The MiG-9 was not successful, at least in Li Xiaofeng's opinion, and even after Mikoyan canceled the 37-mm gun in the nose air intake, he was not qualified for mass production. However, in order to encourage the "innovative" spirit of the MiG Design Bureau, Li Xiaofeng still gave the MiG-9 a quota for the production of 100 aircraft, even if this thing is worse, it is better than Yakovlev's aircraft cargo, and the combat radius of the Yak-15 cannot even defend the airport wall.

Of course, this competition is not over. As mentioned earlier, Lavochkin confidently threw himself into the shooting of jets, ******** wanted to overtake Yakovlev, and the product of his meticulous work was the La-15.

This La-15 may not be familiar to many students, and the historical production is also extremely limited. But it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you haven't seen the La-15, just see the MiG-15. Because the MiG-15 and the La-15 are simply too similar, like a pair of twins.

In fact, they can also be said to be twins, and the avionics and engines are almost identical. The only difference is that the performance of the La-15 is slightly better than that of the MiG-15. But it's only strong.

It was in this time and space that Lavochkin's La-15 made its first flight in October 1944, and only a month later, Mikoyan and Grevich caught up, and the two MiG-15s that they had designed with all their might also flew into the sky.

As mentioned earlier, the performance of the MiG-15 is slightly worse than that of the La-15, but there is not much difference. It stands to reason that Mikoyan and Grevich are going to be tragic again, but this time the situation is slightly different. Because the MiG-15 significantly surpasses the La-15 in other respects. For example, production is simpler, for example, maintenance is more convenient. These two properties are particularly important for manufacturers and users. So the end result was that Lavochkin fell short at the finish line.

From May 1945. The MiG-15 went into production. Although it was not in time to fight the Germans. But in the final stage of the Pacific theater, the success of giving Japan the color also surprised Britain and the United States.

This led to a war of words, with the British strongly accusing the Soviet Union of espionage, as they found that the MiG-15 used almost identical engines to Rolls-Royce's Nion engines. Although this centrifugal jet engine is not advanced, it is easy to produce and reliable to use, especially in line with the national conditions of the Soviet Union.

Anyway, the British were quite annoyed by this, and once again criticized the incompetence of MI6 and MI5. Allowing the Russians to calmly steal the Nion engine was quite embarrassing to Learvin.

Of course, we all know that this is not the case, it was bought in a cornucopia by some immortal, and it has nothing to do with spies. In fact, the most resentful thing about the British is not that the Soviet Union obtained the Nien engine, in fact, there is no pressure on the British to sell this engine technology, even if it is sold to the Soviet Union. Because the technical potential of this centrifugal engine is quite limited, it is not the mainstream of the future at all, and the mainstream of the future is still the axial flow engine. Backward centrifugal engines are sold for a small amount of money, and the money is also good.

For example, in history, the British generously sold the physical goods and technology of the Nien engine to the Soviet Union.

However, there is an argument that it was the Labour Party that was in power. It is said that the British Labour Party is the Workers' Party, sympathetic to the socialist CPSU. So the technology was sold in generosity. To tell you the truth, this is really nonsense, if the Nima Labor Party is on the same path with the Bolsheviks, can Attlee and the US imperialists strangle the socialist and national liberation movements all the way?

The reason why the British sold some of the "sophisticated" technology to the Soviet Union in history is very simple, that is, although this part of the technology has been completely mastered by the Britain, the Soviet Union is also about to master it, and the technological blockade is of little significance, so it is better to sell it for money. In addition, the international situation at that time was also very delicate, the real leader of the five hooligans was the British, American and Soviet giants, and Britain had no advantage in the three giants, out of the consideration of diplomatic balance, the British decided to draw the Soviet Union to balance the United States, which gave the Soviet Union a little sweetness. Waiting for the fat man to come to power for the second time, as soon as the iron curtain is closed, what else will you see behind?

The main reason why we want to mention the Nien engine is not the war of words with the UK. However, the manufacturer of this engine is very special, and this kind of engine that has been backward and has little potential is produced by the aviation power department of North Industries, and it is also produced under the special care of a certain immortal.

When the Manion engine was first launched, there was a lot of controversy within NORINCO Group, because the most sought-after engine at that time was still the piston engine, whether it was the VK-100 series (formerly M-100 series) or the ground version of the B-2 engine sales were quite good, and the orders at that time could be said to be tens of thousands. At this time, what kind of jet engine did you spend that effort, isn't it full of food?

Those who hold this opinion include Victoria and a certain fairy cheap dad, both of whom are willing to do everything in terms of economics and as long as they can make money, and in order to make a lot of money, they don't want to waste their precious time on jet engines.

At that time, there was more than one kind of internal opposition, and the opposition of another technical stream belonged to the pseudo-mother brother of a certain immortal, who did not look down on centrifugal engines at all, and believed that the axial engine of the German line had more potential, and strongly opposed the backward project.

Objectively speaking, Konstantin's opinion is reasonable, the centrifugal type in the jet engine really has no head, its potential is limited, and it will soon be eliminated. However, Li Xiaofeng believes that the foundation of NORINCO is still too thin, and although the axial flow engine is advanced, its technical requirements are higher. Not to mention North Industry, in the early days of the Soviet Union's jet power, the axial flow project did not go well.

Li Xiaofeng knows very well that he should never want to become fat in one go. Especially in terms of technology, there can be no sloppiness at all, we must move forward step by step with a scientific attitude and scientific methods, and if we want to take a shortcut, the final result may not be achieved quickly.

The most typical example is the "Taihang" engine of the later generations, in order to rush the progress when it was finalized, the experiment that should be done was not completed. In the end, when it came to the production process, a bunch of unexpected problems broke out. As a result, Taihang is really not good. In the end, we can only honestly act in accordance with objective laws. Make up for the road you want to save before and slowly solve the problem. This is what makes Taihang public.

It was not only the Turkish Communist Party that made such a mistake, but the US imperialists also fought on this issue back then. The famous F-15 once became the queen of the hangar, the reason is that the F100 of Pratt & Whitney went wrong (of course, there is a saying, although the F100 of that year and the later Taihang caused a group of hangar queens, but the F100 of that year was stronger than the Taihang at that time, both in terms of use and life. It can even be said that the Taihang used in the publication may only reach the level of the F100 that year, and this is the best reflection of the gap in the technical level of the two countries).

Li Xiaofeng decided to learn this lesson. We will never save time on basic research, just do what we need to do, and let's chase forward step by step. Nien's technique is not good, but it is not very good to practice. Moreover, the users of the future Nien assembly are quite extensive, and the output of the MiG-15 and MiG-17 series fighters is enough for NORINCO to ******.

Therefore, Li Xiaofeng insisted strongly on this issue, and it was useless no matter who opposed it, so from 1941, NORINCO began to work on the Manion engine project, and in 1943. The first prototype began to be tested, and its progress was still quite fast. And in 1944. NORINCO began mass production of the Nien engine, which was just right to meet the production needs of the MiG-15.

Looking at the jet engine projects led by the Soviet government during the same period, most of them did not go well, because the axial flow type was indeed a little more difficult for the Soviet Union. For example, the previously mentioned Rurika, who was constantly fluttering in the pit of the AL-7 engine, and almost died with his brother Sukhoi. If it weren't for Comrade Iron and Steel driving the crane west, these two really wouldn't even have a chance to turn over.

But then again, Rurika's AL-7 engine is actually quite good, much more thrust than the P-9 used by Tumansky's RD-9 series and the MiG-21 at the same time. And the Sukhoi Su-7 series based on the AL-7 actually performed well.

Of course, these are all later words, at this time, Sukhoi and Rurika, the two brothers and sisters, have to continue to suffer, especially Rurika, for the time being, they have to slowly sharpen themselves, waiting to fight with Sukhoi on the Su-7 fighter-bomber!

Judging from the subsequent situation, Li Xiaofeng's decision was right, after copying off the North Industries version of the Nien engine (Soviet model NI-1 engine), 15,000 units were sold in the Soviet Union alone, and if you count those sold to Huaxia and the world class brothers, it is more than 20,000 units.

The great success of NI-1 has not only enabled NORINCO to obtain huge economic benefits, but more importantly, it has trained a group of professional and technical personnel. Since then, the NI-2 for the MiG-17, the NI-3 and NI-5 for the MiG-19 and MiG-21, and the NI-4 for the new generation of utility helicopters in Sikorsky have been successful. This makes NORINCO an aviation power giant after Rolls-Royce, General Electric, and Pratt & Whitney.

Moreover, what is particularly powerful is that NORINCO is not only involved in aviation power, but also has considerable achievements in land-based and sea-based power. For example, in 1943, when the Soviet Union was massively producing B2 engines, at the request of Li Xiaofeng, NORINCO began a new generation of replacement products to replace B2 power. This new generation of diesel engines will completely break through the rules of the B2, with a great breakthrough in maximum power and service life, and has been a great success in non-traditional markets outside the Soviet Union.

And at sea, the new 18-cylinder high-speed diesel engine produced by NORINCO is widely used in the destroyers of the socialist camp. By the end of the fifties, NORINCO was the first to come up with a marine gas turbine for publication.

Of course, these are all afterwords, and it is useless to say them. In the face of the rapid improvement in the performance of German fighters, the easiest and quickest way is to improve the existing fighters. For example, the most straightforward way is to replace the power system. For example, Yakovlev did this, replacing the VK-3 engine with the Yak-108.

Note that this VK-108 is not the monster of the historical W-cylinder, but is based on the deep refinement of the VK-107, with the addition of turbocharging and optimization of reliability, the maximum power has been increased to two thousand horsepower. This allows the Yak-3M2 equipped with this engine to surpass the FW-190D in all aspects of performance. In particular, there has been a great improvement in high-altitude performance.

The Yak-3 is not the only one that has improved its engine. The La-7, which had already been put into production, also began to be replaced with more powerful Ash-71 engines. As mentioned earlier, this eighteen-cylinder star-shaped piston was a super pit in history, and it was only used after it evolved into the Ash-73. However, because of Li Xiaofeng's intervention in this space-time, the performance of the Ash-71, especially its reliability, has been greatly improved. The Su-6 designed by Sukhoi in front of him used this engine, and Lavockin, who had been using the Ash-82 series engine, also took a fancy to this high-power engine, and after a simple test flight, it was used in the production of the La-7.

I have to say that the Ash-71 is indeed a sweet treat, and it is not only Sukhoi and Lavochkin who are eyeing this engine. On the other hand, Tupolev, who produces bombers, also took a fancy to this engine and prepared to use it in a new generation of strategic bombers.

In fact, in history, it was Tupolev who first applied the improved version of the Ash-71 on the copycat version of the B29, that is, the Tu-4. According to the comparative flight tests, the Soviet version of the B29 was stronger than the original American version of the early B29, at least in terms of engines.

The reliability of the Wright Cyclone's R29 star, which the Americans originally used on the B3350, was quite problematic. The reason for this is simple: the star-shaped engine is cooled by air, while its cylinders surround the propeller shaft, usually 5, 7 or 9 in a circle.

The more cylinders in the radial engine, the larger the engine diameter, and then the greater the air resistance. Moreover, the space around the circle is limited, and the larger the cylinder, the fewer cylinders can be accommodated in a circle. If you also want to increase the number of cylinders, you can add a second row after the first row of star cylinders.

Think about it. The cylinder should be cooled by the wind, and naturally the first row of windward cylinders has better heat dissipation. And the exhaust cylinder in the back is definitely not as good as the first row. The most extreme was that at the end of World War II, the United States made 4 rows of 28-cylinder engines for B-36 long-range bombers. Obviously, it would be quite difficult to dissipate heat from the 4th row, and the B-36 put the propellers behind the wings in order to increase the range (in fact, its engines were reversed), so the most heat-resistant cylinders in the design were placed at the front, and the least heat-resistant cylinders were placed in the hottest places at the rear, and the result was that it often caught fire. This has the B-36's jokingly called six engines, two of which are smoking, two of which are on fire, and the other two have burned out.

The original version of the B29 was also a multi-row star engine, and its cylinders were always facing the problem of overheating, and the Americans' solution was to simply replace it with a better four-row 28-cylinder R4360.

Of course, the Americans with deep pockets could do this, but the Soviet Union did not have that confidence, so they could only hang themselves on the ASh-71 tree and make ASh-73 out of it. What is more interesting is that when the Americans learned that the Soviet copycat B29 was made, they behaved with contempt, believing that the Soviet copycat must be inferior to their genuine version. But to tell the truth, this perception is problematic, because the Tu-4 is really stronger than the earlier B29, and the reason is in the engine.

The early B29 used an 18-cylinder R3350, which not only had reliability issues, but also had a maximum power of only 2,200 horsepower. For the huge Flying Fortress, this motivation is a bit insufficient. The Soviet Tu-4 used ASh-73, with a maximum power of 2400 horsepower, which is stronger than the R3350, and the performance of the natural Tu-4 is better.

It's just that the Americans always think that ASh-73 is a copy of the R3350 and always look down on the Russians. But to tell the truth, the ASh-73 has nothing to do with the R3350, although both are 18-cylinder star engines, but the Russians really don't copy the R3350, the source of its technology is the ASh-71. Of course, if the Americans insist that the ASh-73 has something to do with them, then they can also find an American father for the ASh-73, after all, this series of engines is derived from the nine-cylinder engine of the Wright Wright.

After all, the ASh-82FN engine is only 1850 horsepower, and the ASh-71 is a nominal 2400 horsepower, of course, in fact, because of the production process and technical problems, most products can not reach this power, and the actual power used is between 2100 horsepower and 2200 horsepower. However, this is more than enough for the La-7, and the increased horsepower increases its maximum speed by 30 km/h, which is enough to compete with the FW-190D.

What's more, it is only a matter of time before the better-performing La-9 goes into production, and unlike the La-7, the La-9 will be replaced with the more stable ASh-73 with a maximum power of 2,400 horsepower. Even if the La-9 increases the take-off weight, the maximum flight speed is still slightly higher than that of the La-7, and the only problem for the La-9 is that the life of the ASh-73 is very unsatisfactory. Fortunately, the Red Army did not particularly care about the life of the aircraft, so they used it alive. However, Ilyushin was pitted very badly, and the Il-18 (old) airliner designed by him used four ASh-73s, which led to a rather poor economy, and it was not until almost a decade later that a new turboprop engine was born, and the new Il-18 found a way to survive...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to the Red Sun, the observers of the Akula-class nuclear submarines, the old students and Comrade Juventus!