Folding wings is actually not too difficult technology, as early as World War I had a pair of foldable wings of biplanes are not a few, and at this time the wing folding is not as convenient as the hydraulic folding technology used by the Americans in World War II, the wing deployment, fixation still takes a lot of time, but considering the power of the current aircraft, this is also a helpless thing.

Jochen is interested in the fact that this technology will greatly improve the efficiency of maneuvering in the hangar, as the ground crew will no longer have to spend time and effort transporting the dismantled wings around, and the efficiency of the use of the area in the hangar should also be improved.

"In this way, the number of carrier-based aircraft on the Stosch can be further increased?" Jochen asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty, there should be a few more planes, and how much it can be increased depends on the actual use of the finished product on the ship." Tirpitz replied cautiously.

"I see, I said why you chose the old models such as the Me-4F and Me-2B as carrier-based aircraft, it turned out to be just for transition. So when will the new naval models Me-5 and CL-1 with foldable wings be completed? Jochen asked excitedly.

"This ......" Tirpitz suddenly became a little slurred: "Your Majesty, actually...... We did not have a request to Mercedesschmidt and Hanover to develop the Me-5 and CL-1 of the naval version. ”

"What?!" Jochen's eyes widened in shock: "So what are you going to use?" These two are the best planes in Germany right now! ”

"Actually......" Tirpitz was a little embarrassed: "We asked Halberstadt and Bavaria to develop a new aircraft for the Navy, and we also asked for engines from Siemens." ”

"Siemens' engine?" Jochen was a little confused, because he didn't seem to have heard of anything new from Siemens that could compete with BMW's 270-horsepower engine.

"Wait! Alfred! You're not talking about an upgraded version of the rag that I vetoed in the first place, right?! Jochen, who reacted, asked loudly, his tone full of incredulity, as if he had seen a pig flying.

"Uh...... Yes, Your Majesty...... Siemens says they've made new improvements...... "Tirpitz is even more embarrassed."

"Oh God. What did I say in the first place? Jochen interrupted Tirpitz and said, "There is no future for rotary engines, and those guys at Siemens just need to do a good job of the Navy's steam turbines." ”

It's no wonder that Jochen looks like this, because the Siemens engine that was vetoed by Jochen at the beginning is a rotary cylinder engine that has no prospects for development in the future.

As early as when the army was just beginning to form the zeppelin unit, Siemens had its eye on the promising market of engines for the zeppelin. Moreover, with Siemens' own technical capabilities in the field of ship power, it is not difficult to process aero engines.

However, if you want to compete with BMW's liquid-cooled engine, then you have to come up with something different, and Siemens' approach is to introduce the 7-cylinder 80-horsepower cylinder engine of the Land God company to France, that is, the Lambda engine. This engine was used in the historical German licensed version of the Ober Urzel U.0 engine, which was the engine of the Fokker E.1 fighter.

The 80-horsepower output of this engine is indeed not much different from the engine power originally used by the Zeppelin, but soon the 110-horsepower engine that BMW came up with immediately made Siemens want to push the plan of this engine to the military to die, after all, the 30-horsepower gap is not so easy to make up.

The news that BMW is still working on a more powerful engine is not a secret to Siemens, so Siemens decided to work on the base of this rotary engine. Prepare to compete with BMW in the selection of engines for new aircraft for the Army.

The fact is that they did a good job, and they went from a single-deck 7-cylinder to a double-deck 14-cylinder with two Lambda engines in series, increasing the output to 160 hp, which Siemens was confident about.

However, reality once again dealt a blow to Siemens, and the new engine output of BMW was 10 horsepower higher than its own, and the army naturally chose BMW.

But there's no end to it. The Navy showed interest in the new engine, which at that time did not yet have a fighter. The difference of 10 horsepower is not unacceptable, and there are many maintenance problems in the actual use of liquid-cooled in-line engines in the Navy, so the propaganda given by Siemens that maintenance is more convenient than liquid-cooled engines is very interesting to the Navy.

However, the emperor knew about the fact that the navy had just made a request to Siemens to purchase 50 engines and asked the Bavarian Aircraft Company to develop a new water reconnaissance aircraft for itself with such engines.

And then. The emperor demanded that the navy immediately stop this "brainless" procurement, which confused the admirals, including Tirpitz. BMW has a stake in His Majesty the Emperor, so it is understandable that it will take care of its own business. However, Siemens is also a partner of Your Majesty, and it has not been less "supplied" to Your Majesty every year in terms of profits in the electrical equipment market. Then this engine, which seemed to be good in the eyes of the Navy, was mercilessly criticized by Jochen as useless. His Majesty the Emperor's own knowledge of such engines left a vote of admirals who knew nothing about aero engines speechless.

Later, when Siemens was questioned by the navy, he learned that His Majesty the Emperor had a clear understanding of the shortcomings of his own engine, and immediately felt that a basin of ice water was poured from head to toe. Siemens' veiled reply on this issue naturally could not be concealed from the Navy's gangsters, and no one spoke for Siemens now. Immediately after BMW revealed that its new engine with more than 250 horsepower was also under development, which became the last straw that broke the camel's back, Siemens' plan to open the naval market fell through again.

In fact, to be honest, Siemens has indeed worked hard, and the Ober Urzel U.3 engine that is exactly the same as it in history is still copied from the French's Lambda-Lambda engine, and now it is its own intellectual property rights, and the output power of 160 horsepower is already very top at this time. If, according to the historical situation, there was no problem in crushing the Allied fighters before 1916.

But given the prospects of rotary engines, the shortcomings of rotary engines, and the historical performance of Siemens, Jochen was really not willing to waste effort and money on it.

When the rotary engine is working, not only the propeller is rotating, but its cylinder is also rotating at high speed, so although the horsepower is not large, the gyroscopic effect is very strong, and this problem is more obvious in these aircraft in World War I, because the aircraft in World War I are very light, and its ability to overcome this problem is very poor, which will cause the flight performance of the aircraft to be affected, and it will also make the pilot's operation very difficult.

In addition, the development potential of rotary cylinder engines is very small, and Siemens' performance in the field of rotary cylinder engines in history is far inferior to that of the Entente countries, Siemens' best rotary engine in World War I, the SH.3 engine, single-deck 11 cylinders, 160 horsepower, and the Bentley Br.2 engine of the French Sandpiper has 230 horsepower. In addition, Siemens is a mess in the field of aircraft design, especially the "magical" DDr.1, Jochen said that Siemens, you should stop wasting time on the wrong way, and honestly focus on steam turbines.

What the hell is Siemens coming out with a new engine now? And with the 270-horsepower liquid-cooled engine in front of Zhuyu, it can still impress the navy? Yes, the maintenance of air-cooled engines is indeed more convenient than liquid-cooled, and the reliability is also better, and the safety is also higher, and there is no problem for the navy to like this, but after all, this is a rotary engine rather than a star engine. And the huge gap in engine horsepower is clearly placed here, and it is really unreasonable to choose the one with poor performance.

And Siemens can't connect two sets of engines in series into 28 cylinders, right? Are you still ready to learn DDr.1? It becomes the front and rear parallel equipped with two engines, and the front traction rear propulsion type, right? Or have they increased the number of single-deck cylinders? Skip the 9-cylinder 110-horsepower Ober Urzel U.2 engine that copied the German authorized version of the Triangle Engine of the Land God Company in history, and directly come up with the SH.3 now? And then go series to get a new engine with 22 cylinders and 320 horsepower? This is indeed overwhelming the existing liquid-cooled engine in terms of data, but is it impossible that Siemens is progressing so fast?

Jochen was not impressed by the preconceived idea of the rotary engine: "Alfred, I should have made it very clear, the rotary engine is not for us, and there is no future for this kind of engine with little power and a large shedding effect. And the moment when the liquid-cooled engine breaks through 300 horsepower won't make us wait long. ”

"Your Majesty, Siemens says that their new engine can also break through 300 horsepower, and the Navy will not have to wait too long." Tirpitz cautiously said, "They'll get it out before the design of our new aircraft is finished and we start building it." ”

Is it really a tandem version of SH.3? Even that doesn't work. "The more horsepower, the stronger the shedding effect, even if their engine can break 300 horsepower, do you want the pilot to compete with his own engine all the time in the sky to control the plane?" Jochen asked

"Your Majesty, this is not a problem either. Siemens says the cylinders of their new engine do not turn. Tirpitz found it too difficult to convince the Emperor of his apparent iron heart, and wondered if the change would impress His Majesty's views.

"Huh?!" (To be continued.) )