3 attack aircraft. This attack aircraft with a combat radius of more than 500 nautical miles has excellent performance, with a maximum speed of more than 500 kilometers per hour, and a maximum load of 15 tons. It has two millimeter cannons."

"But our mission is not to attack, but to exist as the eyes and ears of the fleet. According to the intelligence sent by the members of the Moscow Communist Youth League, we searched in the form of a three-aircraft formation. To be honest, this is a very boring and boring job."

"There was no radar at that time, and it was found that the enemy plane was based on our naked eyes. The three of us widened our eyes and carefully searched every inch of the sea below, for fear of missing a clue. But we flipped the sea below several times but found nothing. There was nothing besides the whales!"

"The long flight made us dizzy. We were hungry and could only eat two bites of dark chocolate. When we were thirsty, we had no water to drink. The most troublesome thing was going to the toilet. There was no precious space on the fighter plane to arrange the toilet, and you could only pull it in your pants to solve the problem. Of course, we all gave us diapers before boarding the plane, but you know, that feeling was very strange!"

"Compared with physiological problems, the heavier thing is the psychological pressure. As the eyes of the fleet, we must discover the traces of enemy ships as soon as possible and accurately guide the friend aircraft to conduct attacks. This was a difficult time in the fishing operation. The reason is that our opponent is the old fox, who constantly changes the route and misleads us with various means, plus the wrong information of the cruiser formation, well, all this is terrible!"

"We try to reduce the speed and save fuel, even when we set off. We have already carried two large secondary fuel tanks under both wings, but for a long search, this is still not enough. But God is still more pleasing to us. Just when our fuel is tight, an unexpected situation caught my attention!"

"A water reconnaissance plane suddenly popped up under the clouds in the distance. I am so familiar with this kind of plane. Every day I have to review the German ship and aircraft identification manual. Only by keeping the appearance of these enemies in mind can you be at ease!"

"This A seems to be really ready to return after performing a reconnaissance mission. For me, this is great news. As long as I follow this enemy plane, I will definitely find the location of the enemy ship!"

"I pushed the operating rod without hesitation and followed. Of course, I did not expose the target as carelessly as a fool, but carefully used the cover of the clouds to fall behind the enemy plane's butt. Thanks to this damn storm, the dense clouds covered the ro-3's tracks well. Of course, I almost lost the enemy plane because of the dark clouds once or twice during this period."

"This storm comes and goes quickly. Twenty minutes later, the sky clears up again. If you don't look at the watch, you can't imagine it's ten o'clock in the evening! That a started landing, looking in the direction of its landing, hey! My goodness, three or four large warships are sailing south at high speed, while the remaining one is slowing down, and it seems to be preparing to recover the reconnaissance aircraft."

Stepanyan immediately ordered the navigator to check the location and coordinates, and then immediately informed the aircraft carrier battle group in the distance. It has to be said that his discovery was of decisive significance, but Stepanyan did what Grechko did not do.

But later Stepanyan said: "It is certainly worthy of joy to discover the traces of the enemy fleet, but this does not mean that everything has been settled. First of all, the enemy's location is still far from our attack formation. Before the attack aircraft formation arrives, they have time to continue changing the route and play hide-and-seek with us. So we must keep an eye on them for a while, but, as I said before, my plane has not much fuel!"

At that time, Stepaniyan was facing a big problem. If he chose to return immediately, he could fly back to the aircraft carrier, which would be safe for him and his crew members. But this might let the enemy go. If he chose to continue tracking and surveillance, his plane would definitely not be able to fly back, which means that the lives of him and the other two comrades on the plane would be difficult to preserve.

Survival or destruction is entirely in the thought of Stepaniyan. He almost immediately made a decision: "I must continue to stay and monitor the enemy ships. This is my mission and what a soldier who is determined to defend his country should do! And my comrades also happily agreed to my choice. They told me: 'I drifted on the sea for half a month, and today I happened to take a shower!'."

At the critical moment, Stepanyan and his comrades made the most correct choice, leaving danger to themselves and leaving the possibility of eliminating the enemy to other comrades. Under Stepanyan's instructions, the attack aircraft formation corrected its course again and flew in the right direction.

But to be honest, this is actually a bit late. The fuel of the Jacques-3k fighter, accompanied by the escort, was in a hurry and had to evacuate the battlefield first. The first batch of RO-2 attack aircraft that took off consumed a lot of fuel because they searched the sea and consumed a lot of fuel.

Only 72 RO-2 attack aircraft were truly able to be attacked, including 36 carrying aviation bombs and the rest carrying a 450mm 45-36an aviation torpedo. They formed six formations and rushed towards the fleet of Ciliarkos with great momentum.

At the same time, Stepanyan and his friends also reached the most dangerous moment, the reason was very simple. They were exposed! Soon, Admiral Hippel, Prince Eugen, Tirpitz and Schánhorst successively ejected four A-water reconnaissance aircraft.

Don’t underestimate A. Don’t think that this guy can only do reconnaissance work with a water reconnaissance aircraft. In fact, the aircraft still has considerable self-defense firepower. For example, the AA-2 is equipped with two fixed 20mm cannons and a 79mm machine gun. In addition, there is also a moving 79mm machine gun in the rear seat, which is quite considerable in terms of firepower alone.

The problem with this aircraft is that it is too slow (the maximum speed is 309 kilometers per hour), which is really difficult to deal with new fighters, but the Germans did not expect the water reconnaissance aircraft to be able to handle the serious fighter jets. The Germans' requirement for A is enough to be able to drive out local reconnaissance aircraft.

This task is still competent for A. Soon, four A-types rushed towards Stepanyan in a fierce manner. The tracer bullets of the 20mm cannon continued to send cordial greetings to the RO-3. Fortunately, as a dual-engine attack aircraft, the RO-3 is not only solid in the fuselage. The three pilots are equipped with "armor bathtubs" under the seats, and their self-defense firepower is also relatively powerful.

Two millimeter cannons and three 127mm machine guns are very good and powerful. It is especially important to note that the air cannons equipped by the Soviet Union are all in the type of blood. Their fire rate is quite amazing! So when the four A-approaches face Stepanian's landlines, they were shocked by their fierce firepower.

"The Russians' aviation machine guns are quite terrible. They can fire thousands of bullets per minute, and the 127mm warhead is much more powerful than the 79mm machine gun we equipped. As long as they are hit, they can leave a hole as big as a bowl!"

However, Stepanyan was alone after all, even if he tried his best to deal with the enemy plane, he would inevitably be shot. This extremely unbalanced air battle lasted for about twenty minutes. During this period, Stepanyan's plane exhausted all the ammunition, and he shot down and injured two A-wheelers, but at the same time, his car was also covered in scars.

After the battle, Stepaniyan was forced to land in Norway by driving a RO-3, and the Red Army ground crew repaired the plane and was surprised to find that there were 600 bullet holes on the plane! But what is even more surprising is that Stepaniyan and the other two friends in the cockpit did not even fall off a single hair!

Back to the air battle itself, twenty minutes later, Stepanyan could only deal with the enemy aircraft with his flight skills (no ammunition). At that time, he thought: "This time, he must be dead, no ammunition, and the enemy is still continuing to eject A, it's only a matter of time to be shot down!"

At this deadly moment, the fighter jets that the Red Navy took off from Tromso finally arrived at the battlefield. Four Rag-3s rushed towards A like an eagle catching a chicken, and shot down two enemy planes in just one round.

Stepanyan said at the time: "I let out a long breath. Lager came too timely. The three of us waved to them desperately in the cockpit to express our gratitude. Even the machine gunner Ruffle in the back seat was crying with joy..."

It was lucky for Stepanyan, but for Cialis, it was a rainy day. When A was cut by Rag-3, the lieutenant general realized that he had to make a painful choice. Continue to maintain the formation, and there was only one result, that was, he was taken over by the enemy's bombers and attack aircraft. The Prince of Wales and the Counterattack had proven before. Without the cover of the air force, facing a large group of air strikes, whether it was a battleship or a battle patrol, there was only a dead end!

Siriacos ordered reluctantly: "Diss the formation and let the ships break through!"

This order means leaving the will. Although the disbanding of the fleet can distract the enemy, at the same time, any single German ship will only have a dead end when facing the air strikes of the Red Navy! However, there is no way to do so, because Ciriacos believes that continuing to maintain the formation will only be taken away by the Red Navy.

From the air, the German fleet led by the Tirpitz quickly "bloomed", and the five main battleships scattered in different directions, leaving five bright tracks on the sea surface.

But Ciriarkos would soon regret this decision for life, because shortly after he disbanded the fleet, Drell sent a telegram from the German Air Force in Norway, informing him that he would provide air cover.

After receiving the late telegram, Ciriacos was amused and could only open the radio station again to contact the other four friends ships that had been dispersed. However, not all friends ships responded to his assembly number.

After Prince Eugen left the formation, it was soon discovered by carrier-based aircraft of the Red Navy. 24 RO-2s formed an attack formation of different heights in three groups. The first one launched the attack formation carrying 45-36an aerial torpedoes. The 9 RO-2s quickly approached Prince Eugen at an altitude of 50 meters under the attack of anti-aircraft artillery fire, and rushed until a distance of 800 meters from the latter before dropping the torpedo.

45-36an is the main aviation torpedo of the Red Sea carrier-based aircraft. In fact, this mine is an imported product. Its prototype is a new aviation torpedo introduced by the Navy from the Italian Whitehead Company in 1932. The mine was finalized in 1936 with a equip-force (model called 45-36h). The mine was 450 mm in diameter, 57 meters in length, and a total weight of 935 kilograms. The lightning head was charged with 200 kilograms. The 41 knots were the maximum range of 3 kilometers, and the 32 knots were the speed of 6 kilometers.

Based on the 45-36h, the Red Navy made a series of improvements, and derived the high-altitude model 45-46ab-a torpedo and the low-altitude model 45-36an (performance is basically the same as the 45-36h, but the low-altitude projection capability has been improved). Since 1939, the 45-36an has become the main battle torpedo of the Red Navy carrier-based aircraft. The 45-46ab-a is more equipped for the land-based Il-2t and Il-4t.

As the 45-36an, which was nearly a ton, was ejected from the mount, the ro-2 suddenly jumped up more than ten meters, and then the pilots rushed to rudder and turned to make way for the subsequent torpedo planes.

The first batch of three 45-36an torpedoes plunged into the sea, and then slowly rose to a depth of about 5 meters with the help of the depth meter, and then the engine began to work. The propeller pushed the torpedo to accelerate to 41 knots and rushed towards Prince Eugen. At the same time, Prince Eugen did not sit and wait for death, and immediately began to turn at a high angle. The three torpedoes almost rubbed against its hull.

"Damn it!"

The torpedo pilot cursed, but it was useless to scold them because they no longer had torpedoes. The next thing they could do was to see if their comrades were lucky.

Immediately afterwards, the first batch of torpedoes launched the attacks not the subsequent to follow-up torpedo aircraft, but the RO-2 carrying bombs that are moving at high altitude and in the air. According to the standard attack tactics of the Red Navy, when attacking ships, the attacking machine must start from high altitude, in the air at the same time. Among them, the high altitude is naturally dive bombing, while the air is horizontal bombing. As for the low altitude situation, it is quite special. There are two options: torpedo or bombs.

Obviously, there is only one reason why the Red Navy launched an attack from three types of airspace at the same time, that is, the enemy ships are overwhelmed with air defense firepower, making it impossible for the enemy ships to concentrate their firepower. For the German ships, which have already had very thin air defense firepower, this kind of attack effect is particularly good.

However, the situation of the attack on Prince Eugen this time was a little different, and there was no horizontal bombing in the air. The reason was that the captain of the RO-2 fleet believed that horizontal bombing was not very meaningful, and Prince Eugen was a commander of the bare pole. The combination of high-altitude horizontal bombing and low-altitude attack was enough to disperse the air defense firepower of the enemy ship.

The same is true in reality. After the first torpedo attack waves flashed away, the second wave of RO-2 launched a low-altitude bomb attack on Prince Eugen from an altitude of 80 meters.

Maybe some comrades will be puzzled, why should they drop bombs at low altitude? Shouldn't they play torpedoes at low altitude? The bombs must be dived from high altitude and bombing the best effect! Is this too apt to use for the Red Sea ship-based pilot?

Don't worry, the Red Navy's carrier-based pilots are not at all amateurs, and their attack behavior is completely in line with the Red Navy's carrier-based aircraft tutorial. According to the Red Navy's live-fire exercises and tests, bombs can also launch attacks at low altitudes, and the effect will not be worse than high-altitude dive bombing.

Let me put it this way, since the mid-1930s, the Red Navy carrier-based aircraft pilots have specially begun to train this tactic of using bombs to strike enemy ships at low altitudes... (To be continued.)

ps: Bow to thank hzangdd, the most powerful army, old students, idle reading of the world, Xuanyuan Ji Shengtian Emperor and Comrade Juventus!
Chapter completed!