Rat-a-tat-tat!
A P-51 fighter was attacked by German carrier-based aircraft diving down from above. The cockpit glass was pierced by aircraft machine-gun fire, and the bullets instantly riddled the pilot like a honeycomb. Blood burst forth, staining the cockpit red.
With the pilot dead, the aircraft immediately lost control and began plunging toward the sea.
The fierce aerial battle inflicted considerable losses on both sides. Overall, however, the US P-51 fighters suffered far greater losses. The German carrier-based FW-190 fighters suffered far fewer.
After barely a dozen minutes of fighting, the US P-51 fighter group had lost more than two hundred aircraft. The German carrier-based FW-190 fighters, meanwhile, had lost only a little over thirty. This stripped the US P-51 group of even its numerical advantage. Their disadvantage in the ensuing air battle only grew greater and greater.
"God! The Germans are too powerful. We're simply no match for them."
"Their pilots are far more skilled than ours. Their aircraft are stronger too. If this goes on, all our planes will soon be shot down."
As their losses mounted, the US Army Air Corps P-51 pilots grew timid and afraid. They piloted their fighters away, trying to flee this airspace and escape the pursuit of the German carrier-based aircraft.
"Hmph! A pack of idiots. All squadrons, focus your fire on the Americans' heavy bombers. Wipe them all out!" the German military Commander ordered.
"Yes, sir!" the squadron leaders answered.
The German carrier-based aircraft group had previously concentrated its fire on the US P-51 group precisely to scatter them, allowing the German carrier-based aircraft group to focus its fire on those heavy bombers afterward. Compared to the fighters, those heavy bombers were what the German military aircraft urgently wanted to eliminate. These heavy bombers carried no small number of Aerial Bombs.