industrial lord

Chapter 639 Aviation Plan
"The stained glass windows decorate the ancient church. Following the direction of the piano music, I can see roses clinging to the thousand-year-old stone corridor. I stand in the square of Boheim at dusk and cast my hope in the wishing fountain. In the long corridor of the square, the dancers are dancing and spinning non-stop."

In recent days, many articles introducing the Bohemian region and its largest city, Boheim, have appeared in newspapers and magazines in Weissenburg, describing it as a beautiful, romantic and joyful land.

Father Arms, a local, also wrote an article recalling his happy childhood life before the war.

Maria began to prepare her luggage and spread the word that she and Frederick were going to travel there.

This was an official trip of Grand Duke Wessen, and the scale was not small. Frederick and Maria's clothes alone filled six trucks, jewelry filled one truck, and three trucks were modified to be equipped with washing machines.

Foreign Minister Baron Christian went ahead with half of the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Guard Corps to make preliminary preparations.

Tony, the head of the Guard Regiment, selected two male and female guard companies and a mage platoon. He also personally went to the remaining Black Cat Unit to select a squad, and selected two engineering platoons each from the 2nd and 4th Divisions, and together with the logistics personnel, formed a guard battalion.

The army also sent two radio vehicles and more than two dozen operators and maintenance personnel.

In terms of housekeeping, Afu and Tarot formed a team of nearly two hundred people consisting of attendants, maids, doctors, chefs, tailors, makeup artists, photography teams, and art teams.

In order to maintain contact and carry out government affairs, Vanessa will lead a team of more than 30 secretaries.

After listening to the travel plan, Psyche said, "Your travel team is enough to conquer the city of Boheim."

Frederick just smiled.

There are still a few days before departure, and he needs to deal with a lot of things before leaving. Today he came to the Wesson Science Institute to ask Psyche about the progress of aircraft development, and asked by the way: "Don't you want to come and play?"

Psyche shook her head and said, "Forget it. I just went there decades ago."

"The airship faction and the airplane faction are about to fight, and I need to take charge."

After hearing this, Frederick said, "Personally, I am inclined to the airplane faction. The upper limit of the airship is too low."

Psyche nodded and said, "The research on airships will slow down in the future."

"There are a lot of problems with fixed-wing aircraft right now, especially with high-horsepower engines."

"Because of the problem of machining precision, the vibration of the high-power and high-speed radial engine can shake itself apart. We need to continue researching."

"We have increased our investment in inline six-cylinder engines and have already completed the production of 80-horsepower engines. Our next goal is a 200-horsepower engine, but crankshaft design and processing are issues that will likely take one or two years to resolve."

Frederick was very satisfied with the current progress and said, "Don't worry, take your time. At most, we can just install a few more engines."

Although the Wesson Science Institute hired a magician who was proficient in anti-gravity magic from the Piast Kingdom at a high salary, and in theory he could be so strong that he could fly bricks, but anti-gravity does not counteract air resistance, and the magic power consumption per 100 kilometers is too high. It is more economical to provide lift through the wings and reduce the weight of the aircraft.

Frederick continued, "As for the matter of the Aerodynamics Research Institute, I'll have to trouble you to follow up."

Aerodynamics was in its infancy at the time, and the design of aircraft was full of all kinds of "my thoughts".

The wind tunnel was built, but the measurement of wing lift, fuselage drag and other data relied on a spring scale, and students had to be tied up next to it to read the readings.

"Aerodynamics has to come a long way," Psyche said.

"The structural strength problem of the wing of monoplanes has not yet been solved. There have been several wing breakage accidents last year and this year."

"Fortunately, the ejection seat worked and the test pilot only suffered broken bones."

"The wing load of a biplane is smaller than that of a monoplane, and the structure is relatively safe. The high air resistance can give way to safety, so resources will be greatly tilted towards it in the future."

Frederick nodded when he heard this. Fixed-wing aircraft are not comparable to powered delta wings in terms of air resistance, speed and overload, and require higher structural strength.

He asked, “What’s the next plan?”

Psyche replied: "I plan to develop a four-engine transport-bomber biplane based on the Ilya Muromets model during the third five-year plan starting next year. When using anti-gravity magic, the load capacity will exceed 1 ton, the maximum speed will be over 150 kilometers per hour, the ceiling will be at least 6 kilometers, and machine gun turrets will be installed on the front, back, left, right, and top."

"We plan to focus on small single-seat biplanes in 1038 and 39 to accumulate experience. In 40, we will summarize the experience and start designing. We will strive to have the prototype tested in 41 and finalized in 42."

"The fighter planes are mainly biplanes, with a target speed of about 200 kilometers per hour and a ceiling of 6 kilometers, which is sufficient for now."

Frederick was not familiar with the pre-World War II aircraft in his hometown, and did not know what model she was talking about. He just said, "I trust you to do the job."

He then asked: "Do you think it is possible to produce transport aircraft like the Y-5?"

He had long coveted the aerial tractor and thought he might be able to make one by hand.

Psyche said with a frown, "The Y-5 uses a -horsepower radial engine."

Frederick was at his wit's end.

Psyche added: "The current aircraft is still in the research stage, and the production scale is not large. We can use the space of the airship factory."

"I think the airships can be used for export, so just keep the existing production workshop." "I think you will definitely want to mass-produce aircraft in the future, so you have to find a new place to build a factory."

Frederick was silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Forget about exporting hot airships. They are too expensive. I don't even use a few myself. No one can afford the export price."

"I have an idea. If airplanes can be used to deliver letters now, we can rely on the Ministry of Posts to develop airmail business."

He recently studied the work report of the Postal Department.

Today, the postal service has spread across the Rhine Confederation and extended its business to the Low Countries and the Helvetic Confederation, two places that are closely linked to the economy of the Duchy of Wessen.

The business of expedited delivery of documents, valuables, etc. has increased a lot more than expected. In the past, these were delivered by nobles, chambers of commerce, etc. themselves. Now with armed escort by the post office and compensation for losses, it is more convenient and cheaper.

So Frederick came up with the idea of ​​air express.

Psyche thought for a moment and said, "There is now a single-engine, single-seat biplane that can fly at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour when carrying a load of 8 kilograms. It can fly from here to Amstel in about hours."

"If we modify it further, install a fully enclosed cabin, add a heating system, improve the pilot's working environment, and add an anti-gravity cargo hold, transporting 200 kilograms of cargo will not be a problem."

Frederick was about to nod when Psyche continued, "The internal price is 1000 florins per plane."

Frederick was silent now.

The money of the Postal Department was not his, so he didn't have that much money.

He had never bought a plane in his previous life, but he knew that buying a car was cheap but maintaining it was expensive, and the same was true for an airplane. A year's maintenance, plus energy, lubricants, depreciation, pilot salaries, etc., would cost an estimated three to four hundred florins, not to mention the airport construction fees.

"Can you take a passenger?" Frederick asked. "Just one person is fine."

Nowadays, few people can fly in the sky. If you can make a lot of money from hot air balloons, then you can probably make money by charging people for flying.

Psyche hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "I don't recommend doing this. In another world, my students did this, and they encountered wind shear in the air, frightened the passengers to death, and were charged with regicide. They had to rebel and become emperor themselves in advance."

It was the first time that Frederick heard her talk about other worlds, and he couldn't help but ask curiously: "So what position did you get in the end?"

Psyche's face twitched, and she didn't look happy about it. She didn't answer, but waved her hand at him as if to shoo away a fly.

Frederick became even more curious and asked, "Could it be the Queen?"

Psyche raised her fist, which had become bigger than a pressure cooker, and said, "Don't slander someone's innocence out of thin air. Don't think I won't beat you up!"

"By that time I had already faked my death and ran away, but that bastard actually named me the Empress Dowager and gave me an extremely long posthumous title of more than 30 characters!"

This time, Frederick's mouth twitched.

"Let's get back to the point." Frederick continued the previous topic, "How about this, I will first order ten and rent them to the Postal Department at cost price to test the waters."

"If it makes money, we will expand the scale. If it doesn't make money, we will keep it as a reconnaissance aircraft or training aircraft, just as training pilots."

"The Postal Department will coordinate matters at various airports, and the Air Force will be responsible for recruiting and training pilots. I estimate that it will be ready for use by the time I return from Bohemia."

Psyche nodded and said, "That's fine, let's take it one step at a time."

"The conditions for pilot recruitment can be relaxed."

Frederick nodded, the air force was indeed short of manpower.

After talking about the airplane, the two discussed the next five-year plan and government affairs for a while, and then Frederick returned to the castle first.

This year is his last year of permanent residence in the castle. The first phase of his private palace outside the city will be completed and handed over next year, and he will be able to move in then.

At that time, the new office building of the Principality of Wessen’s government was completed and put into use, sharing a back garden with the palace, so people only had to walk 500 meters to get to work.

In the castle study, Susan sat on the sofa, finished reading a book, and picked up the teacup to drink tea.

Frederick sat down on the sofa, held her in his arms, and rubbed her face with his stubble.

"That's annoying!" Susan pushed his face away. "I still have lessons to memorize."

Frederick asked her, "Are you really not going to play with us?"

Susan reached out and pinched his nose and said, "No, I'm going to take the professional qualification certificate exam for practicing assistant physicians this year."

Frederick said, "Well, we'll go somewhere else when we have the chance."

He stopped disturbing Susan from reading and went to see Maria to see how the travel preparations were going. Then he returned to his study to prepare his speech at the Second Five-Year Plan Summary Conference and the Third Five-Year Plan Mobilization Conference.

(End of this chapter)