After Christmas, before the New Year, at Deutsche Air Tek's test base No. 1 in the western suburbs of Berlin, a single-engine plane with a hard hue was parked at the end of the long test runway, and more than a dozen technicians were inspecting it with such detail that they did not miss every screw on the wings and tail. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The biplane was a single-seat design, and in the half-open cockpit sat a blonde young man of twenty-five or sixteen. There weren't many instrument levers for the plane to control, and he seemed to know it for a long time, just quietly watching the technicians next to him busy. A little farther away, a large group of people gathered in Hulala, about a third of them were in military uniforms, and the rest were mostly middle-aged and elderly people with a steady posture. In comparison, the young people in gorgeous costumes are very conspicuous.

Dr. Hugo Juncker, who will celebrate his 57th birthday in just over a month, looks a little nervous, looking up at the sky and looking down at the runway. It seems that it is not ideal to conduct a test flight of an aircraft in such cold weather, but if you look at the face of God, I am afraid that the test flight will have to be postponed by two or three months.

As in the past, Natsuki slowly walked over to Dr. Juncker with his hands behind his back and stood side by side with him without saying a word, but his identity was different at the moment. He was able to participate in the test flight of the German Army's secret project, because he was still a direct member of the Hohenzollern family, and even if he lost all the privileges of the German royal family, his actual status was still high, and besides, the new fighter project named "Junker-15" was launched and implemented in his hands, and when it was handed over, the project was more than 90 percent complete. If he succeeds, he is an undeniably important contributor.

The scheduled time has arrived, and the howling north wind still has no intention of stopping. With the consent of the military personnel, Dr. Juncker gave the test pilots take-off instructions.

As soon as the plane starts, the new engine roars exceptionally strongly. During the war, the German war eagle dominated the sky, the steel chariot crisscrossed the battlefield, and even the high-speed warship roared the sea, which are inseparable from the mechanical heart of Daimler and Mercedes-Benz, although Britain, France, Russia and Italy and other countries also have first-class engines, but almost no company can continue to innovate like Daimler and Mercedes-Benz, and has always maintained a proud stability in the field of power. For this point, Xia Shu has a deep understanding, but unfortunately Ireland's industrial base is too weak, and there is no strong economic thrust, it is difficult to catch up with the old industrial powers of Europe in the short and medium term, as long as the fastest effect and in line with the future trend of the "partial running" strategy, that is, the development of naval aviation, submarines, speedboats as a breakthrough in the military industry. They rely on engines to the highest level of any project, and whether imported or copied, Ireland's military industry will rely on the power of the "heart of Germany" for a long time to come.

After a smooth glide, the brand new testing machine was lifted off. I saw that it slowly climbed to a height of three or four hundred meters, like an elegant black swan slowly turning, circling around the test base twice, and then began to do the common tactical actions of rapid ascension, diving, and sharp turn. At first glance, it seems that the reason why it is in a relatively slow pace of maneuver is due to the conservative nature of the test flight, but Natsuki has personally witnessed the test flight of successful models such as Junker-3C and Hubert-D, and the process is not as seen today, if it were not for the fact that Dr. Juncker and his team have more scruples than before, there is only one reason for this: the impact of the structure of the steel bone veneer on the mobility is greater than theoretical prediction!

Before the Junkers-15, basically all the aircraft were wooden skeletons with canvas skin, with the advent of air combat, their fragile weaknesses were exposed, and the Junkers-15 was valued by the German military because it used a number of leading technologies - the engine is a new inline 6-cylinder engine launched by Mercedes-Benz, the power output efficiency is second to none, and the skeleton of the aircraft for the first time adopts the structure of hollow steel pipes and steel bulkheads, which is far stronger than ordinary wooden frames, Coupled with the wooden skin, which is not easily torn by a few bullet wounds, its air combat survivability has been multiplied, and the theoretical estimate of flight speed has reached a surprising number.

Although he didn't turn his head to look at Dr. Juncker's expression, Natsuki could guess his mood at the moment, so he was relieved: "Airplanes are like warships, it is difficult to take into account speed, defense, and firepower, and if you want to make a breakthrough in some aspects, you must make some sacrifices. Every weapon has its own characteristics, and the real key to becoming a classic is to see how the user of the weapon uses it. ”

The test data still needs time to be calculated, and seeing that the plane is returning normally, Dr. Juncker is already very relieved, and he looks sideways at Natsuki: "What His Highness said is a philosophy that everyone knows, but not everyone is willing to accept this reality. The reason why His Highness has been able to succeed in many fields has a lot to do with His Highness's vision and mentality. ”

The corners of Xia Shu's mouth provoked a signature smile: "Every success of mine is due to the support of practitioners like you, otherwise, my ideas are just a bunch of empty dreams." ”

"It's been a pleasure to work with." Dr. Juncker didn't go any further, but sighed softly, and what was hidden was self-evident.

With Natsuki's arrival in Ireland, as part of a political deal, all of his German properties were ceded to the German government, and many operational or technical talents such as Wiesel and Beretta followed him to develop new ventures, while Dr. Juncker and his technical research and development team, with whom he worked closely, chose to stay. Today, the German government has renamed Hubert Aeronautics to Deutsche Airways and appointed Dr. Juncker as chief operating officer and chief designer, asking him to move the aircraft laboratory from Aachen to Berlin. Although Natsuki regrets these changes, as he himself said, what he gains must be lost, not to mention that the previous resources have not completely disappeared, and his cooperative relationship with Juncker is still maintained, but it is just a different identity and model. In addition, there is far more than one top aircraft designer, and only by extensive recruitment can we avoid the misunderstandings of technological development.

In fact, long before the outbreak of the Great War, Natsuki set his sights on the Dutchman Anthony Fock, a young pilot and aircraft designer who was born in the same year as Joachim, when Joachim designed a first-class warship for the German Navy with the dazzling halo of Hohenzollern's genius, the young Fokker built a small plane with his ingenuity, and the young man with a dream returned to his homeland Netherlands with his own works, but was given a cold reception, and later went to France, England, and Russia, trying to be recognized and supported, And then set up their own aircraft factories, but in France there are Newport Aircraft Company and the famous Gustav Dirag, in Britain there are Soprovise and the famous Herbert Smith, and in Russia there is the RBVZ Machine-Building Plant and the potential of Ivanovich Sikorsky, no one cares about this kid who has not even grown a beard. Just when Fokker was extremely disappointed, an invitation letter from Hubert Aeronautics changed the course of his life, and he soon became the chief engineer of this powerful aircraft manufacturing and aviation operation company, and obtained a 25% stake in the company. The Hubert-D combat reconnaissance aircraft became the number one contributor to the German Army and Navy's seizure and control of air supremacy in 1914, and the Hubert-E3 carrier-based bomber and Hubert-E5 torpedo bomber, which were commissioned in the later part of the war, were also recognized as successes.

Anthony Faulk, who refused to become a German citizen and is now unwilling to accept the title of Irish nobility, has a sincere heart for his country, but the Kingdom of the Netherlands has no ambition in the military field, except for the example of Belgium, which has to strengthen its military preparation and use force as a backing to defend its neutral status. After the end of the war, as soon as he received an invitation from the Dutch government, Fokker returned to his homeland without hesitation, and even raised some of his own funds to form KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Like Dr. Juncker, Fokker's partnership with Natsuki did not break down, but took a different approach – he accepted an appointment from the Irish government to become the Chief Technical Adviser to Limerick Aviation, visiting Limerick regularly and using his wisdom and talent to contribute to the Irish aircraft industry.

After the plane landed, the test pilot waved excitedly to the spectators, and it seemed that he was personally very satisfied with the performance of the aircraft. After more than a quarter of an hour, the data from the field test were revealed. Excluding the influence of wind speed, the Junkers-15 reached a level flight speed of 169 kilometers per hour, which was 13 kilometers per hour faster than the test speed of the newly commissioned Hubert-F biplane single-seat fighter, and the former was loaded according to the load of four 7.92 mm caliber machine guns, and the latter was limited to take-off weight, and only two aviation machine guns of the same model were designed to be carried, and there was a multiple difference in firepower.

In terms of climb and steering speed, the Junkers-15 is an order of magnitude worse than the Hubert-F, which means that while it has the advantages of substantial protection and level-flight speed, the ability to maneuver in air combat can become a fatal flaw. In future air battles, if the tactics can make the most of their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, the Junkers-15 will certainly have a chance to shine, and if the other side fully grasps this point to deploy tactics, and the German side cannot deal with it flexibly, the tragedy of the British air battle may be staged in advance.

In the eyes of shallow government officials and military generals, with the triple advantages of speed, protection and firepower, the Junker-15 is as successful as the Caesar-class and King-class dreadnoughts, and its service will allow the German aviation forces to maintain or even expand their technological superiority over other countries, so many people eagerly stepped forward to congratulate Dr. Juncker, who was surrounded by all kinds of praise, and Dr. Juncker appeared flattered, while Natsuki was left out to dry out - which is exactly the same as when the Junker-3C test flight was successful.

(End of chapter)