"Steady there, Rent! Just a little steadier... just a bit! Holy cow!"
Logan, sitting facing the tail of the plane, struggled to control the "extra" revolving aircraft gun—during the Polish campaign, the "Stork" was initially a weaponless, defenseless, and slow "three-nothing" product, so it was shot down by Polish ground fire quite a bit before being fitted with steel plates and self-defense machine guns.
"Don't be silly, there's no use at this distance, sit tight!" Lieutenant Stephenberg shouted mercilessly.
"What distance?" Logan was puzzled; the aircraft behind looked very close, well within the range of the machine gun!
If this rookie without any flying experience could accurately judge aerial distances, there would be no need for flight schools! British fighters hadn't fired yet, not out of disdain for attacking the lightweight reconnaissance plane of the Germans—after all, British pilots had lost many comrades in Dunkirk over the past few days and were itching for a fight!
The agile "Stork" quickly descended from a kilometer-high altitude to less than a hundred meters. Looking down, Logan could even see every little ditch and wheel mark on the ground!
The scenery was beautiful, but bullets had no eyes. When dark red flashes suddenly appeared on the dark-colored British fighter, and a series of dark red dots rapidly approached, Logan tore at his throat and shouted with a tone almost reminiscent of the classic line from "Journey to the West": "Be careful! It's firing!"
In the nick of time, the left wing of the "Stork" suddenly sank, and the whole aircraft rapidly veered to the left.
Watching the series of dark red dots fly past the tail of the plane, Logan shivered!
Damn it, he couldn't just take hits without fighting back! It was the rookie's first experience of aerial combat, and he squeezed the trigger of the 7.92mm caliber MG15 aircraft gun with force.
Ever since trying the Vickers heavy machine gun at the British Expeditionary Force headquarters, Logan had become somewhat obsessed with the continuous sound, especially seeing the gunfire repeatedly, and the golden-yellow casings being ejected, it was even more satisfying than watching an American movie!
As the shadow kept moving in and out of his sight, Logan thought to himself: there must be a time when I hit it, right? He emptied all the bullets in the drum magazine in one go, and when he looked up at the British fighter, there was nothing!
"Damn it!"
Logan once again invoked the curse of the super invincible, and hurriedly took out a spare drum from the box beside him. But Stephenberg didn't cooperate at all; the plane twisted to the left and then to the right, each turn was abrupt, almost flipping the plane! Logan's head knocked several times in succession, and he even saw countless stars in front of him, faintly hearing the iconic phrase of a CCTV host: "Congratulations! You've hit the jackpot! Your wish will be fulfilled! Yeah!"
Despite the "Stork" performing acrobatics in the air, the British fighter behind still bit tightly at the distance and occasionally took potshots. Just as Logan finally emptied the second drum magazine, the inconspicuous town of Monck reappeared below them—the ground anti-aircraft guns opened fire in time, forcing the British fighter to pull up quickly. However, the British pilot wasn't giving up the prey in his mouth; after circling around, he swooped down from high altitude and strafed the "Stork" that was preparing to land.
Facing such a perilous situation, Stephenberg had to pull up the aircraft and fly east.
Cursing the damn British pilot, Logan quickly loaded the machine gun with a new drum, ready to try his luck again. But after waiting for a while, he didn't see the British fighter catching up again. Had they finally shaken off the pursuer?
Before he could feel happy about it, a shadow suddenly appeared above his line of sight. When he looked up, he was startled: the British fighter came straight down from above the treetops, whistling past the "Stork," not only could he see the circular emblem on the wing clearly, but even the air intake and tailwheel were clearly visible!
"Damn it!"
The two men sitting back-to-back on the reconnaissance plane cursed simultaneously.
Fortunately, this time the British pilot didn't find an attack angle. Stephenberg quickly pushed the plane down, and just as the wheels were about to touch the grass, he made a sharp turn and quickly flew north, bypassing the woods.
Just as the plane was turning, Logan suddenly saw something different through the gaps in the trees!
"Hey, Rent, did you see that?" No missing words.
"What?"
"The woods on the left!"
"No, I couldn't be distracted!" the lieutenant sat upright.
"Can we fly back there? I think I might have seen something important! Maybe... it's Allied tanks?"
"Tanks?" The lieutenant hesitated for a moment. "No, Lieutenant, I think the Allied tanks are all lost east of Belgium and the Meuse!"
Before Logan could argue, he happened to see the British fighter from earlier flying back after making a big circle, so he had to shut up obediently, pick up the machine gun, and prepare for another round with the young cub.