Chapter 504 is leisurely and sharp

With the previous experience, the craftsmen in the workshop now, their families, and the merchants with various partnerships are also able to accept it calmly. Although every time you enter a fully closed state, it will inevitably bring a lot of trouble to all parties, but the result is always very worth looking forward to. After the first time it was completely closed, the workshop issued a cable telegraph system, and now, the telegraph has become one of the important advantages of Dongping, thousands of miles away from the military and the people, what an incredible thing, and Dongping's imperial court's ability to control the local area has been greatly strengthened. Although the telegraph line is still very limited, especially the multi-channel switching mode is still very immature, the changes brought to Dongping are visible to everyone.

After the second closure, a new type of passenger and freight locomotive was born. The first generation of steam trains could only be used for military purposes, because they were too noisy and bumpy, and the overall speed was not much faster than that of horse-drawn carriages. But the second-generation train was a subversion, and on the line from Yip's workshop to Gondor, the new locomotive reached a speed of 113 miles per hour under the pull of four fully loaded freight cars. Moreover, for the utilization rate of energy, the overall reliability has made great progress, and the basic railway network, which was vigorously promoted by Ye Tao at the beginning of the first generation of immature trains, has also had a certain scale. Ningyuan, Suiyuan, Dongjiaji, Yejiabao, Gangduo, and Ye's workshops have been connected, and the basic operation has been put into use immediately with the birth of new trains. Yunzhou did not have its own railway management department, Tan Xiaopei keenly saw the changes that the railway can bring to Dongping, the Dongping Railway Bureau was established for the first time, and the railway from Danyang to Dongjiaji was about to be completed, and after that, the railway will extend in all directions. In less than a decade, Dongping will have its own basic railway network.

The third closure lasted only two days, and after that, a modification of the Snow Owl airship was born. The Snow Owl airship comes across as elegant and quiet, but this modification is designed entirely for attacking ground targets. All extraneous weights on the Snowowl airship have been stripped of their weight and replaced with a thin pod shell filled with fire oil bombs. The standard crew of the Snow Owl airship is six, while this improved version has only three people, a pilot, a signalman, and a bombardier...... If all the oil bombs were dropped at once, a tenth of a city the size of Ningyuan could be set on fire. This airship is called the Thunderbolt, and only four of them have been built so far. Because the wire-controlled hooks used to grasp the oil bombs one by one are too difficult to manufacture, and the process requirements are outrageously high. Some people in the research institute have heard Ye Tao muttering why not use electric control, and now they are working on intense technical research, but if electronic control technology can break through, it is not only in this aspect, it is simply a technological revolution.

This closure must have something to do with the aircraft, which is something that everyone can guess. Because Ye's workshop temporarily recalled several elite pilots in the test flight team that had been sent to Dai Yun on the Western Front, these pilots suddenly lost their combat opportunities, and they were so annoyed that they rushed to Qian Shun's workshop as soon as they came back, looking for him to explain. Qian Shun is Ye Tao's senior brother, and he has deep authority in Ye's workshop, but he does not take a good tone about these high-tech and temperamental pilots, Qian Shun chatted with these dozen pilots for less than a quarter of an hour, and these pilots obediently and happily went to the research institute to report.

In the vast field of the research institute, which is specially used for various tests, a whole open space is specially cleared, all of which are rolled and leveled little by little with huge stone rollers, and then covered with cement. There are also guiding lights on both sides for night indication. This is the prototype of an airport, even if it is only a mile long runway. On a sunny day, the test pilots gathered to watch as the two biplanes were slowly pulled out of the warehouse. Although it is the prototype of the airport, but in the aircraft project that Ye Tao personally asked, this style is very perfect, the simple internal combustion engine tractor is not difficult for the current workshop, anyway, there is no complicated gearbox, this tractor has only two different speeds, and a reverse gear.

These pilots, who have been messing around in the workshop, are no strangers to aircraft. A series of experiments were done with their help. First of all, the daring pilots carried out gliding experiments, mainly to explore the structural strength and shape characteristics of the aircraft. Then there was a series of tests on the principle of lift, and the most tormenting thing for the pilots at that time was not the inability to fly, but the extremely high failure rate of the small engine, and the first successful flight of the test model, only a distance of more than 40 meters, the engine burned out. Then, as the engines were improved from generation to generation, and with different aircraft shapes, they carried out countless test flights and landings, with a maximum altitude of no more than 30 meters, supposedly to give them an absolute chance to escape. However, the flight distance has gradually risen from tens of meters to several hundred meters, and a relatively mature test flight model has been able to circle the test site a few times. In that cramped space, they conducted various tests, and the flight control system gradually matured. Now that Yip's Workshop is familiar with the use of complex metal wires to control various components, pilots are becoming more and more familiar with this little thing that is very fast. After that, there was a long period of silence, and the pilots knew that those technicians must have hit a bottleneck again, and they were studying diligently, and they would not ask too much, but they did not expect to call them back for closed testing at this time. Closed testing is not just testing, basically it means that the technicians are quite confident in what they come up with, and they can withstand a period of repeated tossing and turning in terms of reliability, and they need to rely on a large number of tests in a short period of time to explore the data, and then write the product manual......

Sure enough, the biplane that came out this time looked more beautiful and refined than any previous model. Two planes, one painted blue and one red. In addition, they are all lacquered with a metallic glow that can be seen. Ye Tao didn't instill the concept of fluid mechanics in everyone. The engines of the aircraft are housed in a hood in front of the pilot, and air intakes are open in front and on both sides to dissipate heat. With current technology, there is no need to consider the problem of pressurized air inhalation for combustion, and the plane will not be able to fly at a height where the air will feel thinner. The pilot's position behind a streamlined glass cover, although it is not a closed cockpit, but still considers the aerodynamics, the glass cover and the aircraft fuselage are combined relatively sleekly, but this whole cockpit cover without a metal frame is still quite bluffing. As we all know, just this glass cover, the cost is probably too high, and it will collapse people. It's also a luxury that can only be used on this battle-proven model.

The first to sit in the cabin was Xu Jin, the boss of the test flight team. And when he entered the cabin, he saw that the plane was actually armed. On either side of the driver's seat, there is a hand-cranked ratchet connected to two small, self-loading ballistas. It can shoot small ammunition or short spears with a stabilized tail. Due to the small size of the cockpit, the pilot needs to sit down before the crank can be attached. Although it was a little troublesome, this small discovery made Xu Jin look forward to it a little more. The technicians are not crazy, and they will naturally start to think about the issue of armament when they are sure. The dashboard in front of him surprised Xu Jin even more, with a speedometer, altimeter, fuel gauge and a sphere display indicating the tilt of the aircraft in front of him, as well as a small sight. Underneath these dashboards, there are also some designs for emergency response. Open a cover plate with a pile of metal wires underneath, each with a handle for easy lifting, allowing the pilot to operate the plane directly from this spare set in case of an emergency. This spare metal cable pull device is designed to be slightly less robust than a joystick system for everyday use, but it is fine for emergency use. The control lever of the aircraft also needs to wait for the pilot to sit down before it is installed, and the grip is directly cut out according to the hand shape, and then covered with rubber, this design, I am afraid that it will not need to be changed for decades, unless some controls are added to this handle in the future, but it is not needed now. Under the pilot's feet, there are two foot controllers, the throttle and the flaps. The flaps can be opened at different angles depending on how hard you pedal, but they are easy to control and the pedals are lightweight. There is a very convenient locking device on the side of the throttle, which can temporarily lock the throttle by leaning on the toes, which is convenient for the pilot to reduce the labor intensity when he is on a long-distance flight. After the technicians installed the joystick, he buckled the safety belt, put on the flight cap, and pulled on the goggles. Instead of using small goggles with two eyes apart, the test pilots used a whole piece of curved glass in front of them, which had a very good field of vision. After the technicians had checked all the items and pulled back one by one, he pulled the tab under the seat, and the engine immediately snorted, the sound was crisp and clear, showing vigorous power, but the fuselage did not flutter much. Xu Jin was overjoyed, and it seemed that the technicians' epiphany had made greater progress than he imagined. After the propeller in front rotated, the plane slowly taxied on the runway, Xu Jin held his breath and stared, watching the speed rise a little bit, he felt almost, and immediately pulled the control stick, at that moment he felt as if the whole plane was light, he knew that this was the result of the disappearance of ground resistance. He tightened his grip on the joystick and looked out, and the plane had quickly climbed, breaking the height of thirty meters in an instant, and the speed of the plane was far beyond his imagination. This is an airplane, a flying machine that is completely different from an airship. If the airship gives people the feeling of being calm, and there is a threat and power hidden in the quiet, then the airplane gives people the feeling of expressing a sense of pride and arrogance, and it is like a sharp arrow that wants to pierce the sky......