Chapter 257: 256, War Preparations, Wartime Armed Aircraft With Twin Piston Engines
Facing Fang Wen’s departure, the people in the secret venue of the Gold Exchange were not surprised; everyone knew Fang Wen was just pausing here.
But Fang Wen’s vague suggestion made everyone anxious.
Kuang Shanming said, “Son-in-law, why are you being so vague this time? You’re so unclear that everyone has no way to judge.”
“This is just a speculation of mine. The United States relies on finance to establish its country. This surge in gold and silver prices is a trap they set. Now the National Government wants to issue currency but is unwilling to share interests with the United States, which has clearly offended the American side. Reducing the official purchase of silver is just a warning. If the National Government still doesn’t agree, there will be bigger moves.”
These words made the people from various gold firms fall into contemplation, while Fang Wen left with his father-in-law.
Kuang Shanming called his car to send Fang Wen and the other two to the airport, and before leaving, he said, “Son-in-law, I believe you. I’ll clear out the silver in these two days.”
Subsequently, the car drove into Guangzhou Dashatou Airport.
Getting out of the car, Fang Wen exchanged a few words with the airport managerial personnel, then boarded the airplane.
Wu Yingzong spoke up from behind to advise, “General Manager, you just flew a 17-hour long-distance flight of 3500 kilometers; you should rest before departing.”
Zhao Wanping also advised, “Yes, we two can take turns resting, but General Manager, you’ve been piloting the entire time; you really need to rest.”
If they hadn’t mentioned it, Fang Wen wouldn’t have felt tired; the enhancement of his mechanical perception ability had made his energy more abundant.
But for this kind of thing, it was best to conceal it if possible. Fang Wen nodded, found a berth inside the cabin, changed to clean bedding, lay down, and slept.
It seemed like it had been a long time since he had slept so relaxedly; Fang Wen actually slept until the next day.
Waking up on the new day, Fang Wen felt refreshed. 3 hours of sleep could restore energy, but it ultimately couldn’t match the quality of more than 8 hours of sleep.
He stretched lazily, got out of bed, and heard Wu Yingzong’s voice: “General Manager, your father-in-law sent someone with breakfast, along with a message.”
“What message?”
Wu Yingzong coughed: “Instead of sleeping at my home in Guangzhou, you slept on the airplane. I, Kuang Shanming, can’t afford to lose that face.”
After imitating Kuang Shanming’s words, Wu Yingzong continued, “I told the old master that you originally just wanted to take a short nap before departing, but ended up sleeping until daybreak. He understands the hardship of your long-distance piloting. So he sent someone to buy some Guangzhou tea snacks.”
Fang Wen nodded: “We’ll depart after eating breakfast.”
The three sat in the hot water room, eating steaming Cantonese breakfast. After finishing, Fang Wen climbed into the cockpit from the narrow ladder next to the hot water room.
Old rules: activate mechanical perception to check the airplane’s condition.
Fuel had been refilled, and there were no issues in other aspects.
This put him at ease; after all, he was different now from before. After returning to China, he had to be careful of the omnipresent Japanese agents.
The airplane then took off, heading for Port of Yangon.
Ten hours later, the airplane arrived at Port of Yangon. Upon spotting the airplane in the sky, many sharp-eyed aircraft manufacturing plant employees recognized the airplane they had helped build, and subsequently a large number of Taishan employees came to the port to welcome them.
The airplane landed and docked; Fang Wen went ashore by small boat.
Huo Duanyang and Bai Zeshan led a large group of people in a warm welcome, holding up pre-prepared flags and slogans: “Taishan Mighty, Bravely Claiming First”
Fang Wen looked at the scene in surprise: “Who came up with this?”
Bai Zeshan responded, “Me, General Manager. Didn’t you say we need to enhance everyone’s sense of collective honor? That’s how we can better develop and manage. I think this victory on the Pacific shipping route is a collective honor.”
“Yes, that’s right. The airplane was manufactured in the plant; the honor belongs to everyone.” Fang Wen replied, but in his heart, he sighed that clever-minded people could achieve great things anywhere. Bai Zeshan, not doing vacuum tube research, was also doing quite well in management.
The group returned to the Entrepreneurship Park amid the workers’ cheers.
Bai Zeshan wanted to invite Fang Wen to give a lecture on collective honor to the workers at the aircraft manufacturing plant. To cooperate with Bai Zeshan’s work, Fang Wen agreed.
That evening, all workers in the Industrial Park sat in sections.
Fang Wen took the stage.
“Hello everyone. This competition victory is not only my honor and that of the crew members, but also the honor of the aircraft manufacturing plant. This victory gave me an inspiration.”
He paused, looking at the large crowd below. As a person from the future, he had a unique understanding of this era and wanted to share it on this occasion; this speech might be the opportunity.
“The ancient Chinese Civilization, enduring thousands of years of wind, frost, rain, and snow, still stands in the east of the world, illuminating the spiritual path of countless descendants of Yan and Huang with its reputation as a land of propriety and righteousness. However, in today’s world, which is no longer the world of the past, the roar of machines has replaced the pastoral idyll of yore; the symphony of gunpowder and steel echoes in every corner of the globe.
Facing this earth-shaking change, how can we Chinese sons and daughters cling to outdated rules of propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame? Indeed, propriety and righteousness are the essence of Chinese culture, and the sense of integrity and shame is the soul of our nation, but the boat of the era has already set sail far away. We too must hoist sails, break through waves, advance with the times, to live up to the legacy of our ancestors and jointly build the glory of China.
We people of Taishan Group should recognize all this. One day, when our airplanes can fire vengeful bullets, tearing apart the enemies who dare to bully us into fragments. At that time, we can proudly say that these airplanes were built by us Taishan people, and the merit of driving away the invaders also has a share from us Taishan.”
Fang Wen’s words were not only a lecture on collective honor but also a declaration that Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant would develop military aircraft.
Amid cheers and applause, Fang Wen stepped down and returned alone to the bedroom.
He was conceptualizing military aircraft suitable for the War of Resistance, ones that fit the actual situation and that Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant could produce.
The first concept: wartime conversion of civilian aircraft to military aircraft.
Low-cost seaplanes popularized across all Chinese waterways were paving the way for this.
These low-speed seaplanes with speeds of 200 kilometers per hour were certainly not for air combat; their role after civilian-to-military conversion was ground suppression.
Just like ground suppression by armed helicopters.
They could flexibly transfer personnel and supplies, and use autocannons to attack the ground.
Apart from high-speed fighter jets, Japanese Army ground troops on the ground couldn’t catch up at all and would have to worry about autocannons fired from the air.
Modifying these low-cost seaplanes was also simple: just enlarge the hatches on both sides to mount one or two 7.92 mm machine guns for ground firing; no other changes needed.
If the two-year layout of seaplanes across all Chinese waterways was successfully completed, the nation could deploy over 200 such wartime convertible civilian-to-military seaplanes.
And this plan had another major advantage.
Low-speed seaplanes had low training difficulty, allowing more low-speed pilots to be trained in a short time.
After finishing the first concept, Fang Wen began pondering the second.
Just having low-speed seaplanes was definitely not enough.
Without high-speed fighter jets to contend with the Japanese Air Force, those low-speed seaplanes would be targets when encountering enemy aircraft.
Fang Wen knew he couldn’t build an industrial chain for military high-speed fighter jets in two years, but he could create an elite air combat squadron.
This would be his trump card in the War of Resistance.
This elite air combat squadron had various tactical requirements: quality over quantity.
For personnel recruitment, currently only Pan Jiafeng was selected; other members would be added within two years.
Currently, the main consideration was the airplanes.
What kind of airplanes would be more suitable for his air combat squadron?
He didn’t have the advantage of Japan’s national power for iterative optimization and diverse choices, but he had more advanced concepts.
Since low-speed seaplanes could replace helicopters for air suppression, even more unique ideas weren’t hard to come up with.
To perfect the second concept, Fang Wen spent the following time in research and contemplation.
To find countermeasures, one must know oneself and the enemy, rather than working behind closed doors.
Fang Wen sent a telegram to the Shanghai safe house, instructing them to purchase a batch of information on Japanese Army aircraft through the intelligence network, and had Wu Yingzong take a company flight to retrieve it.
Once Wu Yingzong brought back the intelligence, Fang Wen analyzed it.
Currently, the producers of aircraft for the Japanese Army were Mitsubishi, Nakajima, and Kawasaki.
In these two years, the three had explosively provided the Japanese Army with many fighter jet models.
But in the bomber field, there were some changes. Perhaps because Fang Wen had previously disrupted the German-Japanese transaction, Japan surprisingly did not adopt German technology to produce bombers, but obtained large seaplane technology from other channels, planning to manufacture heavy seaborne bombers.
This was an aggressive plan, plainly betting on China’s current insufficient air power.
Of course, they wouldn’t risk bomber formations; they also had high-speed fighter jets escorting.
Those high-speed fighter jets were what Fang Wen’s aviation squadron needed to focus on countering.
Looking at the intelligence information in hand, Fang Wen felt pressure.
1933
Ki-1 Mitsubishi Type 93 seaborne heavy bomber
Ki-2 Mitsubishi Type 93 twin-engine light bomber
Ki-3 Kawasaki Type 93 light bomber biplane
1934
Ki-4 Nakajima Type 94 reconnaissance aircraft biplane
Ki-5 Kawasaki fighter jet
Ki-6 Nakajima Type 95 Model 2 trainer aircraft
Ki-7 Mitsubishi trainer aircraft
Ki-8 Nakajima fighter jet
1935:
Ki-9 Tachikawa Type 95 Model 1 trainer aircraft
Ki-10 Kawasaki Type 95 fighter jet biplane
Ki-11 Nakajima fighter jet
Japan, preparing for war nationwide, had completed the research, development, and production of over ten military aircraft models in 3 years after the September 18th Incident.
In contrast domestically, the National Government spent 3 years on communist suppression, with no achievements in internal affairs or military, and even lost garrison rights in North China.
One advance and one retreat showed the strength disparity even before full-scale war.
Fang Wen frowned tightly.
Given the Japanese Army’s development intensity for these military aircraft, there would likely be higher-performance airplanes in two years.
His judgment was not baseless; the carrier-based aircraft shot down by predictive shooting over the East China Sea by Xuanming had been a test model not yet deployed and not in this intelligence, yet its speed had already exceeded 400 kilometers per hour.
In other words, after full-scale war in the future, the Japanese Air Force on land, sea, and air would all be equipped with high-mobility fighter jets with speeds over 450 kilometers per hour.
Japanese fighter jet speed came at the cost of sacrificing defense and simplifying internal structure.
Fang Wen didn’t want that.
He chose another direction: enhancing the airplane with higher horsepower.
Such airplanes could withstand and fight.
Then the problem arose.
Should he go for Pratt & Whitney’s radial engine or Allison’s V-type V1710 engine?
Fang Wen recalled his experience using both engines.
Pratt & Whitney’s radial engine had advantages like compact structure, light weight, and high power density. Meanwhile, its multi-cylinder design also helped improve the engine’s reliability and durability.
Allison’s V-1710 engine used a V-type arrangement and liquid cooling system, allowing the engine to effectively lower operating temperature and improve efficiency while maintaining a compact structure. Additionally, unique design elements like double-turbulent cooling sleeves and ring-shaped raised narrow bands also brought it good performance and durability.
And from a structural design perspective.
The radial engine’s feature is its multiple cylinders arranged in a star shape around a central crankshaft, making the engine structure compact with small space requirements.
The V-1710’s 12 cylinders are divided into two groups of 6, arranged in a V-shape, which helps reduce the engine’s overall length and height while maintaining low vibration levels.
The gap seemed small, and the V-1710’s horsepower was even slightly higher than the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engine.
But ultimately, Fang Wen chose the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engine.
Reason 1: The most abundant resource on hand was the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engine; choosing it was realistic.
Reason 2: Fang Wen suddenly discovered that this engine still had potential for improvement.
He wondered: if one radial engine could produce 800 horsepower of kinetic energy, could two radial engines in parallel synchronous motion create over 1600 horsepower?
Fang Wen thought this idea was feasible; after all, a radial engine’s kinetic energy came from its cylinder count. Current mechanical technology had reached the limit with 9-cylinder radial engines, but using two 9-cylinder radial engines in parallel was not impossible.
In pursuit of efficient kinetic energy, Fang Wen decided to try it.
He connected two 9-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engines to one bearing.
But the effect wasn’t good; even after mechanical linkage modifications, damage occurred due to the two engines performing unevenly.
Moreover, Fang Wen discovered that if two 8-cylinder engines were combined to save space, even if strong power was generated, there would be equivalent thermal energy conduction, requiring better heat conduction methods to ensure normal operation.
It seemed he couldn’t create the imagined high-energy engine relying on himself alone; he chose to contact the United States side directly.
The telegram was sent to America, but not to Pratt & Whitney, rather to Lin Shuiwang.
Upon receiving the telegram, Lin Shuiwang was very surprised by its content, then changed into formal attire and went to visit the Whitney couple.
He arrived at a noble-style manor in the American midwest region and met the Whitney couple.
Connor Alexander Whitney received him happily.
“Lin Shuiwang, welcome to my manor.”
His wife, Alison Grace Whitney, also came down from upstairs to greet: “Seeing you reminds me of the adventure we went through together; that was the most thrilling experience of our lives. By the way, has Mr. Fang returned?”
“He has returned. He asked me to come.” Lin Shuiwang replied.
Hearing it was Fang Wen, the Whitney couple was very interested.
Subsequently, Lin Shuiwang said according to the telegram’s content: “Our General Manager is very interested in aircraft manufacturing. Recently, he’s been researching how to improve aircraft performance, including engines. He specially studied your Pratt & Whitney engines and discovered some interesting things.”
“What things?” Connor Alexander Whitney asked interestedly.
“The current 9-cylinder engine should be Pratt & Whitney’s limit. To go further, it has to become dual-engine parallel, i.e., an 18-cylinder engine. He believes you at Pratt & Whitney must have already researched this.” Lin Shuiwang replied according to what he remembered.
“Wait, let me make a phone call.” Connor Alexander Whitney paused the conversation, got up, and left the living room.
After a while, he returned.
“Indeed, we just started researching 18-cylinder dual-engine engines, but it’s very complex with many challenges.”
“General Manager says the challenges are probably in cooling and combustion chamber optimization. If you want to develop a 16-cylinder dual-engine engine ahead of time, he has a way, but the engines must be sold to him first.”
Lin Shuiwang stated Fang Wen’s request and awaited the response.
（World War II’s strongest radial engine: Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Twin Wasp engine, nemesis of Japanese aircraft）
