"I don't think His Highness Albert will let him go so easily, will he?" Douglas put his hands in his pockets, looked at Lockheed's distant back, and whispered.

From the moment Talestal Heavy Weapons found him, Douglas dreamed of trampling the two military-industrial giants, MacDonald and Lockheed. Although both Douglas and McDonald are MIT graduates and have worked for Martin Aircraft, they are also business rivals.

World War II was the most glorious time for Douglas, when the U.S. government's C47 transport aircraft order alone made a huge profit, but with the end of the war, Douglas was frustrated by the decline in American orders and excessive aircraft production, and had to carry out large-scale layoffs. Albert was in dire need of a change in the difficult situation at this time, and threw an olive branch to him. Propose a plan to integrate assets to establish a joint venture company,

"Of course not, and in fact his revenge won't end so soon." Albert asked the three of Kalashnikov to go back to the exhibition hall first, he had something to discuss with Douglas and John, and the Kalashnikovs, who understood it, naturally found an excuse to leave first, leaving only Albert, Douglas and John.

Seeing that the crown prince had taken great pains to carry the others away, and it seemed that there was indeed something important to discuss, Albert took the three of them to a remote corner and said, "I do have a plan that I need your help with. Albert was speaking to two people, but his eyes were on Douglas alone.

For John, who has worn a pair of pants since childhood, Albert is 100% trusting. If the other party wants to pit himself, he will do it before, so there is only one person Albert is not worried about, and that is Douglas.

John shrugged indifferently, he reached out and patted Albert's shoulder, grinning. "People like us who have smoked Da-hemp together will never betray you, will they?"

Albert gave him a blank look and said sarcastically, "Pull it down, I smoked marijuana when I was 12 years old, and you ran faster than a rabbit to hide from the police." ”

Douglas, who heard Albert and John gag, coughed awkwardly, and he also understood Albert's meaning. Since the three of them got together to compete for dominance in the North American aviation industry, at least they can't have two minds now, thinking of this, he patted his chest and reassured. "I can swear by my honor that the Douglas Company will absolutely support His Highness Albert's plan 100 percent."

"Okay." Since Douglas has said this, he can't continue to say anything, after all, the promises of businessmen are as unreliable as the promises of politicians, but in terms of the current situation of getting together with Israel, Douglas is still willing to make a difference.

"I'm going to convert a transport aircraft into a gunboat, and I'm hoping Douglas will be part of this improvement and R&D project." Albert laid out his plan in its entirety, "When the time comes, I want John to clear up government relations and Mr. Douglas to provide technical support." ”

"Gunboat machine? Similar to the PBY Catalina seaplane? Douglas immediately thought of his old rival. The PBY Catalina seaplane, designed by the United Corporation, had a 12.7 mm M2HB Browning machine gun mounted on the nose, operated by a bombardier, and two waist machine guns behind the wing pillars. The caliber is 12.7 mm or 7.62 mm. Assault weapons consisted of bombs suspended on outboard pylons on the wings, and standard aerial torpedoes could also be mounted via converters. The nose bomb sighting window is protected by a louvered door on the outside, and an advanced Norton bomb sight is used inside. The crew consists of bombardiers, nose heavy, co-pilot, navigator, radioman, random mechanic, and two waist heavys. The function of this patrol aircraft is relatively simple. After World War II, the U.S. government no longer intended to use such aircraft, and the last PBY Catalina seaplane was retired at Corpus Christi on January 31, 1945.

"Oh my God, Your Highness Albert. Such aircraft may no longer be adapted for war, and it is impossible for the American department to procure such a thing. Douglas hurriedly dissuaded naïve thoughts.

"No, no, no, I'm not trying to build a PBY Catalina-like plane." Seeing that the other side had misunderstood his view, Albert said, "The first concept of the gunboat machine was proposed in 1920 by an officer named Fred at San Antonio Air Force Base, who once peddled his side-firing weapon system to the Army, but no one cared about it. This weapon system can be installed on the first floor of the aircraft, flying by making a lighthouse, and using side-firing weapons to effectively kill ground targets, and most importantly, this weapon does not need to be similar to the Catalina aircraft. Requires multiple shooters to operate. ”

Douglas is also an aircraft designer, and Albert's words immediately attracted him, "But isn't the protection of such an aircraft very weak, once the opponent's fighter bites it, it will be completely powerless." ”

"So this kind of gunboat can only be used when we have absolute air supremacy, and I need you to go to the Major MacDonald, who once developed the side-fire system, I think there is no deeper in this world so far."

Speaking of Macdonald, he was indeed a tragic figure, because it was not until 1961 that his vision caught the attention of others. At that time, 21 years had passed since he proposed the side-firing system.

"Okay." Douglas jotted down Albert's words word for word, and John, who had been standing on the side, said, "I won't be involved in things like aircraft research and development that require specialized personnel, but if you want to help you dredge up your relationship in the government and expand overseas markets, I can still help with this." ”

"I just want to know, since absolute air supremacy has been achieved, why do you need this kind of gunboat aircraft?" Douglas never understood what such an aircraft was for.

"It's also very versatile, it can be used as a support weapon for ground infantry, and the opponent is a ground armed force with no anti-aircraft firepower, so this kind of aircraft is a nightmare for them." Albert also had a hard time explaining the guerrilla tactics of the Cold War and the harassment tactics of small forces, after all, everyone's thinking was still stuck in the large-scale operations of large corps during World War II. Like Vietnam, North Korea, Iraq, these are the nightmare of the Americans, even if they achieve absolute air supremacy, the ground is also heavy infantry casualties, and later this is why after the Vietnam War, gunboats and aircraft are more and more valued by the United States.

And now, all Albert has to do is convince Douglas in front of him to join his plan, "I know that Douglas has been working on the research of air force transport aircraft. For example, the C47 and C48 transport aircraft have achieved a good reputation, and I want to work with Douglas to perfect a transport aircraft. ”

Originally, Albert wanted to use the C47 transport aircraft as a guinea pig, but considering that the wings of the C47 were under the fuselage, this design restricted the installation of aircraft weapons, so Albert still used the C130 Hercules transport aircraft for experiments.

"Could it be that His Highness Albert already has a ready-made model?" Douglas was a little surprised by the speed of development of the Talester Heavy Weapons Company, which had only been a year after the acquisition of German heavy industries, and actually came up with two aircraft products at once.

"Of course." Albert smiled mysteriously, and as he walked around Douglas's shoulder, he told him about the performance of the C130 Hercules. At this time, the crowd on the viewing platform has dispersed, people have gathered at the various stalls, and all the airlines have changed their ways to attract customers to buy their planes.

At this time, the Talester Heavy Weapons Company booth had been blocked and all the staff were busy briefing the representatives of arms dealers from various countries on the performance of the F4 Phantom fighter. Everyone was particularly impressed by the "stall dive" of the ghost just now, and even signed a contract with Talester on the spot.

Talest's price is $900,000 for an F4 Phantom fighter, which is the price of five Sabre fighters, and some buyers are shy away from seeing the price. But some local tyrant groups signed contracts for five planes in one go. The F4 Phantom fighter is worth every penny, and people are really worth the extra money, after all, it is the gap between the first generation aircraft and the third generation aircraft.

"It seems that His Highness Albert still has a busy time, so I won't bother you." Back at the stall, Douglas saw that Albert's booth was wrapped in a crowd, and then looked at his side, which could really be described as a crowd. When Douglas said this, his heart was also sour, and he comforted himself that the other party was just a young man who became popular. But he had to sigh that he had mixed up at the air show for so many sessions, and he didn't have such a grand treatment.

Albert seemed to see through what Douglas was thinking, and before he left, Albert said something inexplicable, "Mr. Douglas, don't worry, the bread will be there." ”

Douglas paused, turned back to Albert and smiled, "Thank you, Crown Prince, for your attention." ”

John watched the two of them play a sharp game, and hung himself aside, and said a little dissatisfied, "What are you hinting at with him?" ”

Albert shrugged his shoulders and said, "Nothing, just encouragement." ”

As Albert was about to turn around and head to the exhibition hall, a broad, powerful hand slapped Albert on the shoulder. He turned his head and saw the Indian delegate Zubin? Singh was standing behind him, smiling at himself and saying, "Your Highness Albert, I didn't expect us to meet again. ”

Albert was only slightly stunned, then put on a friendly smile and said, "Yes, it's really a coincidence, I didn't expect to see you here." At the same time, Albert thought in his heart, what a coincidence, I have another chance to pit Ah San. (To be continued......)