After hearing Fang Lang's words, John F. Kennedy understood that the other party was prepared to fulfill his promise to Lawrence Bell.
He didn't want to participate, so he took the initiative and said:
"I have something else to do, so I'll go back first. Fang, remember to come to my house and sit down when you have time. I'm very interested in your physiognomy!"
Fang Lang smiled when he heard this, stepped forward to shake hands with the other party again and said:
"No problem, but I may not have time recently. If you come to visit next time, you may already be Mr. Senator, and it will depend on whether you can spare time to see me."
John F. Kennedy held Fang Lang's right hand and laughed loudly:
"Don't worry! Fang, you are my friend. No matter when, I will see you as soon as possible!"
"It's a deal!"
The two big hands held each other tightly.
The three of them went downstairs talking and laughing together, and their respective guards and assistants had already begun preparations.
After John F. Kennedy left, Fang Lang got into Lawrence Bell's car and, escorted by the two guards and bodyguards, headed to a Bell Company showroom in the suburbs of Boston.
Bell Helicopter is headquartered in Texas, far from Boston. But Boston, as the headquarters of the Lawrence family, will of course prepare a suitable showroom for its company's products.
This time, their destination was this showroom located in the suburbs of Boston.
The two people were talking and laughing all the way. The more they talked, the more they speculated. It was only at this moment that Fang Lang realized that Lawrence Bell was not only the boss of Bell Helicopter Company, but also the founder of Bell Helicopter Company.
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He is also a powerful inventor and has presided over and participated in the research and development of many of the company's helicopter products.
"Fang, this is the Bell B47 helicopter developed by our company."
Lawrence Bell proudly pointed to a helicopter that looked like a piece of Lego toys and pointed towards Fang Langdao.
Fang Lang was stunned by the helicopter in front of him, because it looked too simple. The nose of the helicopter was a bubble-shaped cockpit, and behind the cockpit was the aircraft's engine. Behind the engine was something similar to a tower crane. Tail brace made of steel pipes.
The fixed skid landing gear already looks like a common helicopter landing gear in later generations. The rotor and tail rotor are both two-blade structures.
It was such a crude guy who could not be more crude. Fang Lang's eyes began to light up as he looked at it, because he found that he seemed to see this guy again in later generations, especially the bubble-shaped glass cockpit and steel pipe splicing. The same tail brace is really recognizable.
Many tourist attractions, helicopter pilot training schools, and even news and police agencies use this small dragonfly-like helicopter, which makes Fang Lang convinced that this is definitely a very successful helicopter product.
He nodded calmly and said:
"Mr. Bell, he seems to be a very nice little guy. I wonder if you can arrange a test flight so that I can learn more about his performance parameters."
When Lawrence Bell heard this, he waved his hand and said to a middle-aged man in his thirties behind him:
"Arrange a test flight!"
Then he turned to Fang Lang and said:
"Of course, no problem, I will explain it to you myself. Please come with me."
After saying that, he directly pulled Fang Lang towards the helicopter. Fang Lang didn't care and followed him directly into the cockpit of the helicopter. After entering the cockpit, Fang Lang found that this guy's field of vision was really good.
He couldn't help but let out a sigh of "Wow!"
The bubble-shaped cockpit has almost no blind spots. The three-seater design can carry two passengers in addition to the driver. This type of aircraft is really suitable for use as a reconnaissance aircraft.
Lawrence Bell heard Fang Lang's sigh and said proudly:
"How about Fang? Isn't this little guy of mine great?"
"That's right! Mr. Bell, his vision is really broad. I think we can try to use him for investigation tasks."
Fang Lang patted the glass cockpit like a fish tank and said with emotion.
Hearing Fang Lang's emotion, Lawrence Bell smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed to a slit, and he quickly said with some regret:
"That's right! The military thinks so too. Unfortunately, it lacks basic bulletproof performance. The enemy can destroy his aircraft with light weapons and kill people. Therefore, the military is not willing to risk the pilot's life."
Fang Lang nodded. Of course, Fang Lang could spot this drawback at a glance. There was no bulletproof glass, and the cockpit had almost no protective capabilities.
"This makes sense. After all, a helicopter is not cheap. If it is shot down easily, the loss will be considerable.
How is the controllability of your helicopter? "
Lawrence Bell heard this, grabbed the control stick of the plane, laughed and said:
"Don't worry! Our Bell 47 has a light body and is very flexible to control."
After the two of them studied in the cockpit for a while, they saw an exhibition hall employee coming over and saying to Lawrence Bell:
"Boss, are you ready for the test flight?"
Hearing this, the two people got off the cabin and, accompanied by a group of staff, came to an open space outside the exhibition hall. There was a Bell 47 painted in military green parked on the apron, and two ground staff were surrounding the aircraft. Do a final check.
The driver has entered the cab and is ready to operate.
This is Lawrence Bell pointing to the aircraft on the tarmac and saying:
"This is the Bell 47b helicopter we produced in response to military testing. The fuselage is 8.43 meters long, 2.92 meters high, and the rotor diameter is 10.69 meters.
Using a Lycoming vo-435 engine, the maximum flight speed can reach 160 kilometers per hour, the maximum range is 382 kilometers, and the maximum take-off weight can reach 1111 kilograms.
It obtained the airworthiness certificate from the U.S. Civil Aviation Administration on March 8 last year. "
This last sentence pulled Fang Lang, who was watching the helicopter rotor slowly turning with relish, back from the noisy engine roar. He looked at Lawrence Bell with some surprise and said:
"You already obtained the civil aviation airworthiness certificate last year?"
Seeing Fang Lang's surprised expression, Lawrence Bell said proudly:
"Of course, our Bell 47 is the first civilian helicopter in the United States and the first in the world to obtain an airworthiness certificate."
At this moment, Fang Lang was really shocked. It turns out that this aircraft has obtained the airworthiness certificate, which means that it can be mass-produced. The Peninsula War will break out in three years. I hope this guy will not show up. On the war zone.
In fact, Fang Lang's expectations were impossible to realize. Historically, Bell 47s were heavily used by the U.S. military during the Peninsular War. Fortunately, they were used as rescue helicopters. The dying wounded of the U.S. military were picked up by the U.S. military's internal codename h-13. Bell 47 helicopters are continuously sent from the front line to the field hospitals in the rear.
According to post-war statistics, the number of wounded US troops transported to the rear by Bell 47s was nearly 30,000.
This is a quite terrifying number, so after the war, this helicopter was purchased in large quantities by armies around the world. As of 2011, the Royal New Zealand Navy still had orders for 5 of this aircraft on its equipment list.
Fang Lang did not continue talking, but began to consider in his mind whether it was possible to introduce the production authorization for this aircraft from Bell Company. Since he knew it was an excellent helicopter, he couldn't give up.
As the propeller rotated faster and faster, the roar of the helicopter became louder and louder. Dust and grass clippings on the ground were blown everywhere. Everyone could not continue to speak, otherwise they would be filled with mouthfuls of sand. .
Slowly, the helicopter began to leave the ground and slowly rose into the sky. Fang Lang stood there with a calm gaze and did not feel anything unusual.
But the guards who came with Fang Lang were stunned. They were not uncommon, they were people who had never seen the world. They often followed Fang Lang around the world, and they were already sick on the plane.
But this was the first time they had seen a helicopter like this that could rise straight into the sky without a runway. Therefore, they all stared at the scene in front of them in stunned silence, with a mouthful of sand being poured into their open mouths. Not aware of anything.
The test pilot's skills were obviously very good. After the plane took off into the sky, it flashed and moved around constantly changing its position, trying to show the excellent performance of the plane.
Although it has not performed fancy stunts like later helicopters, it is enough to prove the excellent performance of this helicopter.
The helicopter flight show lasted for half an hour. Fang Lang stood motionless, staring at the plane in the sky.
This made Lawrence Bell who was observing from the side very happy. He was not afraid that you would stare at it, but he was afraid that you wouldn’t even look at it. The more seriously you look, the greater your interest. As long as you have enough interest, I don't believe you won't pay.
Finally, the performance is over. As the aircraft engine stalled, the noisy aircraft noise finally slowly disappeared.
It wasn't until the environment became completely quiet that Lawrence Bell slowly spoke to Fang Lang beside him:
"Fang, how about it? Are you interested in ordering a few to go back and play with?"
Fang Lang, who had been thinking, was brought back to reality by this question. He turned back to Lawrence Bell with a smile and said:
"Of course I'm interested. I was just thinking about how to convince the logistics department to agree to my purchase application."
After learning that Fang Lang was really interested, Lawrence Bell was relieved. He understood what Fang Lang said about convincing the logistics department. After all, this guy was not a personal toy, and the person who used it was never an individual user.
The more the other party says this, the more it proves that the other party is really interested.
In fact, what Fang Lang was thinking was, if General Crook really convinced the Ministry of Defense to let his Marines participate in the operation to annihilate the Eddie brothers' anti-government forces, could this helicopter play a certain role? effect.
If we really wait until the Logistics Department approves the purchase, it will take too long, and we will definitely not be able to catch up with the combat operation. Even if we catch up, we probably will not be able to train qualified pilots to participate in this operation.
What's more important is that just by purchasing, you can't get the other party to authorize production. It's better to give a big order and directly stun the other party. Just like some equipment in later generations, you have to purchase how much from the other company first before you can buy it at the other party. Under the guidance of the company, we can produce as much as we can in our own factory, and finally, we can achieve the ability of complete self-production.
Fang Lang, who wanted to understand this, asked directly:
"Mr. Bell, what was the load capacity of this aircraft you just said?"
Lawrence was stunned when he heard this. He had not said what the load of this aircraft was, but only said that the maximum take-off weight was 1111 kilograms. Since Fang Lang asked, of course he wouldn't hide it and said directly:
"After our testing, the aircraft's maximum load can reach 400 kilograms."
Hearing this, Fang Lang held his right hand with his left hand and began to rub his chin with his right hand. He began to calculate in his mind. 400 kilograms is 800 kilograms. This load capacity is not low.
With slight modifications, it can be used as a pesticide spraying aircraft, so that the Nice Company of your own group can absorb part of it. Lease to farmers to spray pesticides.
"Mr. Bell, if you purchase it through the Brazilian military, the waiting time may be longer.
I promised you before that I would purchase a batch of helicopters from you, so now I am going to ask our family’s business in Brazil to come forward and purchase them from your company.
I don’t know how much you have in stock. "
