On the last day of January, accompanied by Keitel and Speer, Hoffmann went to the suburbs to see the latest aircraft display.

Benefiting from the experience of later generations, the importance of aviation power became the overwhelming core of Hoffmann's adjustment of armament production, and he not only served as commander-in-chief of the Air Force, but also personally intervened in the development and production of new models, and the production of every aircraft after September 1942 -- whether it was the latest model developed and developed by Germany or the introduction and rapid production of Japanese models -- must be approved by him, and he devoted a great deal of effort to the Air Force. The progress of the war proved his vision and value, whether it was the introduction of models or new types of equipment, the Luftwaffe is now performing perfectly, only the heavy bombers are still not landed.

Before watching, Hoffmann asked Speer about the technical exchange and joint development of aviation, and according to the agreement, Germany will send some experts in the field of radar and tanks to Japan, and Japan will send most of the technical experts related to naval aviation to Germany.

"The Italian aviation designers are all in place, and most of the materials on Japan's new carrier-based aircraft are basically ready, and they are currently combing and researching, but the Japanese experts have only reached less than a third, because they still have some tasks to hand over at home. In general, the Japanese Army is more supportive, and the Navy has some opinions. Speer explained, "But the Army gave the Navy a little compensation, and then we took away the catapults, arresting cables, and other technology that we had here." ”

Hoffman thought to himself: Of course, the German experts sent are biased towards the army, while the Japanese experts are all related to naval technology, and the navy will definitely be dissatisfied. However, the Japanese Army is willing to compensate, which sounds new.

"What compensation?"

"The army has promised to develop new aircraft in the future, and the army and navy will strive to use the same models and accessories."

What kind of compensation is this? A bunch of people behind Hoffman burst into laughter, but Hoffman and Speer couldn't laugh: Not only can the Japanese army and navy's planes not be able to use the same parts, but even the direction of the screws is reversed.

The first new aircraft to look at today is the Fw-190C, a liquid-cooled version of Dr. Tanker's Fw-190A. After the first aviation armament reorganization case, Tan Ke's application to use liquid-cooled engines was given the green light, and not only did he choose the liquid-cooled engines of Junkers and Mercedes-Benz, but even explicitly told him that he should not be concerned about production factors, and that he would choose whatever engine was good.

Tan Ke divided the Fw-190 project team into two groups, one group focused on the improvement of the Fw-190A series, after the Bf-219 and other aircraft used the German improved version of Igarashi metal, he said that he was also willing to try to reduce the weight of the Fw-190A, but this request was stopped by Speer - switching to a new metal frame will inevitably cause major changes to the Fw-190, and then the adjustment of the production line will affect the production, after the Bf-109 production is reduced, in order to ensure the front-line fighter fleet, The scale of production of the FW-190 can only be expanded, not reduced. Tanker took the advice and devoted all his energy to the new aircraft, deciding to adopt a new metal in the new aircraft.

He experimented with three different engines on the Fw-190A, a DB601 (DB605), a Jumo-213E, and the latest DB603. After several months of selection and demonstration, DB601 and DB605 were first discarded due to their relatively limited potential. The second is the Jumo-213E that makes him very hesitant, in terms of engine reliability, the engine is currently the strongest, but the overall length of Jumo-213E is long, involving great design changes, and the results are not satisfactory after several tests, so he let some personnel be responsible for improvement, and he put his main energy into the Fw-190C modification using the DB603 engine.

This was a project of great concern to Hoffman, who not only approved the use of liquid-cooled engines, but also gave them a very high priority, and at the same time gave Tanck more and more clear orders and design requirements, and many times Tanck even had the illusion that the aircraft was actually in the Führer's mind, and he was only responsible for designing what the Führer had in mind. He guessed accurately, Hoffman not only has the shadow of the Fw-190D in his head, but also the shadow of the Ta-152, so the goal is very clear, and the overall progress is much faster than the historical process: first, because the installation of liquid-cooled engines for the Fw-190 is a national policy behavior, not only Hoffman has this requirement, but in the face of more and more British and American heavy bombers and escort aircraft, the Air Force also has a strong demand for high-altitude fighters; The second is that he did not take the old road of installing Jumo-213 first, then improving, and finally replacing DB603, and started directly in parallel and in one step, Dr. Tan Ke greatly reduced the workload - in history, because Tan Ke could not get the DB series engine, he could only use the Jumo-213 series engine, so the improved Fw-190D had a long nose, and now at least he did not have to go through the process of extending the nose first, and then trying to lengthen the tail for trim.

The Fw-190C, which currently appeared before Hoffman, is actually very close to the prototype of the Ta-152 in history, of course, compared with the Ta-152, both appearance and power have a different display.

"It's a good plane, it has a very small turning radius and amazing climb performance, while also being the fastest ever." Tan Ke excitedly pointed to the demonstrator who was doing demonstration maneuvers in the air and introduced, "At an altitude of 9,000 meters, his speed has exceeded 710 km/h, and he is currently the fastest flying fighter, oh, the fastest piston fighter." ”

Everyone immediately laughed knowingly.

"It also has a lot of firepower, and we have designed two firepower schemes, one is a conventional air combat version with four 20mm MG213 cannons; There is also a high-altitude volley version with 2 MG213 cannons, and then a 30mm MK108 cannon. With the new metal, the aircraft has an airweight of about 3,800 kilograms and a full take-off weight of about 4,800 kilograms. ”

Speer told the others: "I've been here several times, and the test pilots have expressed great satisfaction and think it's better than the air-cooled version of the Fw-190. ”

"Mainly thanks to the Führer's design ideas are correct - this aircraft is positioned as a pure fighter aircraft at medium and high altitudes to seize air supremacy and intercept heavy bombers at high altitudes, and it does not have to take into account the low-altitude performance, let alone the carrying of bombs, we have carried out air combat simulations, and when cooperating with the Bf-219, the airspace from 300 meters to 11,000 meters can almost be effectively controlled, and the combat effectiveness superimposed at the altitude of 3,000-4,000 meters is the strongest."

Keitel asked, "What are the remaining problems?" ”

"First, the range does not meet the requirements, the target given to us by the head of state is 1,500 kilometers when the auxiliary fuel tank is not hung, but it can only reach a little more than 1,100 at present; Second, the engine has stability defects, we use the latest DB603 series engine, horsepower reaches more than 2000 horsepower, but still can not guarantee stable performance - I suspect that the range is not up to standard is also related to the fuel efficiency of the engine; Third, the next modification and improvement still needs to be explored, whether it is the MW-50 system, the GM-1 system, or the two-stage three-speed turbocharger mentioned by Mercedes-Benz, the wind tunnel test has not yet been carried out. "I've even managed to install the latest model of the British's Merlin engine, and I've found that the range and stability are up to standard, but the speed and horsepower are a little short of the requirements - considering that this is a model that has been mass-adopted by the enemy, their next generation will be better, so I have to set a higher goal." ”

"When do you expect to get it all done?"

"If all goes well, it can be finalized in September."

Speer asked: "Does this mean that it will be ready for mass production by the end of the year?" ”

Dr. Tan Ke thought for a moment and said categorically, "As long as the engine performance is stable, I can do it." ”

"Führer, what is your opinion?" Speer turned to Hoffman next to him.

"Me?" As if he had just recovered from the contemplative phase, Hoffman replied unexpectedly, "Say what?" ”

"I'm asking for your opinion on this aircraft -- the doctor just said that the requirements are basically met, except for the engine, and he can get the aircraft finalized in September, and if it goes well, we will be able to use it in the New Year of 1944."

"Good." Hoffman had actually read the technical information, thought about it and said, "This aircraft is very different from the original Fw-190, and it seems inappropriate to call him Fw-190C, I have a proposal to give him a new code, such as 152?" How about calling Ta-152? ”

Ta is the abbreviation of Dr. Tanke's name, in order to encourage designers to delve into more and better works, the Air Force issued an order that all new aircraft models in the future be named after the designer, for example, the Bf-109 can be called Me-109, but the Bf-219 cannot be called Me-219 - because it is not actually the work designed by Messerschmitt.

"I am very grateful to the Führer for his affirmation and support for our work, and I will definitely complete the task on time." Dr. Tank's face flushed, and he was clearly still immersed in the "Ta" on the stage—a rare honor.

"It seems that the DB-603 series engines still have at least a few months to be optimized." Speer muttered to himself, "I'll have to urge them to hurry." ”

Hoffman didn't hear Speer talk to himself, and asked, "What's next?" Me-262? ”

"Yes, they got a new engine and improved wing styling, so the finalization time will be a little later......" (To be continued. )