Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 281 Flying Train
After Wang Gensheng led the Marines to break through the airport's defense perimeter, he faced two choices. The first choice was to attack the Marine Corps' command post and kill or capture Smith alive.

The second option is to destroy the airport, trapping all the transport planes there and preventing Smith from returning to Xingnan Port with an uninjured team as in the story.

In response, Wang Gensheng did not hesitate to choose the second option: to directly attack the airport and prevent Smith from launching an attack with minimal equipment.

The airport's guards, numbering less than a hundred, were easily wiped out by Wang Gensheng's marines. However, just as Wang Gensheng was about to blow up the airport runway, someone stepped forward and said:

"Wait! Commander, if we blow up the airport runway, we won't be able to fly the plane back!"

Only then did Wang Gensheng remember that there were still about thirty carrier-based pilots in his marine corps!

When they were preparing to depart from China, Wang Gensheng took about 30 of the 100 or so carrier-based pilots with him. He thought that the United States had a lot of planes, and it would be a pity if they captured the US airfields and seized the US planes but couldn't fly them back.

So Wang Gensheng took thirty carrier-based aircraft to reinforce the Marine Corps, and now was the perfect opportunity to transport the aircraft back to China!

Therefore, Wang Gensheng agreed:

"You've also landed at Dongbei Airport, where the flight school is located. Now is the perfect time for you to fly the captured planes back! Communications officer, immediately send a telegram to the front-line command, saying that we have captured Hagaru-ri Airport and that there are many large transport planes there. Tell Dongbei Airport to prepare to take over!"

The frontline command was naturally delighted upon receiving Wang Gensheng's telegram and fully agreed with his suggestion. After all, the country was extremely poor at the moment, so they readily agreed to Wang Gensheng's idea of ​​transporting American transport planes back to the country.

However, what was parked at Hagaru-ri Airport were not fighter jets, but C-119 transport planes, which also have another nickname: flying car.

Of course, in addition to this new type of aircraft, there are also twenty-two C47 transport aircraft that Wang Gensheng and others are familiar with.

Wang Gensheng, a carrier-based pilot, had both handled and flown this type of transport aircraft.

The C47 "Air Train" transport aircraft was a twin-engine piston transport aircraft developed by the United States in the 1930s. It was an improvement on the DC-2 passenger aircraft by the American Douglas Aircraft Company and was originally called the DC-3 passenger aircraft. It was the main aircraft used by the civil aviation in the United States before World War II.

In 1938, due to the increasingly tense situation in Europe, the US military, which had begun a major expansion of its armed forces, selected the DC-3 passenger plane as its new generation of military transport aircraft and named it the C-47. According to postwar US statistics, more than 13,000 C-47 transport aircraft of various models were produced, far exceeding the US military's other main transport aircraft, the C-46.

The relationship between the United States and the C-47 transport aircraft officially began in 1942. Under the Lend-Lease Agreement, the United States began delivering this new type of transport aircraft to the United States Airways that year, mainly for the "Hump" transport operation over the United States, South Africa, and North America.

Because the "Hump" route was generally at high altitudes, most of the C-47 transport aircraft used there were C-47B transport aircraft equipped with superchargers. However, due to the harsh natural environment of the "Hump" route and the constant harassment by Japanese fighter planes, the C-47B transport aircraft suffered the greatest number of losses on the "Hump" route, accounting for more than half of the total 514 aircraft lost.

After the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, Lao Jing took advantage of the opportunity of the country selling off the surplus war materials to purchase a large number of this type of aircraft to prepare the air force.

However, in January 1949, a C-47 transport plane of the Lao-Ji Air Force mutinied during a mission and successfully landed at Jinan Airport after the liberation. This was the first C-47 transport plane owned by the liberated army.

When the Liberation Army Air Force was officially established in November 1949, it had a total of four operational C-47 transport aircraft.

Subsequently, with the eight aircraft brought by the defection of the two airlines and the two aircraft repaired by air force technicians, the air force had a total of fourteen C-47 transport aircraft at its peak.

That is why Wang Gensheng's carrier-based aircraft were naturally familiar with and had flown this type of transport aircraft.

Therefore, flying this kind of transport plane is naturally a breeze, as the crew of such transport planes usually consists of two to three people. However, Wang Gensheng currently only has about thirty pilots under his command.

Therefore, faced with twenty-two C47 Air Train transport aircraft, Wang Gensheng naturally could not assign two or three pilots to each transport aircraft.

In reality, so many pilots are not needed. Wang Gensheng has also flown this type of transport aircraft. It is easy to operate, and one person can easily pilot it when it is empty.

And so, one C47 transport plane after another took off under Wang Gensheng's watchful gaze.

Just as the C47 transport plane took off, the airport at the Dongbei Flight School was also preparing to welcome the plane's nighttime landing.

That's right, the airport at Dongbei Flight School has long been modified for nighttime takeoffs and landings.

Of course, the so-called renovation is actually just the installation of two sets of lights on both sides of the airport runway to provide clear landing instructions for the pilots.

As for nighttime takeoffs and landings, Wang Gensheng's pilots had been training for a long time.

After all, from the beginning of 1949 to the second half of 1950, Wang Gensheng had done a lot of training for carrier-based pilots.

His technical skills have already surpassed those of Lu Haotian's army pilots.

After all, in terms of overall quality, carrier-based aircraft pilots are far more skilled than ordinary air force pilots.

If these twenty-two C-47 transport planes are brought back to the country, the number of C-47 transport planes in the country will immediately increase to thirty-six, a significant increase.

It's important to understand that transport aircraft play a far greater role than fighter jets and bombers within the country.

Especially when there is an urgent need for supplies, and road or rail transport is inconvenient, air freight is naturally the best option.

The C47 transport aircraft itself has decent performance.

It can fly 2,600 kilometers without external fuel tanks, and its maximum payload can reach five tons.

Of course, this five tons includes fuel. If fuel is not included, it would be around three tons for a full voyage.

Don't underestimate these three tons, because they mean that they can transport thirty soldiers.

Of course, this number of passengers transported is incomparable to the passenger planes that Wang Gensheng used to travel through time, which could carry hundreds of people at a time.

For example, the Airbus A380, which can carry more than 850 people, is just a fraction of the capacity of this C47 transport plane.

However, this is unavoidable, as it reflects the progress of technology. The difference between dozens of people and hundreds of people represents a several-fold increase, and these differences are a manifestation of the transformation of aircraft from piston engines to turbofan engines.

(End of this chapter)