In his previous life, Li Junhao once saw a saying on the Internet: The shape of the F6F "Hellcat" is as always a brick shape, and the speed, maneuverability, and climb rate are not enough, so use the engine to make up! The designer's point of view is very clear, as long as the power is large enough, the bricks can also fly into the sky!

Indeed, after the F6F "Hellcat" was replaced with an HP R-2800-10W-18 cylinder air-cooled star engine, the power increased from the original F4F "Hellcat" 14-cylinder 1200 horsepower to 2200 horsepower; The flight speed has increased to 629 km/h, the climb rate is 13 m/s, and the firepower has been increased from 4 12.7 mm heavy machine guns to 6, but the fuselage has also increased a lot, with a fuselage length of 10.24 meters, a wingspan of 13 meters, and a significant increase in fuel, but even so, its range has reached an astonishing 2460 kilometers.

You know, the maximum take-off weight of the F6F reached 6990 kg, and now he has changed this engine to the F2A-2, which has a maximum take-off weight of only 3247 kg, and the speed is ...... Well, the body doesn't fit!

It just so happens that the barrel-shaped fuselage of the F2A is too ugly, so change the fuselage!

The fuselage design of the F6F continues Grumman's ugly style, and it is still a barrel, which does not let him like it; Only the F8F "Panda" at the end of World War II has a good-looking body, with a preliminary smooth shape, and only the wingspan has increased by more than one meter and the length of the aircraft has increased by half a meter, so it is used!

The reason why he did not use the original HP R-2800-30W two-speed supercharged air-cooled star engine with F8F is because its performance has not improved much, but only increased torque. The use of a large 4-blade propeller with a diameter of 3.84 meters does not improve the efficiency much, but it consumes more fuel, which also brings a series of new problems, such as: because the propeller is too large, the main landing gear must be lengthened to prevent the tip of the propeller from touching the ground, and in order not to increase the space occupied by the wing landing gear compartment, it also needs to be folded separately, which is a lot of trouble.

As for other aspects, Li Junhao decided to use the F8F-1N Night Combat Panda as the blueprint for the modification, and made some corresponding adjustments, although these are only based on his imagination and understanding, but he believes it makes sense.

In addition, he applied the super aluminum alloy developed by Little Japan and the high-strength nickel alloy steel of the Czech Arsenal to the body, which not only increased the structure of the body, but also greatly reduced the weight, and the effect was good.

After a night of tossing, Li Junhao finally determined the modification plan, made a very personal F8F-LJH model, and passed the wind tunnel test, take-off and landing test, high-altitude test, shooting test, etc. simulated by the software, and after many adjustments, the optimal effect was achieved.

What he needs now is a place where he can actually take out the modified aircraft and be able to test flights.

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On Wednesday, July 19, as soon as he went to work, Li Junhao walked around the police department, announced his return, and went back to the office to catch up on sleep.

In the afternoon, he went to No. 527 Haiphong Road to take a turn and learn about the next batch of 1,400 patrol officers for rotational training. On the whole, it is still good, the vast majority of people do not want to lose this job, of course, there are a very small number of people who are really bad enough, and they do not repent after many admonitions, and have been blacklisted by the instructors.

In this regard, Li Junhao was more direct, with a stroke of the pen, all these guys were fired, and they were executed immediately! He didn't have time to rely on these old fritters, time was precious now.

Then, accompanied by his old acquaintance, Major Luke, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 4th Regiment of the Navy and Army, he inspected No. 1226 Xinzha Road, where the 1st Squadron was stationed, No. 256 Xiaoshadu Road, where the 2nd Squadron was stationed, and No. 196, Xiaoshadu Road, where the 3rd Squadron was stationed. Major Luke was a little puzzled by his behavior, not knowing what he wanted to see?

When leaving the barracks, Li Junhao had some regrets, he wanted to see if there was enough space in these three barracks to build a temporary runway, not too long, 200 meters, and then he could take off and land his own planes on them; But alas, there is no such space.

When he was riding back, he suddenly remembered the next place - the horse racing hall! There's plenty of room there for his plane to take off and land! So he immediately asked Nick, who was driving, to divert to the racecourse on Jing'an Temple Road......

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The racecourse was built in 1863 (the second year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty), covering an area of 500 acres, with stands on all sides, and a 1.25-mile (2012.25 m) and 60-foot (6.096 m) wide racetrack around the field; There are 430 acres of land in the middle of the racetrack, which was bought by the board of directors of the Huhai Sports Foundation and built a comprehensive stadium, also known as the "Xiqiao Public Stadium", which has a golf course, a baseball field, a football field, a cricket field, a lawn bowling court, a tennis court, etc., and in 1892 (the eighteenth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty), the first swimming pool in Shanghai was built.

Although the Hippodrome and Xiqiao Public Stadium are located on the same land, they are managed separately by different institutions. The Jockey Club manages the outer ring track and grandstand facilities, and the middle stadium and inner ring track are managed by the Sports Foundation, and the two sides have signed an agreement that the well water will not interfere with the river water.

On race days, public stadiums are closed; On non-racing days, the public stadium is open all day.

In addition to various sports competitions, the overseas Chinese community holds major celebrations or military parades, and often rents public stadiums.

At that time, the racecourse was called the best racecourse in the Far East, but in 1909 (the first year of Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty), Chinese people were allowed to buy tickets to watch horse racing and betting, but the stands were separated from those of the Westerners; The public stadium, which is a sports facility, has never allowed Chinese to enter. The largest sports facility in East Asia, built on Chinese soil, but not related to the Chinese, is a true portrayal of the social conditions of that era.

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Knowing that the Commissioner of Police had arrived, the manager of the Racing Club hurriedly came out to greet him, but he didn't expect the young Commissioner to just go into the racecourse to have a look!

After some inspection, Li Junhao felt very satisfied, this site is enough to change into a small airport, for the propeller aircraft at this time, two hundred meters long, more than ten meters wide straight is enough to take off and land, obliquely to draw the line, just the middle of the racetrack can draw no less than ten runways!

As for the grass on the ground, it's not a problem at all, and the propeller plane is not so arrogant, but in order not to spoil the field and make take-off and landing more efficient, it is best to find a way to install a hard runway out, this he has an idea, it should work.

Li Junhao felt that it was too wasteful for the racecourse to remain in the hands of those British businessmen, and they had made enough money over the years! Rather than let these unplanted guys cling to it and be confiscated by the Japanese after the outbreak of the Pacific War more than two years later, it would be better for him to do this first, and he can use this place to do something useful!