Chapter 208: Temporary Trip Abroad, Fang Wen Builds His First Airplane
Shen Bao’s《 commentary article on 99 ways to die in China》
Everyone initially thought it was just some indignant rant against the world.
But after people read it, it caused an uproar.
The Japanese actually committed such evil deeds in the Northeast!
Not only Shen Bao, but several major newspapers in Shanghai also published similar commentary articles.
Radio broadcasts were also talking about it.
Later, sympathizers in the concession also shared their observations.
People gradually learned about it.
In Harbin in the Northeast, in the city occupied by the Japanese, the real lives of the people there.
Many people there had their land seized by Japanese agricultural reclamation groups and their wealth plundered.
The area of shantytowns kept increasing, with people living humbly.
But this was not the end; Japanese troops and puppet army arbitrarily arrested young and strong men on the streets, taking them into Zhongma Fort, where they lost their freedom and lives, becoming playthings at will.
People were outraged at the cruelty and ruthlessness of Eastern Seas – Japan.
People from all walks of life took to the streets, spontaneously holding banners to denounce the Japanese’s evil deeds.
They went to Zhabei and clashed with Japanese ronin.
This wave of public outcry grew more intense, spreading from Shanghai to nearby areas, with everyone passionately discussing the Japanese’s evil deeds of using living people for experiments.
The matter spread.
People demonstrated, people boycotted Japanese goods, people demanded the recovery of the Three Eastern Provinces.
Even this wave swept into the army.
But the effect Fang Wen wanted was ultimately not achieved.
Some people got scared.
Scared of the Japanese, scared that this wave would affect their position.
Newspapers that published related commentary articles received official reprimands and were not allowed to publish such articles anymore.
Demonstrations were banned and dispersed; those who dared to resist were even arrested on charges of colluding with the Communist Party.
A few days later, public media fell silent; even paying money wouldn’t get related commentary reports published.
It was suppressed. Fang Wen’s painstaking efforts to use this to ignite countrymen’s anti-Japanese outrage were completely banned due to obstruction by executives of the National Government.
Until one day, a stranger entered Taishan Airlines Headquarters.
He demanded to see Fang Wen.
After inspection by company security guards, he was brought to the general manager’s office.
The man took out a letter and placed it on the table: “An old acquaintance of yours asked me to deliver this letter to you. I know nothing else and don’t want to know.”
“Thank you.”
After seeing the man off, Fang Wen opened the envelope and checked the contents.
The letter was written by Yue Jinping; Fang Wen recognized her secret mark in the writing—the stroke for “Fang” always forked at the end.
“Fang Wen, the storm has started. The higher-ups know you’re funding this exposure of Japanese human experiments and are very dissatisfied. Fortunately, your shareholders are speaking for you, but it can’t be guaranteed to work. Leave the country quickly, and come back after the storm passes.”
After reading the letter, Fang Wen’s face turned cold; he walked out of the office and looked toward the street outside the company.
The man who delivered the letter earlier was guarding the company entrance with a group of people.
Fang Shouxin came up from below and said in a low voice: “The people outside say they see nothing today, but tomorrow is uncertain.”
Kuang Mingzhu also came over: “Jinping told me too. You should leave. This matter is neither big nor small; the key is you can’t go in. If you go in, those vicious dogs eyeing Taishan Airlines will make their move.”
Shopkeeper Liu also came upstairs to persuade: “General manager, leave the country. As long as you’re here, Taishan Airlines is here.”
Under everyone’s persuasion, Fang Wen sighed inwardly; those people were still thinking of encircling and suppressing the Communist Party, and nothing else seemed to matter.
This was Fang Wen’s second attempt, and he failed again.
The first time publishing articles in newspapers, people couldn’t understand that forward-thinking mindset, which was still understandable.
The second time exposing Japanese atrocities, yet it was suppressed.
This left Fang Wen utterly disappointed in the National Government.
He didn’t want to see this filth anymore; his mind needed relaxation.
And that 1710 engine, along with the five engineers, were still waiting for him.
For this, Fang Wen chose to leave the country.
Yangon,
The three-month construction period for the oil refinery ended, and trial production was underway.
Huo Duanyang accompanied Fang Wen to inspect the first trial production startup.
Workers activated the equipment.
This was currently the most advanced refining equipment; it could be said Fang Wen’s investment didn’t lose money.
Huo Duanyang, who already had some understanding of this technology, explained to Fang Wen:
“Crude oil first enters the pretreatment system, where impurities and moisture are removed through steps like desalination and dehydration. The pretreated crude oil is sent to a heating furnace to be heated to a certain temperature. Then, the heated crude oil enters the upper part of the vacuum distillation tower. In the vacuum distillation tower, the crude oil undergoes fractionation under reduced pressure. Since the pressure inside the vacuum distillation tower is lower than atmospheric pressure, fractionation can occur at lower temperatures. As the temperature gradually rises, fractions with different boiling points are successively distilled from the top of the tower. The distilled fractions are collected into different storage tanks after condensation and cooling. Depending on their uses and properties, the fractions can be further processed into products like naphtha, diesel, and lubricating oil base oil.”
“Oh.” Fang Wen responded listlessly.
Huo Duanyang wanted to persuade him but didn’t know what to say; in his view, the general manager was right—the world was wrong.
He sighed, preparing to say something anyway.
“Factory director, no oil is coming out!” a worker shouted. Huo Duanyang could only go check with the American engineers first.
They studied it for a long time but couldn’t find the problem.
Fang Wen walked over and placed his hand on the equipment.
“Huo Duanyang, you said earlier that the pressure in the reaction kettle needs to be lower than atmospheric pressure, right?”
Huo Duanyang nodded: “Yes, low-pressure conditions lower the temperature needed for oil cracking, reducing production costs.”
“Then check the pressure gauge; try replacing it with another pressure gauge.” Fang Wen made a suggestion.
At the general manager’s suggestion, Huo Duanyang hesitated for a moment before doing so.
After replacing the pressure gauge, the reading was indeed different; it turned out the pressure measurement instrument was faulty, causing incorrect pressure inside the equipment and preventing normal operation.
Huo Duanyang happily organized the employees to restart; this time oil came out successfully. As he prepared to celebrate, he found the general manager had already left.
Fang Wen left the refinery and went to the newly built aircraft repair and modification plant.
Work had not started there; the workers and five French aircraft engineers were very idle, gathering to play mahjong.
Fang Wen went over to watch and pointed out: “Pung nine of dots, discard six of tubes.”
He spoke in Chinese, but they understood; after he played, the player opposite discarded an 8 of tubes.
“Mahjong.” The foreigner said happily; probably all his Chinese was learned from mahjong.
“You’re done, get off; I’ll play.” Fang Wen replaced the French aircraft engineer and sat down.
Though he didn’t play mahjong much, his luck was extremely good.
First hand: chicken hand.
Second hand: seven pairs self-draw.
Third hand: pure one suit.
Fourth hand: stood up with grand four kongs.
Seeing this hand, the watching French engineers kept winking at their companions.
If this hand won, per their rules, two months’ salary would be lost here.
Fang Wen drew a tile, rubbing his fingers on its face; it looked like six of circles, and that’s what he needed.
Fang Wen deliberately let them see the tile and smiled: “I’ll set a rule: no mahjong during work hours; violators get salary deducted. What do you think?”
The translator informed the five French aircraft engineers.
Only then did everyone realize the man before them was Taishan Airlines’ general manager; they all depended on him for their livelihood.
No one complained; they all folded and stood up.
Fang Wen said: “Others dismissed; engineers stay.”
After the others left, he talked with the engineers.
“I want to design an airplane, but how to make it?”
The engineers shook their heads; one who knew English explained directly in English: “Impossible. We have nothing; even the most basic parts need to be purchased. Even with blueprints, we can’t make an airplane.”
“Is that so? I still want to try. How about starting with the simplest seaplane.” Fang Wen replied. Now he just wanted to let everything go and be an aircraft engineer; with mechanical perception ability, no one was more suited than him.
Not to mention, his abilities had improved during the Harbin battle.
Even making the simplest seaplane required understanding the entire aircraft structure and creating design blueprints.
Recalling the seaplanes he had flown and his knowledge of their structures.
Plus some supplements from future memory.
Fang Wen drew on the blueprint, gradually taking shape.
It was a seaplane, so it needed buoyancy devices, of course.
There were two types of buoyancy devices.
Hull type:
Hull-type seaplanes use a specially shaped fuselage designed for water surface taxiing, similar to a ship’s hull, with greater buoyancy and stability. This design allows the airplane to take off and land directly on the water surface without additional floats or landing gear.
Float type:
Float-type seaplanes have one or more floats installed under the fuselage, separating the fuselage from the water surface to improve stability and safety during takeoff and landing. The floats are usually watertight and equipped with drainage systems to prevent water ingress during prolonged water stays.
Compared to the bulky hull type, Fang Wen preferred the float type.
The airplane’s wing.
Using monoplane wing layout to reduce the impact of splashing water on the engine, propeller, and external weapons.
At the same time, the monoplane wing provides greater lift; without considering speed advantages, the lift from monoplane wing makes the airplane safer.
Next was designing the internal structure of the seaplane’s fuselage.
Since it wasn’t hull-type, the fuselage was slender, with only a cockpit, two rows of 4-person passenger cabins, and a small cargo hold for 300 kg.
To improve the airplane’s safety and survivability, Fang Wen designed a layer of watertight compartment structure below the interior of the fuselage.
This structure provided a second layer of buoyancy protection if the floats were damaged; if one compartment was breached, the others could still maintain watertightness and buoyancy, ensuring the airplane wouldn’t sink.
Next were the power system, fuel delivery piping, propeller.
After finishing the design blueprints, Fang Wen also realized the difficulties of manufacturing an airplane.
For a seaplane’s power in the piston engine era, at least two propellers were needed to ensure sufficient power.
The 1710 engine definitely couldn’t be used for this toy; the company aircraft repair warehouse had spare Boeing 247 engines, 625 horsepower Wasp engines.
These engines were specially configured for Lufthansa’s upgraded Boeing 247 model; Fang Wen bought some through Neil’s connections and replaced the original engines.
Since they were the same model, just with higher horsepower, no other parts needed changing.
Now, using the 625 horsepower Wasp engine required matching oil pipes and propellers.
Oil pipes were easy to solve; propellers weren’t arbitrary—they needed materials with sufficient toughness and hardness, so propellers had to be purchased from specialized propeller companies.
The airplane’s outer shell needed to be lightweight yet strong, so aluminum alloy was required, which also had to be bought.
Adding it all up, an airplane was an integrated industry chain, and a very high-end one; without entering the industry, one might not even be able to buy the equipment.
Even if buyable, buying small quantities was very expensive, with outrageously high costs.
Buying too many meant unsold airplanes and hard losses.
Fang Wen suddenly understood why French genius aircraft designer Emile Devatine’s company still hadn’t succeeded.
This was an industry with extremely fierce competition, heavily reliant on technology and integration.
Fang Wen had no great pressure; he just wanted to play now.
Without parts and equipment, he completely improvised.
625 horsepower Wasp engine, matched with Boeing 80 propeller; no need for custom aluminum alloy shell—just use leftover aluminum alloy from Boeing 247 repairs.
Completely for fun, the manufactured seaplane was completed bit by bit without any pressure.
Airplane floats used sealed welded oil barrels.
Wings and fuselage were the most expensive parts; besides the aluminum alloy shell, a sturdy internal framework was needed.
This was the prerequisite for the airplane not falling apart in various flight environments.
As time passed, the seaplane was made under Fang Wen and the five aircraft engineers’ joint efforts.
Though the support structure still used external triangular brackets, overall performance already met Fang Wen’s requirements.
Then, the airplane was transported to the sea surface; Fang Wen piloted it for test flight.
Unlike other test pilots, Fang Wen could fully understand the airplane through his abilities in every test flight.
Thus, after each test flight, he made very accurate modifications to the airplane’s problems.
Each modification improved the airplane’s performance.
These modifications involved many aspects: wing angle, propeller position, support structure changes, etc.
Because these modifications required fine-tuning various parts, Fang Wen also mastered universal milling machine techniques; for many airplane parts, with base materials, he could make them using the milling machine.
When the seaplane was officially completed, Fang Wen’s mind suddenly opened up.
A successful work opened his heart.
Life has setbacks; with so much preparation, why be down over minor ones.
Relaxed, though he still couldn’t return to China for now, he kept abreast of domestic situations via telegram and gave guidance.
At the same time, he followed progress on penicillin and radar.
Besides these, he couldn’t idle abroad.
The Zhongma Fort plot survivor segment was adapted from reality.
When writing this segment, I saw many disturbing pictures; though that content wasn’t written, it caused 100% mental shock. Tomorrow I’ll travel with family for 3 days to relax. One chapter daily, caught up these past two days.
Dear reader masters, please forgive.
