Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 406, page 404: DC-3 imitation, the first domestically produced large passenger aircraft, the Battle of Taierzhuang.
For three consecutive days, Fang Wen stayed in his room studying the production technology of DC-3.

On the Spanish front, he had come into contact with the DC-3 that the Soviet Union had purchased from the United States and analyzed it using mechanical perception.

Now that the production technology data is available, Fang Wen has gained a comprehensive understanding of DC-3 through the combination of the two.

On the third day, he began to consider whether his aircraft manufacturing plant could produce the DC-3 under the existing conditions.

The answer is yes.

There are also problems.

The main improvement lies in the technology.

Comparatively speaking, this type of large aircraft has more stringent requirements for overall manufacturing processes.

Fang Wen decided to test-produce a DC-3 replica. If successful, the entire process could be refined and digitized, and subsequent production could be achieved simply through systematic training.

Therefore, he made some modifications to the original DC-3 design drawings, mainly focusing on transportation capacity.

The original internal civil aircraft structure was completely removed and converted into a transport cabin with a rear-opening door. Large quantities of supplies can be transported in through the sloping panel by simply opening the rear door.

In addition, the bottom compartment structure has been changed to add a bomb bay and bombing equipment, allowing it to transform into both transport and bomber modes.

We'll leave the rest unchanged for now and see how it goes once the finished product is released.

After doing all this, Fang Wen left the room.

The door opened from the inside, and Fang Wen came out. Three days without sleep had made him a little sleepy.

I couldn't help but stretch.

"Commander, would you like something to eat?" Gong Xiuneng asked.

Fang Wen glanced at his watch; it was 10 a.m.

"No need. I'm going to take a nap. Go find Lin Yifei and tell him there's a meeting this afternoon."

"Yes." Gong Xiuneng left.

Fang Wen returned to his residence, took off his clothes, and fell asleep immediately.

I slept for four hours and didn't wake up until 4 p.m.

"Did you oversleep this time?" Fang Wen sat up and asked outside, "Gong Xiuneng, have all the people from the airport gone to the conference room?"

“I’m off, Commander. I saw you were sleeping soundly, so I told them to wait.”

"Oh."

Fang Wen quickly got up, washed up, and then hastily ate the breakfast buns and dumplings that Gong Xiuneng had placed on the table to fill his stomach before putting on his coat and heading to the airport conference room.

All the engineers from the aircraft factory were there.

Fang Wen walked directly to the stage and said, "I apologize for keeping you all waiting. Today's meeting is about the large aircraft trial production project of Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant."

The young engineers below were immediately overjoyed.

They have already produced the Shuiyun-1 and Shuiyun-2, civilian and military seaplanes, and have developed the Xuanming-type long-range seaplane.

But it never started on the ground-based aircraft.

Every engineer has a dream: to build Taishan's own land-based aircraft.

Of course, this dream doesn't refer to small aircraft, but rather to large, challenging aircraft.

The general manager's words have now stirred them up.

Fang Wen raised his hand to signal for quiet, then continued, "As usual, this time we'll select a group of engineering teams to participate in the project, which will begin tomorrow. Lin Yifei, you'll be in charge of selecting the team."

That's really fast; they act on their promises immediately. The project was approved today, and it started tomorrow.

Immediately, Lin Yifei went up on stage and addressed the enthusiastic engineers, saying loudly, "Everyone, don't rush. We need to have a procedure. We'll select the engineers based on the daily project efficiency statistics. This can't be faked; everyone knows who the best engineers are."

While Lin Yifei was busy, Fang Wen walked out of the conference room, wanting to give this young factory director his trust.

Gong Xiuneng, who was waiting outside, said, "Commander, you only eat two steamed buns a day. I'll go to the canteen and ask them to cook some side dishes."

Fang Wenye did feel hungry, and nodded, saying, "You haven't eaten either, have you? Let's go eat together."

The two arrived at the aircraft factory canteen, and Gong Xiuneng called out, "Master Liu, prepare a few of your signature dishes."

A chubby chef walked out of the cafeteria kitchen, grinning, and said, "Alright, I'll show the general manager my skills today."

After a flurry of activity, Chef Liu prepared the first hot dish: stir-fried green peppers with pork.

Feeling hungry, Fang Wen scooped out a large bowl of rice and started eating it with the dish.

Seeing that the general manager liked his dishes, Chef Liu couldn't stop smiling and hurried back to continue cooking.

As he served the third dish, a group of people entered the cafeteria.

They were gunboat and aircraft training personnel sent by the Spanish Republican Army.

They trained at the seaplane training center of the aircraft manufacturing plant, where Kuang Anming learned to fly gunboats.

These people had obviously finished their training for the day and were here to eat in the cafeteria.

They greeted Fang Wen politely, then shouted loudly in broken Chinese, "Time to eat! Let's eat!"

Fang Wen said to Chef Liu, "You can go about your business. I'm already full."

Immediately afterwards, Chef Liu and the canteen staff brought out plates of prepared dishes from the kitchen and served them to the Spaniards.

These are all Eastern-style stir-fries, which emphasize color, aroma, and flavor, but very little spicy chili and Sichuan peppercorn is used.

It's clear that these Spaniards really enjoy Chinese cuisine.

At that moment, Isabella Laurence, dressed in a pilot's training uniform, walked over.

She was wearing the pilot training uniform issued by the training center, and the hat on her head was still on.

Upon seeing Fang Wen, he took the initiative to walk over and greet him with a smile.

"Fang, I've finally found you! I've been looking for you these past few days, but everyone said they didn't know where you were."

Fang Wen was a little embarrassed. Although this was his territory, people from Taishan Airlines often came over. If something happened and it got back to his wife, it wouldn't be good.

He put down his bowl, smiled, and asked, "Have you eaten?"

“Not yet, can I eat with you?” Isabella asked.

Unexpectedly, his polite remark was met with such a response, so Fang Wen could only say, "I've already eaten all these dishes. How about I ask the chef to make them again?"

"No need." Isabella got up, took a bowl, filled it with rice, turned around and sat down, skillfully picking up her chopsticks to eat the dishes on the table.

Fang Wen could only continue to deal with this.

How was the training?

While eating, Isabella spoke to him in English: "It's alright. We've started lighthouse circling training, and it's not too difficult."

Fang Wen offered some suggestions, which greatly inspired Isabella.

She put down her bowl and gestured on the table with her chopsticks, looking like she was humbly seeking advice.

Before I knew it, I was sitting down next to Fang Wen.

Gong Xiuneng, who was watching from the side, wanted to give a reminder, but the fat chef poked him in the waist with the handle of a rice spoon.

"Don't go, are you stupid?"

Gong Xiuneng stopped, but he was anxious.

Just then, Fang Wen stood up: "That's all for today. We can discuss how to control the firing angle during orbital flight next time."

Isabella stood up, shook hands with Fang Wen, and left with a smile.

The chubby chef whispered to Gong Xiuneng, "The general manager can't escape his womanizing ways. She's a scheming woman who'll keep bothering you."

Gong Xiuneng sighed, "I wish I had a girl like that who would like me."

The chance encounter with Isabella was merely a minor embellishment in Fang Wen's life; his mind didn't linger on it. He was determined to lead his engineers to conquer another mountain.

The next day, 20 engineers and their engineering teams gathered in the largest work shed at the aircraft manufacturing plant.

There, Fang Wen took out the design drawings and discussed them carefully with the engineers.

The first step is to create an airplane model, which will serve as a reference and constantly remind the engineers in the manufacturing process.

With the collaboration of so many people, the model parts were quickly completed and assembled into the shape of DC-3.

Combining the model and design drawings, Fang Wen used a large sheet of paper to outline the keel of the airplane.

The keel is the main frame that supports and connects other components of an aircraft.

Specifically, the keel beam is a major longitudinal component of the fuselage, consisting of two compressed chords, an upper and a lower one, and a shear-bearing web structure with reinforcing ribs.

The process of constructing the keel (frame) is similar to digging the foundation before building a house.

And it is very important.

If the keel is faulty, the structural stress of the entire aircraft will also be seriously affected.

Immediately, 20 engineering teams began to work together to assemble the keel.

The best aluminum alloy materials are used to assemble the keel structure of an aircraft through complex welding, riveting, or bolting techniques.

Each section of the keel undergoes rigorous testing upon completion, and even a deviation of one millimeter is investigated to identify the problem.

In this regard, Fang Wen's X-ray vision came in handy. Those very small problems, or those hidden in the seams that were difficult to detect, could be discovered through X-ray vision.

Therefore, the keel production went very smoothly this time.

Once the keel is completed, the wings, fuselage, landing gear, and other structures will be built based on this centerline.

That was a very complex process.

In other aircraft manufacturing plants, a large number of drawings and calculations are required, and the process is often done one component at a time.

Fang Wen did not do that. Instead, he divided the entire cabin into ten sections, which were then built by ten engineering teams.

The other ten engineering teams were responsible for building the wings.

This arrangement actually made the process smoother.

Every day, sparks fly from the welding torches as everyone busies themselves at their respective posts.

From a single keel to the cabin frame, and then to the straight wing frame, the aircraft's structure is assembled bit by bit.

After the internal framework is in place, there is no rush to install the outer skin. Instead, the internal structure is installed and equipment and piping are reserved.

Components such as electrical wires, oil pipes, mechanical linkages, and airflow channels all need to be pre-installed.

Even with overtime work to expedite the trial production, the large aircraft project is still a complex process.

Not to mention that it was the first one, and it required accumulating various manufacturing experiences.

Fang Wen was the one who organized and summarized the entire manufacturing experience.

As the person in charge of setting the production process standards for all aircraft models at Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, he is irreplaceable in doing this task.

Just like before, each process step was modularly numbered, with strict requirements on where to start, how to proceed, and what the final finishing part number should be.

This standardization of operations will have an amazing impact on the production of large aircraft in the future.

Time just passed by little by little.

Before we knew it, it was already April.

The aircraft has been completed, and the standardized production process documents for each part have also been finalized.

The remaining finishing touches mainly involve the skin, electronic equipment, piping and wiring, and engine installation.

It is estimated that the first domestically produced large passenger aircraft will be completed in half a day.

At that time, Fang Wen was going to conduct a test flight of this first-generation domestically produced large aircraft.

Meanwhile, all the supplies on the Japanese cargo ship anchored in the open sea had been unloaded.

The worthless cargo ship was steered into the depths of the Indian Ocean by soldiers of the Independent Regiment and sank with explosives.

Thus, this cargo ship, carrying Japan's dream of large transport aircraft, disappeared from the face of the earth.

Without the technology of DC-3, it would be difficult for them to conduct research and development on large aircraft.

Even so, the Japanese army's offensive in China remained very strong.

4 month 2 day.

Aircraft manufacturing plant hangar.

Gong Xiuneng walked over quickly, holding a document in his hand.

"Commander, here's a summary of intelligence sent from the homeland."

Fang Wen stopped what he was doing and opened this issue's intelligence summary.

The first intelligence report was compiled by the Fuping team.

The Japanese army advanced into southern Shanxi, and the Tongpu Railway was completely lost. All vehicles of the Taishan Mobile Force were destroyed, and the troops withdrew from southern Shanxi, returning to Wuhan by seaplane along the Yellow River.

The Japanese army launched an encirclement and suppression campaign against the Taihang Mountains in eastern Shanxi. Our troops, through aerial reconnaissance, air-to-ground warfare, and other tactical means, cooperated with the Eighth Route Army to repel the Japanese army. Currently, the Japanese army is still regrouping in Quyang, preparing for the next offensive.

Looking at this intelligence report, Fang Wen pondered.

Mobile forces ultimately cannot play a significant role without an information gap.

Fortunately, the members of the mobile force have already withdrawn. Tanks and armored vehicles can be found, but skilled mobile combat personnel are difficult to train again.

As for the Japanese army's encirclement and suppression of the Taihang Mountains, it was impossible to succeed after the establishment of the Fuping base.

In the vast mountains, they maintained contact with each other through the Taishan walkie-talkie. Coupled with the mountain warfare capabilities of gunboats and aircraft, and the fact that the Japanese infantry had no armored units to help them, they had nothing to worry about.

He looked at the second intelligence report.

This was sent from the Shanghai intelligence station.

The intelligence station remaining in Shanghai is now operational, regularly reporting the intelligence it has gathered.

The Japanese army advanced into southern Shandong and engaged in fierce fighting with the Nationalist army in the Taierzhuang area.

finally come!

Fang Wen opened the map.

Taierzhuang was the National Army's last strategic gamble along the coast.

The Japanese forces in North China and Central China, attacking simultaneously from both sides, will converge in Xuzhou.

Taierzhuang, located northeast of Xuzhou, was an important position for blocking the Japanese army from the north.

Taierzhuang is located next to Weishan Lake and is situated on a plain, making it convenient for both water and land transportation and guarding the gateway to Xuzhou.

If the Japanese army captures Taierzhuang, it can either advance south to take Zhaodun and then march on Xuzhou, or return to support other Japanese troops and cut off the Kuomintang army's rear.

Fang Wen recalled that the Battle of Taierzhuang was ultimately won, but the losses were also heavy.

But now, he feels it is necessary for him to participate in this battle, since his actions have already affected spacetime.

If he didn't participate, and the Battle of Taierzhuang unexpectedly failed, the course of the entire war would become unpredictable for Fang Wen.

This must not be allowed to happen.

Fang Wen decided to pilot the newly manufactured DC-3 replica aircraft to Taierzhuang to assist in the battle.

But before that, bombing equipment and various military equipment need to be installed.

(End of this chapter)