Although Vandenberg has been working on strategic bombers for many years, he is still very interested in such an excellent fighter as the H1. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 After John landed, he and several other Army Air Corps officers couldn't help but experience it themselves.

Each of them was fascinated by the extraordinary piloting experience of the new H1, and one daredeviled guy even flew too high over the Pacific Ocean and almost broke into the air traffic control area of the naval airfield on the island of San Clementy.

"It's just amazing, it's like a bullet with wings!" Coming out of the cockpit of the H1 fighter, Vandenberg excitedly said to John: "Those idiots at the Right Field Base actually missed such an excellent aircraft. ”

Vandenberg's right-field base, located in Ohio, is the U.S. Army Air Corps' agency responsible for reviewing orders for military aircraft. The agency, which employs more than 1,000 officers and aeronautical engineers, tests the performance of all aircraft sold to the U.S. Army. Before World War II, the agency had considerable authority in the procurement of military aircraft. They were responsible for the initial series of strict and cumbersome approval procedures, and finally the signing of supply contracts with aircraft manufacturing companies.

In 1937, Hughes had applied to the military ordering authority of the Ukan base to sell the H1 aircraft as a fighter jet, but the Ukano base refused. At the same time, they signed a contract with Lockheed Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation to order a large number of XP38 aircraft.

You know, the XP38 is slightly inferior to the H1 in all respects. Historically, when the Japanese beat the XP38 of the United States with a Zero fighter that was suspected of stealing the H1 design, there was a wave of calls in the US public opinion circles to investigate whether the Uno base had ever accepted huge bribes from Lockheed.

However, John did not believe that there was such a bribery incident, and he felt that Hughes's strange temper was the main reason for the failure of his previous cooperation with the military. Hasn't it been a pleasure to work with the military since John took over Hughes Aircraft? I didn't stuff the money, and the D2 long-range bomber also passed the audit. Even if it had something to do with John's job responsibilities in the Military Production Commission.

After having their fill, Vandenberg and the others returned to the hotel, while John stayed behind to hear Remo's report on the H1 aircraft improvement project. The technical part of the report is outstanding, and all of the company's technicians are raving about the performance of the new H1. But Remo also told John the bad news that the Navy had rejected their application to sell the new H1.

What's the situation? John was a little confused. Since he took over Hughes Aircraft, he has been in contact with the Navy. Didn't the army refuse to order the H1, of course he had to find a market for this aircraft. The 100 or so orders of the Volunteer Air Force alone could not satisfy John's appetite.

Thinking that the future Japanese Type Zero would be a naval carrier-based fighter, John set his sights on the U.S. Navy. For this reason, he even went through the path of the Roosevelt family and got into a bit of a relationship with the top brass of the Admiralty. Of course, John was certainly not looking for President Roosevelt himself, and this little thing could not trouble his old man. John was connected to the Navy through Kermit (the son of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had previously mediated between John and Henry Ford).

The reason why I looked for Kermit was because the entire Roosevelt family had a lot of ties to the U.S. Navy. This family has produced many naval ministers and deputy chiefs, and many members have served in the navy, and are recognized as the spokesmen of naval interests.

Previously, John's contacts with the Navy had been smooth. The U.S. Navy is very optimistic about the performance of the H1, John originally thought that this business was not a sure thing, but also eight or nine ten, why did it suddenly go wrong?

"What's going on? The Navy has to give a reason. John's face pulled down and he asked sternly.

"They didn't say they didn't want the H1, they just didn't want the new version after the modification." Remo quickly explained.

John is even more confused, obviously the new version of H1 has better performance, why does the Navy only need the old version? The price is not too far behind. It took some explanation from Remo that John figured out what the problem was.

The reason why the Navy refused to order the new H1 was precisely because the new H1 used liquid-cooled Merlin engines. Although the liquid-cooled Merlin engine is more powerful and has better heat dissipation, it can run at high speeds for long periods of time, and the intake duct arrangement is also more concise, which is conducive to the installation of superchargers.

However, it also has a fatal flaw, that is, because of the addition of cooling water tanks and a large number of pipelines, its design is more complex, and the production requires high precision, which is difficult to maintain. Especially in battle, if it is damaged, it is easy to stop the engine due to coolant loss.

For the Navy, it is relatively difficult to replenish the aircraft on the aircraft carrier, and it is necessary to ensure that the damaged aircraft can be repaired as quickly as possible. At the same time, there is a lack of fresh water on the carrier, and the water-cooled engine increases the fresh water consumption on board (engine coolant during World War II was made from a mixture of fresh water additives).

The air-cooled engine is not as good as the liquid-cooled one, but it is superior in its simple structure and easy to maintain. At the same time, the failure rate is also low, and there will be no problems such as coolant loss, oil-water mixing, water pump failure, water temperature sensor damage, cylinder corrosion and so on. And because its cylinders are arranged in a "star" shape and are independent of each other, even if several cylinders are pierced in battle, it will not affect the engine to continue to work.

After doing it for a long time, it turned out that the navy paid more attention to whether the engine was resistant to construction and easy to repair, rather than the size of the power. It is no wonder that during World War II, most of the carrier-based aircraft of various countries used air-cooled engines. After figuring out the problem, John suddenly lost his previous interest. He felt that he had been purely painting snakes before, and it took a long time to make the new plane that was not as popular as the original.

But the world is big, and the customers are the biggest. The navy wants air-cooled engines, so what can John do? "Then let's talk to the Navy about the old version of the H1." John instructed Remo to continue with the Navy, and then left Hughes Aircraft Company in a bit of a huff, not even forgetting to ask about the D-2's modification of the Merlin engine.

In the evening, when Vandenberg asked him, John remembered. He told Vandenberg what had happened on H1, and the Army Air Corps captain burst into tears.

"You're going to sell liquid-cooled engined planes to the Navy." Vanderbilt easily stopped laughing and said, "Those guys never use liquid-cooled engines. All the aircraft manufacturers know about this, but you don't? ”

Also, I am afraid that only the "double rookies" like John and Hughes aircraft in the whole of the United States will make such low-level mistakes. John felt that he was too embarrassed this time, and he would probably be laughed at by the industry for a long time.

"But seriously, the new H1 with a new engine is pretty good. I think you can apply to the right field base again. Vandenberg paused for a moment and said in a mocking tone, "Don't worry." Our Army Air Corps does not discriminate against liquid-cooled engines. ”