Old Sean drove the car and dragged Ron directly to a small airport in the middle of the wilderness. Through the layers of iron fences, Ron saw a plane covered in defensive canvas waiting quietly. Ron knew that it was Lockheed's latest creation, and its famous work, the P-38 fighter.

The old Ford turned to the left, turned onto a small fork in the road, and walked about thirty meters, and stopped in front of a gate, a person who looked like a security guard came forward, checked the old Sean's documents, and waved his hand to let him go, so the iron gate slowly opened. Shaun Sr. got back in the car and drove his old Ford into the car with his old Ford in full swing.

The car drove until it came to a stop next to the tarmac. Shaun Sr. got out of the car with Ron, and several people greeted him. The leader was a man in his thirties, his movements were coordinated and powerful, and he looked very capable.

"Mr. Sean, this must be your son Ron, right? You're so lucky to have a heroic son. The man took Sean Sr.'s hand and said as he looked at Ron.

"Heinrich, to be honest, I would prefer him to be like you......" Old Sean shook his head with a wry smile, "but joining the army is his own choice...... Well, I'm taking him to see the company's new plane today, maybe he'll use him when he gets back. ”

The man took Sean Sr.'s hand and shook it hard, then let go of Old Sean's hand and walked over to Ron.

"Mr. Ron, me? One? Root? Read? The novel xstxt is Heinrich of Lockheed's technology department, and it's nice to meet such an air combat hero as you. I've seen the design of your cannon, and to be honest, you're very talented. We hope that one day, this cannon will be installed on our aircraft. ”

He turned his face to look at the rain-covered canvas fighter plane on the tarmac - there were already several ground crews standing next to it.

Heinrich waved his hand at the men, and the ground crew immediately grabbed a rope and pulled it hard, and the rainproof canvas was violently removed, revealing the true face of the plane.

This is a very unique twin-engine aircraft, different from ordinary twin-engine aircraft, its fuselage is particularly short, almost only one cockpit, like a drop of water on the wings. The tail and tail, which are usually housed on the fuselage, were arranged elsewhere. The two engine bays were mounted on the main wings protruding from each side of the fuselage, and each engine bay continued backwards to create a thin bracket, on which a vertical tail was erected, and the top of the two vertical tails was connected by a wing to form a unique tail.

Such a unique structure makes the aircraft look like two fuselages on the left and one on the right, but the real fuselage in the middle is inconspicuous. Compared to the average twin-engine heavy fighter - such as the German BF110 - it is so light and beautiful.

Ron was no stranger to the plane, having seen it in museums many times in later generations and flown it in virtual flight games, but he was still thrilled when he had the opportunity to fly the legendary aircraft himself.

"Pretty!" Heinrich pointed to the plane and said to Ron, "This is definitely the most beautiful fighter in the world, and the most beautiful fighter must be the most powerful fighter!" The words were full of pride that could not be concealed.

"yes, it's beautiful!" Ron sighed too. The P-38 is not necessarily the most beautiful fighter, but it is definitely a beauty among twin-engine fighters. And Heinrich's statement that "the most beautiful fighter must be the most powerful fighter" is also quite reasonable, at least, the P-38 is definitely the most powerful twin-engine fighter, it is almost the only fighter that can fight with the mainstream single-engine fighter without being at a disadvantage, and compared with him, those who need other fighters to escort the BF110 are really worthy of the title of fighter.

"Do you want to go to the lounge to take a break, it will take a little time for the ground crew to complete the refueling and routine testing before takeoff, you can take a rest first." Heinrich said.

"No need, I'll just look at her here, I really want to carry her to heaven right away." Ron said. This is not a lie, although flying the F4F and P-40 with the right tactics can also compete with the Japanese Zero, there is no doubt that these two aircraft are inferior to the Zero in terms of performance. The P-38, on the other hand, will outperform the Japanese Zeros in terms of performance, making the battle easier and safer.

"I understand." Heinrich laughed, "To be honest, I'm jealous of you pilots, how much I've worked on this plane, but I'll never get a chance to fly it, or even fly her - because I'm a goddamn fear of heights!" ”

The ground crew was quickly busy, and Heinrich led Ron to the plane. Ron climbed the ladder into the cockpit, and Heinrich climbed up the gangway to introduce Ron to the plane's cockpit layout and the distribution of various function buttons.

In fact, Ron was already familiar with this, but he still listened carefully and kept nodding. When Heinrich finished speaking, Ron looked up to thank him, only to find that Heinrich's face was frighteningly pale and sweating profusely on his forehead.

"Are you alright?" Ron asked with concern.

"I didn't ...... It's okay...... This is where the high ...... If it's a little higher, who will help it...... Give me a hand......"

Several ground crews helped Heinrich into the break room, and one of them told Ron not to worry, he would be back to normal in a moment.

Watching Heinrich enter the lounge, Ron started the engine in turn, released the brakes, expertly taxied the plane onto the runway, and then took the plane into the air.

……

About an hour later, Ron landed on the airport in his plane. Although the performance of the aircraft did not surprise him, he was still very satisfied with the aircraft.

Entering the lounge, Heinrich, who had already recovered, impatiently asked Ron about his piloting feelings, and that posture made Ron feel that this guy must be eager to hear his affirmation of the plane.

"The plane accelerated quickly, climbed better than any plane I've seen before, and was unbeatably fast, even circling surprisingly well. Especially if you're good at adjusting the different power outputs of the two engines, then in some speed segments, I think his hovering can be compared to the Japanese Zero. Ron began by affirming the advantages of the P-38 as a whole. At the same time, he began to secretly observe Heinrich's reaction.

Sure enough, just as expected, Heinrich smiled triumphantly, and at the same time unconsciously raised his pointed chin high.

Seeing this, Ron deliberately lengthened his voice and said, "Unfortunately, there is still a little shortcoming. ”

"What's the problem?" Heinrich's voice suddenly became thin and high-pitched, reminiscent of a traitor in Thailand. (Don't get it?) Well, the traitors in France are called traitors, the traitors in the United States are called traitors in the United States, and what are the traitors in Thailand called? ）

"It's better to roll than a single-engine plane."

"Oh," Heinrich said with a long sigh of relief, and his voice became normal, "I can't help it. You know, there are two engine bays on either side of the fuselage, and when you roll, you have to overcome the reverse moment that comes with them, and of course you can't compare to a single-engine aircraft. However, in case you didn't know, at a certain speed band, the P-38 can roll super fast, faster than most single-engine aircraft! ”

"I guess at that time, because of the compression of the wing surface, the handling performance of the aircraft has dropped to a mess, right?" Ron poured another scoop of cold water on him.

"You actually know about airfoil compression? Did old Sean tell you? This is really a big problem that we have. However, I guess you don't need to fly that fast under normal circumstances, right? ”

"In fact, there is really a design scheme that can make the roll of a twin-engine fighter no less than that of a single-engine fighter, at any speed range!" Ron gently threw the bombshell.

"What! You're not kidding, are you? Heinrich stared at Ron with wide eyes, "What's the plan, tell me about it?" ”

"Put two engines in the nose and tail positions, each drive a propeller, and the two propellers rotate in opposite directions, so that the torque can cancel each other out. This way, there is no engine compartment hanging on the wing that hinders rolling. What do you think of this plan? ”

"This ......" Heinrich pondered, and after a moment he jumped to his feet: "Good way! What a genius idea! We'll ...... right away."

He stopped and looked at Ron, who looked at him with a smile on his face: "I've already patented this design. And, in addition to that, I have a patent ...... that can deal with the compression effect of the airfoil"

This kind of scheme of putting the two engines one at the same end was not actually something that Ron came up with on his own. It was a scheme devised by Nazi Germany in Ron's original time and space when it was about to fall, which is known as Dornier 335.

As for the other patent, it was something that Ron was used to seeing in his previous life - a combination of swept wing + wing knife.

A swept wing can not only reduce high-speed drag and delay the appearance of surface compression, but it also has the problem of low-velocity airflow attached to the wing surface accumulating towards the wingtip, and finally causing the wingtip to stall.

It is this problem that hinders the application of swept wings on aircraft. There are many ways to solve it, what is the leading edge serration, what is the blowing flap, but among all the methods, the simplest and most effective is definitely the wing knife. That is, a partition is placed on the wing in the forward direction to prevent the accumulation of low-speed air flow towards the wingtips. Sometimes, complex problems can be solved in a very simple way, depending on whether you think about it or not.

"These two patents are extremely important, and the company must take them down no matter what!" Immediately after Ron left, Heinrich went to meet the president of the company and made this report to him.