Chapter 246: 245, Improvements To Airplane Manufacturing Techniques, Taishan Airlines’ 2-year Development Plan
Yunhe returned to base from Northern China.
The medical first-aid kit is still in production, stored together with the produced bullets in the secure warehouse of the industrial park, awaiting the next air transport.
Fang Wen’s energy turned again to replicating the PBY seaplane.
More than a month passed, and under the division of labor and cooperation of twenty engineering teams, the fuselage structure of the airplane had taken shape.
Fang Wen also joined the subsequent processes, such as engine and propeller installation, fuel storage and delivery system, internal circuitry and electronic equipment installation, and so on.
After a week, the airplane finally had the capability for takeoff and landing.
Other internal structures could be temporarily left unperfected; it was time to proceed with the test flight first.
Only data obtained from the test flight could determine if this airplane passed; if not, corrections would need to be made targeting the problems.
Therefore, the airplane was transported to the seaplane airport next to Yangon Port and placed onto the sea surface via slide rails.
The large seaplane, with a fuselage length of 20 meters and wingspan of 30 meters, floated on the sea surface of the seaplane airport.
The twenty engineering teams involved in aircraft manufacturing gathered on the shore to watch, anticipating the success of the first test flight.
Under their gaze, Fang Wen approached by boat.
At this moment, the engineering team members were all tense, and the entire site was pin-drop silent.
Test flights at the aircraft manufacturing plant were very dangerous.
In this era, only the predecessor of NASA, the United States National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics（naca） possessed large wind tunnel facilities; other countries’ aircraft manufacturing mostly relied on test flight experiments to determine performance and safety.
Meanwhile, the test flights of Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant’s Yun Shui series airplanes and this current airplane were all personally conducted by the general manager; the employees of the aircraft manufacturing plant privately admired the general manager’s actions and worried for him with every adventure.
Faced with this situation, Fang Wen felt calm in his heart; he waved his hand in signal and boarded the airplane.
Sitting in the pilot seat, he activated the instrument panel, started the two Pratt & Whitney 800 horsepower R-1830 radial engines, and the propellers began to rotate.
In mechanical perception state, Fang Wen conducted a preliminary inspection of the airplane.
Power system normal, oil line clear, propeller normal, circuitry and instruments without issues.
He took out the onboard wired telephone and communicated with the forward cabin.
“Weigh anchor.”
Liu Yin Feng, who was in the forward cabin for the test flight together, received the order and immediately went to the mooring compartment, turned the winch, and retrieved the iron anchor sunk underwater.
Only then could the test flight begin.
Fang Wen controlled the airplane to turn, gradually accelerating toward the open sea.
As the engine power increased, the thrust generated by the propellers gradually grew, pushing the airplane to slide forward on the water surface.
The wingtip floats on both sides of the wings successfully shared the water surface buoyancy during acceleration, reducing the power needed for takeoff.
Three waves cut across the sea surface; as the taxiing speed continuously increased, the lift generated on the wings gradually grew until it was sufficient to overcome the airplane’s own gravity.
Fang Wen pulled the control stick, and the airplane began to gradually leave the water surface.
The takeoff test was not yet over; after leaving the water surface, the airplane retracted the wingtip floats, continued accelerating, and climbed to a safe altitude.
In this phase, Fang Wen in mechanical perception state closely monitored the airplane’s flight status.
Finally, he circled several times in the sky and landed steadily back on the sea surface.
When he returned to shore by boat, all the staff involved in the aircraft project gathered around.
Their myriad words boiled down to one sentence.
“General Manager, does the airplane have any problems?”
Fang Wen nodded: “All engineering team leaders, gather in the meeting room for a problem discussion meeting.”
The team leaders of the twenty engineering teams gathered in the factory meeting room, nervously waiting.
They both wanted to know where the problem was and worried that it was in their own process links.
Ten minutes later, Fang Wen entered.
He straightforwardly explained the findings.
“In this test flight, I found the connection between the wing and fuselage unstable; under high-intensity turns or strong storm conditions, the connection might fracture and detach. Besides this major issue, the overall stability of the fuselage is also lacking.”
Pausing, Fang Wen continued: “For this aircraft manufacturing, my requirement is that the civilian aircraft achieve the performance and safety of military aircraft. Therefore, it must surpass the Shuiyun Type 1, with improvements in performance and safety. Does anyone have anything to say about this?”
His strict requirements were preparation for future military aircraft; after all, this civilian prototype was replicating the PBY military seaplane, and with minor changes later, it could become a military production model.
In the meeting room, the engineering team leaders discussed animatedly.
As frontline workers, they naturally had deeper understanding of the situation; through discussion and exchange on the problems Fang Wen mentioned, they reached their own conclusions.
Then, one representative was selected to explain to Fang Wen.
“General Manager, we believe the instability at the wing and fuselage connection is due to the bolt connection assembly. Additionally, the welding of the internal fuselage structures is the reason performance and safety cannot be improved.”
Fang Wen pondered along these lines.
Shui Yun No. 1’s airplane wing and fuselage connection imitated the Boeing 247 structure, inserted transversely into the fuselage.
This structure was integral, with very high stability and safety.
But the lift was insufficient, unable to achieve large payload and long-range flight.
The current replicated PBY seaplane had large wings, separated from the hull fuselage, greatly increasing lift.
But this structure also demanded higher quality from the airplane’s internal components.
Combined with military-level stability and safety, welding would not suffice.
Therefore, physical fasteners for the airplane’s internal structural support would be more effective.
For higher performance and safety, Fang Wen abandoned the original aircraft production technology.
Welding would be greatly reduced.
In future aircraft manufacturing, aluminum alloy skin would fully use riveting, while internal structural parts would more often use bolt connections.
Welding would only be used in a few irreplaceable processes.
If the internal structures were fully changed to bolt connections, a large number of fasteners would be needed.
These components could be directly ordered from Europe or produced in-house with purchased equipment.
After consideration, Fang Wen decided to open a fastener and rivet production plant.
The reason for building another new plant was mainly the cold heading machines for producing fasteners and rivets.
These machines could not only make different models of fasteners but also be used for cartridge cases.
With them, the efficiency of the bullet production line could be improved again.
For this, Fang Wen specially took his company’s international flight to Europe to procure cold heading machines.
But reality differed from plans; Europe did have cold heading machines available.
However, they were not the future digital machine tools; they needed to be customized with the corresponding component production models before leaving the factory.
In other words, what they could produce was fixed.
To produce fasteners, rivets, and cartridge cases required different cold heading machines.
Even so, they were far more efficient than pure handmade component production using universal milling machines.
In the end, Fang Wen ordered 6 cold heading machines, spending on 4 for the many models of fasteners, 1 for rivets, and 1 for copper cartridge case production.
After the first cold heading machine arrived, it began manufacturing the corresponding fasteners for production.
For better performance and safety, the prototype was disassembled and refitted.
A large number of internal welds were replaced with fastener connections, delaying the man-hours to October.
Then the second test flight began.
The October second test flight was very successful; under Fang Wen’s mechanical perception state, no major problems were found.
From the data obtained through his mechanical perception, this replicated PBY seaplane prototype had very good performance.
It was time to start a civil aviation flight across the Pacific, seizing the first-place honor ahead of Pan American Airways.
Mid-October 1935.
A radio wave from the United States transmitted Pan American Airways’ trans-Pacific plan.
Upon receiving this information, Fang Wen immediately convened a Taishan Airlines executives meeting.
In the Wuhan headquarters building, members of his small circle arrived one after another to attend the meeting.
Both veterans.
Deputy General Manager Kuang Mingzhu, Group Chief Accountant Shopkeeper Liu, Group Aviation Distribution Department Manager Sun Debiao, Domestic Aviation Flight Director Pan Jiafeng, Group Administrative Director Fang Shouxin, Xiangxi Airport Director Fang Shun, Group Training Division Minister Shao Sishen, Group Aircraft Maintenance Department Senior Engineer Howard, Yangon Chemical Industry Director Huo Duanyang, Group International Route Security Department Minister William.
And newcomers.
Aircraft Manufacturing Plant Factory Office Director Bai Zeshan, Group International Flight Division Manager Li Tie Zhu, Group Security Defense Department Director Wu Yingzong, Group Security Defense Department Training Section Manager Zhao Wanping, Aircraft Manufacturing Plant Security Supervisor Zhang Yunfei, Jinghong Pharmaceutical Factory Factory Director Li Jin Rui, Special Action Team members Chen Suoxin, Liu Ying Shou, Zhou Pomen, Liu Yin Feng.
Those not attending were: Lin Shuiwang in the United States, Qian Yinxing and Liu Yu Bao in Shanghai replacing Wu Yingzong and Zhao Wanping to lurk.
Faced with these trustworthy people, Fang Wen got straight to the point and explained the reason.
“The purpose of calling everyone for this meeting is two matters: one is the group’s full-scale expansion plan, and the other is establishing the trans-Pacific Asia-US international route plan.”
These two matters were undoubtedly very important to those attending the meeting.
Everyone listened attentively.
Fang Wen continued: “Taishan Airlines started from one airplane and has become a large company spanning Asia-Europe. But my ambitions go further; next, Taishan Airlines will become even stronger. The group plans to establish new routes from Asia to America within two years, deeply cultivate the China Airlines field, and increase the group’s airplane holdings to over 200 aircraft.”
If others said this, it would probably be dismissed as crazy talk.
But coming from Fang Wen, it was highly credible.
After all, the domestic and Asia-Europe routes were all personally flown by Fang Wen; all the company’s pilots still used the route recognition methods he taught, and the general manager’s merits in the company’s achievements were obvious to all.
Credible though it was, necessary questions still needed to be raised.
Shopkeeper Liu spoke up: “General Manager, we currently have 3 D.332s, 20 Shuiyun Type 1 seaplanes, 4 Boeing 247s, and 1 leased Boeing 80 asset. These airplanes alone have exhausted our 3 years of reserved pilots; where will we get pilots for 200 airplanes?”
Fang Wen nodded and explained: “We indeed can’t muster that many pilots, but all of China has enough. We just need to change the operation strategy.”
He signaled the Special Action Team members to hang a chart on the wall behind him.
Then he continued:
“The seaplane matter has attracted a lot of attention. As long as there’s a water system, airplanes can take off and land; it’s simple to pilot and can greatly increase people’s travel speed, so various parties want a piece of the action. This is an official document from the National Government to Taishan Airlines, establishing the China Seaplane Joint Company jointly with local authorities and Taishan Airlines Domestic Branch in the name of the National Government, to procure 200 Shuiyun Type 1 airplanes for operation within two years. My selling price to them is 20,000 silver dollars.”
Shopkeeper Liu quickly took out his abacus to calculate.
Moments later, he had the result: airplanes costing 15,000 silver dollars each could earn 5,000 silver dollars gross profit per unit—not bad, and after deducting hidden costs, it was at least not a loss.
As the Group Chief Accountant, he wouldn’t reveal this top-secret cost, but he vaguely guessed the general manager had other plans.
With Shopkeeper Liu having no objections, naturally no one else did.
The meeting moved to the second item.
The trans-Pacific flight.
Another painting was swapped on the wall behind Fang Wen.
He explained: “This is the trans-Pacific route designed by our competitor Pan American Airways, starting from San Francisco, via Honolulu, Midway Atoll, Wake Island, Guam, Manila, and finally to Hong Kong. Total distance 14,300 kilometers. The model used is the Martin M-130, costing 417,200 US dollars.”
Fang Wen revealed Pan American Airways’ grand plan.
For this trans-Pacific flight, the custom Martin M-130 from Pan American Airways was astonishingly expensive, actually 4 times more than the Douglas DC-2 passenger aircraft price.
This didn’t even account for the costs of building airports and fuel depots on the several transfer islands.
After hearing Fang Wen out, Shao Sishen asked: “General Manager, what about our Pacific route?”
Fang Wen had the action team members display another chart.
“This is our trans-Pacific route, starting from Guangzhou, via Guam, Majuro, Honolulu, and finally to San Francisco. Total distance 14,000 kilometers. The model used is the latest long-range seaplane Shuiyun II from Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, aircraft name ‘Xuan Ming’. Costing 300,000 silver dollars.”
Everyone hadn’t expected the general manager to be so fully prepared.
The airplane was already built, and even the route was designed.
Kuang Mingzhu, who knew more than others, was somewhat worried.
She spoke up: “Do you want to fly it personally again? What about mid-route refueling? Pan American Airways has established supplies in advance on the transfer islands; you don’t. On the vast ocean, without supplies, even flying thousands of kilometers is useless. If safety isn’t guaranteed, I don’t want you to go.”
No one had expected the general manager’s wife to disagree; everyone was stunned but didn’t know what to say.
Fang Wen was a bit embarrassed but understood his wife’s concern; he patiently explained: “The company in the United States will send three ships to station at Guam, Majuro, and Honolulu; they will be my mid-route supplies.”
Hearing this explanation from Fang Wen, Kuang Mingzhu finally relaxed; she was truly worried about her husband’s safety and had forgotten the U.S. company also had ocean shipping business.
But the 3 cargo ships ran Atlantic routes; switching to Pacific would require passing through the Panama Canal, then preparing in San Francisco before heading to the three islands in the Pacific.
This would take a month.
Exactly when Pan American Airways’ Martin M-130 would depart.
In that case, depart simultaneously, one on the left and one on the right, to see who arrived first.
Fang Wen notified the U.S. company of this idea, having them contact Pan American Airways.
