Chapter 171: 170 For Dc-3 Purchase Rights, Broadway Musical Recruitment
Fang Wen wanted to see how the airplanes produced by Douglas Company performed before deciding whether to exchange the purchase rights.
The president of Trans World Airlines was very happy about this.
St. Louis is the headquarters of Trans World Airlines, and the airport here is also controlled by it, with most of the company’s airplanes parked on the nearby company tarmac.
There, Fang Wen saw several models of Douglas Company airplanes, including the transport type T2D and BT, as well as the DC-1 produced this year.
Fang Wen specially took a ride on the DC-1 to experience the aircraft performance and chatted with the president of Trans World Airlines about this passenger aircraft.
This airplane was both Douglas Aircraft Company’s competitive product against the Boeing 247 and the first custom commercial airplane.
The reason was still the Boeing 247.
Last year, Boeing Company was the first to launch the aluminum alloy twin-engine monoplane—the Boeing 247, which immediately became the most advanced civil airliner of the year.
Because its performance far exceeded contemporary passenger aircraft, American Airlines ordered 60 units, making Boeing’s production assembly line run at full capacity. Other airline companies, no matter how envious, couldn’t get Boeing Company to squeeze out more production capacity for them.
In this situation, to avoid falling behind in the competition, Trans World Airlines Company decided to commission other aircraft manufacturers to develop a passenger aircraft comparable to the Boeing 247.
At that time, Trans World Airlines Company’s bidding requirements were: “All-metal monoplane design, three supercharged engines, each with no less than 500 horsepower. Pilot and co-pilot seats, accommodating at least 12 passengers. Also specified a range of no less than 1800 kilometers, maximum speed no less than 300 kilometers per hour, cruising speed no less than 240 kilometers per hour, climb rate 366 meters per minute, normal flight altitude below 3000 meters.”
These requirements were completely benchmarked against the Boeing 247, with each aspect slightly better than the Boeing 247.
For this bidding, several major aircraft manufacturers besides Boeing participated: General Motors, Martin, United, Curtiss, and Douglas.
Ultimately, Douglas’s DC-1 model was selected by Trans World Airlines.
Although the DC-1 did not meet the three-engine requirement and only had two 700-horsepower Wright Cyclone SGR-1820-F air-cooled radial engines.
But its performance in all aspects was very superior, making it the best among the bid products.
He roughly summarized the advantages and disadvantages of the Douglas DC-1.
Advantages:
The DC-1’s wing structure is integrated, at the bottom of the entire airplane.
And at the connection between the wing frame and the fuselage is where the engines are located.
This integrated wing and concentrated engine nacelles make the internal space of the airplane larger.
Therefore, the DC-1 is one of the rare passenger aircraft where one can stand upright and walk in the cabin.
Moreover, because the cabin space is larger, Douglas Company also adopted several innovative designs, such as restroom, soundproofing facilities, and cabin heating, enhancing passenger comfort.
In terms of performance, the DC-1’s maximum range exceeds 1600 kilometers, maximum speed reaches 330 kilometers per hour, cruising speed 300 kilometers per hour.
These performance parameters were leading at the time, better than the Boeing 247, but worse than the D.332.
Disadvantages:
The cost was too high.
To compete with American Airlines, Trans World Airlines ordered 20 Douglas DC-1s at once.
Each DC-1 cost nearly 810,000 US dollars, and the selling price wouldn’t be lower than that even at a discount.
Precisely because of this, Trans World Airlines thought of adding another model, and the affordable D.332 became their target.
After seeing the DC-1, Fang Wen made a judgment in his heart.
This airplane was flashy but impractical, not suitable for Taishan Airlines; buying it back might not even break even by the time the War of Resistance breaks out.
But Douglas Company’s aircraft research and development and manufacturing capabilities were affirmed.
Even without buying the DC-1, better airplanes in the future could be acquired.
Vaguely, Fang Wen felt that the Douglas Company airplane purchase rights should be more valuable than the D.332 purchase rights.
Coupled with the Boeing 247 production capacity issue, Fang Wen realized that as war breaks out, high-performance airplanes would become increasingly sought after, and purchase rights would be excellent insurance.
For this, Fang Wen decided to play hard to get.
He said regretfully: “The DC-1 is very good, but such an expensive airplane is not something Taishan Airlines can afford. Relatively speaking, the D.332 is more suitable for my company.”
How could the president of Trans World Airlines give up? He persuaded: “With Taishan Airlines’ development speed, you will definitely need better airplanes in the future. Douglas is definitely a great choice.”
“Hard to say in the future. How about this: I’ll exchange the near-term purchase rights for 2 D.332s for the far-term purchase rights for 10 future Douglas models.”
Fang Wen stated his request.
The president of Trans World Airlines considered it.
He understood this was an options transaction for purchase rights.
The value of near-term purchase rights is definitely higher than far-term ones, since they can be used immediately after acquisition.
The question is, how far in the future?
He asked: “How far in the future do you want the far-term purchase rights?”
Fang Wen replied without hesitation. “1937. I want to purchase 10 high-performance Douglas airplanes that year.”
This was the goal he set for himself; high-performance airplanes would perform better in war, and 1937 was when the War of Resistance would fully erupt, also when he would fully support the war.
The president of Trans World Airlines thought about it; that was 4 years later, a pretty good deal, and he agreed immediately.
The purchase rights exchange agreement was signed.
The agreement contract, drafted jointly by John Harvey and Trans World Airlines lawyers, stated: Taishan Airlines transfers the purchase rights for 2 Dewoitine Company D.332s to Trans World Airlines for developing long-haul flight paths; Trans World Airlines trades its 1937 purchase rights for 10 high-performance civil airliners from its long-term purchase rights at Douglas Company to Taishan Airlines.
At the same time, both parties also signed the chartered flight agreement.
The chartered flight agreement stipulated:
1）, Trans World Airlines will provide two to three chartered airplanes parked at Las Vegas Airport for flying tourists to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Chicago, New York, these major cities.
2）, Taishan Casino Company needs to count passenger information for destinations in advance; only if the number of passengers reaches 10 and is reported to Trans World Airlines command personnel at Las Vegas Airport can chartered flight arrangements be made.
3）, All passengers, whether first-time free airplane tickets or future paid ones, will be managed for ticketing by Taishan Casino Company. Trans World Airlines charges a comprehensive fee of 150,000 US dollars per airplane per year.
The chartered flight agreement defined both parties’ rights and responsibilities; once the airport is built, airplanes and crew members can be stationed.
Now everything is ready, just waiting for actions from those cities.
Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City are handled by Lin Shuiwang; flexible and good at talking, he has already contacted local Latino gangs in Los Angeles, Chinese people gangs in San Francisco, and is now in Salt Lake City.
For Chicago and New York, Fang Wen plans to handle them himself, and by the way, take Indiana to arrange his return to China matters.
Using Trans World Airlines’ aviation system to contact Chicago and New York airports, the D.332 took off again.
The first stop was Chicago.
Chicago is only 400 kilometers from St. Louis, and the airplane arrived in an hour and a half.
This city is located on the shores of Lake Michigan, along with nearby Detroit and Cleveland, as early origins of American industry.
But later, due to the Great Depression, the business environment in these cities continuously deteriorated, crime rampant, gradually beginning decline.
After Fang Wen’s group landed, they headed to the most chaotic place in the city: prison.
The car drove out of the airport, and Fang Wen asked: “Which prison is Al Capone held in?”
John Harvey replied: “He was caught for tax issues, violating federal law, so definitely held in federal prison.”
“So, if violating Illinois law, he’d be held in state prison?” Fang Wen asked.
“Yes. But we need to visit some people first to see Al Capone.” John Harvey replied.
“I have a better way. Let’s go to Michigan Avenue first; I have a friend there.”
Indiana had his own connections.
On Michigan Avenue, he found a friend working at federal prison but got some not-so-good news.
Because Al Capone’s local influence in Chicago was too great, the local federal prison feared trouble and transferred him to Alcatraz Island Prison in San Francisco.
The Chicago trip thus fell through.
Fang Wen did not plan to find someone else to replace Al Capone; he planned to go directly to Alcatraz Island Prison in San Francisco after playing in New York.
Since he couldn’t see Al Capone now, the three returned directly to the airport, and the airplane took off for New York.
On the New York trip, Indiana left alone carrying a handbag, while Fang Wen and John Harvey went to Mott Street near Wall Street to discuss something at Chun Nian Zhai.
In Chun Nian Zhai, the short Zang Chun Nian brought the tall Ma San to receive Fang Wen and the other.
Fang Wen got straight to the point:
“I want to know the situation of the Chicago Gang.”
“You’re asking about this?” Zang Chun Nian was a bit surprised but still replied: “New York is now controlled by the Mafia, with five major gang families.”
Zang Chun Nian described the New York gang situation; this was public news.
The first is the Lucchese family. During Prohibition, they dominated New York’s alcohol smuggling activities and accumulated great wealth and power as a result.
The second is the Bonanno family, controlling cheese, clothing, funeral services, and many other industries.
The third is the Genovese family, mainly involved in construction, shipping, freight, retail, and other industries.
The fourth is the Colombo family, openly doing olive oil and tomato sauce, secretly operating smuggling, gambling, extortion, and other illegal businesses.
The fifth is the Gambino family, controlling dock transport business in New York and New Jersey, also running casinos and kidnappings for extortion.
After hearing this, Fang Wen asked: “Among these five, if I want to find a casino agent, who should I choose?”
“Casino agent?” Zang Chun Nian asked puzzled.
After Fang Wen explained clearly, his eyes lit up, realizing this was a great business opportunity. Although he had no ability to intervene, he could use this to show favor to one of the families.
He said: “Both the Gambino family and Colombo family are suitable, but once they take a liking to your casino company, they might use some means to force you out or hand over part of the shares. I suggest you choose a family with more principles, the Corleone family. Corleone is the most principled godfather I’ve seen.”
A principled Mafia leader meant that as long as the interests were sufficient, there wouldn’t be overly dangerous behavior.
This was exactly the kind of person Fang Wen wanted.
He agreed to Zang Chun Nian’s suggestion, and with him leading, met with the godfather of the Corleone family.
Right there in Chun Nian Zhai, both parties reached an agreement: the Corleone family obtains the agency for the New York hall; all guests from New York will board airplanes to Las Vegas under the Corleone family’s lead.
While gaining profits, the Corleone family needs to protect company interests and ensure the safety of round-trip passengers.
These two requirements—the former maintains a stable state, the latter relates to the Corleone family’s reputation, something they are willing to do.
After finishing negotiations with the Corleone family, the New York trip was not over.
Indiana hadn’t returned; he seemed to have many people to visit.
And Fang Wen also thought of an idea to make Las Vegas more entertaining.
That was New York Broadway’s musical theater.
In this era of America, people’s entertainment was mainly: newspaper, paper comics, talking movies, musical theater.
Among them, newspaper, paper comics, and talking movies were accessible to ordinary people, while musical theater was a higher-end, more expensive entertainment experience.
Especially New York Broadway’s musical theater.
If this kind of musical theater was brought back to Las Vegas and performed in theaters, combined with acrobatics, clown, circus, and other performances, it would absolutely be something people in the Western United States would love to see.
Immediately, he drove to Broadway Theater, American Theater, Olympia Theater, and others to find suitable targets.
Fang Wen parked the car and entered several theaters with John Harvey.
Musical theaters perform at night; at this time, some theaters were rehearsing, others holding auditions.
On Broadway Street from 41st to 53rd Street, several theaters had large numbers of musical theater troupes wanting to perform on stage. There were many people but few stages; to give audiences better tryouts, each audition was fiercely competitive. Even the best teams could be eliminated in the next performance selection.
As an observer, Fang Wen witnessed this process; musical theater troupes were screened out one by one—not because their performance skills were poor, but because the competition was too intense and involution severe.
He had John Harvey contact the theater manager to have the manager announce on his behalf.
The theater manager paused the audition and said: “Good news: a new theater in the west needs a batch of musical theaters. Who wants to go?”
Immediately, someone asked excitedly: “Where?” “Hollywood?” “Or San Francisco’s theater.”
“Neither, the new theater is located in Las Vegas.” The theater manager replied.
Las Vegas was a name no one had heard of.
Instantly, interest waned.
Fang Wen went on stage, facing this group of musical theater actors, and said: “Las Vegas is at the southern end of Nevada, on the edge of the desert basin. There, a city is under rapid construction.”
“What does that have to do with us?” an actor retorted.
“We will use airplanes to transport guests from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Chicago, New York—these five major cities to Las Vegas; they will relax in my casino. Your performances will be shown to guests from 5 cities at the same time, and I will also pay you handsome rewards.”
The musical theater troupe actors were moved; they wanted more audiences, especially from all over the country, to appreciate their performances.
Plus a good reward, it wasn’t unacceptable.
Someone said: “If you’re not deceiving us, I’m willing to go.”
With someone taking the lead, others followed. Seeing so many, Fang Wen talked with the theater manager, offered a certain reward, temporarily rented the theater, and held a new round of performance auditions.
