The frenzied joy had not yet passed, Lin Jun found a familiar figure in the crowd, he hadn't seen this relative for almost half a year, "Uncle Ivan, why are you here?" ”

It was Uncle Ivan who Lin Jun first met when he came to this world, so he didn't come to Lin Jun's side, but took a few mechanics to check the surface of the plane. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Arkhipov motioned for everyone to do whatever they wanted, except for the test pilots, designers and a dozen technicians, a few airport workers who were ready to tow the plane close to the hangar.

I haven't seen him for half a year, Ivan seems to be a lot older, he walked up to Lin Jun, smiled and said: "Arkhipov dug me up, the number of experienced mechanics in the academy is insufficient, and the two old guys Vasily and I have nothing to spare." ”

I didn't see the one-armed mechanical master Vasily today, "He has been sick for the past two days and is being raised in the academy hospital. Arkhipov said.

Lin Jun was a little anxious at this time, these closest people around him were really concerned about him.

"Don't worry, mild pneumonia caused by a cold can be discharged from the hospital in two or three days at most."

Arkhipov's words put Lin Jun at ease: pneumonia used to be a life-threatening disease, but now with antibiotics, it is basically the cure to cure the disease if it is discovered early: the people who will be able to do it are basically not resistant.

"I'll take a look when I'm free today."

Returning to the test flight at hand, Ilyushchenko first reported on his flight sensation and various parameters.

"How do you think it should be around 650 mph when it has no external mount?"

"Yes, Marshal. Cruising at an altitude of 12,000 meters seems to be the most fuel-efficient, but the specific parameters require a large number of test flights, at least hundreds of sorties. ”

Lin Jun nodded slightly, turned to the two test pilots who were about to take over the test flight and said, "Be careful, rigorous, and ensure maximum safety." ”

The "Phantom" can be said to have been designed by an independent design team, and as far as a simple "runway coordination committee" was concerned, Lin Jun crossed the Air Force Committee and decided to put its preliminary trial production work at the Zhukov Air Force Academy, where several test planes would be built: the academy had the equipment needed for the trial production of complete facilities, and all the workers involved in the trial production of the "Phantom" on Gorky's side would be transferred to Zhukov.

The engines will be brought from Gorky, and the rest of the conditions are better for Zhukov than for the Gorky Institute, not to mention the fact that Moscow has the best carpenters, painters and polishers who make the skins of the aircraft.

"Andrey, there are some problems with this plane to pay attention to." "Look at the tire," said Vasily, "I heard that it has only taken off and landed a few times, and it is already very worn. I just saw that the speed required for take-off is very high, and the pressure on this tire is far greater than that of our original aircraft, in case of a puncture, it is a major accident. ”

It's not just an accident, if the test pilot has a flat tire and basically no chance of surviving - whether it is a flying wing or a conventional layout jet engine fighter, the requirements for tires are extremely high, not to mention the reliability of the whole aircraft.

There is still a long way to go before the new power aircraft enters the practical stage.

The "Ghost" was dragged into the hangar, and according to Lin Jun's instructions, it was necessary to tap into its full potential and then determine whether it would go into mass production - this mass production depends on the actual results, because sometimes in war, it is not only technical superiority, but also the whole picture.

As Lavochkin "was" said: if the war breaks out now, then we should win the war with the La-11, and the MiG-9 represents the future.

Now the most rational brains are Lin Jun and Polikarpov: in the opinion of the chief designer, the medium- and low-altitude performance of this "ghost" is unknown, especially the problem of reliability. If it blindly pursues high-altitude performance, then as a bomber, it can only attack a large area of fixed targets, such as enemy cities and large factories, and the consumption ratio is not high.

However, Porikarpov will determine a job that the "Phantom" will definitely be able to do -- the bomb bay will be converted into a camera capsule and become a high-altitude and high-speed reconnaissance plane, and there will be no weapon that can shoot down such an extremely powerful reconnaissance plane as the "Phantom"!

Lin Jun's idea coincided with Borikarpov's to a certain extent: not only the Nazi Air Force, but now the air forces of the whole world are not capable of shooting it down.

And Polikarpov's prospect gave Lin Jun even more reassurance: "If it is a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, in the future, when it has a jet engine with greater thrust and higher reliability, and adopts a flying wing design, it is possible to reach a ceiling of 20,000 meters, and it may not be long before this becomes a reality." ”

"Flying Wing U2?!" This is an absolutely tempting idea, according to the characteristics of the flying wing, the "ghost" can become the ruler of everything from above, and the opponent can only stare dryly before having a high-altitude anti-aircraft missile!

What if the "Ghost" does not perform well at low altitudes? Then there is no need to develop a large-scale formation of flying-wing bombers, but the research must be in-depth -- compared with a huge aviation system, it is not much cost for a small group of people to use existing materials to study an aircraft, and it is worth it to study it as a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft!

Not to mention that Lin Jun has another plan in his heart - to use it as a nuclear weapon bomber!

What is B-2 for? Not in order to be able to break through the tight air defense network of the Warsaw Pact, when it became no longer safe to fly over the Soviet Union at a cruising speed of nearly Mach 3, the Americans thought of stealth flying wings. Originally, the most important role of the B-2 was to carry a large-yield thermonuclear weapon, but later it became a platform for "point points" in several local wars, and the tactical use was very successful, but it has to be said that it was a "waste utilization" like helplessness, which was really sad for the B-2 born to break through the Warsaw Pact air defense network!

The first atomic bomb owned by the Soviet Union would not be small in size and weight, but in a few years, an atomic bomb weighing about a ton would definitely appear, or even smaller!

If the "Phantom" has a longer range, sufficient reliability, a higher ceiling, and the air refueling technology that Lin Jun is already planning, the Yankees on the other side of the Atlantic will have to weigh how to fight a cold war with the Soviet Union, which can drop atomic bombs on their heads at any time, in the future.

The Americans would have a platform for Britain and parts of the Middle East to enter the United States, and the Soviet Union had to have a platform that could threaten the American mainland at any time: Cuba was not reliable for many years after 45, and this "ghost" seemed like a good contingency.

Historically, Stalin's marshals and generals have made plans to use Figure 4 to carry out one-way suicidal bombing of the US mainland newspaper in the event of a nuclear war, and the bomber units of the Air Force have even organized such volunteer teams! Once the United States is attacked by nuclear weapons and a nuclear war breaks out, for the sake of their faith and motherland, those heroic pilots will embark on a voyage without hesitation and never look back!

Thankfully, for the planet as a whole, such a tragedy did not occur.

The most important point in the contest with the United States is the need to strike a delicate balance, because of the geographical location, it is clear that strategic bombers capable of threatening the continental United States are the only option before the advent of ICBMs.

If it becomes a nuclear-weapon-carrying aircraft, it will not be much of a problem if the accuracy of high-altitude bombs is poor, and the number of subsequent development models of the "Phantom" will not need to be too much, and too much equipment for a single mission aircraft will be a burden. The example of B58 is there - the score is not very high, and the effect is limited.

It is impossible for the "Ghost" to be shot down in a few years, and in the future, it will depend on the continued development of stealth performance, and Lin Jun does not want to make it a super expensive aircraft like the B-2 or B58. Judging from the current situation, even if the cost of research and follow-up development is calculated higher, it is unlikely to become an "expensive chicken rib": less production is more expensive, which is the characteristic of military aircraft, but a "U2" is worth the ticket price. After defeating Germany or the situation allows, the development of anti-radar materials will be deepened, and the Soviet Union may lead the world in stealth for many years, which is very beneficial to the global strategy.

The outlook is optimistic, and the "ghost" has at least two reasons to continue exploring development; The road is bumpy, bound to be accompanied by setbacks and difficulties - Lin Jun clearly told the young people in the design team.

Lin Jun did not go back to the villa for lunch, but stayed at the airport. In the afternoon, a meeting was held in the conference room at the airport to work out the next step of the "Phantom" test flight work and the development direction of the research group, and Arkhipov would make a connection with the Air Force Committee and the allocation of funds and materials -- even if the war was fierce, the Air Force Committee could easily come up with these resources and funds, and the "Phantom" now seems to be a money-saving long-term project.

Of course, the small stall saves money, and the future will be discussed in the future -- according to Lin Jun's decision, the "ghost" will not hinder other bomber development projects, and as an independent research project, even if there is a conflict.

Spend this little resource, it's worth it!

In two days, Polykarpov and his men will return to Gorky, including Ilyushchenko. The I-20 will carry out the engine test, the wind test stage, the early propeller power aerodynamic performance, and strength test have been completed, and the next stage is the key stage.

The armament of the I-20 has already been decided: the nose is equipped with five 23mm cannons arranged in a circular arrangement, and two auxiliary fuel tanks or two disposable air-to-air rocket launchers can be attached under the wings.

The reason for not choosing a larger caliber cannon is simple: the strength of the fuselage structure and the impact of the firing vibration of the aircraft gun on the fuselage and engine, and the fact that with 5 23mm cannons, it can already kill the enemy in one shot against bombers such as the Nazi Junkers 88!

The Soviet aviation artillery is already more powerful than the ordinary aviation guns of other countries of the same caliber, the recoil is also larger, and the effective range is longer (this is related to the shape of the warhead, the charge, the length of the shell, and the length of the barrel). ）。 30 mm is the ideal caliber, but it is better to wait for the next generation of jet fighters to appear, and three will be enough - like the MiG-19.

In the future, when the war is over, the unified type of cannon equipped on the fighter is the inevitable direction of development, and the choice of 37 mm cannons with 23 mm cannons like the MiG-15 and MiG-17 will no longer appear -- in Lin Jun's opinion, it is better to install only two 30 mm cannons or three 23 mm cannons with sufficient ammunition.

With a unified caliber and a unified model, the ballistics will be unified, and the shooting efficiency will be improved.

Assuming that the Soviet Union's new high-rate 30 mm cannon was used against heavy four-engine bombers such as the B17 and B29, as long as it was a two-barreled salvo, the density of fire would be sufficient, not to mention that the Soviet designers would basically cram a third cannon into the jet fighter.

For the B17, five or six German-made 30-mm shells hit and it was almost finished, not to mention Soviet shells. Early Western jet fighters had either six large-caliber machine guns or four 20-mm guns, and if the Soviet fighters were equipped with three or four 23-mm cannons that were customary in their designs, this would be more than enough - 30-mm guns were the best choice for "twin-engine heavy fighters".

The advantages of unifying airborne aircraft guns are obvious: the logistical pressure will be reduced, and the maintenance pressure of the front-line troops will be much smaller -- just like the lager of the front-line troops, there are some small models of airborne weapons with as many as three calibers, and the front-line troops will dismantle them. The correct trend of development, now the designers have noticed, it is only the special reasons of the war that make it very difficult to implement, and sometimes some trade-offs have to be made.

Lavochkin created a new and improved lager with a new air-cooled engine, which was supposed to use a 23mm gun, but if all the 23mm guns were used, a small convex hull would have to appear on the wings, and the weight would be too large. After the final trade-off, all 20 mm guns were taken, and two were tucked into the inner side of the engine cover, one on each side of the inner wing.

Although the caliber has been reduced, the density of fire is sufficient, which will be welcomed by the front-line troops - if you want to increase mobility, you can simply dismantle the cannons on both wings yourself! If you want to be modest, the mechanics of those aviation divisions will replace the guns on the wings with rapid-fire machine guns themselves (this is not a fool's errand, don't look at the difference in the reserved space in the wings, the Soviet and German troops did this in World War II!). ）。

Finally, when I was done, I took the car back to the villa, and it was already dark. As soon as he entered the door, he saw that his wife was coaxing little Ivan, and Lin Lin jumped up when he rushed straight to himself: "Dad! ”

(This chapter is especially thanks to a few book friends for their suggestions.) (To be continued.) )