"Li Hang, this is the aircraft design engineer you have always been thinking about. Wang Zhu, when he heard about you when he returned to China, he flew directly to Wuhan to find you."
Looking at the middle-aged man in his forties and wearing a neat suit, Li Hang felt a little emotional, even excited, and quickly stretched out his hand to shake hands.
But when he remembered that the other party had the rank of colonel, he changed to a military salute and said, "Sir Wang, this is Li Hang, the captain of the 23rd Squadron of the Air Force."
"Li Hang, is that it? Where is your wooden plane?" As soon as they met, Wang Zhu asked about business.
"It's in a warehouse at the airport."
"Let's go and have a look!"
Wang Zhu said that he was going to take a look at the wooden airplane.
In fact, he has not seen wooden aircraft before. In the early years, all aircraft built in China were made of wood. Both Mawei and the airport in Shaoguan have built them, but they are all biplanes and have not been mass-produced for various reasons.
The biplane was also used because the safety of the wooden structure could not be guaranteed.
With the material innovation in aircraft manufacturing, steel frames and even aluminum alloy materials have become popular. Today's fighter aircraft at least have steel frames or alloy steel frames, with cloth or metal skins used elsewhere.
In this regard, the country is starting to have problems. The main reason is that it cannot produce alloy materials. Even steel cannot be self-sufficient.
There is not even a decent steel factory in the country.
Last year's steel production was 45,000 tons and pig iron production was 150,000 tons. This year, we may even cut them off in half.
For such a large country, this steel production is simply not enough, and a large amount of steel needs to be imported every year.
During the same period, Sange's steel output was over one million tons, and Little Devil's was over five million tons.
How to fight this?
Seeing Wang Zhu in a hurry, Lao Zhou explained with a forced smile, "That's just the kind of character he has."
Soon the group of people arrived outside the warehouse where the wooden airplane was parked.
When the soldier on duty opened the warehouse door, Wang Zhu saw the unpainted plane and immediately walked in quickly.
In the eyes of Lao Zhou, Li Hang and others, Wang Zhu looked a little unusually excited when he saw the plane, but then he frowned, and then showed an expression of surprise.
With this complicated expression, Wang Zhu circled around the plane.
Then he came to Li Hang expressionlessly, "Did you design and build this aircraft?"
Li Hang nodded proudly, "Yes, sir."
"You should have studied aircraft design, or know the structure of aircraft very well, right?" Wang Zhu smiled and praised, but before Li Hang could be happy, the former changed the topic, "Your aircraft is well designed, but This aircraft can only be used as a training aircraft."
"Counsellor Wang, isn't it true? Li Hang flew at a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour during his previous test flight." Before Li Hang could speak, Lao Zhou couldn't help but remind him.
Wang Zhu was a little surprised now, "You flew this plane at a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour? Nothing happened?"
Before Lao Zhou could speak, Li Hang explained, "Sir Wang, after flying at a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour, the engine failed and landed."
"You can still fly back even if the engine fails?" Wang Zhu was quite surprised. Then he looked at the structure of the aircraft, especially the wide wings, and immediately understood the reason, "Is it because of the wings of this aircraft? This kind of thing The wings actually give the aircraft some glider functions. No wonder it can land safely after engine failure.
Fortunately, the engine failed. Due to the structure of this aircraft, if you fly at a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour, if the speed continues, the aircraft will disintegrate. "
Hearing this, Li Hang had to admit that he was lucky.
At the same time, he also felt that he might have underestimated some people of this era, and some people might be really capable.
The reason why these people's talents have not been brought into full play is mainly due to the objective environment.
Especially during the Nanjing National Government, Nanjing's attitude towards industry was really not very good and they did not support development. The only industry was struggling to survive under the joint suppression of compradors and foreign forces.
Throughout the Lao Jiang period, the compradors were the most powerful party.
Wang Zhu is actually one of the representatives. They have developed many aircraft, but in the end they were unable to reach mass production. The aircraft manufacturing factory they established was only used to assemble outsourced aircraft.
The senior management does not pay attention to self-creation capabilities, which also leaves them with technical talents with no place to display their talents.
Maybe at some point I thought of making my own, but due to comprador and other reasons, they all died one after another.
Local warlords paid attention to this, but with the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, local warlords also lost their corresponding manufacturing capabilities.
"Counsellor Wang, is it because the airplane is made of wood? Doesn't this mean that we can't build airplanes with wood?" Hearing this, Lao Zhou felt a little disappointed.
"Mr. Zhou may have misunderstood. Although this aircraft cannot be used as a chase aircraft, it is a very good training aircraft.
As for wooden aircraft, our aircraft manufacturing plant has also produced them, but they were biplanes. The reason why wooden aircraft have now withdrawn from the international mainstream aircraft, but early aircraft were all made of wood, is because today's aircraft are getting faster and faster, which makes aircraft with wooden structure unbearable.
Therefore, today's aircraft are beginning to use metal materials, especially alloys. There are also aircraft that only use metal materials for key parts, and other structures are made of wood.
This is what I-15, I-16, and Hawker 3 are like. "
After hearing this, Lao Zhou's expression softened a little, "What about Li Hang's plane? He risked his life to fly out before. You may not know his current situation..."
"I may have heard something. The Soviets call him the 'King of Deportation' of our air force." Wang Zhu interrupted Lao Zhou, and then looked at Li Hang, "I have to say, you, a pilot, dare to risk such a test flight." Flying a plane must be very confident.
What do you say about this plane?
Improve it and lower the speed, and it will be a very good trainer aircraft. But if you want to use it as a destroyer, give up this idea as soon as possible.
Unless a metal structure is used or the aircraft shape is changed, a single-wing wooden aircraft with this shape cannot withstand high speeds. If the speed is not high, it is better to imitate aircraft such as the I-15 and I-16. "
Wang Zhu's words were a slap in the face, but they were also telling the truth. After all, professionals see things differently.
Lao Zhou originally wanted to help Li Hang explain, but when he heard other content in Wang Zhu's words, he immediately became interested, "Counsellor Wang, are the Soviets willing to provide us with the manufacturing technology of the Iraqi 15 fighter jet?"
