Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 137, Section 136: The German training officer of Taishan Aviation, F.220 bombing conversion.

After listening to William's story, Fang Wen couldn't help but sigh that history is always full of coincidences.

If that stormtrooper had known where Mustache lived, the world situation might have developed in a completely different direction.

But no, instead, six Weimar officers suffered the consequences.

He looked at William and asked, "What are you planning to do next?"

“I don’t know.” William was bewildered. He knew German and English, but they seemed to be of little use here.

Because he was fleeing, he hid his share of the wealth in France. If he wanted to live there, he would have to find a job or borrow money from Fang Wen.

But this is a difficult question for someone who has been wealthy before, especially when asking a partner who made their fortune with them for a loan.

Fang Wen noticed William's predicament.

“I have a suggestion: you come to my company and go to the southwest of this country to train a group of mercenaries.”

“Training mercenaries?” William asked in surprise.

“Yes, I’m planning to build an airport there, but the area is very chaotic. So I recruited a group of mercenaries who are willing to fight, but they lack military skills. I need someone who understands military affairs to help me train them,” Fang Wen explained.

“But I don’t understand Chinese,” William said, revealing his biggest weakness.

“You can learn if you don’t understand. We have three foreign employees in our company, and they are all learning Chinese. Your language skills are better than theirs, so you should be able to master it faster.” Fang Wen paused for a moment, then said, “How about this, I’ll find you a language teacher tomorrow. If you can master basic communication within a month, I’ll hire you. If not, I’ll give you a sum of money in my personal capacity.”

After listening to Fang Wen's words, William weighed the pros and cons.

Taking a sum of money for free is actually useless. He believes that a place known as the Paris of the East must have a high cost of living, and that money will be spent in no time. What about later?

It would be better to work hard, learn basic Chinese communication skills, and stay at Fang's company; that would be more stable.

William, weary of his unstable life as a refugee, made his choice.

Taishan Airlines has gained another foreign employee, William, from the Weimar Republic.

Of course, because he was wanted by the Weimar Republic, he claimed to be British.

Anyway, nobody cares these days.

In order to learn Chinese, he studied diligently with the Chinese and English teachers he had hired, and worked hard every day to memorize Chinese characters and vocabulary.

The more he studied, the more fascinated he became by the profoundness of the Chinese language.

Unlike English and German, Chinese, as an ancient written language, is a very complex language system.

He even began to summarize this peculiar script and take notes.

Fang Wen had read these notes and was quite surprised by his perspective.

such as:

William believed that Chinese is a synthesis of form, sound, and meaning, while English and German are phonetic languages. Chinese does not require strict grammar and can express the correct meaning through various expressions, even misspellings, which is absolutely impossible in grammatically rigorous English.

Moreover, Chinese can self-assemble; some people can understand words that have never existed before.

There are also idioms and proverbs, which are phrases that represent specific meanings and can accurately express a particular idea.

These insights are sufficient to prove William's talent for languages, and therefore, his Chinese language learning progressed rapidly.

Time passed little by little.

Everything is developing.

The first piece of good news is that the Shrike has returned.

Fang Wen piloted the Shrike to conduct a mechanical inspection and found no major problems.

That's why I feel relieved.

The second piece of good news is that Manager Liu is back.

His return signifies that the penicillin laboratory has officially commenced operations. Two biology professors from Tsinghua University, along with their families and students, have already gone to Wuhan.

This also means that Fang Wen can be freed from the tedious daily management work of the company.

After Manager Liu took over the work, Fang Wen couldn't wait to pilot the Shrike to Wuhan.

He planned to check on the progress of the laboratory in Wuhan, then parachute into Xiangxi Airport to inspect the local construction, before returning to Shanghai.

The plane took off from Shanghai Airport and, after several hours of flight, landed at Taishan Airlines' own airport in Wuchang.

After parking the plane in a private hangar, Fang Wen, accompanied by staff from Wuhan Airport, headed to the biological laboratory.

Once you exit the airport, their biological laboratory is located in a three-story building across the street.

The sign outside reads "Taishan Aviation Logistics Office," and there are security guards at the main entrance. Outsiders have no idea that biological research experiments are being conducted here.

Fang Wen entered the laboratory to inspect the progress of the work.

A professor from the Department of Biology at Tsinghua University explained the situation.

"After we moved the experimental equipment we brought from Beiping and the equipment sent by Taishan Airlines into the laboratory, we began the work of developing penicillin. Relying on the first-generation penicillin preparation technology and the original penicillin strain that you gave us, we prepared the first batch of original penicillin strains. We also learned how to purify this substance from Penicillium mold."

"So fast!" Fang Wen exclaimed in surprise.

The professor explained, "This isn't fast. We've only replicated a successful penicillin preparation method, but this method isn't suitable for large-scale production. We need to create a completely new and efficient preparation process. In addition, the purification effect of the original strain is poor, so we have already started collecting various Penicillium molds."

"Are any kind of Penicillium mold okay?" Fang Wen asked.

"Yes, Penicillium is a diverse species of fungus that commonly appears on various foods and leathers, such as citrus fruits, vegetables, cooked rice, meat, and leather clothing. We need different Penicillium species for comparative experiments to gain a better understanding of penicillin preparation. Ideally, they should be from different regions."

Fang Wen nodded: "That's no problem. I have seven airports in the east, west, south, and north, and employees at each airport can participate in the collection of Penicillium mold."

He stayed at Wuhan Airport that day and sent a telegram to his wife that evening, requesting all employees in the company to participate in the collection of Penicillium mold.

The next day, the company's internal order was transmitted to various airports via flights. All employees of Taishan Airlines were collecting the moldy material. Once collected, it would be stored and sent back to Shanghai Airport, and then delivered to the biological laboratory via a flight from Shanghai to Wuhan.

This efficiency greatly improved the collection of Penicillium species and accelerated the experimental progress.

Meanwhile, Fang Wen boarded the fully fueled Shrike and flew southwest to Xiangxi Airport.

The plane flew at an altitude of 4000 meters, and after flying over the Hubei plain, it arrived at the southwestern mountainous area.

This vast region is characterized by dense mountains and rugged land routes; even by water, travel is limited to the areas traversed by rivers.

Therefore, since ancient times, the southwest has been a dangerous place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Lost in thought, Fang Wen piloted the Shrike over Changde City and arrived over Yongshun County.

From the air, Yongshun County is a city built on a mountain, but unlike Chongqing, this small county has a limited area for development and no major rivers, so there is not much space for development.

After passing through the county town, the Shrike arrived at its destination, the plain behind Longzhai Village.

As the plane descended and hovered at an altitude of two thousand meters, he saw the view below.

Hundreds of people are working together.

There were also oxcarts transporting supplies back and forth. It was a scene of bustling activity.

So where will I land?
Fang Wen looked towards the construction site.

There is a solid runway there, about 300 meters long, which can be used for the Shrike's landing.

Because there were no radio communication devices on the ground, Fang Wen could only search for the person sending the signal.

He saw it; beside the track, there was a person, probably Fang Shouxin, raising his left hand and waving his right hand towards the track behind him.

This was a hand signal indicating that the aircraft was ready to land. Fang Wen continued to circle and adjust the aircraft's position, then pressed down on the fuselage and landed steadily on the runway.

The plane landed steadily, immediately attracting a large crowd of onlookers.

They were all villagers from the surrounding area, as well as workers involved in the construction.

It was their first time seeing an airplane, and they all found it very fascinating.

To prevent the plane from being surrounded and damaged, Sun Debiao led dozens of members of the Ganjun Security Brigade to surround the plane.

One of the team members shouted in the local dialect, "You can only look at it, not touch it. This thing is very precious; an entire village couldn't exchange it for it."

On the other side, Fang Wen came down the wooden escalator and talked with Fang Shouxin.

"How is it here?"

"We've bought all the land. We've hired 300 people to build the airport, which is enough manpower. The only problem is the land itself."

"what is the problem?"

“Much of the land here is paddy fields with deep silt. We have to dig out the silt and then fill it with stones.”

"Come on, show me around."

Fang Shouxin led Fang Wen to the construction site.

As he said, the silt from those rice paddies was dredged up, loaded onto oxcarts, and transported away. This was the best farmland; if it were dumped elsewhere, it could be used to grow many food crops.

Farmland that has been silted up will have pits 2 to 3 meters deep.

To fill these pits, we need to use fine pebbles mixed with river sand.

Therefore, the stones brought in by oxcarts would be smashed into pieces by the workers with hammers and mixed with sand to fill the site.

"Are there many of these farmlands?" Fang Wen asked.

“Not all farmland is paddy field, and we don’t need to deal with many areas. We expect it to be completed in about a month,” Fang Shouxin replied.

"Get the runway ready as soon as possible. Only when the large runway is built can I bring the Taishan No. 1 here to transport supplies."

"I understand that all the work at present is about running track construction."

The two redefined their work priorities: with a runway capable of landing F.220 aircraft, several tons of cement could be transported with just one landing.

Although airlifting cement is a bit of a luxury, it's worth it in this situation.

With cement, construction here will be greatly accelerated, and the factory can be built much faster.

Fang Wen looked at other locations outside the airport. A row of simple bungalows stood in the distance, built of stones with tiled roofs.

"Does everyone live over there?"

"Yes, the environment is a bit basic, but everyone can manage," Fang Shouxin replied.

Fang Wen walked over quickly, looking at the simple living conditions, and secretly blamed himself. The people he recruited were sent here, and before they had even started their official work, they already had to learn to endure hardship.

No, I can solve these problems myself.

He instructed Fang Shouxin: "Turn on the telegraph machine at 8 p.m. sharp these two nights. The living conditions here must be improved. I need to go back and make preparations, and then I will let you know."

After saying that, Fang Wen lost interest in looking at the plane and quickly boarded it, turning it around and taking off.

He returned to Wuchang Airport to refuel and immediately took off to fly back to Shanghai.

Upon returning to Shanghai, he went to the headquarters of Taishan Airlines and called his wife and Manager Liu for a short meeting.

“I went to check on the situation at Xiangxi Airport. Their working conditions are extremely poor. They don’t eat or sleep well. This is not the treatment that Taishan Airlines employees should receive.”

Kuang Mingzhu asked in surprise, "Is it very harsh over there?"

Fang Wen nodded: "They are currently living in stone houses with wooden plank beds and thin blankets. It's damp at night, and ants, snakes, and rats are everywhere. It was my oversight that I didn't expect there to be such a shortage of supplies there, and I didn't prepare any living supplies for them in advance."

Manager Liu was concerned about how to transport the supplies: "Even if we purchase enough supplies, how do we get them to them? The airport isn't built yet, so we can't land there."

"You guys handle the procurement of supplies, and I'll figure out how to handle the transportation," Fang Wen assigned the tasks.

“Manager Liu just got back, let him rest for a bit, I’ll go buy supplies.” Kuang Mingzhu took on the task.

She thought that women are naturally better than men when it comes to purchasing material goods, not to mention the very shrewd Kuang Mingzhu.

Fang Wen nodded in agreement.

So the couple set off separately, one taking spring grass and autumn chrysanthemums to the city to buy them, and the other heading to the airport.

Fang Wen entered the airport and arrived at the large hangar built by Taishan Airlines.

F.220 heavy night bombers are parked there, which is also where the three foreign mechanics usually stay.

When Fang Wen entered the hangar, the three were chatting idly. He explained the situation directly.

"I want to modify the F.220."

"How do we modify it?" Howard asked. They had been waiting for this for a long time. Modifying a large aircraft like the F.220 was an honorable experience for any mechanic.

"Follow me." Fang Wen walked to F.220, opened the boarding stairs, and went inside.

He explained his ideas for the renovation.

"The F.220 has a 4000 kg external bomb loader and a 4000 kg ammunition bay. The bombs in the internal ammunition bay are mainly released manually. The modification I want to make is to create three bomb release ports inside the cabin for faster bomb release."

According to Fang Wen's idea, the original internal ammunition compartment only had one bomb release port, so the bombs needed to be placed in the slide rail for manual bomb release.

This is too slow. Air strikes require a rapid, high-intensity barrage of bombs, ideally all the bombs should be dropped at once to plow the field.

Therefore, designing three more bomb launch ports would triple the bomb delivery efficiency.

After all, there's not much automation these days; if something can be solved manually, then it can only be done manually.

Moreover, this renovation plan was also designed for the airdrop of supplies.

This mission can both airdrop essential supplies to Xiangxi Airport and provide an opportunity to test the F.220's airdrop capabilities.

This also allows us to simulate strategic bombing in advance. After all, there's not much difference between airdrops and bombing; both require accuracy.

(End of this chapter)