Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 357 Technical Upgrades to the 355 Aircraft Manufacturing Process; Night Transport Squadron Departs
A profit of five million dollars in the 30s was extraordinary.

Because of the introduction of the U.S. Gold Act, the value of the dollar is pegged to gold, and the exchange rate between the dollar and gold is fixed at $35 per ounce.

That's roughly one dollar per gram of gold, so five million dollars is equivalent to a little over five tons of gold.

Fang Wen, having spent a great deal of money on the war, urgently needed new sources of funding.

In addition, with this source of income, he felt more confident about his previous plans for the military industry and overseas talent recruitment.

Therefore, Fang Wen had to put aside other matters for the time being and focus on this.

He instructed the troops stationed in Fuping to continue construction, training, and building good relations with the locals, while also setting up observation posts in the area surrounding Fuping to prevent Japanese troops from infiltrating.

As for the matter of installing radio wave guidance devices on the gunboats in Wuhan, headquarters can only keep an eye on it and try to complete the modification and upgrade within a week.

As for the procurement of supplies in Fuping, there was no way to take care of it, so it was handled entirely by Manager Liu, Fang Shouxin, and Sun Debiao.

Fang Wen himself flew to Yangon first.

Furthermore, in order to facilitate the improvement of new aircraft production technology in Yangon, Fang Wen piloted the Xuanming long-haul seaplane, which was stored in the hangar at the Wuhan headquarters.

The Xuanming, with its exceptionally long single voyage, took off from Wuhan and flew directly over 2400 kilometers without any stopovers or transfers, arriving in Yangon in just over nine hours.

Large aircraft circled over the port of Yangon.

Huo Duanyang and Bai Zeshan directed staff at the port dock to guide the seaplanes away from the sea.

Once the seaplanes at the landing site had cleared, the Xuanming landed, taxied for a while, then turned and slowed down to approach the shore.

Then, the cabin door opened, and Gong Xiuneng and Kuang Anming got off the plane first.

Fang Wen then went ashore and talked with Huo Duanyang and Bai Zeshan, who were there to greet him.

"Long time no see, you've been working hard in Yangon. By the way, let me introduce you, this is Gong Xiuneng, my bodyguard."

Although he was called a guard, the fact that Fang Wen introduced him in this way showed how much he was valued.

The two shook hands with Gong Xiuneng, welcoming this new member to Fang Wen's inner circle.

Fang Wen then explained the purpose of his visit.

"The company has reached a deal with Pan Am to supply them with 100 Xuanming aircraft within two years."

"One hundred Xuanming aircraft! So many! Can we build them all?" Bai Zeshan, who manages the aircraft manufacturing plant, exclaimed in surprise.

Huo Duanyang couldn't help but ask, "Is 100 a lot? I remember that the aircraft manufacturing plant can produce several aircraft a month now."

Fang Wen looked at Bai Zeshan: "You know this best, explain it to him."

“It’s different,” Bai Zeshan explained. “The Shuiyun-1 civilian amphibious aircraft we used to produce had a complete production line, with each step having a division of labor. The production of the Xuanming, on the other hand, only involved a few engineers and technicians, and there was no complete production process. Moreover, the Xuanming is more complex, with more complicated manufacturing processes, and each aircraft requires more workers and more working hours than before.”

Bai Zeshan explained the problem, and Fang Wen then began the discussion.

"That's true, but through the production of the Shuiyun-1 model, we have established our own production process standards. As long as we make improvements according to these standards, our engineers and technicians can adapt to the new production process in a short time."

"General Manager, is it really possible to do this in a short time?" Bai Zeshan asked worriedly. As the manager of the aircraft manufacturing plant, he knew how difficult it was to improve the technology of the new aircraft production line.

“It has to be done. I’m here today to tackle the technical challenges,” Fang Wen replied.

The confidence he exuded inexplicably infected everyone present.

The group then returned to the Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.

At the Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, all the engineers and technicians who had participated in the manufacturing of the Xuanming aircraft were gathered together.

Fang Wen held a meeting with them to explain that this group of people would be the technical backbone to complete the popularization of the new production process.

These people were certainly willing, but they only participated in one part of the aircraft manufacturing process and had no experience in the overall direction or design.

Only Fang Wen could handle the task of developing new technologies and making technological upgrades.

Just like the original design of the Shuiyun-1 production process.

Fang Wen started over, following the same pattern as before.

(PBY seaplane design drawing; the internal structure of the Xuanming is similar, but military equipment has been removed.)
He took out the original design drafts stored in the aircraft manufacturing plant's archives.

Based on the data in the original design, and recalling the original manufacturing process.

His mental strength, far exceeding that of a normal person, allowed him to clearly recall his experiences during that time, as if the entire process were playing out in his mind like a movie replay.

As the production process is restored, Fang Wen is carrying out technological upgrades and modifications.

While maintaining the overall direction, the aircraft were divided into different manufacturing groups, and each manufacturing group adopted a modular production process.

Regardless of which part of the production process begins, it explains where to start, what the first step is, and how to proceed step by step.

In this way, the manufacturing team that takes over the production process of any one of the components can carry out the operation step by step according to the process flow.

It sounds simple, but the whole process is quite complicated.

Fang Wen spent two days and nights working on the process design drafts, each with a number. The entire production process of the Xuanming aircraft was completed by Fang Wen alone, entirely by hand.

After finishing the design draft, Fang Wen experienced his first intense fatigue since his power enhancement.

He got up and went out, instructing Gong Xiuneng: "Keep an eye on the things in the house, don't let anyone else touch them, I'm going to take a nap."

"Yes, Commander." Gong Xiuneng stood at attention, guarding the door of the design studio without moving.

An hour passed.

Bai Zeshan, Huo Duanyang, and Kuang Anming arrived one after another.

They learned from Gong Xiuneng that Fang Wen was resting, so they didn't disturb him.

Eight hours passed just like that, from dawn to 3 p.m., and Fang Wen had been sleeping the whole time, which made everyone feel a little strange.

They gathered again outside Fang Wen's room.

They questioned Gong Xiuneng, who was guarding the door of the next room.

"The general manager is still not awake?"

Gong Xiuneng shook his head, his face showing worry. "I've been here the whole time and haven't heard any noise from over there."

"The general manager is always healthy and energetic, why did he sleep for so long today?"

"Yes, he usually only sleeps for four hours at most before getting up. Is he sick today?"

As everyone discussed, a sense of worry arose. In recent years, Fang Wen had been the backbone of the entire business empire, and now he was the core of the Taishan Independent Regiment, making everyone feel dependent on him.

No one dared to imagine what would happen if Fang Wen fell ill.

But what if he just slept a little too long? They couldn't very well disturb Fang Wen's sleep. Caught in this dilemma, the group stayed in the courtyard, waiting.

An hour later, the door opened, and Fang Wen came out and stretched.

He looked at the group of people standing outside and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Several people were pleasantly surprised, but did not reveal their previous worries.

Kuang Anming quickly said, "We came to see if you're awake."

"He's awake." Fang Wen turned around, took out a thermos, poured water into a basin, wet a towel, and washed his face. Then he said, "Call a meeting; the new process flow has been developed."

"Okay, I'll go right away." Bai Zeshan left happily.

After a brief call to action, all the engineers and technicians who had participated in the manufacturing of the Xuanming aircraft were assembled.

In the employee activity room of the aircraft manufacturing plant, Fang Wen chaired a meeting while holding a stack of documents.

He reassigned the engineers and technicians who were originally involved in each production step to the same positions as before.

Then the production process data for different components are distributed.

These documents are very similar to the production process documents for the Shuiyun-1 aircraft, and everyone can easily understand them.

Then came the Q&A session, where Fang Wen answered questions for each manufacturing team, helping them understand the problems they didn't grasp in their respective process steps.

And so, it took another day for Fang Wen to help this group of people understand the new process from a theoretical perspective.

Next, they were tasked with independently manufacturing the first Xuanming-type long-haul seaplane.

Once they can produce a new model of aircraft, the model will be replicable, and these people will become teachers to other engineers and technicians, passing on the entire model to others, thus completing the transition from the production of Shuiyun-1 to the production of Xuanming-1.

With that, Fang Wen's business in Yangon was considered complete.

Before leaving, Fang Wen spoke with Bai Zeshan and Huo Duanyang.

"You two have done great things in Yangon, laying the foundation for Taishan Aviation's industry. In the future, Taishan Aviation will go even further in the industrial field, especially in the military industry. I hope you two can continue to lead more people to make Taishan's military industry bigger and stronger. In this way, the troops on the front line will have better weapons and equipment, better tanks, planes and artillery."

Both were interested and expressed their opinions.

Huo Duanyang replied sincerely, "I left Fuyang for these reasons, but unfortunately, the Jinling Arsenal was not the place I envisioned. Fortunately, the general manager gave me this opportunity, allowing me to pursue my passion from Xiangxi Airport to Yangon. I will definitely continue to do my job well and contribute to the domestic resistance against Japan."

Bai Zeshan also spoke up: "I was originally just a technology enthusiast, obsessed with vacuum tube technology. I studied in Europe for a year but only achieved a fraction of what I needed. When I returned to China, I did want to make a difference in vacuum tube technology. But later, the general manager arranged for me to come to Yangon to manage the aircraft manufacturing plant. I realized that hobbies don't represent everything. I am very satisfied with my current work situation. I am able to lead hundreds of workers to produce so many aircraft, giving China its own aircraft industry. In the future, we will do even better. Therefore, I, Bai Zeshan, am willing to continue to stay in Yangon."

Both men were patriotic and concerned about the plight of their compatriots in China, so they chose to support the war effort in their own way.

Fang Wen hugged and patted each of them on the shoulder before saying goodbye and boarding the plane.

After being stranded in Yangon for four days, Fang Wen returned to Wuhan.

Four days later, the waveguide equipment has been installed, and all 20 seaplanes have been equipped with it.

Subsequently, Fang Wen first piloted the Water Tiger No. 4 gunboat back to Fuping and installed the radio wave-guided ground signal source equipment he brought back at the sea airport.

After doing all this, Fang Wen piloted the plane back to Wuhan.

Then, manpower was organized to transport the supplies onto the 20 seaplanes.

This time, thanks to ample transport capacity, various supplies were brought along.

Winter supplies include cotton quilts, cotton-padded clothes, military blankets, winter military shoes, and cotton socks.

There are also more military compressed rations.

And some military supplies: canteens, belts, bullets, and shells.

Because of the large number and variety of items, the 20 seaplanes, with a total carrying capacity of 30 tons, were fully loaded.

After all the seaplanes were loaded with supplies, the pilots stood by at the seaplane airfield.

It was 2 a.m.

Fang Wen gave the order for the pilots to board the plane and prepare for takeoff.

Immediately afterwards, 19 seaplane pilots boarded the aircraft.

Fang Wen and Pan Jiafeng then boarded the lead seaplane.

Inside the plane, Fang Wen said, "You fly, I'll watch from the side."

Pan Jiafeng was a little nervous: "Master, I have no experience in night flying, and I'm even more afraid of making mistakes while navigating."

"It's alright, there's a first time for everything, I'm here to look after you."

With his master's words, Pan Jiafeng said nothing more, sat in the pilot's seat, and started the plane first.

Fang Wen then picked up the central communication device installed on the lead aircraft and communicated with other aircraft.

"Attention all aircraft, the navigator has taken off and will take off in batches as planned, entering follow mode."

After he finished speaking, Pan Jiafeng had already piloted the plane into the air.

After reaching an altitude of over 3000 meters, Pan Jiafeng turned on the navigation taillights.

Four taillights illuminated the aircraft, flashing continuously on the left and right wings and directly behind it, guiding other pilots.

The seaplane that then took off followed the lead aircraft, maintaining a constant speed and distance.

Their taillights also lit up, guiding the seaplanes behind them.

Thus, the 20 seaplanes formed a V-formation resembling wild geese and flew northward.

Along the way, Fang Wen activated his mechanical senses to observe the entire flight transport fleet. If he found any aircraft with a parking position problem, he would immediately correct it with his voice.

"Attention, Number 17, your altitude should be 3300 meters so as not to affect the flight of your companions on the left and right. Check your altimeter and descend immediately."

"Aircraft No. 6, maintain a speed of 260. Your speed is too slow and you will fall behind. Speed ​​up immediately."

"Everyone must remember one thing: when flying at night, you can no longer rely on your eyes as you would during the day. Everyone has their own position, and there are strict requirements regarding the flight altitude and speed. If you fail to do so, you will deviate from the flight formation, which will affect the entire formation."

With his constant reminders and encouragement, the seaplane pilots began to adapt to this nighttime flying method.

Pan Jiafeng, the pilot of the lead plane, finally understood.

"Master, I understand. The navigator must remember the position of each friendly aircraft, maintain communication, and stay informed."

Fang Wen said with relief, "That's right. You are in charge of the entire night flight, and the entire flight team will change according to your decisions. Although all the seaplanes are equipped with radio wave guidance devices, the equipment of other aircraft is actually only a backup in case an individual gets lost and the flight path is corrected. Under normal night flight conditions, you only need to confirm whether the flight path is correct, and the other aircraft will follow you to the destination."

Pan Jiafeng nodded seriously and said nothing more. Instead, he took on the responsibility of a navigator, ensuring that the course would not deviate from the direction of Fuping and that the flight would arrive at the destination safely.

(End of this chapter)