Now the Ordnance Division is fully focused on Grumman and Douglas, the former of whom is bidding because the Chinese Navy does not have as many restrictions as the U.S. Navy, does not pay attention to tradition and sphere of influence, and will go as long as it can be done. At this time www.biquge.info, Grumman was only favored by the Naval Aviation Administration for F4F, but he never got the order, and compared with the dragging US Navy, all kinds of signs showed that the Chinese Navy was in urgent need of carrier-based aircraft, so Grumman was bidding for the bid, and carrier-based attack aircraft were also involved. Unfortunately, after all, it is a small company, here is the F4F improvement, here is the F5F prototype, and finally there is a torpedo dive bomber, and Grumman, who is too busy, can only press the deadline of September 1 for the prototype shipboard test.

Compared with Grumman, who was too busy, Douglas built two prototypes in April, and invited Lin Xianxin and others to visit at the first time, and the flight and landing were unanimously praised, but unfortunately the training aircraft carrier is still being refitted, otherwise it can be tested on the ship immediately.

The car drove out of downtown San Francisco to the Naval Aviation School, an abandoned civilian airport that the Navy took over at a low price. Although the airport is old, it has a complete runway, a tower, a tanker, a hangar, and a maintenance plant. The navy-run aviation school is really strict, and although Li Kongrong was shown his pass when he entered the door, he was still questioned twice, and the students in the school behaved in a very orderly manner, all of them acted in formation, and they walked neatly.

"Sir, there are eight hundred and forty-three students here, a total of four phases, and two batches will be recruited later, but there are too few Chinese young people in North America, and the enrollment of the seventh phase can only go to Nanyang." Lin Xianxin's adjutant Zhu Yixin introduced the school, and he knew that Li Kongrong was coming for the first time.

"What is the quality of the trainees? How many people can graduate in the first batch? Li Kongrong asked.

"The first phase has not yet graduated, but there are nearly 200 people who have entered the advanced class, but unfortunately more than 30 people have dropped out of the training in the past few months, and now there are about 150 people left." Zhu Yixin introduced the first batch of trainees, and it was not without regret that the more than 30 people who withdrew from the training.

"I remember that there were 300 students in the first phase?" Li Kongrong recalled Chen Wenlin's training syllabus.

"Yes, it's basically a period of 300 people. The first period is three hundred, the second is three hundred, the third is two hundred and thirty-two, and the fourth is only one hundred and seventy-one. Zhu Yixin introduced the enrollment number of the fourth phase of the aviation school, and it can be seen that the enrollment number has declined since the third phase, and it is estimated that there will be no 100 students in the fifth and sixth phases.

"Almost." Li Kongrong has long estimated the potential number of overseas Chinese pilots in North America, and nearly 1,000 people have been recruited in the fourth phase.

The car drove directly to the airport after passing through the office building, and at this time Li Kongrong realized that he was late, and a group of foreigners, as well as Chen Jiliang and Lin Xianxi, were waiting for him. "I'm late, sorry, sorry." He apologized to Chen Jiliang, Lin Xianxi, Chen Wenlin and others, and also apologized to the people of Douglas Company.

"It's understandable to be late today." Lin Xianxin raised his eyebrows and smiled meaningfully with Chen Jiliang and the others, while Ed Heinmann, the chief designer on Douglas's side, probably knew the reason for his tardiness and smiled disapprovingly.

"This is the prototype?" At one end of the runway stood Douglas's prototype, with the R-2800 engine in the nose. As Lee Kong-young walks towards the prototype, Ed Heinmann introduces him to the aircraft.

It measures thirty-eight feet eleven inches (11.86 m) in length, forty-nine feet (14.93 m) wide, fourteen feet eight inches (4.39 m) high, and is twenty-two feet six inches (6.85 m) wide when folded and fifteen feet seven inches (4.75 m) high. It weighed 8,978 pounds (4,072 kg) empty, weighed 14,851 pounds (6,614 kg) gross, had 1,800 horsepower, and had a range of 1,217 nautical miles (2,253 km). In addition, there are a total of 11 weapon hardpoints at both ends of the wings, which can carry one 700-kilogram torpedo and ten 60-kilogram bomblets under the belly, or two torpedoes directly under the belly. In order to increase the hit rate, the two torpedoes are mounted at an angle.

In terms of numbers, Douglas's prototype has an extremely powerful hanging ability, the plane takes off with a full load and only takes 200 meters of runway, and the air movements are also very smooth, and there is no problem with it. The only regret is that there is no aircraft carrier, in fact, even if there is an aircraft carrier, Li Kongrong can't see anything famous, he doesn't know how to fly, so naturally he can't understand airplanes.

"What do you think of this plane?" Li Kongrong had no choice but to ask Chen Wenlin, he was an expert in flying.

"It's not on the ship yet, it's not clear." Chen Wenlin's answer was extremely objective. "However, the load, speed, range, stall speed, size, and size after folding, these are all qualified, that is, the folded height is four meters seven or five, which is too high, we are a double-layer hangar, so that the height of the hangar will exceed nine meters, fortunately, they promised to find a way to change."

The Americans are lavish in everything, and the prototype cabin is very wide, even if there is a height limit of four meters and five, the prototypes of several companies have been exceeded, the only difference is that it is more and less. Thinking of the first few prototypes he saw, Li Kongrong said helplessly: "If you really can't do it, the hangar will be built higher, and the center of gravity is unstable, let's find another way to solve it." The key to the combat effectiveness of an aircraft carrier lies in carrier-based aircraft. Within a certain range, only carrier-based aircraft can be applied to carrier-based aircraft, and carrier-based aircraft cannot be applied to aircraft carriers. ”

"The training aircraft carrier should be launched faster." Chen Wenlin whispered, it seems that he is also in a hurry to launch the aircraft carrier.

"Seventy days." Lee Kongrong said a number, which was determined at the Maine shipyard. "Zhou Maobai promised that he would be able to launch in 70 days, which will definitely catch up with the carrier-based aircraft test."

"Seventy days?" Chen Wenlin laughed, and he said, "This is really good! Will Brother Hansheng be there then? ”

"Of course I'm not there after seventy days." Li Kongrong said with regret, "It's up to you to check the matter, what is the fate of your students when they encounter the Japanese aircraft, in addition to looking at the technology, the performance of the carrier-based aircraft is extremely important." ”

Chen Wenlin has never had so many students, and he has always been strict with the aviation school, hoping that every student will be skilled. He naturally knew exactly how carrier-based aircraft would affect the fate of his students. After Li Kongrong finished speaking, he nodded heavily, but he was worried: "But I haven't flown on the sea, I can't evaluate what the carrier-based aircraft should be, Brother Hansheng, you are not there......"

"I don't understand either." Li Kongrong smiled, "But there will always be a way, and when the time comes, just remember that all prototypes are painted in one color." ”

"Paint in one color?" Chen Wenlin didn't know why.

"Yes, I can't tell each other apart. I'll find a way to find a few judges and let them evaluate and score. Li Kongrong was talking about the Royal Navy, and he planned to send a few experienced aircraft carrier pilots to the British Navy to test the prototype at the expense of visiting the U-38.

"Mister Lee, we'd love to hear from you." Designer Ed Heinmann courtesy of the courtesy. Today's presentation is all about Li Kongrong, and according to Lin Xianxi's explanation of him, Mister Li is the key figure who influenced the outcome of the bidding.

"For now, the future is very optimistic." Li Kongrong smiled, he knew that the person in front of him was the designer of the later Sky Raider ground attack aircraft, and the prototype in front of him was similar to a reduced version of the Sky Raider, except that the engine was not a 2,700 horsepower R-3350, but a R-2800 with only 1,800 horsepower. However, the 1945 R-3350 was very different from the current R-3350, it was a product of a redesign.

"Yes, we are waiting for the test in three months, and we are confident." Heinmann smiled and pointed to the plane in front of him, "We are also trying to find a way to improve its height, it exceeds the requirements of the project book, which is very bad, we can always think of a way." ”

"Please reduce its height as much as possible without affecting performance," Li Kongrong really couldn't say anything, he could only follow the words of the American. "Also, if I had to say something, I could only say one thing. That is, American design generally creates a lot of redundancy. ”

"Redundancy?" Heinmann didn't know why.

"Yes, redundancy. American design has always been about a department responsible for a part and completing a set task according to the assigned goal. But just like multiplication, some of the same parts can actually be combined, but because each department is focused on achieving its own goals, no one cares about overall waste. Li Kongrong really couldn't say anything, so he had to make some sense.

"Misty Lee, are you saying the plane is too heavy?" Heinmann said thoughtfully.

"It's just a guess, but with what I know about the quality of aluminum alloys in the United States, it's really too heavy." Li Kongrong suddenly thought of the Zero-type Igarashi, which is why he will send a fighter squadron to participate in the domestic war on September 13 next year, and only by shooting down the Zero-type and finding its wreckage can the composition of the Igarashi aluminum alloy be known. Historically, this process took place in 1942, and the imitation of 7075 aluminum alloy appeared in 1943.

"Yes, we'll find a way to reduce the weight of the plane." Heinmann earnestly agrees, the customer is God.

The prototype flew for half an hour just for Li Kongrong to watch, but Li Kongrong couldn't understand the plane, and today's display was basically in vain. Even so, after the people from Douglas Company left, Chen Jiliang and Lin Xianxin still seriously asked Li Kongrong for his opinion.

"The numbers are good, but we don't know until we actually get on the ship." Li Kongrong said, he saw that there was no one around, and talked about his idea of returning to China to participate in the war, "I thought of a plan during this time, that is, before September next year, starting from the first batch of trainees, I will start returning to China for rotation training." ”

"Returning to China for rotation?" Chen Jiliang and Lin Xianqi didn't understand it.

"It's to go home to war." Li Kongrong explained, "Now the Japanese bombing is extremely frequent, and the domestic air force is simply unable to resist ......"

"I'm against going back home." Lin Xianxin immediately objected. "Can these people come back again?"

"Of course you can come back, we are training in rotation, and there are no more people in China." Li Kongrong said.

"No matter how many people go, they won't come back!" Lin Xianxi's face turned pale, "It's not that you don't know Chang someone's behavior, we didn't let him detain these pilots in China with hard work." ”

"Xiang Xin, listen to Hansheng." Chen Jiliang nodded as soon as he heard that he would return to China to participate in the war, and he was not as opposed as Lin Xianxi.

"If we don't go back, China will force us to go back then." Thinking about the situation after the air battle at Bishan on 13 September, Li Kongrong said, "When the air force is exhausted, and the cities in the rear are bombed, and we have hundreds of pilots in the air who sit idly by and ignore them on the other side of the ocean, this will definitely arouse public anger, and these students will not understand."

It is better to return to China to participate in the war in the form of rotational training than to be forced to go back later, and no matter how much training the cadets have, it will still not be useful without actual combat. If a plane is damaged and shot down on land, it can be forced to land and parachute, but what about parachuting at sea? As I said before, according to intelligence, the Japanese are producing a new type of aircraft with superior performance, and we must come into contact with it early and think of countermeasures as early as possible.

There is also a new type of aluminum alloy used in this kind of aircraft, which has a strength of 65 kilograms per square millimeter, which exceeds the strength of the existing aluminum alloy by 20 kilograms. We had to shoot down a new Japanese plane, find its wreckage and copy the aluminum. ”

"Exactly the news?" Chen Jiliang asked seriously.

"When did I miss a message?" Li Kongrong asked rhetorically. "Although I haven't thought of how to make money with this recipe for the time being, it can greatly reduce the weight of carrier-based aircraft, and this alone is enough for us to return to China to participate in the war."

"What if the country detains both people and planes?" Chen Jiliang said that he was also worried that China would forcibly detain people.

"The people who go back are even U.S. citizens, as long as they don't want to stay, who can detain them?" Li Kongrong smiled. "We let Long Yun's people be responsible for the airport security, and the airport should not be placed near Chongqing, it should be placed close to Kunming, and it is best to have a lake, so that seaplanes can take off and land."

The seaplane goes back is the AWACS goes back. Chen Wenlin understands that the command of early warning aircraft must also pass the actual combat test, but he is worried about another thing: "Is it possible that the latest carrier-based aircraft fighters will return to China to participate in the war?" If not, then with what plane? ”

"Originally, I was against the return of the new carrier-based aircraft, which would expose the performance of the aircraft. But thinking that the new aluminum alloy and the new two-thousand-horsepower engine can come out next year and be installed on the new plane the year after, I think that the carrier-based aircraft should be sent back so that the pilots will not become uncomfortable because of the change of aircraft. Li Kongrong said. Don't worry about going head-to-head, with the American industrial base, we will fight stronger and stronger, and the Japanese will fight weaker and weaker. ”

Li Kongrong said that Chen Jiliang and Chen Wenlin nodded again and again, but Lin Xianxin still stubbornly said that he did not agree with the pilots returning to China to participate in the war, so he brushed his sleeves and left. (To be continued.) )