Lawrence Bell was overjoyed when he heard this, and understood that this was Fang Lang's attempt to fulfill his promise, and it seemed that it was a good idea for him to agree with Harvard University to authorize him.

As a businessman, his Bell Aircraft Manufacturing Company is, of course, the higher the sales, the happier he is. At this time, he would not shirk, and directly said to the middle-aged white man who was in charge of arranging the test flight:

"Arthur, how much Bell 47 stock do we have right now."

When the middle-aged white man named Arthur heard this, he walked forward quickly, opened a folder in his hand, glanced at the two of them, and saw that Lawrence Bell did not hide it, so he said directly to the two:

"Boss, now our Bell 47 has obtained the airworthiness certificate of the Civil Aviation Administration, but its use needs to be further developed, the factory does not dare to produce it on a large scale, and the entire company only has twenty units in stock."

As soon as Lawrence Bell heard this guy's words, he regretted it a little in his heart, he knew that it would be good to let him report the number directly, why did he talk so much.

Fang Lang on the side heard this, just smiled, airplanes are not better than cars, not every private person will buy one back as a means of transportation, there are many aviation clubs in the United States, helicopter as a new type of aircraft, there may be many clubs interested, buy him back to train pilots, or attract club members, but large-scale procurement is obviously unlikely.

This doomed him to not have a very high yield. Again, scarcity is expensive, and Fang Lang can almost predict that the price of this aircraft will definitely not be cheap.

】

So, he said directly:

"If I take all this inventory, I wonder how much Mr. Bell is going to sell it to me?"

Lawrence Bell, who was complaining about his subordinates' mouthiness, turned his head to look at Fang Lang with a look of surprise on his face, and said with some eagerness:

"Fang, are you serious?

The unit price of our Bell 47 is 50,000 US dollars, and if you are really interested in taking my entire inventory, I can give you a 20% discount, what do you think? ”

As soon as he heard this offer, Fang Lang couldn't help but gasp, 50,000 US dollars is not a small amount, in this era when you can buy a car for 2,000 US dollars, 50,000 US dollars is estimated to be not much different from the two or three million US dollars in later generations!

This made Fang Lang, who was ready to be slaughtered hard, couldn't help but smack his tongue a little.

However, he also knew in his heart that this price should not be deliberately quoted by the other party, it must be a normal market price, after all, this is the world's first civil helicopter to obtain an airworthiness certificate.

The R&D costs have not yet been recovered, and it is normal to set a high price.

In fact, according to the information I found, in 1959, in order to broadcast the traffic situation of the American highway in real time, the American radio station purchased a Bell 47 to monitor the highway conditions, and the purchase price at that time was 50,000 US dollars.

But the fraud of this aircraft can be calculated at a glance, the structure of the entire aircraft is simple, and the engine used is also a piston engine, according to Fang Lang's estimate, the production cost will definitely not exceed a car.

This means that the cost of this aircraft will not exceed 2,000 US dollars, and the gross profit margin is as high as 960%.

"Mr. Bell, I have a reluctant request, I don't know if I should say it?"

Lawrence Bell understood that this was Fang Lang's desire to negotiate conditions, he thought that Fang Lang meant that he wanted to continue to bargain, and he didn't think there was any problem in business. Just nodded slightly:

"Fang, if you have something to say, please speak directly!"

Fang Lang only hesitated for a moment and said directly:

"If I buy 50 at once, I don't know if I can get your company's production authorization?"

This request obviously surprised Lawrence Bell, his brows furrowed slightly, and he looked at Fang Lang with burning eyes, he didn't understand why Fang Lang wanted to obtain the production authorization of Bell 47.

In fact, although this helicopter has obtained the airworthiness certificate of civil aviation, the aircraft has not opened up sales, mainly because the practical prospects are not very clear, and even they themselves have not yet figured out what this aircraft can be used for.

After the U.S. military purchased 28 aircraft for evaluation, there is still no news, although the company has been trying to carry out public relations.

But the Bell 47 is not a fighter and cannot directly inflict direct damage on the enemy, and the military does not yet have a clear idea of its use, so the efficiency of the military's assessment is very low, and the company's public relations is also progressing slowly.

"In this way, Mr. Fang is very optimistic about the prospects of Bell 47, right?"

Of course, Fang Lang will not deny this, after all, he still wants to get the support of the other party in the authorization of Harvard University.

Therefore, he did not hesitate to say:

"Yes, Mr. Bell, I am very optimistic about this product of your company, since he can obtain the airworthiness certificate of civil aviation, it means that he has the opportunity to have a broad prospect in the civil market.

Our family has an aircraft manufacturing company in Brazil that has been in the aircraft modification business and is eager to get the opportunity to enter the civil aviation sector. ”

Lawrence Bell didn't expect Fang Lang to come prepared, the family has a factory engaged in aircraft modification business, no wonder he wants to get a production authorization from his own company.

It seems that this guy is not very ambitious! However, he did not directly refuse Fang Lang's request, but after thinking for a while, he slowly spoke:

"It's not impossible to license the production to your company, but you have to understand that the Bell 47 project has gone through nearly six years of research and development since its establishment in 1941 before finally having the finished product.

Our company has invested a lot of energy and cost in him, and it is impossible for us to easily license the production to other companies without recovering the cost.

So, you have to be able to show enough sincerity to impress me. ”

Seeing that the other party did not directly refuse at the first time, Fang Lang breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he was not directly rejected, it meant that there was still hope for things.

"Of course, I've always had a strong respect for the value of intellectual property, which is why I contacted Harvard through you.

Knowledge is wealth, and I can feel the effort that your company has put into developing the Bell 47.

I'm also willing to pay for knowledge, and I don't know what kind of sincerity I have to use to impress Mr. Bell. ”

Lawrence Bell laughed when he heard this, he felt that Fang Lang spoke very frankly, he liked to communicate with the other party very much, and he didn't pretend to be any minutions, and said directly:

"To be honest, right now we're a little confused about the future prospects of the Bell 47, as we said earlier, although he is very suitable for aerial reconnaissance, but the protection ability is about equal to zero, which makes it difficult for him to adapt to the battlefield environment.

In the civilian field, the short range and small load capacity, as well as the high price, make him really unable to compete with fixed-wing aircraft.

So, until now, our Bell 47 has been selling poorly.

I'm very curious as to why you're optimistic about his prospects, and I wonder if you can tell me what the practical areas you have put in place for him are.

If your solution can open up a new practical idea for my product, I am willing to license this Bell 47 to your factory to produce. ”

From Lawrence Bell's words, Fang Lang could feel the pressure that the other party was under, obviously, he had invested a lot in the development of this product, but now he did not get the success he wanted.

It made his mood a little impatient.

This time, he just proposed to visit his helicopter factory, and he did not hesitate to agree to the authorization of Harvard University, which shows that the sales pressure of the Bell 47 is very huge.

In fact, the financial situation of the Bell Aircraft Company was not ideal, and if it were not for the sudden outbreak of the Korean Peninsula War, which allowed them to obtain a large number of orders, it would have been difficult for their company to hold on.

Later, even though the Korean War caused them to increase their sales and improve their financial situation slightly, they did not last long, and finally in 1960, they were acquired by Textron Corporation, which was also a Boston consortium.

Of course, these Fang Lang didn't know, but he could feel the pressure on the other party from Lawrence Bell's attitude. Obviously, if the other party can't immediately expand the sales of the product, his company may not be able to make ends meet.

This is obviously an opportunity for Fang Lang. As for the practical aspects that the other party wanted to know, Fang Lang didn't mind telling the other party directly.

"If Mr. Bell is interested, of course I can tell you!

Our group has a food conglomerate in Brazil that is experimenting with large-scale mechanized agriculture and was going to adapt some fixed-wing aircraft to spray pesticides.

But you also know that fixed-wing aircraft can fly at limited altitude and speed, and the spraying effect on farmland is not particularly ideal.

After seeing this helicopter today, I thought of modifying it and installing a sprinkler head in front of the nose, and the 400 kg load is also very suitable for loading pesticides and spraying pesticides. ”

When Lawrence Bell heard this, his eyes lit up, and large-scale agriculture in the United States is the big one! Since Fang Lang can promote it in Brazil, he can certainly promote it in the United States.

If they can really open up this market, they don't have to worry about the sales of their products.

In addition, not only farms that grow crops can purchase helicopters for operation, but also large cattle farms can purchase helicopters for grazing.

I didn't expect that the products produced by myself have the potential to become agricultural machinery, and this idea is not opened?

"It's a good direction, and if it can be realized, it will definitely open up sales for our products.

In this case, I agree to the fact that you need to obtain a production license, but only if your company purchases at least 30 more Bell 47s from our company, that is, a total of 50 aircraft, we can authorize you to obtain a production license, and the products you produce cannot be sold in the United States. ”

Fang Lang was overjoyed when he heard this, this was really an unexpected gain, he didn't expect that he was discussing the matter of jointly running a school with the other party, but he didn't expect to talk about two authorizations, and the authorization to replicate the way Harvard University runs a school.

Unexpectedly, I got the ticket to the helicopter field that I had always wanted to enter. This time it's really worth the trip!

"No problem, but of the 30 helicopters newly purchased, 10 must be technicians from your company who will go to our factory in Brazil to guide us in production."

For Lawrence Bell, the production authorization has been agreed, and the last ten will be produced in Brazil, which is naturally not an excessive requirement, at most, the parts will be shipped to Brazil and then assembled locally.

You can also save your own labor costs, of course, there is nothing you can't do.

Then the two returned to the office, discussed some details of the authorized production, and signed an agreement of intent on the spot, only waiting for the general manager of Fangyuan Aircraft Manufacturing Company to return to Brazil, send a professional negotiation team to Bell Aircraft Company for further negotiations, and sign a formal procurement and licensing agreement.

This practice of licensed production is actually very common, and Bell Aircraft has historically licensed the Italian company Agusta to produce the Bell 47, and this Italian helicopter production company, by digesting and absorbing the technology of the Bell 47, eventually became a world-renowned helicopter manufacturing company.

And what Fang Lang is choosing now is actually not much different from the path of this company.