Chapter 162: 161, 6000 Kilometer Flight Challenge, Crossing The Atlantic Ocean
The Opel small truck drove out of Toulouse, stopped by the roadside, and confirmed the direction.
On the map spread out by Indiana, the destination was marked.
Lacaune transliterated into Chinese can be called Lacaune.
It is located between the two major cities of southern France, Toulouse and Montpellier, and is said to be a pastoral area.
There are two routes to get there.
The first one, head northeast, along the Tarn River, through the French Central Plateau, to Lacaune.
The second one, head east, all the way plain, with a section of road leading to Montpellier, then enter Lacaune.
Obviously the lower road is more convenient, so after a brief discussion, the car set off, taking the plain route.
100 kilometers distance, and flat road surface, the Opel small truck drove lightly all the way.
In a town called Castres, the truck entered Lacaune.
This place is located in the south of the French Central Plateau, blocked from the cold air in the north by the plateau, and nourished by moist Mediterranean airflow, forming a large area of beautiful scenery.
On the emerald green mountain slopes and grasslands, large groups of Lacaune sheep gazed at the passing small truck, completely unafraid of people.
The land here is fertile, yet sparsely populated, with local people’s houses far apart.
This made Lin Shuiwang envious.
“Always running at sea, I didn’t realize there was such a good place inland in France. If I buy a piece of land here to raise sheep, it would be nice.”
“Indeed nice, you and Mother can live here, she should like it.” Fang Wen replied.
With such beautiful scenery, Fang Wen was also a bit envious. If it weren’t for the War of Resistance, with his current wealth, buying several manors and large tracts of land in Europe and America would be no problem.
Lin Shuiwang shook his head: “Staying a few days might be fresh, but staying long-term won’t work. I’m a man who lives off the sea, and so is my Mother, she won’t like it here. General Manager, don’t test me. I’m definitely taking Mother back to China, this is called returning to one’s roots.”
“Not testing you.” Fang Wen smiled, and didn’t discuss it further.
The last twenty kilometers were quickly covered, arriving at the local town in Lacaune.
There, the three got out of the car, ordered local food in the restaurant, and discussed while eating.
Indiana said in a low voice:
“William said he planned to build a church here, the land is already bought, the cross is hidden in the basement of the residential building he bought, originally planned to take it out after the church was built. But something happened in Weimar, so he rushed to Sète port overnight, took a ship to Tehran to find me.”
“Does the land he bought have a name?” Fang Wen asked.
“It’s a bit tongue-twisting, it’s French, I’ll go ask.” Indiana got up and chatted with the restaurant boss.
The boss pointed in one direction, talking nonstop.
Indiana returned, excitedly saying: “I know where it is now. Not during the day, locals will take us for thieves if they see us. Move at night.”
Fang Wen and Lin Shuiwang nodded; having done this kind of thing many times, they were used to it.
They didn’t rent an inn locally to rest, but bought more food, refilled the fuel, parked the Opel small truck in the suburbs, and waited for night to fall.
As the sun set, Fang Wen suddenly discovered why the place was so vast and sparsely populated.
Large swarms of mosquitoes, attracted by the delicious food, gathered outside the car.
The buzzing sound came, and the first victim was Indiana.
He waved his hands hard to drive away the mosquito swarm, occasionally slapping his body.
But this was completely useless; without any protection, he was bitten by mosquitoes and cried out in pain.
“Fang, open the door, let me in.”
Not opening the door means one victim, opening it means total annihilation.
Fang Wen wouldn’t do that; he floored the throttle, and the Opel small truck rushed toward the destination: “Endure it, we’re almost there. Driving creates wind, the mosquitoes can’t keep up.”
“Then hurry up.” Indiana cried out in pain.
Late June in southern France’s Lacaune was already somewhat hot; under the beautiful scenery rich in water and grass was a terrifying mosquito paradise.
Fortunately, Fang Wen drove fast, leaving the swarm of mosquitoes behind. The car didn’t dare stop and went straight to the land purchased by William.
Under the moonlight, the scene of that place could be seen: wood piled up on one side, the church foundation not yet built and already halted.
Next to it were five bungalows, probably the local housing attached to the land bought by William.
Under the third one was the basement dug by William and those six Weimar military officers who had already been executed by firing squad.
Now, except for William, Indiana, Fang Wen, and Lin Shuiwang, no one knew there was a holy relic below.
The group quietly entered the third house and lit candles for lighting.
Indiana pushed away the table in the middle of the house, lifted the carpet below, revealing a wooden board with a lifting ring.
The wooden board was double-opening; Indiana pulled one side, Lin Shuiwang pulled the other, both exerting force at the same time, opening the board and revealing the space below.
“I’ll go down and check.” Indiana eagerly climbed down the wooden ladder at the hole.
Moments later, he responded from below: “Lots of rats. Throw down the candle.”
Lin Shuiwang did so, and after a while, a large area of light lit up below.
Stimulated by this light, one by one gray little rats crawled out of the hole.
So many rats gave a sense of dense phobia; if someone afraid of rats encountered this, it would be tough.
Fortunately, Lin Shuiwang and Fang Wen weren’t afraid; the two kicked the rat swarm away with their feet and looked below.
In the light, Indiana stood before the True Cross, head bowed in prayer.
After he finished praying, he looked up and said: “There’s a pulley below, probably used when placing the cross.”
Fang Wen raised the candle and looked up.
On the roof’s main beam was a metal lifting ring, where the pulley should be installed.
Immediately, the three got busy.
Indiana below re-tied the rope left in the basement to the cross.
Fang Wen and Lin Shuiwang used the basement ladder to reach the main beam and installed the pulley.
After doing this, they hung the rope tied to the cross on the pulley and began.
Fang Wen and Lin Shuiwang pulled the rope hard, feet pushing the ground as they both retreated.
With their effort, the rope on the pulley block tightened, pulling the cross in the basement.
In the basement, Indiana carefully supported the cross, pushing to adjust the direction to avoid it getting stuck at the hole.
The three cooperated, little by little pulling the cross out of the ground until it was completely out of the basement.
Then, they lowered the ladder to let Indiana climb out.
At this point, the three rested for a while to recover their strength.
After resting twenty minutes, Fang Wen went out, drove the small truck to the house door, and the three together slowly lifted the True Cross out and placed it on the truck.
After doing this, the three were exhausted; after all, it was work previously done by 6 people, now with half the manpower, it wasn’t easy to complete.
After another rest, the three got up, covered the cross with the black cloth they brought, wrapped it tightly, and then got in the car to leave.
Fang Wen and the other two rushed back overnight to the Devatine Company Airport in Toulouse, driving the car into the hangar under cover of night to complete the final work.
Placing the True Cross into the airplane.
Fortunately, the D.332 was designed for both passengers and cargo, with a cargo door at the tail wide enough to fit the True Cross.
After another bout of exertion, the cross was placed in the aircraft cargo hold, finally completing the transfer of the True Cross.
The three were truly exhausted, lying down to sleep directly on the passenger seats in the cabin, without even the strength to turn over.
Until dawn, Fang Wen, who had only slept two hours, got up.
Although only two hours, the energy he had expended all night was fully restored.
Fang Wen himself couldn’t explain the cause of this result.
He didn’t know if it was the effect of improved mechanical perception ability, or the reason for wearing the necklace cross suspected to be stained with holy blood powder.
Anyway, over this period, his energy had become more and more abundant, and his recovery ability stronger and stronger.
He didn’t wake the other two, but opened the airplane hatch and went out to stretch his body.
Thus, at 7 a.m., Emile Devatine came to the hangar.
“Several newspapers from the south, and reporters from Paris are all prepared. If you’re sure to take off today, I’ll arrange the interview.”
“Let’s talk after breakfast.” Fang Wen replied.
Subsequently, three French style breakfasts were brought: butter bread, coffee and cocoa, and fried meat sausages.
Fang Wen also woke Lin Shuiwang and Indiana; after the three finished breakfast, the arranged interview began.
Several reporters entered the hangar, taking group photos of Fang Wen and Lin Shuiwang with the airplane.
This interview was announced externally as only two people; Indiana, this intelligence officer, naturally couldn’t appear.
After the photos, the reporters asked questions.
“Mr. Fang, why did you accept this challenge?”
Fang Wen smiled and replied: “Personally, I love flying and extreme flight challenges. The Asia-Europe long-distance flight was an attempt; this time it’s a higher standard challenge.”
“Then, as far as I know, in 1919 someone already flew a biplane across the Atlantic, and without landing. Does repeating this challenge still have meaning?”
The question from this reporter referred to the non-stop transatlantic flight in 1919 by British pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown.
The plane they flew was a modified Vickers “Vimy” biplane bomber.
The airplane carried nearly 4000 liters of fuel to complete the transatlantic flight via the shortest point across the Atlantic Ocean.
Fang Wen replied: “I personally greatly admire the feat of these two aviation adventurers; they challenged nature and pushed mechanical limits. But this voyage is different from theirs.”
The reporters realized key interview information was coming, and all took out pens to record.
Fang Wen continued: “First, the D.332 passenger aircraft I’m piloting this time is a large passenger aircraft about to enter service, with a normal range of 2000 kilometers. For this transatlantic flight, special fuel tank modifications were made, loading enough fuel for an 8000 kilometer flight distance. Second, our route is from Toulouse direct to New York, a distance of 6000 kilometers. If this voyage is completed smoothly, it means transatlantic commercial navigation is achievable.”
These words were diligently recorded by the reporters, to be published upon return.
From them, important information was revealed: transatlantic commercial flight is possible. This was propaganda for the Dewoitine Company and Taishan Airlines, and the main reason for inviting the reporters this time.
After the interview, Fang Wen and Lin Shuiwang loaded supplies onto the airplane.
The transatlantic route couldn’t be without preparation; what if something happened? They needed to be able to self-rescue.
Therefore, food and water were essential, rescue equipment indispensable, signal flare gun, night rescue lights needed, and an inflatable small boat.
After these preparations, Fang Wen started the airplane again for his unique check, and after confirming no problems, the airplane took off from the Devatine Company Airport, beginning the transatlantic journey.
The airplane climbed to 4000 meters altitude, flying steadily at 300 kilometers per hour, departing from Toulouse, passing over France’s fifth largest river, the Garonne River.
The terrain below the airplane then began to sink.
That was the Aquitaine Basin, France’s most fertile land, equivalent to China’s Southern Yangtze River Region.
Crossing the vast farmlands of the Aquitaine Basin brought them to France’s coastline.
That was a huge bay called the Bay of Biscay.
From here, the flight entered the boundless Atlantic Ocean.
This segment of the voyage had nearly 4000 kilometers of open ocean without any islands.
It was also the most boring and most dangerous area.
Without satellite positioning or radio navigation, Fang Wen had to determine the correct heading and maintain it unchanged to avoid deviation.
For this, he entered the mechanical perception state, combining the compass to determine orientation.
Just using the compass and mechanical perception for positioning wasn’t fully reliable; another tool came into play.
That was the sextant.
Unlike the compass’s magnetic needle for orientation.
The sextant is an optical instrument used to measure the angle between two distant targets.
Used to measure the angle between the sun or other celestial body and the sea horizon or ground horizon at a certain moment, to quickly know the airplane’s latitude and longitude position.
This measurement result, combined with the map, plus mechanical perception and compass, could determine the exact position and ensure no deviation.
Fang Wen had long learned to use the sextant for positioning, but while piloting the airplane he couldn’t continuously use the sextant for measurements, so the old sailor Lin Shuiwang came into play.
He was in the co-pilot seat, holding the sextant, turning the index telescope.
Thereby observing the sun and sea horizon appearing simultaneously in the field of view until they coincided.
From the index mirror’s rotation angle, the altitude angle of the celestial body could be read, and then the latitude and longitude coordinates at the observation time calculated.
But this astronomical observation method wasn’t usable at all times; it failed in stormy weather.
The flight continued for 2000 kilometers, reaching the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, one-third of the entire voyage.
Over this vast ocean, the airplane flew lonely.
Because it was flying westbound, the airplane was like a traveler chasing the sun, tardily awaiting nightfall.
According to Fang Wen’s judgment, at 300 km/h speed, 20 hours to complete the flight; departing Toulouse at 8 a.m., considering time difference, arrival in New York would be local time 11 p.m.
Therefore, most of the flight time would not be dark.
But this judgment was broken by nature.
The sky suddenly darkened, large cumulonimbus clouds covered the sky, gale winds blew, heavy rain poured.
The D.332’s transatlantic journey encountered a crisis.
It was unknown if the D.332 with swept-back wings modified could withstand this thunderstorm.
Whether Fang Wen’s mechanical perception ability could play a role in this crisis.
