Attack on Sodor

                                    

                                          
8:15 a.m., Sunday, September 15th, 1940
A day that would be forever known in the history books as Battle of Britain Day.
The Luftwaffe would send it's largest assortment of fighter planes ever in a desperate attempt to completely annihilate the Royal Air Force. There would be 1,500 aircraft in all, including 533 Bf 109s, 107 Bf 110s, 51 reconnaissance and 484 medium bomber aircraft. All of these came from the air fleets Luftflotte 2 and Luftflotte 3, the Luftwaffe's primary fighter divisions. Today would see a day of heavy bombing over the English cities of Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, London, Manchester, and Southampton.
Out of all there many planes that would participate in this attack over industrial England, history would overlook two other factions of the Lufwaffe making their way to Sodor.
The aircraft carriers Graf Zeppelin and Flugzeugträger B were loaded with Messerschmitts, Fieselers and Junkers on a trek to bring it's first ever operation into full service. Their engines were stopped dead in the calm sea, a sky of unsettled overcast clouds perfect for a surprise attack. The squadron Trägergruppe II/186 commanded by Major Walter Hagen had been waiting for a day like this, as the German Navy's high hopes of putting Operation Sea Lion into action would begin by using an island as a practice run for the squadron, a practice run that they believed would give the British denizens who lived there a sign that would create a possible foreboding on the future day when the Nazis would conquer the United Kingdom and her isles. Strategic bombings had already done enough damage to London and the surrounding cities and for that reason, Major Hagen wanted to test it on an island with enough industrial ground to destroy.
Also overlooked by most historians was Luftflotte 5, a fifth air fleet based in occupied Norway, who never underestimated all of the United Kingdom's industrial melting pot. They would send its own planes to the British isles between England and Ireland. Two of the targets being Sodor and the Isle of Man. They had sent reconnaissance planes and spies to take pictures of whatever targets were considered worthy to destroy. It took them a few months, but in the end, Sodor was selected, as Man was holding prisoners of war and that Sodor was heavy with industry. With luck, it would take the island years to recover. Luftflotte 5, or Air Fleet 5 in English, had a total of 170 planes, who would send bombers and fighters over the docks and ports of the areas, while the Liverpool docks would be targeted by the two main fleets.
Outside the shores of Sodor at the early dawn, the planes began their ascension into the heavens.
The engines on Sodor knew none of this, they were sleeping peacefully in their shed and so was Johnny. He thought of his mother as he slept. Would she have believed him? Would she have fought with his father just so that she could side with him?  Then again, she grew up in an upscale neighborhood of London, far away from the nearest sign of trains. He looked out the window, the weather was fine, with scattered clouds all across the upside-down sea of blue. Maybe now he could pay Thomas a "shed-call".
He got dressed raced down the stairs and out the door before anyone else did, giving little thought to his teeth or the fact that he still had a messy mop of hair from sleeping in bed. He found the morning train, took it to Barrow and waited for Gordon to arrive with the first Express of the day.
Gordon was always the first to travel at the start of each day, especially since the railway's premier passenger train, the Wild Nor'Wester was filled with early risers. Without so much as a good morning, Johnny walked onboard in the compartment closest to the guard's van and Gordon started off. The journey was quick as the countryside rolled by with only a few stops in-between, as he had a few times before.
They had just stopped at Maron when Johnny heard it.
The rumbling of a plane's engine filled everyone's ears, growing louder and louder into a thunderous applause that brought fear into everyone.