I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France

Chapter 959 Research and Development Dilemmas
The proposal to send coalition forces to Greece passed by a large majority despite angry opposition from British representatives.

The next day, representatives from various countries assembled their own troops and sent them to Greece.

The Netherlands sent the fewest troops, with only one combat team of 12 soldiers.

(Note: During World War I, the smallest tactical unit in European armies was the "combat squad," which typically consisted of 12 to 16 men and was commanded by a non-commissioned officer, similar to a "platoon" in modern armies.)
Queen Wilhelmina tried her best to remain restrained and avoid provoking either side, after all, the Netherlands was directly facing Britain, whose powerful navy was something the Netherlands could not afford to provoke.

Romania symbolically sent two combat teams of 20 people, airlifted by transport plane.

This not only demonstrated Romania's support for the League of Nations, but also declared to the German and Austrian armies that Charles's transport planes could take Romanian soldiers wherever they wanted to go.

Belgium sent the largest number of troops, an infantry company of 250 men from the 9th Reconnaissance Brigade. They spoke German and had studied German customs. Albert I believed they could play a greater role in the "Allied Forces".

This is Belgium declaring to everyone that it is France's staunchest supporter.

Although Belgium's geographical location is similar to that of the Netherlands, with the most powerful Britain directly opposite it, its proximity to France and good relations with the Charles give it the confidence to adopt a relatively tough stance.

Albert I even proudly told Major General Eden:

"This is the most glorious moment for Belgium. We can finally stop having to depend on the British."

"Perhaps you'll say we still need to consider France's opinion."

"No, Major General! We are friends with Charles. He gives us respect, benefits, and security—things the British have never given us!"

This is one of the reasons why other small countries were willing to join the League of Nations and surround France. They had a very difficult time in this dog-eat-dog world and could be swallowed up at any moment.

The Charles gave them a chance, a chance to live decently as a complete nation in this cruel world.

Compared to this, the price we paid is negligible.

Ultimately, a total of 637 soldiers from 17 countries gathered in Toulon.

The troops were originally intended to be transported to Greece by troop transport ships and land at the port of Piraeus, but considering the danger to Constantine I, they were eventually transported to their destination in batches by 20 transport planes making two round trips.

On the day the coalition forces landed, the French army announced its formal withdrawal from Greece.

In reality, the French army simply arrived at the port of Piraeus, had its troops board the ship to take photos for the newspaper, and then disembarked to be incorporated into the "Allied Forces".

Thus, the League of Nations had a military base in the port of Piraeus, which was only 2 kilometers away from the port and had more than 5 troops, most of whom were French soldiers.

Their first task was to establish a large military airfield: airplanes were the fastest means of transportation, and air superiority was crucial.

Constantine I cooperated fully, providing the "National League" with supplies and manpower, and even sending troops to assist them.

He himself moved into the military base with his wife and children under the guise of "reception" and "assistance".

Charles didn't concern himself with these matters; he left them to Gallieri to manage.

This was somewhat beyond the scope of Gallieni's role as Minister of the Army, as it required the use of the Air Force and even warships. However, due to Gallieni's exceptional position, the operation proceeded without any obstacles.

Gallieri exclaimed, "This is what an army should look like; they look like a unified whole."

In fact, the French army possessed more advanced tactics and branches of service, forming a three-dimensional combat capability that could overwhelm the enemy in all aspects, which reassured Gallieri.

……

At the Paris aircraft manufacturing plant, the sound of airplane propellers was incessant, and every now and then several planes would take off and soar into the sky.

Two black sedans slowly drove in through the gatekeeper's gate, turned a corner, and stopped in front of the research and development department. Dorn, who was talking with a researcher inside, saw Charles get out of the car and hurried out to greet him.

The atmosphere in the entire research institute was dull and oppressive, completely lacking its previous liveliness.

"How much damage did you suffer?" Charles asked.

He rushed over after hearing about the dive bomber accident; this was the first time the aircraft research institute had encountered such a difficult problem.

"Two prototypes were lost in succession," Dorn replied. "All four test pilots were killed."

Charles asked, "It happened during the dive, right?"

“Yes,” Dorn replied.

He led Charles to his workbench, picked up a dive trajectory diagram from the mess of drawings, and explained:

"We have calculated that if we want to significantly improve bombing accuracy, the aircraft should be kept in a dive between 70 and 90 degrees."

"This is the only way to ensure that the bombing error is around 30 meters."

(Note: A bombing error of around 30 meters is a significant leap forward. The error in horizontal bombing is usually several hundred meters, and the error increases with altitude.)

Dorn took a picture of an airplane:
"But our aircraft is not strong enough."

"When an aircraft dives, the wings and fuselage are subjected to enormous overloads and can easily disintegrate."

"Another critical point is that the connection between the wing and the fuselage is prone to breakage when recovering after dropping bombs."

The two prototype aircraft involved in the accidents were caused by these two situations one after the other.

The first one broke apart during a dive. Dorn thought the problem was easy to solve; he just needed to strengthen the structure of the prototype.

However, during another test flight after the improvements were made, the wing broke off at the root the instant after the bombs were dropped, and the plane crashed and the crew died.

"The change in force on the wing during the recovery is too great." Dorn frowned.

"It instantly changes from a dive to level flight or even pulls up."

"To strengthen the structure to withstand such a large overload, at least 50 kilograms of weight would be needed."

"But this also increases the aircraft's G-force and makes it unstable."

Charles nodded in understanding.

Simply put, it's like "add more water to the flour, add more flour to the water," but the problem remains unsolved.

“We have another option,” one researcher said. “We can use high-strength materials, such as titanium alloys, at the wing joints.”

(Note: Titanium alloy has a strength close to that of steel, but its density is only 60% of that of steel. It was successfully purified in 1910, but the cost was extremely high.)
Dorn immediately rejected the proposal: "We're producing bombers, Will, and they need to be mass-produced. Using titanium alloys would make them prohibitively expensive."

While technically feasible, this is not feasible for war equipment.

Everyone fell silent again. There was only one prototype left, and if they couldn't come up with a suitable solution, the project might very well be canceled.

(End of this chapter)