After the design was completed, the next step was to produce prototypes, and two prototypes were produced first, mainly for ground taxiing, short-distance flight tests, and airframe strength tests. Of course, when testing the strength of the body, the engine must be removed first, after all, the engine is precious.

After dozens of ground taxi, short-distance flight, the obtained data was entered into the server established by the East China Government for calculation and distribution, and some details of the original design were modified, and then the No. 3 prototype began to be manufactured, fortunately, the aircraft in this era is very simple, and it is not difficult to manufacture, the manufacturing time of an aircraft is about 3 months, so 1 month ago, the No. 3 prototype was manufactured, and several ground taxi, short-distance flight tests were carried out, and the official test flight began today.

Of course, the ground taxiing and short-distance flight tests in the early stage are to test the performance of the aircraft on the one hand, and to temper the test pilots on the other hand. There were 6 test pilots in the first batch, all of whom were naturally helicopter pilots, and all of them had experience flying fixed-wing aircraft in the old time and space. And today's first test flight test pilot is Zheng Zongming, in the old time and space, he was originally a pilot who learned to fly fixed-wing aircraft, drove 9 trainer planes, a total of more than 60 hours of flight time, is all the helicopter pilots crossed, flying fixed-wing aircraft for the most time, after the prototype was produced, he entered a total of 12 ground taxi, 3 short-distance flights, all indicators are the best among the six test pilots.

Responsible for ground dispatch is Zheng Zongming's old partner Wang Xinping, although when the two were piloting the helicopter, Wang Xinping was the captain and had more flight experience than Zheng Zongming, but Wang Xinping was older and had no flight experience in fixed-wing aircraft, so let alone test flights, even the first batch of test pilots were not selected, and they could only do ground scheduling work.

The commander-in-chief of this test flight was Liu Guangqing, commander of the aviation unit, who was also the head of the aviation group of the Kunming warship, and he had quite a wealth of experience in commanding helicopters on warships. In addition, a special control tower was built, and the radar dismantled from the Taihu ship was installed on it.

The runway of the flight is located near the seaside, 1000 meters long, in fact, according to the calculation of the server, about 500-600 meters away, it is enough to take off, but for the sake of insurance, the runway is still repaired 1000 meters, and the purpose of the seaside, on the one hand, is to let the test flight area of the aircraft on the sea, so that the pilot falls into the sea in the event of an accident, there is a certain survival guarantee, after all, the test flight is quite risky, although there is a parachute, but there is no ejection seat, so the insurance coefficient is also greatly reduced; on the other hand, the navy will dispatch the Yueyang ship, with radar to monitor the entire flight process, as the data of the test flight。 Although the ground tower also has a radar, the radar of the replenishment ship is certainly not as good as that of the frigate, and the other electronic equipment is much worse.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the test flight officially began, the visiting returnees and some staff were arranged to sit in the middle of the runway, the entire runway was completely emptied, Zheng Zongming was neatly dressed, of course, the flight suit and flight helmet were used for helicopters, and boarded the cockpit of the plane in the hangar. The design and layout of the engine room was also controversial at the beginning, because it was a car engine, so some people thought that the cockpit of the prototype could be arranged in the way of car driving, so that it was easier to play the function of the engine, and even directly use the body of the car for transformation. However, some people refute this suggestion, arguing that the use of automobile engines is only a stopgap measure, and in the end it is necessary to use a special aircraft engine, so the layout of the cabin cab should still adopt the layout of aircraft driving. After consultation, it was decided to use the airplane pilot arrangement.

The door of the warehouse opened, and Wang Xinping stood in front of the door of the hangar, holding a luminescent stick in each hand, making a stick to show the plane leaving the warehouse.

However, the project team did not have an aircraft tractor, so the aircraft out of the garage was completely driven by manpower, fortunately, the prototype was not heavy, more than 20 staff worked together to push the aircraft out of the hangar, parked in the middle of the runway, and the nose was aimed at the direction of the runway.

Wang Xinping turned to look at the runway, made sure that there were no obstacles on the runway, and at the same time played a prepared hand to Zheng Zongming, and after getting a clear answer, he reported to the tower commanding on the ground: "The No. 3 plane is ready to take off, and I request to take off." ”

Liu Guangqing looked in the direction of the runway through the big glass of the tower and said, "Agree to take off." So Wang Xinping made a take-off gesture to the No. 3 plane, and quickly stepped aside.

Zheng Zongming, who received the order, immediately ignited the engine and pushed the throttle valve. The propeller in the nose of the plane began to turn, driving the plane forward and running.

Zheng Zongming held the operating lever in one hand, and slowly pushed the throttle valve to the maximum with the other. The plane also taxied faster and faster, reaching a speed of more than 100 yards by the time it reached 200 meters. Zheng Zongming released the throttle valve and began to concentrate on preparing to take off.

By the time the plane reached 300 meters, it had reached a speed of 130 yards, which was the maximum speed at which an airplane could glide on the ground. So Zheng Zongming pulled the operating stick and began to take off, at this time careful people can see that the flaps on the trailing edge of the main wing of the aircraft began to open downward, and the tail also changed from horizontal to oblique. Under the support of the high-pressure air flow, the nose of the aircraft is lifted, the front main wheels leave the ground, and then the rear wheels also leave the ground, and the whole fuselage is suspended in the air.

At this time, the position of the plane had run to a distance of 500 meters, which was where the returnees and other workers were located, and when they saw the plane rise off the ground, a burst of enthusiastic cheers suddenly broke out.

In the midst of this cheer, the plane gradually ascended, over the overhead, over the trees, over the top of the mountain, over the birds, and finally completely into the sky. Of course, the staff have all seen the short flight of the prototype, so although they cheered, they were not too excited, and a few of the returnees had seen the car, but the plane was indeed the first time to see, and now seeing the process of the plane taking off, it is naturally new and exciting.

They are all people who have received modern education, and they know that this is a kind of machine, just like cars, trains, and ships, and they will not be associated with strange forces, but they also know that flying is much more difficult than running on the ground and swimming in the water. At least Japan doesn't have such an airplane. Moreover, many people have realized that in the past few days in the East China government, they have been constantly re-acquainting themselves with this emerging political body.

Zheng Zongming, who was sitting in the wheelhouse, looked at the people, trees, houses, roads, mountains, and rivers on the ground becoming smaller and smaller, and his heart was also full of feelings, in fact, such a scene, Zheng Zongming was used to it, but it was driving a helicopter, and now he was driving a fixed-wing aircraft. Since the selection of fighter pilots was eliminated, and in order to stay on the front line of the battle, Zheng Zongming chose carrier-based helicopters and gave up flying bombers, thinking that he had no chance with fixed-wing aircraft in his life, but he did not expect that five years after coming to this era, he would not only be able to fly fixed-wing aircraft, but also personally participate in the research and development of fixed-wing aircraft.

Of course, Zheng Zongming's feelings were in his heart, but he did not forget that as he communicated with the ground control tower, he reported his altitude position on the one hand and the status of the aircraft on the other, and at this time, the Yueyang ship at sea also turned on the sea and air search radar to observe the flight status and flight trajectory of the aircraft, and also reported the results of the observation to the ground control tower.

About 20 minutes later, the plane reached an altitude of 1,200 meters, at which time the ground control tower asked the plane to change to level flight, but the landing gear of the plane was not retracted, which is also the norm of test flights. So Zheng Zongming retracted the throttle valve a little on the one hand to keep the flight speed at about 110 yards, and on the other hand, he pulled the operating lever, adjusted the angle of the flaps and tail, changed the plane to level flight, and at the request of the ground control tower, made a 90-degree turn and flew to the sea. Then report to the control tower that the flight is normal and the aircraft is in normal condition.

After about 15 minutes of flight, the plane made another 90-degree turn and increased its altitude to more than 1,500 meters and its speed to 130 yards, as required by the ground control tower. In fact, according to the computer's calculations, the maximum flight altitude of the prototype is 2000 meters, the speed is 150 yards, but the altitude of 1500 meters, at this time, has been the highest, and this is the first test flight of the prototype, so it still adopts a conservative flight strategy, such a flight state is maintained for about 10 minutes, and then returns to the flight altitude of 1200 meters, and the speed is also reduced to about 110 yards. And a few more "S" bends were made.

After another 10 minutes of flight, the plane had actually circled in the air, and the flight time had been almost 1 hour, and the test flight had basically achieved the effect, so the ground control tower issued a command to the plane to prepare for landing.

In fact, the take-off of the plane is not difficult, as long as the power of the aircraft is enough, and reaches a certain speed, it can basically fly, and landing is the most difficult and dangerous, because at this time the power has little impact on the aircraft, and more importantly, the pilot's operation, which is this mechanically controlled aircraft, the pilot's micro-operation requirements are strict, and if it is not good, the plane will be destroyed and killed.

Zheng Zongming didn't have much time to drive a fixed-wing aircraft, and even less experience in landing, and now he has almost forgotten it, and there is no simulator to train, not to mention that in the old time and space, whether it is a helicopter or a fixed-wing aircraft, there are a large number of auxiliary landing software and hardware equipment, so these limited experience actually does not have much effect, and can only rely on their own on-the-spot operation. It is impossible to say that Zheng Zongming is not nervous now, but fortunately, the pilots are all people with excellent mental quality, even if they are helicopter pilots, Zheng Zongming took a deep breath, put his left hand on the throttle valve, and slowly recovered.