"General, a telegram requesting assistance has arrived from the Royal Air Force. The Royal Air Force is about to collapse in the air battle over Cape Breton Island. From 7:45 this morning until now, in barely an hour, they have lost more than three hundred combat aircraft. The remaining three hundred-odd aircraft are being chased all over the sky by the German Air Force and the German Navy's Carrier-based Aircraft Unit," Lieutenant General Delos Emmons, Commander of Combat Forces of the US Army Air Corps, reported.
General Arnold nodded. "Are our forces ready?"
"General, the 1st Air Force and 2nd Air Force have completed their preparations and can take off to engage the Germans at any time. However, the German Air Force and the German Navy's Carrier-based Aircraft Unit are extremely formidable. Most of our pilots have no actual combat experience. If they take part in an air battle like this, I'm afraid our chances of victory are slim." Lieutenant General Delos Emmons was somewhat worried.
The US Army Air Corps was indeed enormous, and it was still expanding at a rapid pace. Yet many of its pilots were merely recruits who had only recently joined the military. Even though they had undergone systematic training, they had never been tested in real combat. Once they entered the battlefield, before the German Air Force and the German Navy's Carrier-based Aircraft Unit, they would surely be like weak sheep, left to be slaughtered at will.
"General Emmons, I know that sending forces into this air battle will cost us dearly. But we cannot sit by and watch the Royal Air Force suffer a crushing defeat. Once the Royal Air Force is wiped out, we will have to face the Germans alone. By then, the pressure on us will be even greater. What's