Since the German Navy acquired the Azores from the Kingdom of Portugal, it had spent more than twenty years transforming them. On the islands of the Azores, it had built large numbers of airfields, anti-aircraft batteries, air-search Radar stations, fuel depots, ammunition depots, and other living facilities.
Even though many islands in the Azores, such as Sao Jorge Island and Corvo Island, could not accommodate large airfields, the German Navy had built small airfields on them and deployed combat aircraft wherever possible. Together with the large-caliber fortress guns and the like, it had turned the entire Azores into an unsinkable aircraft carrier.
Although the outside world did not know how many combat aircraft the German Navy had deployed in the Azores, one thing was certain: the number was enormous. These combat aircraft all belonged to the German Atlantic Fleet's land-based air arm. They included five Fighter Wings, three Dive Bomber Wings, and two Torpedo Bomber Wings. Including Reconnaissance Aircraft and transport planes, the total number of aircraft across the Azores exceeded fifteen hundred.
Moreover, to prevent the airfields from suffering surprise attacks by enemy Capital Ships under cover of night, as had happened to those airfields in the Pacific Ocean, the German Atlantic Fleet had not only stationed fortress guns throughout the Azores, but also built numerous underground hangars and hollowed out mountains to create cave hangars. More than half of the combat aircraft were stationed in these underground hangars and cave hangars. Runways specially linked them to the outside. German Navy aircraft could even be fueled and loaded with bombs inside the underground hangars and cave hangars, then race directly down the runways and out before taking off. This prevented them from suffering heavy losses under enemy warship bombardment.
Although this series of projects consumed vast sums of money,