On Monday, July 3, on the Jinliyuan Wharf on the Bund of the Concession, Li Junhao again visited the commander of the detachment, Rear Admiral Grant Galli, and the two boarded the bridge of the flagship Savannah, drank coffee, and chatted for a while about the war in Europe......

From the bridge, you can see that there is a seaplane on the river outside is preparing to take off, the first few speedboats have cleared a section of more than 200 meters of waterway, with the sound of the engine to the bridge, the lower part of the seaplane that looks a little strange-looking boat-like fuselage, gliding forward on the water surface for about 100 meters before smoothly rising into the air, along the Huangpu River towards the mouth of the sea......

Li Junhao asked with great interest: "General Ghalry, how is the performance of this seaplane?" ”

Major General Gary smiled: "What, Commander Pansen is also interested in it?" This is the PBY-1 seaplane produced by the United Aircraft Corporation, which is now the best seaplane in the world! When he was exported to England, the British gave him a nice name, 'Katerina'. ”

As a naval admiral from a professional background, he has a good understanding of the equipment of the detachment, so he will give Li Junhao a detailed introduction.

Catalina PBY-1 seaplane, using a boat-type fuselage, umbrella cantilever on a single wing, wingspan 31.7 meters, length 19.47 meters, height 6.5 meters, empty weight 9.5 tons, maximum take-off weight 16 tons;

Two Pratt & Whitney R-1830-64 propeller engines are installed in the upper wing in the middle position, with a power of 900 hp, a maximum flight speed of 275 km / h, a minimum speed of 93 km / h, a maximum range of more than 4000 km, and a crew of 2-6 people.

The PBY-1's self-defense armament consists of four 7.62mm aviation machine guns, including one in the turret of the nose machine gun, two in the waist machine gun station, and one in the belly engine room, with 500 rounds of ammunition for the belly machine gun and 1,000 rounds for the rest of the machine guns;

Assault weapons consisted of four 147 kg depth charges and four 225 kg bombs, or four 454 kg bombs, or two 646 kg Mark XIII torpedoes.

Li Junhao didn't know much about seaplanes, and after hearing Rear Admiral Ghalry's introduction, he felt that this kind of aircraft was too slow, and other technical indicators were still good, especially he felt that there was a lot of room for modification! But he came for other purposes this time.

"General, I know how to fly a plane, but I haven't flown a seaplane like this." Li Junhao said, "If it's possible, can you let me try it on the plane?" ”

Well? Gary was stunned when he heard this, this request was something he didn't expect, PBY is a multi-person aircraft, and there is no problem with one person, but Pan Sen is the commander of the Shanghai-Haihai Joint Command, let him board the plane, in case something happens, he can't explain it!

Seeing that he was silent for a while, Li Junhao of course knew his concerns, so he waved his hand and said, "Haha, I'm just saying it casually, don't take it seriously, general!" However, I do have an idea to ask the general for help. ”

"Oh? You said. Gary breathed a sigh of relief: as long as you don't think about heaven, everything else is fine!

Li Junhao said: "Speaking of which, now the concession is in our hands, the army, navy, and marines have it, there are armored vehicles and heavy artillery on land, there are your detachments on the river and the sea, and now there are 5 seaplanes brought by you, which can be regarded as the land, sea and air, but I don't think it's enough!"

"The main thing is that these five aircraft are all aimed at surface combat, and I think there is a need for real land-based fighters. I can order an airplane, but the pilot can't solve it.

"So, I wondered, General, can you help me train a group of pilots here, about ten people...... Well, how about just let them get on your seaplane and learn directly? ”

This request was also something that Gary did not expect, but he felt that it was much better than this commander Pan Sen personally getting on the plane, and the other party said very reasonably, if you want to defend the concession, it is not enough to rely on the army and navy, and the five seaplanes brought by the detachment cannot fight air battles and deal with Japanese fighters.

So he said, "That's no problem, you can arrange for someone to come over at any time." ”

"Thank you so much!" Li Junhao laughed, "In this way, I will be responsible for the fuel for the training flight, and if there is any need for supplies, you can just say it, general." ”

Gary also smiled and waved his hand: "Forget it, I have a lot of oil here, it's enough to help us get some cigarettes, beer or something!" ”

"No problem!" Li Junhao said.

——

The next day, 10 members of the Wolf Warrior Brigade and the Golden Shield Brigade with a high school education level or above were taken to the Jinliyuan Military Wharf by car under the leadership of a staff officer and began to learn to fly.

This is the method that Li Junhao and Yang Shixiong came up with after discussion, borrowing the seaplanes of the naval detachment to train a group of basic pilots, and then using the wartime airstrip in Jiaozhou Park for advanced training......

Of course, the fighter needs to be solved by Li Junhao, although this is not a big deal for him, but for the sake of safety, he still decided to order it from China, and he must first report and obtain the consent of the Admiralty or the War Department. Well, just do it......

Speaking of which, Li Junhao's luck was excellent, and when his telegram of request for instructions was sent to the Admiralty and the War Department respectively, it was when the two newly appointed ministers began to pay attention to the Far East that they actually saw his telegram directly......

——

On 6 July, Li Junhao received two telegrams from Washington, both of which were strikingly similar in content, agreeing with his views, approving his idea of establishing an aviation detachment in the Shanghai Strait garrison, and promising to support him accordingly.

The Navy is supporting a squadron of 6 F4F carrier-based aircraft, and the Army is a squadron of 6 P-38s, both of which have sent professional instructors and ground maintenance personnel, who will go to Shanghai on sea vessels.

When Li Junhao upgraded and manufactured the Lingyun fighter before, he had a detailed understanding of the development history of the US military's propeller aircraft, and knew that these two aircraft were the latest equipment during this time period, and even the famous code name of the later world had not been taken.

Wow! Here's the problem, he has to prepare for the airport! Now Jiaozhou Park is paved with a wartime runway, although it can meet the needs of fighter take-off and landing, but the supporting command, fuel, ground support, ammunition and other facilities are not complete, I didn't say, hurry up and repair it?

In addition, these planes are transported by sea vessels, but after they are unloaded at the dock, how do they get to the city center? It's going to be a headache now...... No, I have to find a way!

(End of chapter)