Chang Yuebin and Ling Wencha, as representatives of the fleet, traveled by train from Jinzhou to Shenzhou, and together with representatives of the Naval Aviation Technology Department, they evaluated several aircraft carrier-based aircraft provided by the aircraft manufacturing company.

Like military enterprises, aviation companies are not allowed to set up core factories outside the core area of Datang East Asia. Although major aircraft companies also have aircraft factories in the Americas, Central Asia, and the Urals, they are only assembly plants, such as engines, aeronautical instruments and weapon systems, which are provided by core factories in East Asia.

Vice Admiral Chen Shiying, commander of the Ninth Fleet, was now extremely dissatisfied with the performance of the slow biplane torpedo aircraft.

After the announcement of the tender requirements for the new carrier-based torpedo aircraft of the Naval Aviation Technical Committee, it was indeed required to have a monoplane torpedo bomber with excellent performance.

What Shenfei Aviation is doing now is the "experimental torpedo attack aircraft" project designed by Li Guoyong himself. Although this is a torpedo bomber literally, it is actually a multi-purpose dive bomber based on the prototype of Shenfei Aviation that failed in the ground air bid.

In this era, the torpedo aircraft chose the old biplane mode is also a helpless move, the engine power is not enough, there is not enough lift to support the fast monoplane to carry a torpedo with a weight of nearly 1 ton to take off in a short distance, compared with the combat aircraft of the army aviation, the requirements of the naval aviation for carrier-based aircraft can definitely be described by two words.

The problem of engine power was the biggest obstacle to the development of this aircraft.

……

As one of the largest engine manufacturers in the empire, Imperial General Dynamics, headquartered in Jinyang, produces almost any kind of power equipment known in China. From the most common two-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines, gasoline engines used in various automobiles, to various types of steam engines and large internal combustion engines equipped with trains and ships, and aero engines.

The General Dynamics Engine Plant in Shenzhou is a production plant that mainly produces gasoline engines for automobiles and aero engines, and its main competitors are Luoyang Imperial Standard Power Company, Jiangxia Hanyang Engine Manufacturing Company, Wuhu Engine Company and Songjiang Jiangnan Engine Manufacturing Company.

The General Dynamics Engine R&D Center in Shenzhou is located in the eastern part of the factory area, which is one of the largest aviation power research institutes in the empire, with a complete range of test equipment.

Here, Ling Wencha also saw the air-cooled Shuangxing-14 engine for the first time.

“…… If an airplane wants to fly higher, faster, and thrust stronger, then it needs to be equipped with more powerful and better engines! For this sentence, Li Beiyan, as an aero engine designer, has the most profound understanding of this.

In the case of the same basic technical level, there are only the following ways to increase the engine power: increase the bore, increase the number of cylinders, and increase the stroke, which is what all aero engine engineers are working towards. Although these methods may seem very simple, it is very difficult to do them with limited size and weight.

Unlike the Army Aviation, which prefers liquid-cooled engines, the Naval Aviation prefers star-shaped air-cooled aero engines that are relatively simple to maintain and more durable.

The radial engine is compact and has a short length but a large diameter. Since the front of the entire engine is exposed to the windward airflow, a large number of radiators are installed on the cylinder block, which becomes the ideal air-cooled pattern, so the star-shaped engine is air-cooled. In order to maximize horsepower, the cylinder count should already be large now, and the spoke-like cylinders have filled the front of the engine, and it becomes difficult to continue to increase the cylinder count.

For more than 10 years, HNA's combat aircraft have been using star-shaped nine-cylinder engines, and the number of cylinders has basically reached the limit of star-shaped aero engines, and if it is to be made into 11 cylinders, the diameter of the engine will exceed 2 meters, and it is impossible to equip the aircraft at all.

Over the years, the power of the radial nine-cylinder engine has also increased from the original 420 hp to 580 hp, but this has almost exhausted the full potential of this engine.

However, after Imperial Standard Power and Hanyang Engine launched the latest 900-horsepower new liquid-cooled V-12 aero engine, even the always stubborn HNA was forced to abandon the air-cooled engine and chose the liquid-cooled engine as the first choice for the new combat aircraft.

Li Beiyan dreamed of designing an air-cooled aero engine with strong power and more advanced performance comparable to the liquid-cooled V-12 900-horsepower aero engine.

"Two stacks!"

Li Beiyan, who was meditating hard, once thought of such a wonderful solution when eating meat and steamed buns!

Therefore, genius comes from 99% sweat and 1% inspiration, but without this 1% inspiration, then 99% of the effort is all in vain!

This major invention was actually inspired by the meat sandwich bun, which was a topic that later made people talk about it.

Now this double-decker star engine is still an absolute secret for the military.

In order to maximize the horsepower of the star-type air-cooled engine, the number of cylinders should already be large, and the nine cylinders with spoke-like cylinders already occupy the front of the engine, it will be difficult to continue to increase the number of cylinders, and the same problem is with increasing the bore. Now Li Beiyan has come up with another brilliant solution: increase the number of layers of the star, if the single layer of the star has 7 cylinders, the double layer is 14 cylinders, if the single layer is nine, then the double layer is 18 cylinders!

This is something that liquid-cooled aero engines simply cannot do, V-18 liquid-cooled aero engines? The length of the engine alone was enough to pass directly from the nose to the tail.

"The Xing-14 is an air-cooled star-type 14-cylinder engine, and the maximum output we have tested has reached 960 horsepower, and if further research and development is carried out, it is expected that the maximum output can exceed 1,000 horsepower, and the relevant improvement work is still ongoing." As the chief designer, Li Beiyan personally explained to the technical officials of the Navy and the Navy, "The engine still has huge development potential, we are planning to develop an 18-cylinder star engine, the output power is expected to reach more than 1400 horsepower, in the current situation, enough to meet the requirements of the most developed large aircraft." ”

After listening to the explanation, Ling Wencha also deeply agreed, aviation power is the core of any type of aircraft. Any kind of aircraft has to determine the engine first, and then complete the design of other aspects on the basis of power. The shape of an air-cooled engine or a liquid-cooled engine determines the appearance of the aircraft, with liquid-cooled engines having a better aerodynamic shape and air-cooled engines being more durable and easy to maintain.

Due to the humid and corrosive nature of the sea air, HNA chose the air-cooled engine with a "big head" for maintenance reasons......

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