Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 208, Section 207: Temporary Abroad, Fang Wen's First Airplane Building

The submitted document, "On the 99 Ways to Die in China,"

At first, everyone thought it was just some kind of indignant and cynical statement.

But after people finished reading it, it caused a huge uproar.

The Japanese committed such atrocities in Northeast China!

It's not just Shenbao; several major newspapers in Shanghai are publishing similar commentary articles.

The radio broadcast also mentioned this matter.

Later, sympathetic people in the concession also shared their observations.

People gradually found out.

The real lives of people in Harbin, a city in Northeast China occupied by the Japanese.

Many people there had their land seized and their wealth plundered by the Japanese agricultural reclamation groups.

The area of ​​shantytowns is constantly increasing, and people live humbly.

But this was not the end. Japanese troops and puppet troops were arbitrarily arresting young men in the streets. They were taken to Zhongmabao, where they lost their freedom and their lives, becoming specimens to be played with at will.

People are outraged by the cruelty and ruthlessness of the Japanese.

People from all walks of life took to the streets, spontaneously displaying banners to condemn the Japanese people's atrocities.

They went to Zhabei and clashed with Japanese ronin.

This outcry grew increasingly intense, spreading from Shanghai to nearby areas, with everyone passionately discussing the atrocities committed by the Japanese in experimenting on living people.

The news spread.

People marched, people boycotted Japanese goods, and people demanded the recapture of Northeast China.

This wave even swept through the military.

However, the effect that Fang Wen wanted was not ultimately achieved.

Some people are scared.

He was afraid of the Japanese, and afraid that this wave would affect his status.

Newspapers that published such articles received official reprimands and were prohibited from publishing them again.

The marches were banned and driven away, and those who dared to resist were even arrested on charges of being communist sympathizers.

A few days later, the public media fell silent, and no one would publish related commentary or reports even if you paid them.

It was suppressed. Fang Wen had painstakingly planned to use this to incite the Chinese people's indignation against Japan, but it was completely banned due to the obstruction of the high-ranking officials of the Nationalist government.

Until one day, a strange man entered the headquarters of Taishan Airlines.

He requested to see Fang Wen.

After being checked by company security, he was taken to the general manager's office.

The man took out a letter and placed it on the table: "An old friend of yours asked me to deliver this letter to you. I know nothing else, nor do I want to know."

"Thank you."

After seeing the man off, Fang Wen opened the envelope and read its contents.

The letter was written by Yue Jinping. Fang Wen recognized the hidden mark in the text: when writing the character "方" (fang), the end must have forked.

"Fang Wen, the storm has started to blow. The higher-ups are already very unhappy that you funded this exposé of Japanese human experimentation. Fortunately, your shareholders are speaking up for you, but there's no guarantee it will be effective. Go abroad immediately and come back when things calm down."

After reading the letter, Fang Wen walked out of the office with a cold expression and looked at the street outside the company.

The man who delivered the letter earlier is now guarding the company entrance with a group of people.

Fang Shouxin came up from below and said in a low voice, "The people outside say he can't see anything today, but who knows if he can see anything tomorrow."

Kuang Mingzhu also came over and said, "Jin Ping also told me. You should leave. This matter is neither too big nor too small. The key is that you can't go in. If you go in, those vicious dogs that are eyeing Taishan Airlines will make their move."

Manager Liu also came upstairs to persuade him: "General Manager, go abroad. As long as you are here, Taishan Airlines will stay."

Under everyone's persuasion, Fang Wen sighed inwardly. Those people were still thinking about encircling and annihilating the Communist Party; it seemed that nothing else mattered.

This was Fang Wen's second attempt, and he failed again.

When an article is published for the first time, people may not understand the forward-thinking ideas, but they can still comprehend them.

The second exposure of Japanese atrocities was suppressed.

This made Fang Wen utterly disappointed with the Nationalist government.

He didn't want to see this filth anymore; his mind needed relaxation.

And the 1710 engine, along with five engineers, are still waiting for me.

Therefore, Fang Wen chose to go abroad.

Yangon,

The three-month construction period for the oil refinery has ended, and trial production is underway.

Huo Duanyang accompanied Fang Wen to inspect the first trial production start-up.

The workers started up the equipment.

This is the most advanced refining equipment currently available, so it can be said that Fang Wen's investment has not been a loss.

Huo Duanyang, who already had some understanding of this technology, explained it to Fang Wen:

"Crude oil first enters the pretreatment system, where it undergoes desalting and dehydration to remove impurities and water. The pretreated crude oil is then fed into a heating furnace to reach a certain temperature. Next, the heated crude oil enters the upper part of a vacuum distillation tower. Inside the tower, the crude oil undergoes fractionation under reduced pressure. Because the pressure inside the vacuum distillation tower is lower than atmospheric pressure, fractionation can be achieved at a lower temperature. As the temperature gradually increases, fractions with different boiling points are distilled off sequentially from the top of the tower. After condensation and cooling, the distilled fractions are collected in different storage tanks. Depending on the different uses and properties of the fractions, they can be further processed into products such as naphtha, diesel oil, and lubricating oil base oils."

"Oh," Fang Wen replied listlessly.

Huo Duanyang wanted to offer some advice, but he didn't know what to say. In his opinion, the general manager was not wrong; the world was the one at fault.

He sighed, deciding to say something after all.

"Factory manager, no oil is coming out!" the worker shouted. Huo Duanyang could only go and check with the American engineers first.

They studied it for a long time but couldn't find out what the problem was.

Fang Wen walked over and placed his hand on the equipment.

"Huo Duanyang, you just said that the pressure inside the reactor should be lower than atmospheric pressure, right?"

Huo Duanyang nodded: "Yes, a low-pressure state can lower the temperature required for oil cracking, which will reduce production costs."

"Then you should check the pressure gauge and try replacing it," Fang Wen suggested.

Huo Duanyang hesitated for a moment before doing as the general manager suggested.

After replacing the pressure gauge, the displayed value was indeed different. It turned out that the pressure measuring instrument was faulty, causing the pressure inside the equipment to be incorrect, which prevented it from operating normally.

Huo Duanyang was happy to organize his employees to start over. This time, the oil was successfully produced. Just as he was about to celebrate, he found that the general manager had already left.

Fang Wen left the refinery and went to the newly built aircraft repair and modification plant.

Construction had not started there, and the workers and five French aircraft engineers were quite idle. They got together and started playing mahjong.

Fang Wen leaned over to take a look and pointed out, "If you get a 90,000 tile, you'll get a 6 of a kind."

They were speaking Chinese, but the other party understood them. After the cards were played, the opponent played an 8 of bamboo.

"I won!" the foreigner exclaimed happily. It's likely that he learned all his Chinese from playing mahjong.

"If you win, get off the table, I'll take over." Fang Wen replaced the French engineer and sat down at the table.

Although he doesn't play mahjong much, he has incredibly good luck. He won with a straight flush on his first try.

The second hand was a self-drawn seven pairs.

The third hand was a pure suit.

In the fourth hand, they drew a hand with four winning hands.

Upon seeing this card, the French engineer watching the game kept winking at his companion.

If they win this hand, according to their rules, they'll have to pay two months' salary here.

Fang Wen picked up a card and rubbed his fingers on it. It looked like a six of circles, and he also won with a six of circles.

Fang Wen, who had deliberately shown everyone his hand, smiled and said, "I'm going to make a rule: playing mahjong during work hours is prohibited, and anyone who does will have their salary deducted. What do you guys think?"

The translator informed the five French engineers of the situation.

Only then did everyone realize that the man in front of them was the general manager of Taishan Airlines, and that they depended on him for their livelihood.

No one complained; everyone folded and stood still.

Fang Wendao said, "Everyone else can leave, but the engineers will stay."

After everyone had left, he spoke with the engineers.

"I want to design an airplane, but how do I build it?"

The engineers shook their heads. One of them, who understood English, explained in English: "Impossible. We have nothing. We need to buy even the most basic parts. Even if we had the blueprints, we couldn't build an airplane."

“Really? I still want to give it a try. How about starting with the simplest seaplane?” Fang Wen replied. Right now, he just wanted to put everything aside and become an aircraft engineer. He figured that with his mechanical perception, no one was more suitable to be an aircraft engineer than him.

Not to mention, his abilities improved during the battle in Harbin.

Even building the simplest seaplane requires understanding the entire aircraft structure and creating design drawings.

Recalling the seaplanes I've flown and my understanding of their structure.

In addition, there are some additions based on future memories.

Fang Wen drew on the blueprints, and it gradually took shape.

It's a seaplane, so of course it needs a buoyancy device.

There are two types of buoyancy devices.

Hull type:
The hull-mounted seaplane features a specially shaped fuselage designed for water taxiing, resembling the shape of a ship's hull, providing significant buoyancy and stability. This design allows the aircraft to take off and land directly on the water surface without the need for additional floats or landing gear.

pontoon type:
Float-type seaplanes have one or more floats mounted under the fuselage, separating the fuselage from the water surface to improve stability and safety during takeoff and landing. The floats are typically watertight and equipped with drainage systems to ensure no water leakage during extended stays on the water.

Fang Wen prefers the pontoon design to the bulky hull-style design.

The wings of an airplane.

It adopts a high-wing configuration to reduce the impact of water spray on the engine, propeller, and external weapons.

At the same time, the high lift generated by a high-wing monoplane makes the aircraft safer, even without considering speed advantages.

The next step is to design the internal structure of the seaplane's fuselage.

Because it is not a boat-shaped design, the aircraft has a long fuselage and only contains a cockpit, two rows of four-person passenger cabins, and a small cargo hold with a payload of 300 kilograms.

To improve the safety and survivability of the aircraft, Fang Wen designed a watertight compartment structure inside the fuselage.

This structure provides a second layer of buoyancy protection for the aircraft after the floats are damaged. When one compartment is damaged, the other compartments can still maintain watertightness and buoyancy, ensuring that the aircraft will not sink.

Next are the power system, fuel delivery pipelines, and propellers.

After the design drawings were completed, Fang Wen also discovered the difficulties in manufacturing an airplane.

In the era of piston engines, seaplanes needed to power at least two propellers to ensure sufficient power.

The 1710 engine is definitely not suitable for this kind of toy. The company's maintenance warehouse has spare engines from Boeing 247s, including 625-horsepower Wasp engines.

These engines were specifically designed for Lufthansa's upgraded Boeing 247 models. Through Neil's connections, Fang Wen also purchased some to replace the existing engines.

Since they are all the same engine, only the horsepower has been increased, there is no need to replace other parts.

Now, using a 625-horsepower Wasp engine requires matching it with appropriate fuel lines and propellers.

The oil pipeline is relatively easy to solve, but the propeller cannot be used casually. It needs to be made of materials that meet the standards of toughness and hardness. Therefore, the propeller must be purchased from a specialized propeller company.

The aircraft's outer shell needs to be lightweight yet sturdy, so aluminum alloy has to be used, which also needs to be purchased.

All things considered, the aircraft industry is an integrated industrial chain, and a very high-end one at that. If you're not in this industry, you might not even be able to buy those equipment.

Even if you can buy them, buying too few will be very expensive, with costs ridiculously high.

If you buy too many planes and can't sell them, you'll suffer a huge loss.

Fang Wen suddenly understood why the company of the French genius aircraft designer Émile de Vatina had not yet succeeded.

This is a highly competitive industry that heavily relies on technology and integration.

Fang Wen wasn't under much pressure; he just wanted to have some fun.

Without spare parts and equipment, he pieced it all together.

The 625-horsepower Wasp engine, paired with a Boeing 80 propeller, does not require a custom aluminum alloy shell; it is made from leftover aluminum alloy from the repair of a Boeing 247.

The seaplane was built purely for fun, and it was completed little by little without any pressure.

Aircraft floats, using sealed welded oil drums.

The wings and fuselage are the most expensive parts, requiring a sturdy internal frame in addition to the aluminum alloy shell.

This is essential for an aircraft to stay in place during flight in various environments.

Over time, the seaplane was finally built through the joint efforts of Fang Wen and five aircraft engineers.

Although this aircraft still uses an external tripod support mechanism, its overall performance has met Fang Wen's requirements.

Subsequently, the plane was transported to the sea, where Fang Wen piloted it for a test flight.

Unlike other test pilots, Fang Wen was able to gain a comprehensive understanding of the aircraft during each test flight through his own abilities.

Therefore, after each test flight, the aircraft's problems are precisely addressed and modified.

With each modification, the aircraft's performance is improved.

These modifications involve many aspects, such as the angle of the wings, the position of the propellers, and the modification of the supporting structure.

Because these modifications required fine-tuning of various parts, Fang Wen also mastered the technology of universal milling machines. He could make many parts of the aircraft using milling machines, provided there was a basic substrate available.

When the seaplane was officially completed, Fang Wen felt a sense of relief.

A successful work opens the heart.

Life is bound to have setbacks. With so much preparation, why be discouraged by a few minor setbacks?

After relaxing, although he could not return to China for the time being, he still kept abreast of the situation in China through telegrams and provided guidance.

At the same time, we are also learning about the progress of penicillin and radar.

Besides these, you can't be idle even when you're abroad.

The survivor segment in the story of Zhongmabao is based on real events.

While writing this part of the story, I saw a lot of disturbing images. Although I won't write those details down, they still had a significant emotional impact. Tomorrow I'll be going on a 3-day relaxing trip with my family. I'll be updating with one chapter every day; this is what I rushed out these past two days.

Dear readers, please forgive me.

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(End of this chapter)