What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 470 Airplanes Must Burn Smokeless Coal
Guangzhou, Nansha District, McDonnell Douglas aircraft factory building

Driven by an insane amount of money, after six months of construction, the final assembly plant is almost complete. Foreign engineers from McDonnell Douglas and local engineers are working together, diligently debugging the equipment in preparation for the upcoming final assembly work.

Tang Wen carried a bag and greeted any foreigner he met in the factory with "Here you are" and handed them two banknotes. His own people received the same treatment, which he called afternoon tea.

After discovering that this unassuming young boss did nothing but hand out money, Tang Wen was immediately welcomed by everyone.

"Tang, can the listing plan for the First Aircraft Factory be brought forward a bit?"

After Tang Wen finished scattering the coins, Levi couldn't wait to come over and ask.

Tang Wen: "It's probably too hasty to talk about it now. Let's wait until we can reliably deliver the MD11 before making any further comments."

The aircraft factory in Nansha District is officially named Gaijin First Aircraft Manufacturing Company. It is not a wholly-owned enterprise. The main shareholders are Gaijin Aviation and McDonnell Douglas, with a shareholding of 67% and 12% respectively.

Of the remaining 21%, 10% was allocated to liquidity, and 11% was distributed to local governments in Guangzhou and Hubei. The liquidity was intended to support component suppliers such as Hongdu and Shenfei, as well as future customers who would purchase passenger aircraft.

Gaijin has absolute control over the shares, but Tang Wen does not intend to hold onto them forever. He has promised that the company will go public in the future and gradually reduce its stake to around 35%.

The First Aircraft Plant was merely a carrier for receiving MD-11 passenger planes and related technologies. After completing this mission, it could focus on generating revenue and making money through stock prices.

In reality, many manufacturing companies don't make money. Orders worth hundreds of millions only generate a few million in profit. They rely entirely on inflating revenue figures and driving up stock prices after going public.

The same applies to the aircraft manufacturing industry. The First Aircraft Manufacturing Plant itself is only responsible for the final assembly of the aircraft and the production of some non-core components. The profits and core technologies lie in the upstream suppliers of components such as engines and avionics.

Tang Wen's mission was to cultivate a team that understood modern aircraft manufacturing. Once the McDonnell Douglas 11 was stabilized, he could propose to build the second, third, and fourth aircraft manufacturing plants to truly achieve his goals. The main event hadn't even begun yet.

Therefore, acquiring the First Aircraft Manufacturing Plant was both the wish of the other shareholders and did not conflict with Tang Wen's development strategy.

McDonnell Douglas was eager to engage in capital operations, but he subtly pushed it back and added tasks in the opposite direction:

When McDonnell Douglas will go public depends on how long it takes for the technology transfer to be completed.

Levi didn't refuse, but kept it in mind.

After he left, Changbus, who knew his boss's true purpose, led Tang Wen into the private design studio:
"I have some ideas about high-altitude, high-speed interceptors; there are currently two options."

Changbushi:
"First of all, based on the established timeline of early 1950s jet technology, even if we could manufacture a high-altitude, high-speed interceptor, its range would probably be very limited, barely reaching 1,000 kilometers. So my idea is to combine it with a mother-daughter aircraft program."

"Small aircraft...can fly at high altitudes and high speeds? I mean at least double 25" (referring to a specific aircraft specification).

Tang Wen unusually raised some questions. Although shipyards can manufacture all sorts of bizarre aircraft, they still have to follow some basic laws of physics.

When Changbus heard the "double 25" indicator, he smiled, as if he remembered something, but quickly got back to the point and took out an old military picture book from the drawer, which was in a foreign language.

He opened two pages, labeled ME163 and P13A respectively, and their appearance was clearly unusual:
(P13A interceptor)
ME163 interceptor:
Tang Wen flipped through the pictorial magazine, which had a fairly detailed explanation next to it:
During the ME262 era, due to the difficulty in manufacturing early jet aircraft technology, jet engines were not durable due to the lack of rare metals, and high-performance jet aircraft required frequent replacement of expensive engines.

Therefore, they hoped to develop an interceptor that was less complex, easier to manufacture, and faster.

The ME163 is a more familiar aircraft, a doomsday interceptor developed by the Hans. It was very small, powered by a single RI203 rocket engine, using hydrogen peroxide and potassium permanganate as fuel to expel high-temperature steam, generating only 600 kg of thrust and weighing 2.1 tons. The ME163 was best towed by a large aircraft for takeoff. During test flights, it reached a speed of 550 km/h, but was later abandoned due to technical limitations.

The P13A and ME163 were also researched for the same purpose, but by the time they were being researched, resources were even more scarce, to the point that even rocket fuel was difficult to supply, so the fuel chosen was... coal.

The P13A was much simpler than the ME163, and it didn't even have landing gear. It took off purely by towing or being released after being carried by a bomber. Its overall design was more like a person and an engine crammed into the wing.

The interception method used by this aircraft was even more primitive; it didn't even have machine guns. The design goal was to use its small but sturdy airframe to ram the bomber...

Its engine is a ramjet engine that uses pulverized coal as fuel. It can only start when the speed exceeds a certain limit, and it can generate thrust by fully mixing and burning pulverized coal with air. Theoretically, it can not only reach supersonic speeds, but also fly more than 1600 kilometers on just 1 ton of coal!

Of course, the maximum flight speed during the century test was less than Mach 0.5, and it was eventually abandoned.

Two kinds of...fantasies, that's Tang Wen's assessment.

After he finished reading, Changbus also presented his own proposal:
"First of all, there's the ME163. Its rocket engine is far too primitive. If it were made with the technology of the 50s, it could have been significantly reduced in size and equipped with a liquid engine with at least 3 tons of thrust. After being released from high altitude, it could even break through Mach 3 and 3 meters in a short time."

Tang Wen: "How short is 'short time'?"

"If the engine is started intermittently, it should last for 5 to 10 minutes, after which... a forced landing or parachuting will be necessary? Of course, I actually prefer the P13A option."

The P13A's original design for a pulverized coal ramjet engine was actually feasible, but the biggest reason for Hans's failure was that they lacked a suitable wind tunnel.

"Wind tunnel?"

"The problem is that it's impossible to conduct large-scale simulation tests. To put it extremely, a ramjet engine is just an iron pipe. It's just that by bending it, air enters, is compressed, and then mixed with fuel before being ejected. But how to bend it is very complicated and far exceeds the scope that can be solved by human power and mechanical calculators."

Fortunately, this problem can now be easily solved using both wind tunnels and supercomputers.

Changbus opened a cross-section of a ramjet engine design drawing and explained smugly:
“It just so happens that Beihang University is currently conducting other ramjet engine simulation experiments. I spent 50,000 yuan to have them help me with a small design. The wind tunnel model and calculation theory fully support flight at speeds of Mach 3 to 5, and the theoretical thrust is many times stronger than the rubbish Hans made.”

He doesn't do this kind of free labor for writing related works for novels; Tang Wen always gives him a lot of money in different ways.

The latter stared suspiciously at the simple design drawing on the paper, somewhat disbelieving. After all, he hadn't heard of anyone still researching pulverized coal ramjet engines 30 years later, so he asked directly:
"Theory is theory, but what about reality?"

"Reality...that would be too troublesome. Beihang University raised a few issues:"
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Coal dust caking can cause high-frequency vibrations throughout the fuselage during high-speed flight, as the coal dust easily clumps together, severely impacting output and even causing surge.
Combustion chamber corrosion, the coal powder is not burned cleanly, and compared with liquid fuel, it will produce a lot of residue that damages the engine inner wall. It is also a surge problem and the power output is not very stable.

The solution to these two major problems is to spray a certain proportion of kerosene during the pulverized coal injection process, but... given the complex structures of both fuels, why not just use oil from the beginning?

"Of course, if the emphasis is on cutting-edge technology..."

Changbus shrugged, indicating that coal-fired doomsday planes were clearly more appealing, regardless of reliability and durability.

Tang Wen: "That's great. Don't change the parameters. Just modify the P13A into a high-altitude, high-speed interceptor. And it must burn coal, with smokeless water washing!"

(End of this chapter)