"The 23rd Squadron of the 4th Air Force Group has met Chief Zhou and Chief Li! I wish both officers a happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year to all officers and men. I didn't disturb your holiday, did I?"
Lao Zhou greeted everyone with a smile, which made the young pilots immediately moved.
Lao Zhou, who was born in 1899, is actually 39 years old this year, which is not too old, so the gap between him and these pilots is not too deep.
But there is one thing about him that is controversial, that is, he can't fly a plane.
The former commander-in-chief of the Air Force and the de facto leader of the Air Force could not fly a plane. This is actually quite funny.
"Sir, you are serious!"
After Lao Zhou expressed his condolences to the pilots, ground staff and other soldiers at Hankou Airport, he called Li Hang away, along with Li Guidan.
Only then did everyone realize that the purpose of the air force boss's visit today was actually for Li Hang.
Thinking of Li Hang's previous design of a new aircraft, everyone began to speculate.
"Do you think Commander Zhou is here because of that new aircraft?"
"I think it's possible. If Commander Zhou supports it, I don't think it's possible that the aircraft designed by Captain Li will be produced."
"Captain Li is great at flying airplanes, but designing an airplane is another matter. Is this possible?"
"Captain Lu, haven't you seen the blueprint, can that plane fly?"
"I don't know either, but that plane looks like that."
. . . . . .
Li Hang didn't know that several comrades were making various speculations. At this time, he was like a little-known painter, showing his debut work to others, with the uneasy mentality of hoping to be recognized but worried about not being recognized. Revealed.
"Li Hang, is this the airplane you designed?"
When he saw Li Hang's design drawings, Lao Zhou was surprised by the exquisite drawings at first sight.
If you just look at the drawings, Li Hang's aircraft looks really good.
Anyway, he fell in love with it at first sight.
"Yes, sir!"
"Have you designed airplanes before?"
"No, I have repaired airplanes abroad before and seen other people's designs."
"Can your plane fly?"
"able!"
It's a joke if it can't fly.
He was basically copying the No. 6 aircraft. It was an airplane that had gained a great reputation after decades of ups and downs. How could it not fly?
Hearing Li Hang's affirmative words, Lao Zhou took another look at the young man, and then sighed, "You should know that our country does not have the ability to independently build aircraft. Even the previous Jianqiao Aircraft Manufacturing Factory and Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing The factories actually only assemble aircraft produced by Americans and cannot produce them themselves."
As the actual person in charge of the Air Force, he naturally knows the situation of several aircraft manufacturing plants under the Aeronautical Commission.
He actually wants to produce aircraft, but there are many things in the Air Force that he cannot make the decision on his own.
It is said that principals are micro-managing, but this is not just the case in the Army, it is actually similar in the Air Force as well.
"Li Hang, what Commander Zhou said is right. Manufacturing an aircraft requires too many parts, and these parts need to be purchased abroad, including aluminum alloys, engines, etc. We don't have that much foreign exchange to purchase, even if If you buy one, the cost of producing one may be higher than buying one." Li Guidan couldn't help but remind Li Hang.
"If the two officers are worried about costs, I have a way to solve it." Li Hang thought of an example.
"What method? Is it possible that you can convince the commissioner and his wife?" Lao Zhou couldn't help but take another look at Li Hang.
Those two people praised Li Hang more than once in front of others. If you look at it this way, the possibility is not small.
"Sir, you are looking down upon me." Li Hang couldn't help but smile bitterly. He had only met that person twice, but how could he have that ability? "Sir, what I mean by me is that the aircraft can use a wooden structure, so that the cost and construction difficulty will be much lower. .”
"What? Wooden structure?"
Lao Zhou and Li Guidan looked at each other.
"The Hawker III has a wooden structure. It can be seen that aircraft with wooden structures are not unacceptable." Li Hang knew the two people's worries, but he was not discouraged.
"Although the Hawker III has a wooden structure, it is only the wing part. Its main structure is still made of metal. Aircraft with mainly wooden structures were very popular in the European War more than 20 years ago, but now all countries are developing Metal plane." Li Guidan reminded.
"Captain, the situation in our country is destined to make it impossible to produce the parts needed for metal aircraft. Why not use local materials, such as pine and other corrosion-resistant wood, the cost is not high, and many parts can even be produced by carpenters.
At that time, we only need to outsource the engine and install the weapons. This wooden aircraft may become an excellent fighter. "
Li Hang is not just talking nonsense.
Although wooden structure aircraft have begun to become obsolete, they are not incompetent, and there was an excellent wooden structure fighter aircraft in World War II.
That is the La series of fighters.
From the initial LaG-3 to the subsequent LaG-5, they all had all-wooden fuselages. It was only the LaG-7 that was improved from the LaG-5 that began to use metal structures.
As the most famous fighter aircraft, the Lager-5 produced 9,920 aircraft throughout World War II. If the performance was not good, would Lao Maozi produce so many aircraft?
Moreover, after the Lager-7 improved from the Lager-5 was changed to a metal structure, it was the only aircraft that Lao Maozi had ever shot down the Me-262 jet fighter at that time.
There is an example of the Lager series aircraft, and Li Hang naturally copied it. Who made China's industrial strength at this time a scumbag?
How can it be like a few decades later, as the industrial pearls in the Western crown have been conquered one by one, what else can limit China's industry at that time?
However, engines, tires, and propellers definitely need to be imported, but overall the cost is reduced a lot.
Regardless of whether we buy engines from the Soviet Union at this time or from the United States later, we can still buy them anyway.
And at this time, some European countries also have good engines, so you don’t necessarily have to go to the United States to buy them.
Seeing that Li Hang was so confident, both Lao Zhou and Li Guidan were a little moved. The latter couldn't help but say, "Sir, if it's possible, let Li Hang try it. It won't cost much. If it can really succeed, it will be good for us." This is also good news for the Air Force.
By then our Air Force will no longer have to be controlled by others and will shoot down more Japanese aircraft. I think the principal and his wife will also praise the commander's wise decision. "
There is no doubt that what impressed Lao Zhou was not money, but reputation and strength.
Naturally, he wanted the Air Force to be a separate force, not just in the name of the Aeronautical Commission; he wanted to be the commander-in-chief of the Air Force, not the former enemy commander-in-chief of the Aeronautical Commission.
