readytorunbook Chapter 344 Jet Fighters and Yun-5
Chapter 344 Jet Fighters and Yun-5
"The biplane, single-engine light transport aircraft you requested was already blown up. This wind tunnel was sitting idle anyway, so I took those Italians with me and recreated the verification aircraft they had built earlier."
Lei Xuelin is the synthetic talent who has spent the most gold on Zhang Chi. He is worth two Helena light cruisers. He can rely on his rich and solid theoretical knowledge to overwhelm the group of Italian engineers who were quite arrogant at the beginning.
These engineers that Zhang Chi invited from Italian companies such as Caproni and Fiat now obediently follow the chief engineer Lei Xuelin to work on projects, and the very eye-catching jet scale model in front of Zhang Chi is their latest achievement.
"In 40, the Caproni factory followed the trend and produced the Campini N.1 (pictured), a jet demonstrator. However, the engine power did not meet the standards and the project was abandoned."
While listening to Lei Xuelin's introduction, Zhang Chi carefully observed the model in front of him.
He stroked his chin and said, "You know what? Although Italy's industrial scale is not impressive, as the youngest among the imperialist powers, it is quite capable of producing cutting-edge technology."
Unlike Hans' ME-262 configuration with two engines hanging under the wings, Zhang Chi found that the Caproni-Campinei N.1 in front of him had a very trendy appearance, and was very similar to the first generation of classic jet fighters such as the F-86 and MIG-5.
The few Italian engineers who followed him were still learning Mandarin and could only roughly understand some words. Looking at Zhang Chi's expression, they thought he was praising Italy's industrial level, and each of them had a proud smile on their face.
Zhang Chi asked with interest: "After the model is blown up, is it time to build a prototype?"
Lei Xuelin shook his head after hearing this and quickly poured cold water on him: "The original airfoil design of the Caproni factory is too conservative. We are developing jet aircraft aiming for subsonic or even transonic speeds.
Furthermore, the information on the jet engine they brought was incomplete, so this aircraft can only be used as a technical reserve and demonstration. I personally don't think it's necessary to build a prototype."
Zhang Chi was not disappointed when he heard this answer.
Now in the world, Hans is the only one who is at the forefront of jet aircraft research. Even White Eagle and John are struggling to catch up with Hans.
Only the ME-262 and AR-234 in Hans' hands showed signs of becoming practical jet aircraft. It can be said that the maturity of the jet aircraft of White Eagle, John and Big Russia after World War II was not unrelated to their plundering of Hans' scientific research talents and various drawings after the war.
Now the aviation industry under Zhang Chi has just started, and he is very pleased that the Myitkyina No. 1 Aircraft Factory can directly enter the cutting-edge field of jet aircraft.
Besides, he still has the War Thunder system. At level V in the White Eagle technology tree, there are jet fighters such as F-80, F-84, F-86 and B-57 jet bombers that can be developed and purchased.
If you're willing to spend 100kg of gold to buy a Tier V vehicle exchange voucher, you can redeem it for the gold version of the F-89B\D 'Scorpion' jet interceptor or the F-86F-35 (currently out of print in the game) in the White Eagle technology tree.
In addition, as various tanks, aircraft and other weapons used as payment for goods from the Russian Federation arrive at the Port of Yangon, the MIG-15BISISH aircraft can also be exchanged for the V-level vehicle exchange coupons on the unlocked Russian Federation technology tree.
As a ground support version of the MIG-15BIS that can carry two 500kg bombs or eight S-1 212mm rockets, this aircraft has a flight performance only slightly worse than the MIG-15BIS when not carrying any loads, although the air resistance increases due to the addition of additional fixed racks.
Of course, in the previously unlocked John technology tree, you can also use the V-level vehicle exchange coupon to exchange for John's classic jet fighter, Meteor MK.8.
It can be said that as long as Zhang Chi is willing to spend gold, he can immediately exchange it for the White Eagle, John, and Big Russia's main jet fighters in the early Cold War.
But he also knew that if the Anmin Army was not strong enough, once it deployed jet fighters in large numbers, it would likely attract the attention of these major powers.
Therefore, after visiting the wind tunnel of the First Aircraft Factory in Myitkyina, Zhang Chi decided to exchange only a few aircraft on a small scale and let Lei Xuelin conduct preliminary research with absolutely trustworthy personnel.
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After visiting the wind tunnel, Zhang Chi asked Lei Xuelin to find a meeting room inside the Yifei Factory.
"With this complete set of information and imported production line equipment, if we want to produce this R-1830 engine by ourselves, how long will it take?" Zhang Chi asked straight to the point after sitting down.
If jets are the future, piston-propeller aircraft are the present.
Zhang Chi is naturally about the present and the future, and we must grasp both with both hands and make both hands strong.
Opposite him, Lei Xuelin picked up a thick stack of information on the table and flipped through it.
In fact, the complete set of technical and production process information of the R-1830 engine filled several cargo boxes, measured in cubic meters. What Lei Xuelin was reading now was just the catalog and introduction.
After taking a quick look, Lei Xuelin thought for a while and then said carefully:
"Even if we have a full set of equipment and the help of those experts we invited (or tricked) from the Caproni and Fiat factories in Italy, I don't think our machining accuracy will be very good in the early stages."
Lei Xuelin shook his head as he spoke.
"Plus, aircraft engine manufacturing involves many materials science issues. Once the production line is debugged, I estimate it will only take a few months to produce a usable engine."
Zhang Chi raised his eyebrows, wondering why the chief engineer of Yifei Factory gave such an optimistic judgment after listing a bunch of difficulties.
As soon as Lei Xuelin saw Zhang Chi's expression, he knew that he was wrong and said quickly:
"When I say we produce usable engines, I mean we produce 100, but only a few are usable, and the rest are defective."
Zhang Chi was obviously disappointed when he heard this answer: "We spent so much money, and this is the result?"
Lei Xuelin shrugged. "We're not starting from scratch, but it's almost there. It's good enough to be able to do this."
In the meeting room, he and the synth Lei Xuelin spoke more directly. "So, from now on, all kinds of fighter jets, bombers, etc., will still have to be exchanged through the system?"
Lei Xuelin noticed that Zhang Chi was in a bad mood and said quickly:
"However, once our workers become more skilled and our engineers gain more experience, I estimate that by 45 years, the yield rate will be high enough, and we will be able to smoothly launch large-scale production."
Hearing this, Zhang Chi snorted lightly, indicating that he was quite satisfied.
"That's pretty much it."
Although Zhang Chi knew that the future of aviation would be the era of jet aircraft, he also knew that in the fragmented terrain of Southeast Asia that he would rule in the future, even with various modes of transportation such as roads, railways, and ferries, short-distance air transportation would be indispensable.
He doesn't have many spare parts for the DC-3 and C-47 transport planes he has.
Although both the fighters and bombers of the Air Force and the transport aircraft prepared for civil aviation can be maintained by storing them in the system space and then spending Silver Lion coins to renovate them.
But a healthy country and a healthy aviation industry obviously cannot rely entirely on his system, otherwise he would have nothing to do every day and would just run to the hangar to fold and unfold planes for fun.
Therefore, Zhang Chi has been trying to establish a complete aviation production chain. In view of the current national conditions, the first aircraft he wants to produce is the classic product, the Yun-5 (pictured).
Historically, the Y-5 was the first transport aircraft in the country manufactured by the Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, imitating the Russian An-2 transport aircraft. Cheap and reliable were its hallmarks.
Its take-off distance is only 170 meters, and it can carry 6 passengers or 1.5 tons of cargo, with a single flight distance of about 850km.
This is what Zhang Chi had said before when he visited the wind tunnel. He asked Lei Xuelin to design a biplane, single-engine, light short-distance transport aircraft based on the historical Y-5 and powered by the R-1820 "Cyclone" engine.
Seeing that Zhang Chi was not in high spirits, Lei Xuelin took the initiative to say:
"That transport aircraft has already been tested in the wind tunnel. I'll be leading those Italians and we'll have a prototype in a month. Oh, and we still have a large inventory of R-1830s. Just wait and see. If everything goes well, the first batch of production aircraft will be out soon."