Chapter 138: 137, Slide Rail And Bomb Rack, Shun Chang Machinery Factory, Modification Complete With Airdrop Test
The modification of f.220 begins.
Three newly added bomb bay designs are installed in the original machine gun rooms.
Because f.220 is a night bomber, and after bringing it back to China it was publicly promoted as a transport aircraft, this decorative weapons and equipment like the aircraft machine gun had long been removed.
The empty machine gun rooms, located at the head and tail ends of the airplane, are perfectly suited for conversion into bomb bays.
As for how to drop the bombs.
Fang Wen has his own concept.
He wants to design a slide rail system inside the cabin.
When dropping bombs, shift the bombs from the ammunition rack onto the slide rail, then manually push them to the three different bomb bays.
Once the bombs are transported to the bomb bay, pull the bomb drop switch, and a whole board of napalm bombs will pour down.
Repeating this process can quickly complete the bombing operation.
Therefore, the first modification is to cut open the bottoms of the three machine gun rooms of f.220 and install mechanical bomb drop pallets.
The second modification is to install slide rails in three directions centered around the ammunition bay inside the cabin, as well as bomb airdrop supplies transport carts on the slide rails.
These two modifications are beyond the capabilities of just the three foreign mechanics.
They cannot fabricate the mechanical bomb drop pallets and manual slide rail equipment that Fang Wen wants, but they can handle the airplane bottom cutting and equipment installation work.
For this, Fang Wen needs to find another way to manufacture these two pieces of equipment.
This time it’s not as simple as repairing Qingyun Hao; a coppersmith cannot solve this machinery and equipment problem, so he needs more professional people to help.
Who to find?
Shanghai locally has one of the earliest privately founded machinery factories, pioneers in the field of Chinese mechanical technology of this era.
Fang Wen cannot go personally, but he can send someone to place orders with these machinery factories.
He immediately sends Shopkeeper Liu on the trip.
North of the Old City in SH City, there is a river channel called Suzhou Creek, which flows into the Huangpu River.
Along both banks of the river channel, ferry crossings are dense, and there are many livelihoods.
Led by Zhao Jiu, Shopkeeper Liu arrives at the Chengjia Ferry area on Bailinan Road.
Zhao Jiu looks around and says, “The Shun Chang Machinery Factory you mentioned should be around here. It was originally called Shun Chang Stone Powder Factory, specializing in producing grinding stone powder machines. Later, the old Ma family members were replaced by newcomers, who changed the stone powder factory into a machinery factory, specializing in custom-making various machines for people.”
Shopkeeper Liu replies, “Whether they can produce what the General Manager wants, we’ll know once we go.”
After walking along the street for a while, they see a three-story building.
A sign for Shun Chang Machinery Factory hangs at the entrance.
They walk over, and the receptionist on the first floor smiles and asks.
“Are you two here to buy machines or order machines?”
“Order machines. Time is tight, not sure if your place can make them.” Shopkeeper Liu replies.
“This needs to be asked of our factory director. Please follow me upstairs.”
The two go up to the second floor and are led to the design room.
Inside the design room, several people are drawing blueprints, with a bookshelf nearby containing some books, blueprints, and models. Outside it says “Shanghai Machinery Sample Library.”
Clearly enthusiasts dedicated to mechanical design.
The receptionist whispers in the ear of one of them.
He stops working and comes over to talk.
“Hello, I’m the factory director of Shun Chang. You can tell me your requirements, and I’ll let you know if we can make it.”
Shopkeeper Liu nods and takes out the blueprint.
The blueprint was drawn by the Boeing Mechanic. Although they can’t make the real thing, they are still very professional in drafting.
After carefully examining it, Factory Director Ma nods and says, “The slide rail cart is simple. According to the specifications above, it’s 0.7 meters wide gauge, and the track can be made with ordinary wrought iron. The slide rail cart can be matched accordingly. We have ready-made ones; Huzhou Changxing Coal Mine ordered a batch of mine slide rails from us that haven’t been picked up. If you want them, we can modify them according to the design specifications for use.”
At this point, he picks up another blueprint and points out the issue.
“There’s a problem with the mechanical structure you designed. If it’s manually opened, this design is prone to jamming. I think it can be modified, and add a return mechanism.”
Shopkeeper Liu looks at the telephone machine in the design room: “Factory Director Ma, this designer is my owner’s idea. Can you make a telephone call so my owner can talk to you?”
“No problem.”
After Factory Director Ma agrees, Shopkeeper Liu dials the Taishan Airlines General Manager’s office telephone.
At this time, Fang Wen is busy in the hangar with the three mechanics, electric sparks flashing.
Unlike a year ago, the electric welding technology has now been upgraded.
It has changed from metal electrode electric arc welding to submerged arc welding using welding wire and flux.
This new technology was invented in the United States 3 years ago. By using flux to protect the weld pool, it greatly improves welding efficiency.
Boeing Company also started switching to this technology last year, brought to China by the two mechanics.
Amid the noisy welding sounds, someone calls out.
“General Manager, your telephone.”
It’s Chun Cao.
Fang Wen hands the electric welding to Howard and leaves the airplane.
He jogs out of the airport, crosses the street, and arrives at his office.
Picks up the telephone machine.
“Hello.”
Shopkeeper Liu’s voice comes from the microphone.
“General Manager, Shun Chang Machinery Factory’s Factory Director Ma has some suggestions on your design. You two can discuss it.”
“Oh. Let Factory Director Ma take the telephone.”
Moments later, a different voice comes from the microphone.
“Hello, I’ve looked at your blueprints. The slide rails are no problem; we have ready-made products that can be modified for use. It’s the other mechanical pallet. Following your design idea, I think some changes can be made so it won’t jam.”
The mechanical bomb drop pallet is just Fang Wen’s initial concept; he is not a mechanical design professional, so since the other party suggests modifications, he naturally agrees.
But since it can be modified, make it more comprehensive.
He voices his thoughts.
“Factory Director Ma, I want this equipment to have two functions: one for dropping large items, one for dropping small items. The current design is fine for large items; for small items, can you provide some suggestions?”
“I need to know how small the small items you mentioned are, and what kind of dropping method?”
“Oval objects about 3 centimeters in diameter; I want to drop as many as possible at once.”
“For dropping a large number at once, I think it can be designed as a mechanical latch method. Add a latch panel on the drop pallet, with several rows of 3-centimeter diameter latch holes installed on the panel. Manually open it to complete the one-time drop.”
Fang Wen imagines it; that thing should be like the future paper cartons for eggs, able to hold dozens of napalm bombs at once. Just pull the latch device to drop a large number of napalm bombs at once.
In that case, his napalm bombs might as well be directly installed on the bomb drop pallet. Each time transport the bomb drop pallet from the ammunition bay via slide rail to the bomb bay, then directly install the bomb drop pallet, completely eliminating the cumbersome installation steps before bomb dropping.
This idea excites him greatly, and he discusses it with Factory Director Ma.
The airplane bomb dropping system modification progresses rapidly.
The slide rails and slide rail carts arrive from the city two days later.
The three foreign mechanics weld these parts inside the airplane using electric welding.
And the bomb bay modification is somewhat different from the initial plan.
The bomb bay has a two-layer structure. The bottom layer is the safety pallet to prevent items above from accidentally falling.
When dropping supplies, place the supplies on the safety pallet, then pull the opening lever.
3 seconds after supplies are dropped, the safety pallet automatically returns to position, ensuring the safety of the bomb droppers inside the airplane.
There is another layer structure for the napalm bomb load pallet installation slot.
Install the load pallet in the slot, and the hook device on the slot connects with the latch device on the load pallet.
At that time, pulling the opening lever will not only open the bottom safety pallet but also release the load pallet’s latches, dropping the 6*6 napalm bombs on the load pallet all at once.
Because the Western Hunan factory is not yet built, there are temporarily no standard napalm bomb samples for making load pallets.
Fang Wen can only make 10 load pallets for testing using pewter wine pot specifications.
At the same time, have someone purchase a batch of pewter wine pots, filled with soil for standby.
Meanwhile, Kuang Mingzhu’s purchased living supplies have all arrived, nearly 3 tons in weight.
All are easy-to-airdrop items like cotton textiles, food, daily necessities, mosquito-repelling medicine, etc., that won’t have issues even with some impact.
These things cannot just be thrown down directly from the sky; they must be fitted with airdrop parachutes.
To test f.220’s airdrop effect, Fang Wen prepares a batch of supplies with parachutes, plus 10 boards of simulated aviation napalm bombs, for airdrop testing.
The airdrop location is the old spot in Jiaxing, at night, perfect for testing night airdrop effects.
On the airplane, personnel are arranged according to formal night strategic bomber configuration.
Main pilot Fang Wen, co-pilot Pan Jiafeng.
Six bomb droppers: 3 bomb loading and transport personnel, and 3 bomb droppers for the three aviation napalm bomb bays.
This is the most efficient.
They are: Howard, Shopkeeper Liu, Pan Jiafeng, Shao Sishen, William, and Kuang Mingzhu.
Because some personnel are absent, even his wife joins for this drop test.
Even the mobility-impaired Shao Sishen and co-pilot Pan Jiafeng have to participate.
For this, the ground observer duty can only be taken by his father in Jiaxing.
Midnight 12 o’clock.
Airport runway lights turn on.
f.220 rolls out from the hangar, accelerates, and flies into the high sky.
Facing the night sky with faint starlight, Pan Jiafeng can’t help but feel nervous.
“Master, without you, I’d probably get lost, maybe fly over the sea without knowing. Night flight is really too dangerous.”
Thinking of the rapid technological changes in the future, Fang Wen comforts him: “When the war ends and technology flourishes, the night flight problem will be solved.”
“Really? When will the war end?” Pan Jiafeng yearns for it but dares not believe such beauty can be realized, after all, China has been in chaos for decades, and now the Japanese are adding fuel to the fire.
Afterward, the two stop talking and focus on piloting the airplane.
Meanwhile, the five in the cabin are nervously preparing.
From Shanghai Airport to Jiaxing suburbs is not far; they arrive soon.
Jiaxing suburbs, that wasteland where napalm bomb dropping was experimented before.
Old Master Fang brings people over again.
This time he doesn’t bring his two sons, but a group of trusted rice business elderly people.
Like last time, they mark out a 200-meter long, 100-meter wide area in the wasteland, inserting torches at the edges.
Old Master Fang checks his pocket watch, confirms the time, and gives the order.
“Light the fires.”
In mechanical perception state, Fang Wen pilots the massive f.220 circling in the sky.
As he continuously absorbs mysterious energy, his mechanical perception keeps strengthening.
From the initial struggle with the biplane, to piloting Shrike Hao to complete aerial tactical maneuvers, to now piloting the strategic bomber.
He is constantly improving.
Now, transformed into a massive night owl, he spreads his wings and circles, overlooking the earth.
The rectangular firelight on the ground comes fully into view.
He controls f.220 to approach, constantly adjusting the angle.
At the same time, he issues the order.
“All bomb dropping personnel prepare, await orders.”
Pan Jiafeng responds and quickly leaves the cockpit for the cabin.
He, William, and Howard, being strong and robust, act as slide rail loading transport personnel.
Kuang Mingzhu, Shao Sishen, and Shopkeeper Liu act as bomb droppers.
For safety, the three bomb droppers have safety ropes tied around them to prevent accidents.
He, William, and Howard load the first batch of supplies, ready at any time.
After a while, Fang Wen issues the order.
“Prepare to drop bombs.”
The three immediately push the supplies on the slide rails to the three bomb bays for unloading, then run back to load the next batch and wait.
Kuang Mingzhu, Shao Sishen, and Shopkeeper Liu place the supplies on the safety pallets and wait.
“Drop.”
On Fang Wen’s command, Kuang Mingzhu, Shao Sishen, and Shopkeeper Liu pull the levers, opening the safety pallets.
Supplies with parachutes fall toward the ground, parachutes opening mid-air.
At the same time, fierce wind surges in from the bomb bays, blowing the three bomb droppers backward.
But this situation ends quickly as the safety pallets return to position.
First batch airdrop complete; wait for the airplane to reach the drop point next time to continue.
Under Fang Wen’s orders, batch after batch of supplies cycle through dropping, completing this airdrop supplies experiment.
The airdrop bombs experiment has not yet started.
In the same steps, Pan Jiafeng, William, and Howard each transport three load pallets to the bomb bays.
Kuang Mingzhu, Shao Sishen, and Shopkeeper Liu carefully insert the load pallets into the slots.
Then, on Fang Wen’s bomb drop order, they pull the opening levers.
Simulated bombs on the load pallets pour down.
Repeating this 3 times completes the bomb dropping test.
Now they can return to base; results will be known tomorrow.
No more things falling from the sky, Old Master Fang and the rice business people emerge from the shack.
Old Master Fang instructs: “Go check where they all landed. Remember not to touch them first; just note the drop positions, whether inside the circle or outside, and approximate distances.”
Employees and shopkeepers scatter, lighting torches to begin searching.
They not only need to find the locations but also tally the numbers.
The large supplies with parachutes are easy to find; the troublesome ones are those pewter wine pots.
After the night airdrop ends, it takes until the afternoon of the next day for someone from Jiaxing to come over.
The person is brought to the General Manager’s office to report to Fang Wen.
“Third Young Master, we found all the airdropped items last night. We’ve drawn a map with them all marked; take a look.”
