Chapter 223: 222, Education Official’s Recommendation, Yunhe Aircraft Modification, Encounter With Type 92 Japanese Army Fighter Jet
“General Manager Fang, this is what I got according to your request. Your aircraft manufacturing plant should open as soon as possible. The higher-ups are eager to see your airplane take off and land on domestic waterways.”
Quan Yuncai pointed to the approval document on the table.
He was a very pragmatic person, only being so diligent toward those valuable to him and his backer boss.
It seemed the other party had approved his seaplane plan. Fang Wen eagerly picked up the approval document to check.
【Ministry of Education Recommendation Order】
Order No. 343 of the Republic of China Ministry of Education, Year 23 of the Republic of China
Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant has been dedicated to the development of our country’s aviation industry in recent years, with remarkable achievements, serving as an important mark of national industrial progress. To reserve talent and promote the continuous innovation and leap forward of our country’s aviation technology, it is specially opening recruitment roads to universities across the country, holding campus recruitment activities. In view of this, this ministry issues this order, hoping that renowned universities across the country actively respond, fully cooperate, and join in the grand event.
Recruiting Party
Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, adhering to the purpose of “revitalize the nation through industry, prosper China through technology,” is dedicated to independently researching, developing, and producing advanced aircraft to strengthen the country and enrich the people. Given the complex and changeable current international situation, the importance of the aviation industry is increasingly prominent, hence the urgent need to absorb a group of outstanding youth with both talent and virtue, with lofty aspirations, to enrich its research, production, and management teams, and jointly plan the long-term development of our country’s aviation undertaking.
Recruitment Scope
This campus recruitment is aimed at all domestic universities offering related majors such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry, management science, etc., especially renowned schools like Tsinghua University, Peking University, National Central University, National Zhejiang Province University, National Wuhan University, and Nankai University, which should actively respond and encourage and organize students to participate.
Cooperation Matters
Propaganda and mobilization: Leaders of each school should fully and actively cooperate, widely publicize the Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant campus recruitment information, and stimulate students’ enthusiasm to participate.
Organization and recommendation: Please recommend outstanding graduates to participate in this recruitment based on students’ academic performance, comprehensive quality, and professional strengths.
Coordination and arrangement: To ensure the smooth progress of the recruitment activities, each school needs to assist in arranging campus recruitment lectures, interview venues, and time, providing necessary support and convenience.
The revitalization of the country lies in talent; the prosperity of talent lies in education. We hope that universities take the national overall situation as the priority, actively respond to this ministry’s call, jointly transport outstanding talent to Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, and contribute to the rise of our country’s aviation industry. This order takes effect immediately, and schools are requested to comply and execute without error.
Republic of China Ministry of Education
Seal.
After reading it, Fang Wen asked in surprise: “Is there such a thing as a recommendation order official document?”
“There wasn’t before, but there is now. Don’t worry, it’s black text with a red seal, and all schools have been notified. Just take this approval document confidently; it will absolutely be fine.”
After Quan Yuncai finished speaking, he stood up and patted Fang Wen’s shoulder: “General Manager Fang, I know you have a patriotic heart. We won’t obstruct you either. Revitalize the nation through industry, and make some extra profit on the way— no conflict. Go ahead and do it. As long as the annual profits go up, I’ll have done my job.”
After speaking, he bid farewell and left.
Out of courtesy, Fang Wen saw Quan Yuncai downstairs. After the man left, he immediately went to his wife’s office.
“Mingzhu, I’m going out again tomorrow.”
“Where to?” Kuang Mingzhu looked up and asked.
“Beiping, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan. Beiping and Tianjin have many Japanese spies; it’s too dangerous for you to go. Wait until I return from the north, then I’ll take you to the other places.” Fang Wen replied.
“Beiping and Tianjin have many Japanese spies; it’s dangerous for you too. How about sending someone else?” Kuang Mingzhu said worriedly.
Fang Wen explained: “I have to go myself to make the students from the three universities feel valued. As for safety, I’ll find a way to handle it.”
After comforting his wife for a while, Fang Wen left the office building and headed to the hangar warehouse at Shanghai Airport belonging to Taishan Airlines.
There was the mechanic workshop that Fang Wen and Howard had built together.
To deal with possible issues in Beiping and Tianjin, he needed to make some modifications to the Cloud Crane Seaplane with Howard.
As Fang Wen’s private airplane, the Cloud Crane Seaplane’s performance was bound to be stronger than later models in the same series. The modifications Fang Wen wanted were stronger power, longer endurance, and some air combat capability.
He had long had a plan for such modifications in mind.
Replace the two Pratt & Whitney R1340 aircraft engines with Pratt & Whitney R1830.
Replacing engines of different power levels required corresponding changes to the shafts and propellers; it should have been a tedious and complex process.
But Fang Wen’s trip to the United States had already purchased propellers and shafts matching the Pratt & Whitney R1830, making things much simpler.
Fang Wen was now just doing an upgrade modification. Through mechanical perception, he knew the equipment data like the back of his hand and could also use the universal milling machine to make missing components based on data changes.
In this way, under the surprised gazes of Howard and several Boeing Mechanics, Fang Wen led them to complete the power system upgrade modification of the Cloud Crane Seaplane.
With two Pratt & Whitney R1830 engines, it equated to 1600 horsepower kinetic power.
With such strong power, performance would inevitably improve dramatically, and appropriate changes could be made to the original internal airframe.
Subsequently, the aircraft tail cabin was modified with a rear door, allowing cargo to enter and exit through the rear door, as well as parachuting and airdrops from the rear door.
At the same time, the tail cabin and middle cabin were connected, becoming one overall space.
This made the space much larger, allowing storage of more supplies.
For this, the two rows of seats in the middle cabin were completely removed, with seats installed on both sides of the airplane, five per side, actually allowing more people to sit.
（Cloud Crane Seaplane modified middle cabin internal structural diagram demonstration）
After the modification, Fang Wen piloted the airplane for a test flight. Through mechanical perception, he determined the Cloud Crane Seaplane’s data.
The modified Cloud Crane Seaplane had very unique data.
Captain 11 meters
Aircraft height 4.06 meters（with float height）
Wingspan 13 meters
Wing area 16.79 square meters
Empty weight 1200 kg
Maximum takeoff weight 3100 kg
Cabin（cargo-passenger dual-use）can carry 1.5 tons of cargo, benches fixed to both side walls can seat 5*2 people.
Range 1500 km（normal fuel tank）—2500 km（with auxiliary fuel tank）
Cruising speed 320 km/h
Maximum speed 350 km/h
Ceiling 7500 m
Power: Pratt & Whitney R1830 engine 800 horsepower, first generation version（two）
Driven by two high-performance piston engines, the Cloud Crane Seaplane’s performance made a qualitative leap.
But this performance leap also had drawbacks; the overly powerful power doubled the operation difficulty. Fang Wen estimated that only top pilots could handle this airplane with its bizarre speed changes.
Subsequently, he continued modifying.
Auxiliary fuel tank installation.
Air combat weapons also needed installation.
The auxiliary fuel tank was easy, but how to do the combat weapons?
Fang Wen pondered this.
The Cloud Crane Seaplane’s propeller was on top, so weapons would inevitably be placed below, with no interference between them.
The key was what weapon firing mode would be more suitable.
Fang Wen felt he didn’t need a machine gunner; in mechanical perception state, his control of machine gun shooting was far superior to a machine gunner.
So the machine gun firing mode needed alteration.
He opened a forward machine gun installation space in the sealed cabin at the bottom of the Cloud Crane Seaplane.
All installed were Czech-made ZB-53 heavy machine guns.
This heavy machine gun using 7.92 mm bullets had significant recoil. To prevent shooting from affecting flight, it was designed as a fixed firing platform.
This firing platform could not move, but the gun body could be adjusted left, right, up, and down under a gear device.
The front-end control of the gear traction device was at Fang Wen’s pilot seat right hand.
Since the weapon system was made, it naturally needed testing.
Fang Wen and Howard transported the modified Cloud Crane Seaplane to the water’s edge and put it down; the two boarded.
The airplane took off from the water surface and headed to the target shooting range.
That was the airborne training base.
To cope with this live ammunition test, Sun Debiao had prepared many large balloons below.
When the time came to release the balloons, Sun Debiao had the Special Action Team members release the first large balloon.
The large balloon rose into the sky, dragging a white cloth as a target guide.
Fang Wen immediately entered mechanical perception state and locked onto the balloon.
In supernatural ability state, he was one with the machine; while locking, his right hand began operating the shooting control device.
The forward machine gun adjusted the shooting angle, then pressed the firing switch.
In an instant, the ZB-53 machine gun spewed orange-red flames, with ammunition belt light and shadow shooting forward.
The white cloth dragged by the large balloon was torn into fragments by bullets scattering in the sky, and then the balloon was also shot and exploded.
The first test shot let everyone see the general manager’s prowess, and they cheered endlessly.
Subsequently, two large balloons rose into the air, one left and one right.
Then there was the multi-balloon ascent test.
Facing one or two targets, whether front or back, Fang Wen could easily cope through control, with extremely high hit rate.
But with more, like five, it became overwhelming.
This should be his current limit; Fang Wen evaluated his own ability.
Cloud Crane Seaplane, modification complete.
This was Fang Wen’s new trump card.
Overall, it was about the same as the Shrike Hao, among the faster cycling speeds in current global airplanes.
But its explosive power was not as good as the Shrike Hao, unable to reach 377 km/h burst speed.
Flexibility was also slightly worse than the Shrike Hao.
But endurance, payload, and firepower were much stronger than the Shrike Hao.
It could be said that the Cloud Crane Seaplane was a balanced type of seaplane that only Fang Wen could fully utilize; in others’ hands, it would be a white elephant airplane.
With it, Fang Wen had more confidence for the trip north.
He felt he could go, and bringing the action group would make it foolproof.
He then immediately arranged for people to make recruitment promotional posters, copywriting, and promotional brochures.
Promotional posters were easy; Shanghai businessmen often used them to attract customers.
Copywriting could also be outsourced to someone.
The promotional brochure used the same mode as the manual for the last airdrop of Red Army battlefield first aid kits: first print large, then cut and fold into brochure form.
After doing these, logically Fang Wen should have gone to Beiping.
But at this time, a professional magazine added some changes to Fang Wen’s trip north.
October 8.
Fang Wen, preparing to depart tomorrow and having prepared properly, returned to the company to work.
He went upstairs with his wife and opened his office; during this time away, some unprocessed documents were on the desk.
Looking at the documents, Fang Wen signed them one by one and soon completed today’s work.
Besides documents, there were some newspapers and impurities.
The newspapers were current affairs news from Shanghai, while the magazine was sea cargo from the United States.
It was a Kodak photography magazine.
In this era, the photography magazine founded by Kodak was very professional; Fang Wen was also into photography and naturally subscribed to one.
But due to shipping, it was already one month old.
He picked up the magazine and flipped through it.
Though in English, it didn’t affect reading.
Mostly photography skills and camera maintenance.
Occasionally, colorful photo print pages.
Looking at these was a good way to pass time.
Until Fang Wen saw a report on alternative optical photography.
“Infrared photography differs from ordinary photography and requires special equipment. It costs tens of thousands of gold, beyond what ordinary photographers can afford.”
The content was about a photography enthusiast who had someone make a device capable of capturing infrared at high cost.
He took many strange infrared photos with this device.
But this infrared capture wasn’t successful every time, so he specially wrote an article published in the Kodak magazine.
Putting down the Kodak magazine, Fang Wen’s eyes lit up.
Infrared photography?
The new application of optical instruments discussed in the magazine was a bolt from the blue for Fang Wen.
So this era already had infrared devices.
Infrared had too many useful functions.
For example: thermal imaging and night vision, infrared remote control, shooting positioning.
Infrared thermal imaging technology can detect infrared radiation emitted by objects, generating images even in complete darkness.
It was a good means for discovering hidden targets and locking attack targets.
Fang Wen even thought, if an infrared device was installed on the airplane, could he also have infrared perception capability?
That way, his night perception ability would multiply.
Realizing infrared technology would be extremely beneficial to him, Fang Wen immediately made this a must-investigate item for his trip north.
The next morning, Fang Wen brought 9 fully equipped Special Action Team members and drove to Jiaxing Seaplane Airport.
Also going there were Kuang Mingzhu, Shopkeeper Liu, Sun Debiao, Fang Shouxin, Pan Jiafeng, and Shao Sishen.
Everyone was very worried about Fang Wen, so they all instructed the 9 Special Action Team members to definitely protect the general manager’s safety.
The 9 patted their chests guaranteeing they would guard Fang Wen, then the airplane took off, flying north under concerned gazes.
Two hours later, the airplane flew over Jinan, and Fang Wen’s expression gradually grew serious.
“Be alert; next we might encounter Japanese airplanes. Don’t panic, follow my orders.”
From here north, though nominally still National Government territory, because garrison rights were lost, Japanese could come and go freely.
One hour later, the airplane entered Beiping airspace.
A Japanese airliner flying from the northeast direction unexpectedly met Fang Wen’s seaplane.
The two aircraft flew parallel; behind the passenger airliner’s windows were Japanese women and children in kimonos laughing and chatting, her husband waving outside the window.
“Pah, who greeted you? Occupying our land and acting innocent.” Zhao Wanping cursed aloud; she was the only female team member, with priority cursing rights.
The others pulled down the curtains, unmoved.
After all, this was a civil aviation aircraft, and in Beiping airspace; once acting, the crashing airplane would inevitably harm Beiping City’s residents, not to mention possible Chinese compatriots inside the airplane.
Their only chance to act was on Fang Wen’s order.
At this time, Fang Wen in mechanical perception state had his attention on the Japanese airliner’s rear.
That was three Type 92 Japanese Army fighter jets.
（Type 92 biplane fighter, one of the main fighter jets of the Kwantung Army 37 years ago.）
