The air battle in Cyprus did not end with the heroic performance of the first wave of British fighters, but continued to intensify. Fighters from Cyprus were constantly joining the group, fighting it with Romanian air raid groups.

The fierce fighting between the two sides also spread from outside the island to the island, and the island's anti-aircraft fire also enthusiastically joined the battle. After entering the island, the bomber groups scattered in all directions, and they pounced on various military installations on the island, intending to bomb them.

Naturally, the British fighters did not want to see this situation, and rushed to shoot it down. But how could the escort HF201 fighter let it get its wish, and they did not let it leave.

Speaking of which, this air raid has a very high proportion of fighters, and it is also prepared to deal with such a situation. Nearly 100 FH201s that took off from the aircraft carrier, plus two groups escorting them all the way, are fully capable of coping with such a situation.

Although the Hurricane was dragged down by HF201 fighters, it does not mean that the British army has no other way.

"Hum~"

A squadron of gladiator fighters roared and pounced on an incoming group of bombers.

"Da, da, da~"

Before the gladiators could get closer, the bomber's own 12.7mm self-defense machine gun fired.

And seeing that the bomber was attacked, and the HF201 fighter in his hand was dealt with, he also rushed over to the rescue.

Without waiting for the HF201 fighter to arrive, the Gladiator fighter, who seized this good opportunity, immediately approached the bomber from the flank and flank with its four British 7.7 machine guns.

"Click, Tower, Tower~"

After a burst of machine-gun fire, the bomber with bullet holes continued to fly forward, except for a puff of pitch-black smoke coming out of the wing of one bomber.

This surprised the gladiators who had just completed an attack, and there was no way, their British 7.7 aviation machine guns were a little difficult to face metal bombers, not to mention that bombers generally had armor to protect the core area.

Even the bomber with the black smoke was still flying in formation.

Naturally, the gladiator fighters did not intend to give up like this, and they pounced on them again with the intention of launching another attack.

"Da, da, da~"

The HF201 fighters, which finally rushed back, immediately used their fierce cannons to give these biplane fighters who only dared to sneak up on a fierce blow. With a speed of up to 560 kilometers per hour, it is not afraid that these biplanes will have any chance of escaping.

Sure enough, as the HF201 fighter opened fire, several gladiators immediately fell to the ground with thick smoke. The characteristics of its biplane are completely incapable of competing with the Romanian Zero.

And these gladiators also knew this, and immediately scattered and fled after the HF201 fighter rushed back. The HF201 fighters who rushed back were worried about the safety of the bombers, and after only a few short pursuits, they returned to protect the bomber group.

In the face of this situation where the fighters could not get in, the British army was also very anxious, and even the commander of the Air Force, Brigadier General Bronck, once wanted to let the bombers attack the opponent's bombers. It's just a matter of considering the consequences of court-martialing.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Airfields, air defense, became the first targets to be bombed, and a large number of bombers bombed non-stop.

In fact, Romania did not want to bomb the airfield either, and wanted to save it for its own use after the paratroopers seized it. However, it is too strange for the air raid not to attack the airfield, and it is completely to give the enemy ideas, so this air raid also treats the airport equally. It's just that 50KG bombs are used more to bomb the airfield during the bombing to facilitate the repair work of the defenders.

The fierce bombing caused heavy losses to both the airfield and the air defense, and although there were only a few more than 100 Romanian bombers this time, the power of the bombing of the four airfields and air defense facilities was very evident. In addition to the bombers that had long since left, the more than 70 planes of various types that had not been able to escape were all destroyed on the ground.

In the face of the bombing of the airport, the British fighters in the air battle were a little crazy, and they began to ignore their own casualties.

"Boom!"

A Hurricane fighter plane collided with an HF201 fighter in a common end-or-die approach. The pilot of the HF201 fighter, who did not notice the danger beside him, died on the spot before he could even parachute.

In the face of the somewhat frantic play of the British fighters, the Romanian side was not without a strategy. First of all, they used the excellent performance of their fighters to open the battlefield, so that the distance between the fighters was further expanded, and at the same time, each fighter paid attention to the reminder.

This move of the Romanian plane made the British fighters a little blind. Because the Hurricane fighter is a big step behind the HF201 fighter in terms of speed, climb, and flexibility. So the response in the face of Romanian fighters made the situation even more difficult. The fighters that fell in the air were also basically British hurricanes.

And when the bombers began to return, the HF201 fighters began to break away from the battle, protecting the bombers and leaving.

It's just that this is too uncomfortable for the British Air Force, not only did they not stop the opposing bombers, but also the escort fighters did not hit. In this battle, the opponent's fighter left a deep impression on them, agility, speed, and climb were much better than their hurricanes.

But before they were ready to talk about anything, there was a more important question that was bothering them, how should the plane land now?

Although the airport personnel immediately stepped forward to repair the runway after the bombing, how could it be repaired so quickly. Although the power of a 50-kilogram bomb is not great, the crater of its explosion cannot be filled immediately. And in addition to the 50-kilogram aerial bomb, there were other types of bombs in the airfield that caused losses from explosions.

So no matter what, the fighters in the air need to come down and refuel, not to mention that these fighters are the only fighters in the defenders. To lose them would be to completely abandon air supremacy, so the British army immediately figured out a way.

Don't say it, I've really figured it out. In Paralim, in the eastern part of the island, there is a flat pasture that belongs to a nearby dairy. And this grassland area is large enough for the landing and docking of aircraft.

Brigadier General Bronk got the news and hurriedly went there to set up an airfield temporarily. So under the command of the ground crew, the fighters that had run out of fuel docked here one after another.

With more than eighty warplanes in the air docked to the ground, this made Brigadier General Bronk breathe a big sigh of relief. Although the bombers were temporarily transferred to French Syria, the fighters could not be transferred, but needed to be strengthened.

Just as Brigadier General Bronk wanted to send a telegram asking for more fighter support, a piercing air defense siren sounded again.

Without waiting for Brigadier General Blanc to ask, an officer rushed straight in.

"General, the Romanian air raid is coming again, it is currently less than 30 kilometers away from us, the number is about 340, and there are half of the fighters."

The officer's words made Brigadier General Bronck's face change greatly, because his own fighters were still refueling on the ground, and they were not even half of the opponent's number.

"Immediately order them to hide their fighters and let them hurry."

Brigadier General Bronck, who had given the order, could only hope that the fighter planes that were urgently docked at Paralim would not be discovered by the air raid troops.

It's just that where can his idea be realized, 30 kilometers is only a matter of minutes for fighters, and where can the fighter planes parked on the grass be concealed in this time, just holding the grass is not enough.

It's just that these fighters are out of gas, and the oil trucks have just arrived here. It takes dozens of minutes just to refuel, and refueling under enemy bombardment is something that only a madman would do, and he can only choose to go into seclusion.

There were no enemy fighters in the sky, which surprised the Romanian officer who led the team. In order to prevent possible surprises, he made a wise decision to scatter several planes at once and reconnoitre, three of which were heading east.

As one of the warplanes flew over Nicosia and over a hill to the east, the distant sight immediately shook him. Dozens of fighter planes were parked in a dense group, and British personnel were constantly holding grass and trees to try to cover them.

Naturally, such a situation needs to be reported, and the pilot will be informed of what he has seen. He smiled slightly, only to see him lower his altitude and strafe at the dense fighters on this side, and at the same time the 30-kilogram bomb in the belly of the plane was also dropped.

"Boom!"

The blast sent the plants into the air, setting them on fire. The smoke gradually rose, pointing out the direction for the incoming fighters behind.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Unlike the reconnaissance fighters, the incoming bombers destroyed all the docked fighters in this area, and saw tears in the eyes of the British soldiers present, but this was powerless.

In the ensuing bombing, all kinds of military facilities of the British army were bombed, but the port was not damaged. This allowed Major General Dowding Hughes to be sure that the Romanian landing was just around the corner, so his telegram for help was sent even more diligently.

Although he was asking for help, it was just a bit difficult for Britain and France to get reinforcements on the island. That is, they did not have sea supremacy, and they had relied on the threat of the air force to keep the Romanian fleet from approaching Cyprus.

It's just that now it has been bombed by Romanian planes on a large scale and at no cost, so that the island's air force has suffered casualties, and it is powerless to resist Romania's air supremacy.

Of course, the British and French sides were not satisfied with Romania's control of the air in Cyprus. On the third day, they then organized massive reinforcements, consisting of 80 MS.406 fighters, 48 Spitfires and 81 Hurricanes, in an attempt to regain air supremacy on the island.

On this day, more than 600 sorties of warplanes from both sides flew over Cyprus for a day. In the face of a fighter like HF201, in addition to the Spitfire, the other two fighters can only be suppressed by it.

In one day's fighting, the British and French lost 127 fighters, of which 31 Spitfires were shot down and 96 were shot down by the other two fighters. Such a large loss made Britain and France no longer able to prevent Romania from gaining air supremacy.

Although Romania won the day-long air battle, it was also uncomfortable, with 53 HF201 fighters shot down and 9 bombers shot down.

Combined with the losses of the previous two days, Romania lost 104 fighters, basically all HF201 fighters (one RF20 fighter crashed into the sea, one landed on its side by mistake), and 39 bombers also lost.

For the victory of this air battle, the number of fighters of the navy and air force was very large, but fortunately, the results were satisfactory.

Now that the air power in Cyprus has been crushed, and the air defense forces have been almost wiped out, the next phase of the operation can also begin.