Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 179 Boeing is here? Let's fool them!
Night falls and the city lights begin to illuminate the night.

Outside the Burbank Hotel, on an inconspicuous MPV.

"What are they saying?" Ben Richie asked as he got into the car, glancing at Vance, who was listening through headphones.

Vance shook his head helplessly: "Come on, listen to this."

"I don't understand Eastern languages."

"Okay, then I'll translate it for you."

Vance's face showed helplessness: "The meal we had today was supposed to be a feast? It was just meat grilled over a fire, and not even fully cooked! And the wine we drank today was sour! I almost spat it out when I took the first sip! But out of respect for my American friends, I forced myself to drink it!..."

They're such bumpkins! A bunch of bumpkins who eat Western food and drink red wine, yet they say it's not even as good as pig swill!
"Isn't anyone envious of the West?"

"No, these people are different from the Easterners we've hosted before. They don't have the slightest yearning for the West. I think... it will be very difficult to keep them here, not even one of them!"

"Sigh, I still haven't taken them to see the bustling areas. Tomorrow, I'll take them to Los Angeles to see the modern metropolis. Whatever they want to buy, Lockheed will pay for it..."

“No, no, you absolutely mustn’t do that!” Vance shook his head repeatedly. “Mr. Ben Richie, you still don’t understand Easterners, especially that Qin Liang. When he was in England, Marconi made the same promise, and then, do you know what he did? He spent millions to buy a shop! If you promise them they can spend as they please, and each of them buys a shop, your Lockheed Corporation will face a cash flow crisis!”

Saying the funding chain has dried up is a bit of an exaggeration, but... it's definitely a price Lockheed can hardly accept!
"Damn it, such a rare opportunity to go abroad, didn't any of them come with a yearning for the beauty of the West?"

“We have investigated and found that these people were selected through examinations to get this opportunity.”

So what if it's an exam?

"The exam included political and ideological questions, one of which was particularly tricky: discuss your views on the West. Anyone who revealed even the slightest inclination towards the West on this question would receive an extremely low score..."

"Damn it!" Ben Richie was utterly disappointed. It seemed impossible to keep any of these people, not even one of them!

"In that case, let's send them to General Electric tomorrow. We won't waste our time on hopeless people. Those guys are probably gloating over taking advantage of us..."

"That's not necessarily true. Although these people are not interested in material things, they care a lot about scientific research. If they see the superior scientific research environment in the West, they might stay."

Ben Richie's eyes darted around: "You mean, take them to visit Skunk Works? No, no, that won't do. We have too many secrets at Skunk Works. If they see them and don't keep anything, that would be a huge loss for us!"

Just then, a man quickly approached: "Report! We've just received breaking news that Boeing representatives are planning to come from Seattle tomorrow morning to inspect the Y-10 passenger plane!" Boeing? What are they coming for?

In his hotel room, upon receiving the news, Qin Liang's face broke into a bright smile. Since the Boeing people were here, then... he would give them a good scare!
The next day, in the morning, at the airport.

"Is this your Y-10?" Boeing's chief engineer, Dick Taylor, asked, looking at the large passenger plane with its four-engine layout.

"Yes, this is the most advanced passenger plane produced in the East! After it flies abroad, some people say it's a copy of the Boeing 707. You've come at the perfect time! Come on up and see for yourselves whether our passenger plane is indeed a copy of the Boeing 707!"

"Hmm, judging from the appearance, this wing is different from Boeing's, especially the winglets. I heard that you licensed these winglets to other companies?"

"Yes, if you need our services, we are willing to assist you. Boeing is a huge company, so we can waive the licensing fees and such. Just give us a design fee, and then we can handle the production of these winglets."

Boeing Vice President Steiner, who led the team, immediately beamed with joy: "Good, good, good!"

The moment the Y-10 landed in the United States, Boeing noticed the winglet. After several days of research, they discovered that this airfoil was the most suitable! It could reduce drag by 7%! But... the technology patent is from the East! If they buy it from the East... what if they ask for an exorbitant price?
Now, the demands of the Easterners are so simple, they must be granted! At this point, Steiner had already made a decision: the Y-10 has nothing to do with the Boeing 707, and the Y-10 must be given its due recognition!
"How did you solve the problem of forging the wing and fuselage beams for such a huge aircraft?" Dick Taylor asked, pointing at the plane.

"Well, because we lack large forging presses, we forge them separately and then rivet them together," Qin Liang said, pointing to the landing gear: "And here, we forge them separately and then weld them together."

The experts from Boeing exchanged glances and finally relaxed. The Y-10 posed no threat to Boeing!

Qin Liang also breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally achieved his goal of coming to the United States: to promote the Y-10 with great fanfare and to convince Boeing that Eastern technology was backward and posed no threat to them!

The airframe, with its segmented forged beams, meant that production volume would be limited and lifespan would be short. The engine, a modified Spey, used 1960s technology. The avionics, based on European technology, were still a generation behind the United States. The Y-10 of the East was merely a toy they had built at great expense!

The issue of this large forging has also become an excuse for many later articles to criticize the Y-10; they make baseless accusations without consulting the original sources.

The first few Y-10 aircraft were indeed forged separately without a large die forging press. However, as early as 1975, the First Ministry of Machine Building and the Third Ministry of Machine Building submitted a request report to their superiors regarding a large-scale end-point hydraulic press, which was approved. At that time, Deyang Erzhong and Tsinghua University cooperated to carry out the research and development of a 65,000-ton multi-directional die forging press. In 1981, a 1,000-ton simulated prototype test was also carried out.

Unfortunately, with the cancellation of the Y-10 project and the subsequent reduction of heavy industry construction projects by the state, this 65,000-ton die forging press project was aborted.

Now... of course not! Even without government funding, the Shanghai Aircraft Factory can use the profits from selling airplanes to build this forging press themselves! This isn't like the chips of later generations; it doesn't have such high technological barriers!

In 1970, a 30,000-ton die forging press and a 12,500-ton horizontal extrusion press were built at the Southwest Aluminum Plant! Back when Boeing had just started building the Boeing 707, the die forging presses in the United States were only around 20,000 tons! Has anyone questioned the Boeing 707's segmented forging and riveting beams and landing gear?
(End of this chapter)