The Imperial Air Force is currently equipped with two main types of airships, one is a small airship with a load of only two tons. The other is a medium-sized airship with a load of five tons. At present, the research department of the Imperial Air Force is still making every effort to develop large airships with a load capacity of 10 tons and 20 tons. It's just that it needs to be further improved by the current technology.

Even a medium-sized airship with a carrying capacity of only five tons has a length of seventy or eighty meters, which is only available to some light ships of the Navy. However, in the air, this is undoubtedly a big guy.

The airbags of the airship were cigar-shaped, which can effectively reduce drag. In addition, an engine is installed in the pod below. The engine drives the propeller to generate thrust, which allows the airship to move forward. Now, the Imperial airship is capable of reaching speeds of up to twenty kilometers per hour. In the case of a tailwind, the speed will be faster. Of course, if it's a headwind, the speed will be greatly reduced.

At present, the Imperial Air Force is equipped with more than 50 airships. In this exercise, all these airships have arrived. So much so that the sky was densely packed, almost all of which were airships of the Imperial Air Force.

"Oh my God! Is this the airship of the Imperial Air Force? It's almost all over the sky. However, it looks really exciting! ”

"yes, I just don't know what kind of combat power these things have!"

The generals of the Imperial Army and Navy were secretly speculating. After all, the appearance of the Air Force has already given them a great shock. If the Air Force can show strong combat effectiveness again, then. Obviously, there will be no objection to the establishment of a new military branch in the empire.

After the establishment of the Imperial Air Force, it will definitely share a part of the military expenditure. This has undoubtedly cut the military spending of the army and navy in disguise. At present, the Imperial Army and Navy are expanding rapidly, and neither the army nor the navy wants the military to be reduced. If the Air Force wants to win the approval of the generals of the army and navy, it must first show strong combat effectiveness. This is also the reason why Emperor Long Yufei painstakingly prepared for this exercise. He just wanted everyone to know the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Air Force.

"Your Majesty, the airship of the Air Force has arrived. Of the fifty ships that set out, three broke down and returned home. Now there are only forty-eight! Lieutenant General Zhao Xingchuan, director of the Logistics Equipment Department of the General Staff, told Long Yufei.

"Hmmm! Let them get started! Long Yufei nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Zhao Xingchuan hurriedly ran to give an order. Send a telegram to an airship in the sky.

Ten minutes later, the dense airships in the sky changed, first, several small airships broke away from the formation. Fly towards a hill on the side. It was a hill with a relative height of only about 20 meters. During this exercise, the hill will become a target for the Imperial Air Force. Before, the hill had been marked with red fuel, and it was very striking from the sky.

After several small airships flew to the top of the hill, the pods underneath opened. Black sharp bombs began to fall downward.

"What? What's that? Did the airship lay eggs? ”

"Look like that, it looks like a cannonball!"

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "Immediately after. A violent explosion was heard. One bomb after another fell on the hill and exploded. Almost in an instant. The hill was covered in smoke and flames.

"This! How is this possible? How can you resist being able to attack from the sky! ”

"Your Majesty, this is probably the so-called Good Attacker moving above the Nine Heavens!" Field Marshal Zhao Yi was also full of surprise.

The overly frightened looks of these military generals made Long Yufei very satisfied. He knew that the effect he wanted had been achieved.

The small airships of the Imperial Air Force, which carried bombs of fifty kilograms. Each small airship is capable of carrying twenty bombs. A few small airships dropped hundreds of bombs directly. The 50-kilogram bomb was more powerful than the army's 155-mm medium howitzer because of the larger charge. Besides, attacking from the sky is simply unguardable!

Several small airships finished dropping bombs and flew to the side. The rest of the airships flew over the hill in turn to drop bombs. Small airships carry 50-kilogram bombs, while medium-sized airships carry 100-kilogram bombs, which are even more powerful. When all the airships had finished dropping, they realized that the top of the hill had been flattened.

"How about it, are you still satisfied with the air force's watch?" Long Yufei asked with a smile.

"Your Majesty, this is really an eye-opener for the ministers! If the Empire's air force launched an attack on the enemy, which country in the world would be able to resist it! Lieutenant General Zhao Mingfu, commander of the 2nd Army of the Imperial Army, exclaimed. If it weren't for the fact that the Air Force was an independent branch of the military, he would have demanded that a part of the airships be transferred to his 2nd Army. After the establishment of Xijiang Province, the defense area of the 2nd Army has expanded a lot, and at the same time, the pressure has also increased!

"Your Majesty, this airship can not only attack targets on land, but also attack targets at sea!" Admiral Wei Yong, commander of the 1st Fleet of the Imperial Navy, had a twinkle in his eyes. If the airship can also attack the enemy warship on the sea, it will completely make the opponent have nowhere to escape!

"Well, in theory, that's okay. However, in real combat, this is almost impossible! Because, the battleship on the sea is moving fast, and it is difficult for the airship to hit the target with a bomb. Even if it is a fixed target on land, the hit rate of the airship is not too high when it drops bombs. Not to mention the warships moving at high speed on the sea. However, the Imperial Air Force will find a way to deal with these deficiencies in the future. In the future, it will definitely be possible to develop advanced weapons capable of dealing with targets on the sea surface! Long Yufei said.

In the future, those dive bombers, torpedo attack aircraft of the Reich, are not exactly the nightmare of large surface ships on the sea? It's just that the Imperial Air Force is not even equipped with aircraft at the moment, let alone other more advanced models.

"Now, I declare, the Imperial Air Force is officially formed. The first commander of the Air Force was Major General Song Zhiyuan! Long Yufei announced in public.

The generals of the Imperial Army and Navy had no objection to this. With the performance of the Air Force just now, they have already seen the strong strength of the Air Force. Although, the Air Force, which at the moment is still a little brother, cannot pose a threat to the position of the army and navy. However, none of them could have imagined that with the continuous improvement of scientific and technological strength, the status of the air force will continue to rise, and in the future, it will be able to challenge the status of the army and navy. It's just that that's all for later.

Major General Song Zhiyuan is a young general in his early thirties. Originally, he was a staff officer in the army, but he was a man with unrestrained ideas and always did things that were out of tune, which made the chief officer of the General Staff very headache. After the secret establishment of the Imperial Air Force, Major General Song Zhiyuan took the initiative to apply for transfer to the Air Force. Coincidentally, Long Yufei needed a flexible person to be the commander of the Air Force, so his application was approved. Fortunately, in the past two years, Major General Song Zhiyuan has also done a good job and has not disappointed Long Yufei!

Although the Imperial Air Force is currently developing well, there are still great shortcomings. Prime Minister, the load of the airship is too low and the speed is too slow. In addition, the flight altitude is not high. If you want to be safe, you need to drop the bomb at an altitude of thousands of meters. so as not to be attacked by fire from the ground. In that case, I'm afraid the hit rate will be further reduced.

These are the problems that the Imperial Air Force needs to overcome. In fact, the emperor Long Yufei did not attach much importance to airships. In his eyes, the airship was nothing more than a substitute for an airplane that did not appear. When the aircraft can be put into actual combat and the performance is getting stronger and stronger, the airship will eventually be slowly phased out and replaced by more advanced aircraft. When the time comes, it will be the spring of the Imperial Air Force.

The aircraft plan of the Imperial Air Force is mainly constrained by two aspects, one is the engine, and the other is the material. However, today's planes are relatively rudimentary, and hard balsa planks and canvas skin can handle it. However, as the performance of aircraft continues to improve, there is a need for stronger and lighter materials. Fortunately, Long Yufei was originally an expert in metallurgy, which was not difficult for him.

As for the engine, that's the big question. Although, the empire is currently far ahead of the world in the manufacture of internal combustion engines. However, there is still a big gap from Long Yufei's expected goal. However, this is understandable. After all, it was only the middle of the nineteenth century, and Long Yufei's request was a little too advanced.

In the development of the internal combustion engine, with the guidance of Long Yufei, the scientists of the empire took a lot of detours. This directly enabled the development of the internal combustion engine in the empire to always go in the right direction. The success of the internal combustion engine is not only applied to airplanes, but also to automobiles.

After observing the air force exercises, Emperor Long Yufei took a group of generals and took a train south to Guangzhou. The empire's largest internal combustion engine research and development center is located on the outskirts of Guangzhou. There, there are also newly developed cars and trucks, waiting for the review of the Emperor Long Yufei. After Long Yufei nodded, these two guys could be put into large-scale production. Long Yufei is also looking forward to this, especially the truck, if it can meet the requirements, the most severe supply problem that the Imperial Army is facing now can be alleviated by a great way! (To be continued......)

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