At the same time, the 112 factory, which is also in Shengjing, overhauled and upgraded the workshop.

In fact, just a month and a half ago, this factory recorded as 70# in the official archives did not have an exclusive name -

Generally speaking, the employees in the factory are directly called the assembly shop.

42 years ago, China's first self-produced jet aircraft "Zhong 0101" rolled off the assembly line here.

Since then, the J-6, J-7, and J-8 series aircraft have also been assembled here.

However, with the delivery of the last two J-8Ds in that order two years ago, the 70# plant still can't keep up with the pace of the new era after all.

Due to the old supporting facilities, and the 36-meter span that looked like a giant in the past is no longer enough to undertake the increasingly complex assembly process, the new J-8C and J-11 aircraft are assembled in three new factories that have only been built in recent years.

Shengfei Group also planned to remove it from the final assembly workshop sequence at the beginning of the year.

However, the historical significance of the 70# factory building is really special, and it cannot be demolished casually.

So its use after the end of the production mission has been left open.

The leaders of the group even planned to convert it into a museum with the theme of aviation industry, but in the end it was abandoned because it was located in the middle of the factory and could not be opened to the public.

It wasn't until a few days ago that He Ming looked at the F14s parked in the corner and had been dismantled, and finally had a plan.

He feels that with the gradual extension of the service life of future fighters and the continuous development of aviation technology, after flying like this for more than ten or twenty years, it is likely that there will be more and more cases of using new technologies to extend the life of upgrades.

However, because the individual situation of each aircraft is different after long-term use, it is not possible to use the pulsating production model, so the man-hours alone are not necessarily much less than building a new aircraft.

If it occupies the production and assembly workshop, it is really a waste.

So, without doing anything, He Ming simply reported to the board of directors of the group and designated the 70# plant as a workshop for overhauling and upgrading the old model.

And today, it can be regarded as a "good start" here.

As the door of the workshop was slowly raised, a huge fighter plane painted in blue camouflage was slowly pulled by a trailer to the apron area outside the workshop.

Naturally, it was one of the F14s that the Persians had sent before.

At this time, it was dragged out, since it had completed the overhaul and modernization upgrades, and was ready for test flight as a prototype of a new model.

Although the plane is not a Huaxia plane, since it is transformed in Huaxia, it has to abide by the rules here.

Therefore, the big red flower tied to the nose must be indispensable.

In fact, the aircraft had already been transformed a few days ago, and even underwent a round of basic functional inspections.

Now it's just a ritual to "make up".

Compared with the batch of F4s upgraded in Persia, these F14s have been upgraded more thoroughly, except for some core structural parts, which is basically equivalent to being reborn into a new aircraft.

So, the Persians simply gave the plane a completely new code name, called F14IC.

In fact, it has only been less than two months since the planes were sent over to start construction.

In the case of a brand new model that has never been touched before, it should not be possible to complete the production line so quickly under normal circumstances.

However, the current situation of this business is more special.

Although the Persian side does not have the ability to transform the F14 alone, they have indeed made a lot of efforts in the past to ensure the combat effectiveness of these aces in their hands.

Even in the early 90s, there was an attempt to get the F14 to launch Russian-made weapons such as the R27.

Although none of these efforts were eventually implemented in batches, the relevant materials were well prepared and were provided to Huaxia earlier than the first batch of aircraft.

This allows the 112 factory to save most of the preparation work before the transformation, and can start work quickly after getting the aircraft.

In addition, the modification equipment is a mature model, and as an aircraft from the 70s, the fuselage materials are not too complicated, which can come up with such high efficiency.

……

The brief celebration with the participation of representatives of the two countries ended quickly.

Immediately afterwards, two test pilots, Fu Guoxiang and Zhao Mengtian, climbed into the front and rear cockpits of the plane, and several electrical auxiliary vehicles also quickly came from different directions.

For Fu Guoxiang, who sat in the front seat and took on the main flight mission, this was definitely a rather novel experience.

Although he had been involved in more than a dozen test flights of different aircraft types in the past, an American aircraft, and a variable-swept wing, had never been touched.

Zhao Mengtian in the back seat is not strictly speaking a test pilot, but a pilot of the Blue Army Brigade who was temporarily seconded from the Dingxin training base in order to familiarize himself with the F14 in advance.

Taking advantage of the fact that the ground crew was busy, Fu Guoxiang lowered his head again and checked the instrument and screen layout in front of him.

Of course, as an experienced test pilot, he could not be cramming.

A week earlier, Fu Guoxiang had already printed out the appearance of the F14 cockpit in advance, pasted it on the wall of the dormitory, and practiced whenever he had time.

But the test flight mission, no matter how cautious, cannot be exaggerated.

In particular, the US aircraft is the opposite of the Chinese/Soviet (Russian) aircraft in some instrument settings, and if they are not skilled enough, it is easy to make a mistake in the sky and cause big problems.

"Attention test pilots, perform action checks."

Fu Guoxiang's radio came from the voice of the old squad leader of the ground crew.

"Rudder, left, right, good."

"Ailerons, counterclockwise, clockwise, okay."

“……”

The so-called action inspection is to move several operating surfaces of the flat tail and vertical tail of the main wing, as well as the pylons and tail nozzles before takeoff, to see if it corresponds to the operation feedback.

In order to avoid the situation that the execution action and the input signal are reversed due to the wrong line.

This process is the first thing that aviation school cadets learn after they get on the plane, and it can be said that every pilot is familiar with the road.

But today is not the same as it used to be.

"Uh...... Wing sweep angle...... Tune to the minimum. ”

Obviously, the ground staff is also the first time to read this project, and they are not very proficient.

The F14's swept wing changes are linked to the flight control computer, but the pilot can still control it alone if he wants to.

Fu Guoxiang followed the instructions and pulled the control lever of the variable sweep wing back hard.

During this overhaul and upgrade, there were no changes to the F14's wing maneuvering system and flight control system.

First, I am afraid that the construction period will drag on too long, and second, the Persian Air Force's use of F14 is close to that of an interceptor, in fact, it rarely adjusts the angle of the swept wing frequently, so the remaining life of this part is also relatively long.

Even so, after all, if the plane is completely disassembled and reassembled, it still has to be checked.

Although he should have focused all his energy on the front at this time, he really couldn't control his curiosity, and turned his head slightly to look at the wings that were stretching outward with the movement of his hands.

"It's amazing......"

Fu Guoxiang thought so.

Admittedly, from the point of view of aviation technology, variable-swept wing technology would have long since fallen behind in 1998.

But technology is technology, and the complex and sophisticated mechanical beauty contained in this structure is another matter.

Rao is Fu Guoxiang was also a little distracted for a while.

The response of the ground staff outside was similar.

Although I had been trained before, it was still enough to see the huge wings spread out like the wings of a bird of prey.

After a significantly longer interval than before, Fu Guoxiang heard the following operation instructions:

"The wing sweep angle is adjusted back to the maximum."

With the hum of the hydraulic system, the wings returned to a state of contraction, and the plane returned to a layout similar to a tailless delta wing.

"I have to say that the Americans were able to build such a thing in the 70s, it is indeed ...... Awesome. ”

In the tower command center in the distance, He Ming put down the telescope in his hand and spit out a word that was not very elegant.

Of course, the translator next to it still polished it a little when it was paraphrasing.

"That's why we've kept these tomcats as the main models to this day, and even spent a lot of money to upgrade them."

The Persian general next to him replied, but did not lower the telescope.

After all, this is their plane, so they must be more careful.

While the two were talking, the F14 on the tarmac had already started its engine.

The turbofan 9A uses a relatively simple pilot nozzle, so there is no need to check the adjustment status of the tail nozzle.

"1401, ready to taxi."

Fu Guoxiang's voice sounded on the radio of the tower.

At the same time, the ground staff in the distance has begun to withdraw the pipes and cables connected to the aircraft.

"Roger, allow to slide."

With the commander's order, the nose of the huge fighter in the distance was gently lifted and began to move in the direction of the take-off runway.

(End of chapter)