Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 615 New Tactics and Arms Sales, Jet Engine Technology Exchange

The British are more interested in tactics than strategy.

After Fang Wen finished recounting the special airborne operations he commanded, Lieutenant General Hawkins said, "We are also considering the airborne operations concept you proposed. The German army also has two airborne units: the 7th Air Division and the 22nd Airborne Division, but it seems that they did not play a role in the war in Poland."

The reason can be guessed from this description.

He replied, "That's because the German armored forces advanced too quickly, and the Polish defenders along the way suffered repeated defeats. It is estimated that the original plan to carry out the airborne operation will not have a chance to be implemented. These paratroopers will probably be transported to the front line to cooperate with the tank units."

“Unlike the Germans, your combat methods are quite unique,” ​​an officer said. “Using slow-moving gunships like gunboats to conduct airborne operations and suppress enemy fire, the operation is sudden and difficult for the enemy to defend against. This method of combat, combined with frontline troops, can strike key military locations in the rear. If successful, the effect will be excellent.”

However, some people hold different views on this.

The Army operations staff officer sitting to the right of Lieutenant General Hawkins put down his pen, his tone clearly skeptical: "Mr. Fang's idea is indeed novel, but the risk of 'airborne gunboats' is too great. Gunboats are low-speed aircraft, and once they enter the enemy's air defense range, they become sitting ducks."

This is a very real problem.

Fang Wen replied, "Low-speed aircraft are the best carriers for airborne operations, but they lack flexibility. Even our gunship aircraft, with their added bulletproof steel plates, can only withstand 7.7mm machine gun rounds from the Japanese. If it's a 20mm cannon or anti-aircraft gun, or even 12.7mm machine gun bullets, the bulletproof steel plates are not as effective. Therefore, this tactic cannot be used for a direct assault, but rather to catch the enemy off guard."

He used the English idiom 'to attack when the enemy is unprepared' instead of 'to attack when the enemy is unprepared'.

The other party can understand.

Lieutenant General Hawkins nodded: "This is the same development as the battle you mentioned. By conducting airborne operations behind enemy lines, quickly annihilating or destroying targets, and then rapidly withdrawing, even the Germans wouldn't deploy a large number of anti-aircraft guns in the rear. You seized this opportunity. If someone else were commanding this battle, what advice would you give them?"

The officers all looked at Fang Wen, and they all understood that what Fang Wen was about to say was the exclusive secret.

Fang Wen smiled calmly: "My suggestion is to send out 'airborne guides' in advance to mark the landing point with radio and signal lights. The paratroopers should assemble within 10 minutes of landing and launch an attack on the target. This requires long-term training and good coordination between the aircraft and the paratroopers. As long as it's fast enough, the enemy simply won't be able to launch an effective counterattack."

"Really?" one officer asked, skeptical. "Your slow-moving fighters and paratroopers really managed to wipe out the Japanese camp in 40 minutes? I don't think it's possible to do that in such a short time."

“We did it.” Fang Wen retorted without hesitation: “The entire operation was rehearsed and had a strict time plan. As I just said, we completed the assembly in 10 minutes. In the following 20 minutes, they stormed the military camp and launched an attack on the Japanese troops inside. The enemy was in great disarray and we trapped them inside the barracks and annihilated them.”

"In other words, thorough military reconnaissance beforehand, combined with intelligence to conduct combat rehearsals, and then quickly resolving the battle based on the rehearsals."

Lieutenant General Hawkins understood Fang Wen's line of thinking.

This is the result of meticulous military operations. It seems simple, but it is not so easy to do what Fang Wen did.

The Royal Air Force liaison officer sitting next to the lieutenant general chimed in: "But Britain doesn't have 'gunship aircraft' like yours. Our existing low-speed fighters are either the old 'Swordfish' torpedo bombers, which don't have enough payload, or the 'Stirling' bombers, which are too big and prone to going out of control at low altitudes."

Another officer spoke up: "Could we modify the 'Dakota' C-47 transport aircraft? We can add two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns to both sides of the fuselage, reserve space for a 20 mm cannon in the cabin, and reinforce the landing gear to meet the needs of ultra-low-altitude flight and fire suppression."

"No, the C-47 is still too big to achieve the circling firing effect of the Taishan gunship."

"Then can we develop and produce our own gunship aircraft?"

Listening to the officers' conversation, Fang Wen intervened: "Our gunship aircraft are specifically designed for ground attack. You need to redesign the aircraft and wait until it is finalized before mass production. It will take a year and a half."

After a pause, Fang Wen glanced at the lieutenant general and continued, "Now that you are at war with Germany, your military factories are operating at full capacity and have no time to develop and mass-produce a new type of low-speed fighter jet. If you want to adopt your airborne operations, you can only purchase gunship aircraft from our Taishan Military Industry."

Fang Wen would not let go of any opportunity that could facilitate arms deals.

To further increase British interest in gunboats, Fang Wen added: "Gunboats are not a new thing in Europe. We have already provided a total of eighteen to the Spanish Republican government and the French Air Force, and they have all been very well received."

The officers discussed this in front of Fang Wen.

“He’s right. We need to use our production capacity to manufacture existing aircraft; we don’t have the resources to open up new production lines.”

"As far as I know, the French Air Force has a good opinion of gunship aircraft, and they have already established a new airborne force using them."

Someone asked Fang Wen about it.

"How much did the French pay for it?"

“Thirty-nine thousand US dollars,” Fang Wen replied.

Upon hearing the price, the air force officer was immediately surprised.

This price is neither high nor low.

In today's military aircraft market.

The German price quote for the Bf 109E is approximately US$58,000 without the engine and approximately US$85970 with the engine.

Britain sold its own Spitfire Mk I fighter jet to Estonia for $63000 per unit.

This is the price of a front-line fighter jet.

The lowest price is the American P-36, which costs $22000 per aircraft.

The Taishan gunship is priced in the mid-range.

The unique design and specialized tactical pairings are the selling points of the gunship aircraft, and it is also a blue ocean market that other countries' aircraft manufacturers have not yet entered.

Lieutenant General Hawkins replied, "The procurement of military aircraft is not something we can decide. Thank you for participating in today's discussion, which has brought us new military perspectives. I will compile these and report them to my superiors. If there are any procurement needs, I will contact you."

He then saw Fang Wen out, and the president of the aerodynamics company came to negotiate with Fang Wen.

The two sides need to discuss the joint development of a turbine engine. Two Royal Air Force officers are also involved.

The group entered the small conference room on the west side of the third floor of the Army Headquarters building.

The room was small, with an oval wooden table in the center, on which several documents were spread out.

After Fang Wen was seated, White spoke up: "Mr. Fang, I hope to have a very direct discussion so I can understand your technological accumulation in turbine engines. If your technology is complementary to ours, cooperation is perfectly fine."

Fang Wen nodded: "That's what I think too."

White then produced a document. "We have signed a contract with the Air Force to develop a new type of aero engine. The technology for this engine is based on the same patent as the gas turbine you purchased. Based on that technology, we are developing a new generation of turbine engine, the W.1. What about you?"

Fang Wen glanced at the documents in front of him, which contained only simple introductions. He closed the documents and replied, "We are also conducting the same research and development. The structure is similar to yours, with a centrifugal compressor, a counter-flow combustion chamber, and a water-cooled axial-flow turbine section. However, during the later stages of research and development, we found that the water-cooling system was not as effective as the air-cooling system in high-altitude environments. Therefore, we have made changes to the design and adopted an air-cooled structure."

"Why?" White asked in surprise.

“Air-cooled structures are relatively simple, requiring no complex water-cooling piping, and are also much lighter.” After a pause, Fang Wen offered a perspective from a pilot’s point of view: “In aerial combat, if the cooling system of a water-cooled engine is hit by enemy weapons, it is prone to coolant leakage, leading to engine overheating and damage, affecting the normal operation of the aircraft. Air-cooled engines, on the other hand, do not have the risk of coolant leakage. Even if some heat dissipation components are damaged, they can still continue to operate to a certain extent, making them more reliable.”

These words were very professional, which piqued White's interest in continuing the conversation.

“You’re right, air cooling is indeed the better direction, but we haven’t even solved the basic operational stability problem yet, so we simply don’t have the energy to promote the innovation of the cooling system.”

He reached into the files and pulled out a test report, then pushed it in front of Fang Wen.

“Look at these data. The problems with the W.1 are much more complicated than we anticipated. First, there’s the combustion chamber issue.” White’s voice betrayed his frustration. “The reverse-flow Lubbock combustion chamber we initially used had shockingly low combustion efficiency—the fuel and air mixture was extremely uneven, often resulting in localized overheating. The engine made a loud whistling sound like an alarm, and it would occasionally surge. Cutting off the throttle would even cause the engine speed to run out of control. During the last test, the speed suddenly spiked to 8000 rpm and didn’t stop until the fuel was exhausted, almost destroying the entire turbine. Later, we changed to a design with ten independent combustion chambers arranged radially. Although the combustion was more stable, the complex structure led to a sharp increase in maintenance difficulty, and after each test run, the combustion chamber walls were covered with carbon deposits, and the lifespan simply did not meet the Air Force’s requirements.”

The Air Force major sitting next to him added, "What's even more critical is the turbine components. The nickel-chromium alloy blades currently used simply can't withstand high temperatures and pressures for long. During a test run last month, the turbine speed reached 13000 rpm, and after half an hour, a serious malfunction occurred, with the blade edges being directly burned and deformed. We've tried improving the 'fir tree-shaped' root fixing structure of the blades, and even attempted forced cooling with a water cooling system, but the results were unsatisfactory—the water cooling network frequently leaked during high-speed rotation, which actually exacerbated the risk."

White picked up the thread, his tone growing increasingly somber: “This is essentially a materials bottleneck. Our metallurgical experts say that the best alloys currently available in Britain don't have the appropriate high-temperature limits, making them prone to problems at the turbine's combustion gas temperature ceiling. We need a new type of alloy to replace the current materials.”

He paused, pointing to the compressor markings on the blueprints: "There's also the issue of performance degradation in centrifugal compressors. We initially chose this design because it could provide a high compression ratio per stage, and the manufacturing process was relatively simple. However, actual testing revealed that its intake efficiency was far below expectations, especially at high altitudes and low speeds, where the compression ratio would drop drastically, directly causing a sharp drop in thrust. We tried optimizing the blade curvature and even increasing the number of compressor stages, but either it didn't solve the fundamental problem, or it would cause the engine weight to exceed the limit—the Air Force explicitly requires that the total weight of the engine be controlled within 500 kilograms, and we're almost at the red line now."

Listening to their words, Fang Wen suddenly realized that the aerodynamics company was going through the most difficult period of research and development.

Perhaps from the perspective of the aerodynamics company, this project has come to an end.

That's why they agreed to cooperate with Taishan Military Industry in order to save the project.

Historically, the aerodynamic company developed the W.1 model and installed it on an aircraft for test flights.

Therefore, this hurdle can be overcome even if Fang Wen doesn't intervene.

Fang Wen was secretly delighted; the opportunity was right in front of him, and he had to seize it.

He said, "That's perfect, we've encountered a similar problem, but we've solved some of it, for example, by changing the combustion efficiency through a new type of combustion chamber."

His words moved Carter and others, especially Carter himself, who wanted to invite Fang Wen directly to the company's research lab to inspect the problem on the spot, but was stopped by an Air Force officer.

Fang Wen smiled slightly: "It's getting late. I flew to Europe overnight and haven't rested yet. How about we talk again tomorrow?"

The meeting then ended, and Carter and Fang Wen agreed to meet at the Aerodynamics Company the next day to discuss the matter. Afterward, Carter had an officer take Fang Wen to rest.

The car drove to the Carlton Garden Hotel, which is only 300 meters away from the Prime Minister's residence.

This is a red brick building from the Victorian era, and the interior decoration still retains a classical style.

The group communicated at the front desk and were then led up to the third floor by hotel staff.

"See you tomorrow." The officer said goodbye and left.

After closing the door, Fang Wen immediately relaxed and sat on the sofa.

Gong Xiuneng looked outside through the peephole and then checked the situation inside the room.

Then he asked, "Commander, is that turbojet engine really better than our current aero engines?"

"If it succeeds, that would be great."

"How good is it, Commander? Tell me about it," Gong Xiuneng asked curiously, sitting next to Fang Wen.

There were many things that Fang Wen hadn't said to White during their conversation because of the need to keep them secret, but now he had the chance to talk about them.

"This engine can increase the speed of aircraft to 900 kilometers per hour, or even close to or exceed the speed of sound. Furthermore, we can also develop more efficient propulsion energy based on this extreme speed for high-speed rockets."

The speed of sound was a term that Gong Xiuneng did not understand.

Fang Wen explained to him that it was equivalent to flying at a speed of 1062 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 10,000 meters.

Upon hearing Fang Wen's explanation, Gong Xiuneng's face immediately turned pale.

"So fast, Commander! Who's going to drive?"

In his simple mind, he believed that a flight speed of over 500 kilometers per hour was already the limit; doubling that would be unacceptable.

(End of this chapter)