The situation of the M40 transport plane could not be seen in the tower, Xiao Weiguo and the others were very nervous, but fortunately, at this time, the voice of the wing crew report came from the radio! All of them breathed a sigh of relief! As soon as Andre heard those flight data, he was excited, and said to Xiao Weiguo: "The M40 transport aircraft is really worthy of being a large transport aircraft with a number of new technologies, and it has exceeded the flight speed of 400 kilometers per hour on the first test flight!" This is already faster than most fighter jets, and I have to say that the turboprop engine is really a good engine! ”

When Xiao Weiguo heard Anderson's praise, he also said excitedly: "Yes, the turboprop engine not only has a large power-to-weight ratio, but also has a very low fuel consumption rate, which is very suitable for large transport aircraft and bombers!" When the M40 transport aircraft completes the test flight and is put into mass production, there will definitely be a large number of orders, and the M40 transport aircraft will definitely become the preferred model of airlines. ”

Anderson said happily, "I'm looking forward to seeing that day come!" In this way, we will be able to drive China's economic development. However, if there are a lot of orders for such a large aircraft, can your company be busy with production? ”

Xiao Weiguo smiled and said, "Don't worry about this! As long as there are enough skilled workers, none of this is a problem. Our production line is a pulsating assembly line, although the M40 large transport aircraft is different from other small aircraft, mainly because it requires far more technology and production capacity of the aviation industry than the general small aircraft, compared with the M30 transport aircraft It has three times more man-hours, of course, the material consumption of this aircraft is also very large. However, even in this case, we are able to guarantee the final assembly capacity of one or two aircraft per day for a production line. ”

Xiao Weiguo didn't say much, because the production of hundreds of M40 transport aircraft a year is really not large. In fact, the United States did produce a staggering number of aircraft during World War II, totaling 300,000 aircraft! The U.S. Army Air Corps has 16 air units, ranging in size, making it the largest air combat force in the world. At its peak, it had 2.4 million people, nearly 80,000 aircraft and more than 700 bases. The U.S. aviation industry is a strong aviation industry, providing the front line with a steady stream of aircraft with a sufficient number of improved performance. The production speed of the American aviation industry is amazing! And it also doesn't have the difficulty of a lack of critical raw materials, with 9,000 planes rolling off the assembly line from various factories in the United States in the month of peak production!

During World War II, most of the American aircraft transitioned from handicraft workshops for mass manufacturing of parts to assembly line production. Ford's Willow Hill plant near Detroit, Michigan, is the largest and most successful example of wartime aircraft production in the United States. The giant factory uses an assembly line to produce automobiles. Half of the total 18,000 B24 four-engine bombers of war time were built. The highest month of production reached 365 aircraft! The pulsating aircraft assembly line of Dragon Soul Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a production line much more advanced than the assembly line of Ford Company in World War II, which can make the speed of aircraft assembly the fastest, and even a factory of Ford Company in the United States can produce hundreds of 20-ton aircraft per month at the earliest, although the number of workers and production lines of Dragon Soul Aircraft Manufacturing Company are not so much, but there is no pressure to produce more than 1,000 M40 transport aircraft a year.

Anderson laughed, "Not bad! The cost of an aircraft has a lot to do with the production volume, and the larger the production, the lower the cost allocated to each aircraft! Sometimes it can even be several times different! It is good that you can have that kind of faith. ”

Almost an hour passed before I knew it in the discussion. At this time, the M40 transport aircraft also completed the mission of its first flight and was ready to return! The crew reported the request to the ground to return home, and Xiao Weiguo agreed to the request to return home, and asked them to operate carefully and carefully, especially to maintain contact with the ground during the landing.

During the first flight, landing is the most dangerous time! Especially for such a large aircraft as the M40 transport aircraft, it is not only large and heavy, but also uses new engines. There are also a lot of innovative technologies in terms of structure, and there is no precedent to be found. Everything can only be done by groping. In the process of descending, it is very important to maintain a correct attitude, so the crew must maintain close communication with the ground command, because they cannot intuitively judge whether the attitude of the aircraft they are flying is completely in line with the requirements, after all, it is still possible to make mistakes completely by relying on the instrument, which requires ground observation equipment and naked eye observation to assist.

The M40 transport aircraft began to descend in height. The runway soon appeared in the eyes of the crew! Slowly, the airport became clear from a matchbox, and the speed of the plane dropped to more than 200 kilometers per hour, and the altitude dropped to more than 300 meters, and the distance from the airport was less than 4 kilometers at this time. Everyone at the airport saw it! It's very light and doesn't feel bulky at all. This is due to the fact that both the aircraft control system and the aerodynamic design have been very successful.

When the main landing gear of the M40 transport plane landed on both wheels, everyone stretched their necks nervously, and their hearts hung up! At this time, it is also a very dangerous time, some planes are broken when landing, or tires explode, and some are not well controlled, rushing out of the runway, the results are very serious! It landed steadily, a puff of green smoke came out of the two wheels of the main landing gear, it continued to glide forward at high speed, at this time the crew has begun to slow it down, the throttle of the engine has been adjusted to the minimum state, and the brakes have also begun to work, in the joint action of a variety of deceleration devices, the plane is getting slower and slower, after taxiing more than a thousand meters, finally stopped on the runway!

The designers and technicians of Dragon Soul Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd. were all so excited that they burst into tears, they hugged and cheered, some threw away their hats, some began to run to the M40 large transport aircraft, some people took the lead, and then everyone flocked to the M40 transport plane, they wanted to greet the triumphant warriors! This was a great feat, the M40 transport aircraft successfully completed its first flight! This is a large transport aircraft with a turboprop engine, and it is also the first large aircraft produced by the Dragon Soul Ordnance Complex! It means a lot!

As soon as the four crew members of the first flight got off the plane, they were surrounded by everyone, and the big guys welcomed them as triumphant test flight heroes by throwing them! They were thrown up and down in the air, there were more than a dozen ups and downs, and they were let go by their enthusiastic colleagues, and at this time, Anderson, Xiao Weiguo and others also walked towards the plane, and everyone quickly got out of the way. (To be continued.) )