Although Tan Renhao is also an aviation enthusiast, he is by no means a fanatical technology enthusiast like Hao Dongjue, what he attaches importance to is tactics, but the basis of tactics is technology, what kind of technology determines what kind of tactics. It's like before the advent of tanks, no one would have thought of "blitzkrieg".

Technology is the foundation, and tactics are just a means to give full play to the advantages of technology on the basis of technology.

After returning to his office, Tan Renhao did not rush to read the strategic plan, but first read the technical documents of the new equipment of the Navy and the technical documents of the Navy's new combat aircraft. At the beginning, Tan Renhao participated in the design of aircraft when he was still serving in the Fifth Fleet, which made him more familiar with some aviation technical terms, not to the point of not being able to understand the technical documents. Soon, Tan Renhao was also attracted by this technical document.

Airplanes were created before the last World War, and after humans first took to the skies using the power of machinery, this new thing immediately caught the attention of the military and was quickly used in warfare. In the early days of World War I, the main purpose of the aircraft was to provide artillery with correction parameters and guide the artillery to strike the enemy more accurately. At that time, only what appeared was what is now called an artillery sight reconnaissance aircraft. Later, in order to deal with enemy reconnaissance aircraft, machine guns were installed on aircraft for the first time, and aircraft specially designed to deal with reconnaissance aircraft were developed, which was called a fighter. Later in the war, many reconnaissance pilots carried grenades and mortar shells, and after flying over enemy positions, they dropped grenades and shells, which were the most primitive bombers, and then larger. …． n

Bombers capable of loading aerial bombs appeared on the battlefield.

It can be said that the entire period of the First Global War was at the beginning of flight technology, and a large number of new technologies were born during these years. As well as aviation tactics. By the end of World War I, many countries had established their own air forces. Countries such as the Tang Empire and the United States, which did not have a separate air force, also set up large-scale air forces in their armies and navies. It was also at this time that Du Hei put forward the theory of "air supremacy", and for the first time demonstrated the importance of air supremacy in war, and asserted that the focus of future wars is in the sky. Whoever rules the skies rules the battlefield, and the air force has the ability to destroy the enemy alone and win the war (it was not until more than 70 years later that Duhey's assertion was proven in actual combat).

It can be said that the "truce" of more than twenty years between the two global wars was a golden period for the development of the aviation industry, as well as a critical stage in the rapid development of aviation combat theory. And in the years leading up to the outbreak of the Second Global War, with the advancement of aviation technology, aircraft also changed dramatically. Like what. In World War I, most of the fighters were multi-wings, mainly because the engines were not powerful enough. Monoplanes struggle to provide sufficient lift, and lack of agility leads to grounding.

At this time, monoplanes gradually became the mainstream, and their advantages became more and more obvious. Especially in terms of speed, monoplanes have a natural advantage over multiplanes because of their own resistance. In addition, the emergence of all-metal structures, semi-monocoques, and monocoque fuselage structures has greatly changed the appearance of aircraft.

It was also during this period that the theory of aviation operations underwent earth-shaking changes, and pioneers in aviation theory appeared in various countries, that is, the first batch of soldiers like Liao Hanxiang who supported the theory of winning in aviation operations. The Tang Empire was not the initiator of this revolution, but it was by no means a laggard. Since the outbreak of the war three years ago, the Tang Empire has been working hard to improve the performance level of its combat aircraft, and has never stopped the research and development of new aircraft.

With the outbreak of the war, the capital ships of the Tang Imperial Navy were destroyed, and the remaining three aircraft carriers carried the backbone of the entire navy and launched a strategic counterattack, which not only defeated Japan in the end, but also proved one point, that is, aircraft carriers have replaced battleships and become the absolute resistance of naval warfare!

Under these circumstances, the naval aviation of the Tang Empire invested even greater strength in the research and development of fighters. From the "Sparrowhawk" to the "Vulture" to the "Falcon", the fighters of the Tang Imperial Navy not only changed the situation of lagging behind the enemy, but also overwhelmed their opponents in performance. In terms of bombers, it is no exception, but the problem is that the war is not over, the enemy has not been defeated, and the enemy is definitely developing better fighters, then, the Tang Empire cannot stop the development of new fighters, and the navy also needs better and more advanced fighters to defeat the enemy!

After the completion of the research and development of the "Falcon," the Navy's Equipment Technology Office issued a new task to the three aircraft factories of Shenfei, Hafei, and Nanfei, requiring these three companies to come up with a design plan for the new fighter, and the first technical requirement put forward by the Navy was that the new fighter must be more than 20 percent higher in performance than the "Falcon," and in addition, it was necessary to make appropriate improvements (such as too little ammunition) in view of some important problems exposed by the "Falcon."

This task is not simple, the top speed of the "Falcon" has reached 320 knots, if it is increased by 20%, then it will reach 385 knots, and when the Navy issues new technical indicators, there is simply not a suitable engine that can provide such strong power and allow the fighter to fly so fast!

At that time, Shen Fei first proposed a plan, that is, to still use the engine used in the "Falcon" fighter, and then comprehensively modify the aerodynamic layout, increase the use of aluminum alloy (and even proposed to use the newly emerged magnesium aluminum alloy to manufacture the main structure of the fighter), modify the structure of the fighter, reduce the weight of the fighter, and finally meet the requirements of the indicators proposed by the navy. However, the plan was immediately rejected. One is that fighters that are too light are not very suitable for the Navy, and only the Army needs fighters with light weight. Second, the cost is too expensive, if the use of aluminum alloy is increased, and even magnesium aluminum alloy is used to make the main structure of the fighter, then the price of purchasing a new fighter is enough to buy five "Falcon". The third is that there is not much room for upgrading this improved fighter and will soon lag behind, and the Navy needs a completely new fighter.

At that time, Hafei and Nanfei also put forward the corresponding overall design plan. But they were all vetoed by the Navy. Both aircraft manufacturing companies were busy producing fighters, bombers, and also took on the task of developing new bombers for the Army Aviation. Therefore, it is difficult to concentrate efforts on developing new fighters for the HNA.

By the second half of '24, none of the three aircraft factories came up with a design that would satisfy the Navy. It was at this time. The situation on the battlefield has changed. The U.S. Army Air Corps' P-51D Mustang fighter jets first appeared over Europe and began to escort heavy bomber groups heading to Germany. At the same time, the British Air Force was equipped with better Spitfires. Then, the P-51D appeared in the skies over the Pacific Theater and fought several times with the naval aviation of the Tang Empire.

Enemy ground stimulation is certainly the greatest motivator for the Navy.

The speed of the P-51D surpassed that of the Navy's "Falcon" fighters, and even faster than the shore-based "Falcon" (which was much lighter and faster than the carrier-based model). Although the "Falcon" is stronger, and the firepower is more ferocious, and it does not suffer much loss on the battlefield, this is undoubtedly a slap in the face to the Navy, regardless of whether the P-51D is better than the "Falcon", for the Tang Imperial Navy, it is absolutely intolerable to let the enemy's ground fighters fly faster than their own.

That's when it happened. The Naval Armament Technical Office gave a dead order to the three aircraft factories that they must complete the design within six months, and strive to complete the test flight work by the middle of 25 years.

Let the new fighters equip the troops. At that time, Shen Fei's second design work had already been completed more than half, after receiving a dead order from the Navy, as well as new design indicators. Shen Fei's engineers immediately accelerated, and once again revised the design of the new fighter. In March 25, Shen Fei came up with a design plan.

This was the fourth type of fighter that the Imperial Naval Aviation was equipped with during the war - the "Golden Eagle". Originally, the Navy named this fighter "Eagle", but when the first prototype left the factory, it was painted gold, so it was later called "Golden Eagle".

The new fighter is designed for a maximum level flight speed (5500 meters at an altitude of 375 meters), which is slightly lower than the requirements of the Navy, but it is also acceptable. The maximum ceiling reaches 12,500 meters, and the maximum range of the fuel inside the aircraft reaches 850 nautical miles without carrying external ammunition, and the maximum range can reach 700 nautical miles if a 250-kilogram bomb and eight rockets are hung, and the maximum range can reach 1,500 nautical miles when using large auxiliary fuel tanks. The most striking feature of this fighter is that for the first time, a frameless glass cockpit was adopted, and it was modeled on the design of the US P-51D, with a bubble cockpit (later the carrier-based model was replaced with a framed, mainly because the frameless glass cover was too fragile and unsafe on an aircraft carrier). The fighter was equipped with an improved version of the Wind 16 engine with an output of 2,400 horsepower, and was designed with room for a replacement with the Wind 18 engine. Its main armament was still four 20 mm guns (which had proven to be the most powerful and effective aviation guns of the war), and the reserve of each gun was increased to 350 rounds. In addition, when necessary, it can also be used as a fighter-bomber, and its ground bombing capabilities are not bad.

After Shen Fei assured that the design of the "Feng 18" was completed and could be used on the new fighter immediately, the Navy did not let Shen Fei modify the design (after replacing it with a new engine, the "Golden Eagle"

The maximum level flight speed reached 395 knots, which was one of several fighters capable of flying more than 700 kilometers per hour during the Great War), and immediately allowed Shen Fei to start a comprehensive design and trial production work.

In addition, at that time, the Navy also put forward a request for the development of a new bomber, but in the end, the development of the new bomber was canceled due to the lack of sufficient research and development forces.

The test flight of the "Golden Eagle" began in May and ended in mid-August, and then Shen Fei began to produce small batches, and the first batch was provided to the training units of the HNA Airlines, and the first batch of formal production models will be provided to the combat units at the end of September, and the first equipment will be the carrier-based aviation units.

In addition to the "Golden Eagle", Hafei also came up with an improved design plan for the "Water Bird" and "Sea Eagle" during the same period. At that time, the Navy did not immediately start the development of a bomber using the "Feng-16" engine, nor did it start the development plan of a bomber using the "Feng-18" engine, for the simple reason that the performance of the "Water Bird" and the "Sea Eagle" was much ahead of the similar bombers of the US Navy, and the Navy did not have pressure in this regard. However, Hafei did not want to give up the opportunity to obtain new orders from the Navy, so when Shen Fei was making every effort to develop a new fighter, Hafei focused on developing a new type of bomber, which was actually just an improved bomber.

The new bomber was improved on the basis of the "Shooting Water Birds" and "Sea Eagles". The biggest change is the use of the "Wind 16" modified engine, which has an increased output of 200 horsepower.

In addition, Hafei's engineers also made certain modifications to the aerodynamic layout in response to the problems exposed by the bomber in actual combat, increased the structural strength of key parts, and even set up thicker armor near the cockpit. After the improvement, both bombers did not improve much in terms of flight performance, and the biggest change was that both bombers were much heavier, more solid, and less likely to be shot down.

This is the later "water bird" type B, and the "sea eagle" type B. Because many of the old bombers had been improved, the Navy only used the new code name in the official documents, and still used the original name in the troops, so the Imperial Navy did not subdivide the two types of bombers of the old model and the old model.

The development and flight test work of the new bomber began at the same time as the new fighter, and it is also planned to be available to combat units in September. Of course, the three new fighters must undergo at least one month of adaptability training in combat units before they can be officially put into battle. In particular, fighter units must undergo long-term adaptability training after using the new fighters, so that the pilots can fully grasp the performance of the new fighters.

It took Tan Renhao a morning to read the technical paper. This is great news, the performance of the "Golden Eagle" is enough to overwhelm all opponents on the battlefield. Maybe the U.S. Navy is about to come up with a new fighter, but as long as the "Golden Eagle" can be successfully equipped with troops, then the Imperial Navy still has the best fighter in the world!