"Squadron Commander, when will your aircraft be built?"
Looking at the small workshop in front of him, Zhou Zhikai was really curious.
In fact, everyone had heard before that even if Li Hang drew the blueprints, no one thought that the other party could build an airplane.
But I didn't expect that the other party actually had this idea, and also built a wooden airplane.
The small workshop in front of me was bought by the other party for several hundred French currency.
It was said that he bought the workshop, but rather than hiring the two carpenters and three apprentices in front of him to work, Li Hang was responsible for paying wages.
Li Hang invested all the rewards he received and bought a lot of wood, mainly pine and paulownia.
The reason why I chose these two is that they are relatively common.
Raga 3 and Raga 5 use a large amount of pine and triangular wood.
As for the paulownia wood, it was a balsa wood substitute that Li Hang found.
Balsa wood is produced in Brazil. John Bull can buy a large amount of balsa wood to build mosquito bombers, but Li Hang cannot and neither can the Nationalist Government.
The current financial situation of the National Government is a mess. It is short of foreign exchange. Where can I find the foreign exchange to buy balsa wood, and the two families of Kong and Song cannot be allowed to take large amounts of kickbacks.
Balsa wood is not available, so paulownia wood has some characteristics of balsa wood, that is, it is light.
How to say, pine and Paulownia each have their own advantages and disadvantages.
If there is a good engine, fighters made of balsa wood will be very good, Lager III and Lager V are the representatives, especially the latter. But as I said, you must have a good engine.
At present, Lao America may not sell high-power engines, and Lao Maozi's engines are not very good. When real progress is made, they may not be available.
So paulownia wood is very suitable, that is, it is light and the requirements for the engine are not so high.
However, which type of fighter is suitable will only be known after a physical test flight.
He happened to be injured and could not return to the army for training, so Li Hang had time to tinker with the aircraft.
It was only then that the five carpenters realized they were here to build airplanes.
Well, it was also the first time they heard that airplanes could be made from wood.
Can it fly?
Won't it fall apart?
With doubts, the five people came anyway. Who asked Li Hang to give too much money.
Two skilled carpenters earn a monthly salary of 100 francs, and three apprentices earn 30 francs a month.
This is a high income, so naturally I am willing to do it.
But Li Hang also had requirements, which was to keep things confidential, and he didn't have that much freedom.
To this, the five carpenters also agreed, and that was money.
Although the purchasing power of French currency is not as good as last year, thirty yuan and one hundred yuan are still a lot of money, which is much more than what I earned in the previous month.
"It can't be so fast. I'm still improving the drawings. First, cut out the materials needed for the skeleton, and then slowly improve them." Li Hang took the drawings and revised them while replying to Zhou Zhikai's words.
"Squadron Captain, it would be awesome if you really made a plane out of these wood. But can this plane really fly?" Young people have a strong ability to accept new things, but Zhou Zhikai also couldn't believe it.
"You don't believe in my ability? Didn't you see that the previous Hawker Three also had a lot of wooden structures?"
"Hey, it's not that I don't believe it, it's mainly because I haven't seen it before." Zhou Zhikai came to another room with a playful smile, where there were other parts.
The engine was guaranteed by Lao Zhou, and there were engines that needed to be scrapped. Moreover, air battles were frequent during this period, many aircraft were damaged, and many parts were available.
"What are you going to do with Lao Lu's funeral?" Li Hang mentioned a matter of greater concern.
Lu Jichun's plane was finally found. Although most of it was scattered parts, Lu Jichun's burnt body was also found.
Entangled with the entire cabin, the fire caused by the explosion burned the other party's body until the person could not be seen clearly.
But the scattered parts and the vague aircraft serial number on the fuselage of the aircraft can prove that the burnt corpse is Lu Jichun.
Although everyone was prepared, everyone in the 23rd Squadron was a little sad to see the person they had talked and fought with not long ago turned into a burnt corpse.
"Captain Lu's family is not here. I'm afraid we, our comrades, will be the only ones collecting his bones. However, among his belongings are many letters home written by his father."
"Keep it well and return it to Lao Lu's family later."
As comrades, there wasn't much the two could do.
Lu Jichun's hometown is in Hebei, and now that it has fallen, there is no way to send his bones back. Even if it didn't fall, it wasn't sent.
People die every day on the battlefield, and it is impossible to send the bones of every person who dies to his hometown.
Not to mention the bones, even the ashes cannot be sent. Many people die directly in foreign countries, and it is common for their bodies to be eventually exposed in the wilderness.
The cruelty of war is hard to imagine for those who have never experienced it.
But even if it is cruel, there are still many people who go to the battlefield to defend their homes and the country.
"The national government said that a memorial ceremony will be held in Nanchang for all those who died in the '214 Air Combat', and two of our team members are among them."
"We shouldn't be able to go, right?"
"Definitely. Now, apart from the China Aid Air Force, there is only our Fourth Brigade around Wuhan. If we go to Nanchang to attend the ceremony, there will be no one on duty here in Wuhan.
We also need to hurry up during this period to replenish personnel and restore fighter jets.
By the way, squadron leader, I heard a rumor that they are preparing to transfer the 24th Squadron to our group. "Zhou Zhikai didn't know where he got the gossip from, so he directly approached Li Hang and whispered.
"Transfer the 24th Squadron to our squadron? Who did you listen to?" Li Hang was a little surprised.
"Someone heard it from Deputy Brigade Mao. It can't be false. Deputy Commander-in-Chief Mao is the brother of Deputy Commander Mao. Unfortunately, the 24th Squadron is equipped with the Yi-15.
And I also heard that we were planning to let you, the squadron leader, serve as the squadron leader of the 24th Squadron. But the higher-ups felt that letting you fly the I-15 fighter jet would not be able to demonstrate your capabilities and would put you in danger, so they rejected the offer.
But it was too late for the 24th Squadron to replace the I-16, so it was delayed.
Now that you, the squadron leader, have taken over our squadron, there is no need to worry about it. They just found a reason to detain the 24th Squadron and temporarily put it directly under the former enemy headquarters. I heard that this means that they are assigned to our group. It is useless to command a squadron of destroyers from the enemy headquarters. "
Seeing Zhou Zhikai who kept talking about gossip, Li Hang didn't know where he went to get the news.
He had heard of some, but he didn't know as much as Zhou Zhikai.
However, what the latter said is somewhat reasonable when based on reasoning.
Thinking about these, it is better to think about how to build aircraft and how to train squadron pilots.
"Zhikai, go back and tell Tiancheng that I will gather all the pilots in the team tomorrow to talk about air combat tactics."
"Really? Squadron leader, are you going to start classes again?" Zhou Zhikai's eyes suddenly lit up after hearing Li Hang's words.
