Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 16. Flying Northeast, Night Navigator, Wilderness Landing

After a period of adjustment, the flight team developed shared interests.

Sun Debiao went to the city early every day to contact people in Shenyang.

Manager Liu also went to Beiping City once and obtained a sum of money from the shops in the city to pay for the expenses here.

Howard continued inspecting the aircraft.

Fang Wen and Yue Jinping were preparing for navigation.

Two days later, Sun Debiao brought back good news.

The landing point was finally determined, on a road 60 kilometers outside the city.

Because it's not a main road, nobody travels there at night. As long as you have someone watching at both ends and put torches on both sides of the road, it will be the most suitable landing spot.

This is a good option. Fang Wen decided to conduct a test flight first to determine the route and target.

10 month 24 day.

The Rheinland NYP-2 was fully fueled, and the crew boarded the aircraft.

As night fell, the plane started up and roared into the sky.

Flying in the pitch-black sky was a huge challenge for Fang Wen.

Even with mechanical senses, it is still easy to lose one's way in the night sky.

After the plane took off, Yue Jinping used a lantern for illumination to begin positioning and navigation.

She needs to look at the guiding star in the sky, combine it with the magnetic compass in her hand, verify the direction, and then compare it with the flight path on the map.

If she judged that the flight path was off, she would speak up to remind Fang Wen to make corrections.

With this coordination, the plane flew northeast.

The others remained silent, anxiously awaiting the outcome.

The straight-line distance from Beiping to Shenyang is 620 kilometers. After a 3-hour flight, the plane should have been approaching Shenyang.

No, Fang Wen's intuition told him that there must be a problem with the flight path.

"Yue Jinping, recheck your position against Polaris. We may have flown to the wrong place."

"Flew the wrong way?!" Yue Jinping immediately became nervous and quickly began to recalculate.

After a while, she replied dejectedly, "It was a mistake. The flight path is too far west, why would that be?"

Her words made the rest of the crew nervous.

In this situation, Fang Wen, as the captain, cannot lose his composure.

He quickly thought of a solution.

Now we either admit defeat, turn back immediately, and try again next time.

However, this would still lead to the same problem, and the repeated flights would attract the attention of the Japanese army.

Another approach is to identify the cause of the flight path deviation and take temporary remedial measures.

He spoke up, "Could it be a problem with the compass? Manager Liu, is there anything in western Liaoning Province that could affect the magnetic field?"

"What is a magnetic field?" Manager Liu didn't understand.

“It’s a compass,” Fang Wen explained.

Manager Liu suddenly realized. "Oh, I remember now, there are several iron mines in western Liaoning. I heard that when prospectors go into the mountains, their compasses are inaccurate."

This is it.

The dense concentration of iron ore affected the magnetic field, causing Yue Jinping's compass to give incorrect directions.

After discovering the error, Fang Wen began to think about how to solve it.

He activated his mechanical senses, and the entire aircraft became like an extension of his body, transforming into a giant mechanical bird.

In this state, using Polaris for positioning provides a clearer sense of direction.

Shenyang is located in the northeast, so perhaps adjusting the aircraft position based on this can help find the correct course.

Fang Wen turned the control stick, and the aircraft changed direction in the air.

His actions were completely uninterrupted; everyone was eagerly awaiting his return.

About forty minutes later, Fang Wen slowed down the plane and circled at high altitude. "Manager Liu, Sun Debiao, look at that city below, isn't that Shenyang?"

The two looked out the window.

Below, the lights twinkled and intertwined.

"I can't see clearly. You can only see the lights at night," Sun Debiao shook his head.

"Wait, that completely dark area looks kind of familiar to me," Manager Liu pointed to a spot.

"Really? Let me see. This is it, right, it should be the Marshal's Mansion. The Young Marshal is currently staying in Beiping. Although the city has been occupied by the Japanese, they don't dare to rob his residence. That's why it's all dark. In the past, it would have been brightly lit."

With the Marshal's Mansion as a landmark, the two decided that Shenyang was the city.

Using Shenyang as the center, Fang Wen adjusted the flight direction and flew towards the southwest outside the city.

Ten minutes later, without Fang Wen reminding them, the crew members all saw it.

Below, two rows of torches burned, providing clear guidance.

Fang Wen controlled the plane to dive down from above, performing a simulated landing.

After the simulated landing, he felt confident about making a nighttime landing there.

The plane then climbed and turned back to Beiping.

After the plane landed safely at Nanyuan Airport, Fang Wen made a request to Manager Liu and Sun Debiao.

"Cut down the trees on both sides of the road. Without trees, the safety factor for landing at night will be higher."

"That's all? Nothing else?" Manager Liu asked.

"No, tell them to get everything ready quickly. Contact us to begin the operation once everything is in place," Fang Wen replied confidently. He had determined the flight path during this round trip. The next flight would be slightly eastward to avoid the magnetic field problem. As long as there were no obstructions on the ground when landing, landing would not be difficult.

The test flight is over, and the flight crew is ready.

The rest was up to Manager Liu and Sun Debiao to do.

They took turns going to Beiping, not only to contact people in Shenyang, but also to report to their bosses in Shanghai.

Everything was happening quietly in the dark.

No one knew that someone was secretly breaking down valuables into smaller, smaller units and transporting them out of Shenyang.

Meanwhile, a group of trusted associates from various businesses arrived at the landing area and cut down all the nearby maple forests and pine trees.

These actions may not attract the attention of the Japanese for the time being, but if they drag on, who knows what problems might arise.

10 month 26 day.

Sun Debiao returned in high spirits.

"Mr. Fang, a telegram has arrived from Shenyang, requesting that the operation begin tonight."

More than ten days have passed since I learned about this, and it's time to bring this operation to a successful conclusion.

Fang Wen tidied his clothes, ate dinner early, and waited on the plane.

Time passed slowly, and the sky gradually darkened.

The Rheinland NYP-2 took to the sky, flying along the coastline of the Bohai Bay. By the time it entered Liaoning Province, it was completely dark.

Under the cover of night, and flying at high altitude, the plane approached Shenyang quietly without alerting the people below.

Next, using Shenyang as a coordinate, the plane flew towards the landing point southwest of the city.

Two rows of torches burned below, indicating the direction; apart from that, nothing else could be seen.

Assuming the other side had already cut down all the trees on the ground, Fang Wen tried to remain calm, adjusted the control stick, reduced the speed, and circled to find a landing angle.

As the plane approached the torch-lit runway, it swooped down. Just before it was about to get close, Fang Wen lifted the control stick.

The nose of the plane lifted slightly, the fuselage sank, and then the plane shook violently as the landing gear touched down.

After taxiing forward for about 100 meters, the plane finally came to a stop on this northeastern road.

Sun Debiao jumped off the plane immediately and whistled.

The other side responded immediately, and then a large number of torches were lit and moved toward the plane.

(End of this chapter)