Rudolph, a top student of the Empire, recently became an Air Force consultant. To be precise, there is no independent branch of the Air Force today, which still belongs to the old, large family of the Army. Therefore, this cannot be regarded as a layman commanding an insider.

People from Fokker and the German military did not come to Vienna, but to Krakow, the largest industrial city in Galicia.

Rudolph now has the rank of major, not only because he was the deputy head of the Austro-Hungarian military expedition, but also because of the annual assessment in 1913, excellent work, advanced training at the war college, professional military qualities, and the award of the title originally scheduled for the New Year, just took this opportunity to advance.

Rudolph is now only 25 years old and can go to school in the two years he has completed his studies. It depends on his talent, but also on the relationship between his father, the Duke of Carinthia, his uncle Archduke Ferdinand, and a series of high-ranking figures. The premise of background applies equally in any society.

The first was a discussion meeting, and as Germany's most crucial ally, Fokker offered favorable terms. Not only did it come up with the latest Fokker E.III. fighter jet, but it also promised to provide all subsequent supporting services and related upgrades. Aviation technology is changing with each passing day, and the armament of weapons and the choice of wings are still undecided.

Fokker E monoplane fighter was produced in 1913, it adopts a rare monoplane design in the First World War, the advantage is that it is light and fast, so when it was first launched, it was used as a fast reconnaissance aircraft and called "Fokker M5 reconnaissance aircraft", and later added a machine gun to become a fighter, and this is inseparable from the emergence of the "shooting coordinator".

Colonel Andruci, head of the Observer Corps, expressed his satisfaction that he was attracted by the innovative design and outstanding performance of the Fokker E.III. fighter as a future air force commander.

Rudolf's needs for reconnaissance also met his expectations, and Zeiss's optical equipment, combined with the aircraft ahead of its time, was more than capable of all tasks.

But in terms of fighters, it's just not as good as it could be. Rudolph was not shocked to death, "Can a machine gun be placed in the nose?" ”

The colleagues of the Austro-Hungarian army looked at each other, wondering what kind of magical request this was? Fokker Anthony, the chief designer of Fokker Corporation, seemed to have met a confidant, and hurriedly replied: "We are also considering the machine gun coordinator for the Fokker E.III. fighter, and this project already has some eyebrows. ”

"Your Excellency Major, you are really far-sighted, this technology will be revolutionary for fighters, it will completely change the sky."

"Mr. Anthony, the only requirement we have for a fighter is the need to add weapons to the nose."

Colonel Andrucy was a little overwhelmed, and in his opinion, he could not be greedy and greedy, which was obviously an embarrassment to the Germans.

Anthony Falk was silent, he certainly had this idea, but if he was not sure, he would not say anything. Falk was certainly a Dutchman, but years of living in Germany had developed a habit of rigour.

Rudolph didn't realize his abruptness, and at this moment, his heart was filled with longing for the future. As a man of the new era, he is as superstitious as Du Hei about this air supremacy.

Rudolph did not feel the doubt, and continued to say to himself, in order not to stand out from the crowd, he still chose to tell the story and follow the temptation.

"I've heard of the idea in the past that the propellers of an airplane might be synchronized with the machine guns."

As the saying goes, the layman looks at the excitement, and the insider looks at the doorway, and when others shake their heads and don't know what to do, the chief designer Fokker seems to have caught a shining point.

Rudolph continued to ask: "Mr. Chief Designer, I don't know if this idea is possible, but in my humble opinion, the entry point of this matter lies precisely in the propeller. ”

Fokker: "The role of the aircraft is not yet obvious, and we lack effective practical experience. ”

Rudolph saw that Fokker was interested in this, and threw out a bombshell news: "French pilot Roland. Garros's invention of the "deflector system" made it possible to mount a fixed coaxial machine gun on the fuselage. ”

Luftwaffe Lieutenant Inmaimann stood up with a "swish", looking very excited.

Yin Maiman is the inventor of the "ascending and reversing" air combat technology, the altitude is very important in air combat, and whoever can seize the altitude on both sides of the war will grasp the initiative in the battle, and the aircraft at that time basically flew horizontally in flight, and the ascent was also slowly raised at a small angle. Yinmaiman invented a new way of ascent: he first made a dive, then suddenly picked up the nose of the plane, changed to a vertical state and continued to rush upward, after the jump, the plane belly up became an upside down state, and then a roll, and the plane returned to its normal state. Using this method, Yinmaiman can easily get rid of the enemy planes chasing him above him, and at the same time overtake the enemy planes, which is a very practical way to play in battle. The Luftwaffe named this maneuver the "Stockmemann Turn" and popularized it as an air combat technique in the German Air Force. Using this tactic, by the beginning of 1916, he had shot down a total of seven enemy aircraft, making himself the first ace pilot in the German Air Force. In the air combat, Inmaiman's teammate Osvaldo Polk is also a person with excellent skills, Polk not only has good personal combat quality, but also is good at using his brain, he found that the effect of single-plane combat in air combat is not ideal, so he came up with the idea of letting two planes form a group to fight together, Inmaiman became his partner, which is the world's earliest two-plane formation tactics.

"Major, if this news is true, our intelligence officers should be court-martialed."

Rudolph smiled sarcastically, "Don't worry, this matter is easy to verify, and the French did not keep it a secret." ”

Rudolph continued, "The French commander-in-chief, Fosse, commented that flying was all well and good for the 'sport, but of little use for the army. In fact, airplanes have long been used in the military. ”

Andréusi explains: "In September 1911, Italy waged war against the Ottoman Empire in order to wrest it from the weakened Ottoman Empire in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica in North Africa. For the first time in this war, Italy used aircraft militarily. "In this war, Italy used a total of nine planes, and 11 pilots took part in the war. The Italian pilots not only used aircraft to reconnoitre, but also bombed the enemy with aircraft, and the pilot Gavoti creatively threw four grenades from the plane downwards, which was the first bombing from the air in human history.

Rudolph feigned surprise and said, "A bomb from the sky, that's a genius idea." ”

Seeing that the topic was changing, Fokk, a key figure in the meeting, ended the discussion.

"As for the coordination of the aircraft's firing, it is not only your need, but also our side, and we will do our best to equip these eagles with the sharpest minions."

Regarding the introduction of aircraft, it was decided in this way. In addition to the clumsy SL-2 airships, there will be 70 more advanced Fokker E.III. monoplanes in the skies of Austria-Hungary. This was more than enough, and when the United States declared war, there was only one formed combat squadron.