Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 591 The Soviet Air Force Command in Lanzhou, Recruitment of the Training Corps, and Ivan's Reunion

The Soviet telegram approved Fang Wen's request to serve as a military observer.

Fang Wen was overjoyed.

To develop modern military technology, he couldn't just rely on memory and work in isolation. He needed to learn about the military technology and strategies of other countries at the same time and learn from their strengths to make up for his weaknesses.

As a military superpower of the era, the Soviet Union is precisely what Fang Wen can learn from.

The telegram also contained binding requirements.

Only one or two military observers are permitted to travel to the border area where the conflict is taking place, but they may travel there in high-speed fighter jets representing Taishan's military technology.

Now that the opportunity was ripe, Fang Wen immediately began preparations.

First, he temporarily delegated various work authority of the base to the departments, requiring them to complete the corresponding production and construction targets within the month.

After arranging the work, Fang Wen went to the No. 2 Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.

Factory No. 2 is the core area of ​​the northern Myanmar base and the most technologically advanced area of ​​Taishan Military Industry.

It houses prototypes of high-end fighter jets such as the Taishan-1 long-range strategic bomber, the Hengshan-1 bomber, and the Taishan-1 high-speed fighter.

Most of them are not yet finalized and mass-produced. Only the Taishan first-generation high-speed aircraft has been provided to Yan'an with three interceptor aircraft, which will gradually replace the original Il-16 fighters and become the main fighter.

Fang Wen was heading to Nomonhan this time in his own vehicle, the 'Qinyuan', which was also the first generation of high-speed fighter jets from the Taishan.

The Chinwon fighter jet, equipped with an air-to-ground rocket launcher, is the perfect pretext for military technology exchange.

Pre-departure inspections are essential.

Because long-haul flights are required, jettisonable auxiliary fuel tanks must also be installed.

There's also the issue of ammunition delivery that needs to be addressed. We can't just carry one combat load of air-to-ground rockets; otherwise, if we go into battle there, we won't have any ammunition to replenish.

Where can spare ammunition be stored on the aircraft?

Fang Wen led the engineering team to cut open the sealed rear cockpit cover and use that space as a temporary ammunition compartment, which could hold 40 7-kilogram air-to-ground rockets and two loads of 20mm cannon shells.

After completing these preparations, Fang Wen was ready to set off.

However, he was stopped again by his bodyguard, Gong Xiuneng.

This wasn't the first time Gong Xiuneng had tried to dissuade Fang Wen from going, as going to the Soviet border was unfamiliar territory and extremely dangerous.

"Commander, it's too dangerous for you to go alone. I don't agree."

“This is a rare opportunity. If we don’t go this time, we’ll cut off the path to military-technical cooperation with the Soviet Union,” Fang Wen replied.

“I don’t understand military technology cooperation. You are the pillar of Taishan. If something happens to you over there, what will happen to the company, the base, your two children, and your family?”

Gong Xiuneng rarely showed such a resolute attitude.

Fang Wen understood that this was not only Gong Xiuneng's concern, but also the thoughts of others, who were simply using Gong Xiuneng's words to express their worries.

He replied, "I will be very careful and put safety first, and make sure I come back safely."

"No, unless you take me with you. I just checked, and there's still some space in the rear cockpit after the ammunition is loaded. I'll stay in there and go with you," Gong Xiuneng insisted.

"you"

There is indeed some space in the rear compartment, which is reserved for moving around to retrieve ammunition. You can't sit there; you can only lie down or crouch on the rocket.

Participating in flight in that way is no pleasant experience.

However, if they don't agree to let Gong Xiu go with them, they probably won't be able to reassure the management personnel at the base and headquarters.

Fang Wen agreed anyway.

Immediately, Gong Xiuneng, with a big smile on his face, climbed the boarding stairs onto the plane and crawled into the rear cabin.

Fang Wen also stepped onto the boarding stairs and looked at the situation in the rear cabin.

Gong Xiuneng was lying down, supported by an air-to-ground rocket.

"Commander, this is comfortable too. You fly the plane, and I lie down and sleep," he said with a grin.

“Although the ammunition is secured with a steel frame, you don’t have one. Sometimes it shakes violently during flight, and you’ll bump into things and get hurt if you hit the sharp edges of the steel frame. That won’t do.”

Immediately, Fang Wen came down and asked Lin Yifei, the director of Factory No. 2, to find a thin cotton quilt and place it on the ammunition rack so that Gong Xiu could lie on it without getting hurt.

After completing these steps, Fang Wen entered the cockpit, started the engine, and controlled the aircraft to slowly drive out of the hangar.

Outside the hangar, along the runway, the engineers and technicians from Factory 2 came to see the plane off, watching it accelerate down the runway and take off into the sky.

The Qinyuan fighter jet, like a steel behemoth breaking free from its restraints, roared into the sky.

Fang Wen gripped the control lever, his gaze sweeping across the instrument panel—the altitude gauge steadily climbed, and the fuel level was normal.

Through mechanical sensing, we also gained an understanding of the overall condition of the aircraft, and no problems were found.

He adjusted the plane's course and flew back to China.

The place we're going to is the Nomonhan Grassland, located at the border of Mongolia's Eastern Province and Inner Mongolia's Hulunbuir, where there is a river called the Khalkhin River.

This area is not a "clearly defined border" in the traditional sense, but rather a "fuzzy zone" that has not been thoroughly demarcated by China, Russia (Soviet Union), and Mongolia (1921) since the late Qing Dynasty.

But before going there, Fang Wen had to go to another place first.

It was the Soviet Air Force Command in Lanzhou.

Only with the escort of Soviet Air Force fighter jets could one safely enter the Soviet-Japanese war zone.

Therefore, Fang Wen's flight route took the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan route, flying directly to Lanzhou.

The flight distance is 1500 kilometers and the flight time is 2 hours and 40 minutes.

The Qinyuan fighter jet flew at high speed in a northwest direction.

In the rear cabin, Gong Xiuneng's face was a little pale. Even a martial artist would feel uncomfortable under such turbulence.

The high-speed flight of the plane caused it to vibrate and shake, making his body slide uncontrollably from side to side.

Even with a thin quilt lying beneath him, his back still bumped against the steel frame holding the ammunition from time to time.

Fang Wen observed this through his mechanical senses.

He couldn't help but shout, "Change your position, lie face down."

The sound came from the ventilation vents between the cockpits to the back. Gong Xiuneng rolled over, turned over, grabbed the ammunition rack with both hands, and lay down on the ammunition rack.

This is definitely more comfortable.

He couldn't help but complain, "Commander, do you know if there's any medicine that can make me a pilot? I fly with you every day, but I can't fly the plane. I'll be too embarrassed to tell others about it later."

"There's nothing I can do about it," Fang Wen said helplessly. Even in the future, he had never heard of anyone altering their physical abilities to learn to fly through drugs.

The flight path is now fixed at an altitude of 6000 meters. The radar detection device does not receive feedback from the aircraft. We only need to fly along this fixed path all the way to Lanzhou.

Fang Wen and Gong Xiuneng started chatting casually. "It doesn't matter if you can't fly. Once the invaders are driven away, you can switch to an administrative job and work in a company. You can also date my sixth sister while you're at it."

Gong Xiuneng, standing behind, blushed immediately: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

"You're going to listen to me, right? Then when you get married, bring your master over too. He raised you with great difficulty, so you should be there to see him off in his final days."

"That's what I thought, but ever since he had that sudden enlightenment in the sky on that plane, he's been traveling all over the place. It would have been fine before, but now that things are in chaos, I'm afraid something might happen to Master."

Gong Xiuneng couldn't help but worry about the old Taoist priest who had raised him.

But the land of China is so vast that finding an elderly person is really too difficult.

At this point, the plane had traveled halfway and entered the border area between Sichuan and Tibet.

To the west lies the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an altitude of 4000 to 5000 meters, and to the east lies the Hailuogou-Dadu River area, which Fang Wen once visited.

Below that is the Aba region.

Flying further ahead from here, you'll find vast stretches of wilderness inhabited by Tibetans.

The plane continued flying, passing over the snowy area of ​​Gannan, and then on to Lanzhou, Gansu.

As the plane approached Lanzhou, and flew over a mountain below, Fang Wen saw the outline of an ancient city.

As the plane flew over the mountains, Fang Wen saw the entire city of Lanzhou.

(Aerial view of Lanzhou during the Republic of China era)
Numerous buildings are densely packed on both banks of the Yellow River, and an iron bridge connects the two sides.

The main urban area is on the north bank, with a square-shaped city wall and well-preserved city walls.

Even from the sky, you can see the prosperity of this ancient city.

Where is the airport for landing?
Fang Wen controlled the plane to circle over Lanzhou, searching.

He discovered that Lanzhou actually has multiple airports, scattered around the city, some far away and some just outside the city.

The airport in the eastern suburbs is the largest, with many Il-16 aircraft parked there.

At the airport in the west of the city, several Il-15s and Il-16s were parked. Although there were few planes, many people were conducting drills.

Just then, the aircraft in the air were also spotted on the ground. Two planes took off from Chengdong Airport and flew towards the Qinyuan.

"Commander, it's two Il-16s!" Gong Xiuneng, clinging to the edge of the ammunition rack in the rear cockpit, peered out the window, his voice tinged with wariness. "They're heading this way. Could there be a misunderstanding?!"

Gong Xiuneng's vigilance was not unfounded; such contact was inherently dangerous before effective communication between the two parties.

Fang Wen calmly explained, "Don't panic, they're veering off course, and the guns in the nose of the plane aren't pointed at us."

Sure enough, the two Il-16s were staggered and flew side by side on either side of the Chinyuan.

Fang Wen also reduced his speed to maintain a relative speed with the two machines.

The Soviet pilot in the plane on the right waved and gestured: "Follow us to land."

Fang Wen responded with a gesture of agreement.

Immediately, the plane descended to a lower altitude and flew to the airport in the east of the city.

Fang Wen and another Il-16 followed.

After the first Il-16 fighter jet landed, Fang Wen also piloted the aircraft to a lower altitude and came to a steady stop on the airport runway.

He then maneuvered the plane into the parking area beside the runway, and airport ground staff brought over a boarding ladder, which was set up on the side of the aircraft.

Fang Wen and Gong Xiuneng from the rear cabin came down the boarding stairs. Not long after, three officers came over.

Of the three officers, one was a Nationalist Army officer and two were Soviet Air Force officers.

One of them was someone Fang Wen had met before: Ivan Petrovich Ivanov.

Fang Wen greeted him with a smile: "Ivan, long time no see."

He spoke in broken Russian, and Ivan smiled as he shook hands with Fang Wen: "I still remember the days we drank together. Back then, I said I hoped we would have the chance to fight together someday. I never thought it would actually come true."

"You're going too?" Fang Wen asked, feigning surprise.

“Yes, because I had experience in aerial combat with the Japanese army on many occasions, I was ordered to be transferred to the border war zone,” Ivan replied.

He then introduced Fang Wen to two other officers: one was a Soviet pilot who would be going with him to the border battlefield, and the other was an instructor from the Nationalist government's Air Force Fighter Training Corps.

The Nationalist Government Air Force Fighter Training Corps was an air force department established last year, specifically responsible for training fighter pilots in Lanzhou using Il-16s and sending them to the domestic battlefield.

He was very curious about Fang Wen and took the initiative to start a conversation with him.

"I heard that Mr. Fang is the general manager of Taishan Airlines. The seaplane routes in Lanzhou are very convenient and inexpensive, so it's a pity that they're being grounded. I also heard that you are very capable in combat aviation, and everyone calls you an ace pilot. With such excellent skills, it would be even better to train pilots than to fly planes in combat. I wonder if you would be willing to be an instructor in our training corps?"

Fang Wen looked at the other person in surprise. Clearly, this officer was unaware of the current situation of Taishan Airlines.

How could Fang Wen possibly teach at the Training Corps now?

He politely declined.

After the officer left, Fang Wen and Ivan had a pre-flight discussion.

"If possible, I would like to know more about the situation in Nomonhan from you."

"Of course, no problem. As a military observer, I have an obligation to inform you of some basic information. The area is mainly open grassland and sand dunes, with no geographical barriers such as mountains or dense forests. It is suitable for mechanized troops to deploy, but it also exposes the troops to enemy fire and makes them poorly concealed. The only place that can be defended is the Khalkhin River, but that river is seasonal and it is currently the high-water season. Our troops are currently deploying along the riverbank."

"I heard that the main force of the Japanese army was the Kwantung Army?"

"Yes, those guys, thinking they're so powerful, wanted to prove their strength with a big victory, so they turned their guns on us. I can't even understand this behavior. How dare they launch attacks on multiple fronts? Aren't they afraid that our Soviet Red Army will annihilate them?"

Ivan spoke with great pride, clearly believing that the Soviet Red Army was invincible.

Fang Wen replied, "Japan is now under the rule of militarism, and it is possible for them to launch any seemingly unreasonable act of war."

He wasn't wrong. It wouldn't be long before the Japanese occupied the island nations of Southeast Asia, and then they would bomb Pearl Harbor, dragging the Americans down with them.

Only a group of hot-headed, militaristic generals who only think about military achievements would offend so many enemies at once.

Of course, Fang Wen wouldn't explain this too clearly; the more rampant the Japanese were, the closer they were to their demise.

Ivan then recounted some basic information about the Nomonhan Incident.

In early May, a part of the 23rd Division of the puppet Manchukuo army attacked the Mongolian army but was repelled, and friction began.
In late May, 3000 Japanese troops from the 23rd Division launched a night attack on Mongolian positions, briefly surrounding a Mongolian cavalry brigade. However, Soviet tank reinforcements arrived, and the two sides formed a stalemate on the west bank of the Khalkhin Gol River.

The Japanese actions made Moscow realize that the scale of the conflict would continue to expand. In order to avoid the possibility of fighting on two fronts, the 1st Army Group was ordered to be transferred to the eastern front in June.

In the following period, both sides deployed troops while engaging in small-scale skirmishes, resulting in losses on both sides.

Now, a full-scale battle has begun, with hundreds of aircraft from both sides clashing in the air and large-scale mechanized ground forces launching counterattacks from the Khalkhin Gol River.

At this point, Ivan had finished explaining the situation in Nomonhan. Afterward, they would rest for three hours before forming a temporary flight formation and heading to the Nomonhan war zone.

(End of this chapter)