The Air Force is developing at the fastest rate among the branches. In March, the Navy had only three transport planes and 12 fighter planes. There are only four crew members capable of flying transport aircraft, including one crew of Uruguayan pilots. Only five or six fighter pilots were able to complete take-off and landing.

After the March War, Li Guang put the important surname of the Air Force in the first place, even surpassing the battleships.

The second batch of 12 P40 fighters of the Naval Resistance Army arrived at Shixiang Island in early August. The second batch of 12 C47 transport planes also arrived at Stone Statue Island early.

Li Guang knew that it was impossible for him to establish a complete military industrial system, and Huang Yushan, a young and amazing professor who was a genius aviation expert and a young man, was introduced by Li Guang to the Curtis Aircraft Company in the United States. Of course, the P40 transformation plan was also given to Curtis, and Huang Yushan is already a senior designer of Curtiss at the moment.

At present, these 12 P40 fighters are manufactured in accordance with the requirements of biplane and carrier-based aircraft. The design of this P40 biplane is quite special, and the wingspan of the upper wing is only two-thirds of the main wing. The ends of the main wing can be folded. It is equipped with tail hooks and other necessary facilities for aircraft carriers, and the armament is four 12.7mm machine guns and two German-made 20mm machine guns.

After the transformation, the maximum speed was reduced a lot, from more than 570 kilometers per hour to more than 510 kilometers per hour. But it is possible to take off on an aircraft carrier and carry a 250-pound bomb, and if you take off from a ground airfield, you can carry a 250-kilogram bomb.

Although the parameter surname can not satisfy Li Guang, the Americans did not raise the price, and this surname can also make do to meet the needs of training, and can also be used in actual combat.

Are Americans so Lei Feng? The answer is no.

Curtis also saw the timing of the European war and was ready to make a big profit, so the scale of the production line was quite large. But the product is not a good family, the surname of this P40 fighter can really not be said to be good, and its advantages may only be one point - cheap. When the 100 P40s ordered by France arrived in France in May, they were despised by the French Air Force for a long time and decided not to order them again.

Of course, France has already been occupied by Hitler, and now it is a mess, and it is impossible to continue ordering. The U.S. [***] side ordered less than a hundred, but it couldn't fill the stomach of Curtis.

Therefore, after Li Guang threw out the third batch of orders for 100 shelves, Curtiss Company, which was waiting for the rice to be cooked, was very happy to accept these additional transformations proposed by the Naval Resistance Army.

It is expected that the subsequent P40 fighters will be gradually delivered to the Naval Resistance Force before the end of the year and after the year. If the Americans keep their promise, by March next year, the Navy Air Force will have 36 transport planes and nearly 100 P40 fighters.

However, in August of '40, there were only 15 transport planes, of which 12 were purely military and three were commercial. The number of units developed very quickly, reaching twenty-four.

In August, there were 13 or 44 pilots who were able to conduct air combat, and about 50 of them had completed basic take-off training. That is, fifty people were able to fly planes.

The rapid increase in fighter pilots is due to only one point - more trainers. At that time, the Naval Resistance Force occupied the air force airfield in Uruguay and easily captured 12 old Uruguayan fighters.

Don't look at these old fighters, there is not a single monoplane fighter, the surname can lag behind, some planes have a maximum speed of only 120 or 30 kilometers, which can really be described as garbage in garbage. However, as a result, the Maritime Resistance Force has more training planes, which gives the new hands a chance to touch the planes.

Before that, the Maritime Resistance Army had only two water reconnaissance planes, one for the little devils and one for the Germans. The little devil's reconnaissance plane, because it was originally quite old, was scrapped by the pilot, and there was no way to repair it.

With fewer trainers, the training of pilots suffers.

After getting twelve old planes, the pilot's level immediately skyrocketed. It was precisely because of the acquisition of these 12 old fighters that Li Guangcai agreed to send the German-style water reconnaissance plane to the Curtis Company for research purposes.

Using this German-style water reconnaissance aircraft, the Maritime Resistance Force not only gained the supply of fighters from Curtis, but also began preliminary cooperation.

Topaz Hill was able to become a designer at Curtiss and had something to do with the seaplane.

There is a difference between theory and practice, and the plan for installing movable wings was proposed at the beginning, but there are some difficulties in practice that are difficult to solve. However, according to Huang Yushan's ideas, Curtis finally developed the most economical modification plan.

The scheme of the P40 carrier-based fighter is determined the fastest, and the scheme is still to install wings, and according to the requirements of the carrier-based aircraft, accessories are added, such as tail hooks, such as necessary pilot armor, and self-sealing fuel tanks.

This solution is the most economical, the main body of the fighter does not need to be changed at all, and for Curtis, the production line does not need to change anything.

In fact, the P40 fighter is not outstanding in the history of World War II, but the highest output is not without advantages, in addition to low cost, the biggest feature is sturdy.

Historically, the P40 fighter was not successful in improving the model in the 40s, but only added a self-sealing fuel tank and 27 kg of armor on the basis of the original. These changes reduced the top speed of the P40, and because the fuselage was heavier, the already larger wing load was greater, and the horizontal maneuverability was worse.

And because Huang Yushan's plan is to install a small area of ultra-thin auxiliary wings, the monoplane fighter has become a biplane fighter, although the drag has increased a lot, the maximum speed has decreased, but the horizontal maneuverability can be greatly improved.

More importantly, due to the addition of ailerons and increased lift, the take-off speed of the fighter was only one hundred and twenty kilometers, and the speed of the rod when landing was only one hundred and fifteen kilometers. The requirements for carrier-based aircraft were fully met.

Another indicator bomb load, the modified P40D, can carry one 250-kilogram bomb on land and one 250-pound bomb on aircraft carrier. Compared with the original 180 kg bomb load, it has been increased.

Li Guang could not judge the advantages and disadvantages of reducing speed and enhancing maneuverability, and high-speed and low-maneuvering. If you talk about preference, Li Guang prefers high speed.

In any case, this fighter satisfies the carrier-based take-off, and one of the most important functions for the naval resistance force is quite satisfactory for the ship's dive bombing function.

Because the designers added a small brake plate to the wings of this fighter, it helps to control the shape of the fighter during dive bombing.

In general, this fighter has achieved multiple functions, both as a fighter and as a light dive bomber, but the surname can be mediocre. Whether it is horizontal mobility or high-speed ability, it is very mediocre. Li Guang laughed at himself and said that his surname could be balanced.

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