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

Chapter 23 The Terrible J-3
Zhao Xiaoxia was shocked.

Professor Sha, Professor Liu... and even Director Luo, these great talents in the aircraft department, actually work in the same office as Qin Liang?
Is Qin Liang really a college student who just got into university? It seems the rumors circulating in the class that Qin Liang is a relative of one of the teachers are true!
“This student, you…”

The sound behind her startled Zhao Xiaoxia. She turned around and saw...

"Teacher Yu, I, I, I..."

Yu Zhi glanced at her, then looked around the office, a kind smile spreading across her face: "It seems you've discovered Qin Liang's secret. You'll have to keep it a secret for now. Once you all grow up, Qin Liang can finally relax a bit..."

"Teacher, Qin Liang, he..."

"Come in." At this moment, a voice came from inside: "Zhao Xiaoxia, you must not have had lunch either, right? I have a lot here, and you can't finish it all by yourself. You can eat with me, and then go back to class after you finish eating."

Zhao Xiaoxia felt a little embarrassed. She had originally planned to treat Qin Liang to dinner, but unexpectedly, Qin Liang had ended up treating her, especially in front of so many teachers. She felt a bit awkward...

But the next second, Qin Liang stood up, wiped his mouth, and said, "I'm finished eating!"

This isn't eating together; it's clearly making Zhao Xiaoxia eat leftovers!

Zhao Xiaoxia hesitated for a moment, but looking at everything in the room, she was still curious, so she boldly went in.

There were many large tables in the room, and on each table were various blueprints. At this moment, Qin Liang, who had finished eating, walked to one of the workstations, sat down, and picked up a drawing ruler and a drawing pen. He was drawing airplane parts!
Qin Liang drew very slowly, carefully drawing each dimension, because even a small mistake could cause big problems.

"Qin Liang, you..."

"Eat it while it's hot, and then hurry back. You all need to study hard so that in a few months you can help me."

"Oh." She looked at the table and saw that Qin Liang had only eaten the celery and pork slices. The most expensive steamed ribs were still there. Seeing this, she felt a warmth in her heart.

She picked up her chopsticks, took a piece of steamed pork rib, and put it in her mouth. Mmm, it tasted even better than her mother's...

Eat quickly, then go back and study. Once you've mastered the knowledge, you can come and help Qin Liang!
Ring ring... Just then, the telephone on the table rang.

"Hello." Director Luo picked up the phone, heard the words on the other end, and then his expression changed: "What? The higher-ups won't approve a single penny of funding? That's too much! Isn't that just being stingy? Hmm, I understand. Come back first, and we'll talk about it when you get back!"

"Qin Liang, I've finished eating! Teachers, you all go ahead with your work!" Zhao Xiaoxia knew they were about to have a meeting, and as an outsider, it was best not to listen in.

Looking at the empty lunchbox and utensils, she instinctively picked them up.

"Hey, leave my lunchbox here!"

"Qin Liang, I'll get you dinner tonight and bring it over!"

"No need, someone will bring me my food. If you have time tonight, take a few classmates to visit Teacher Zhao." Qin Liang said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out five yuan. "Take this money, buy some gifts, in our class's name..."

The class committee hasn't been elected yet, and the class funds haven't been collected. Or rather, the concept of class funds doesn't even exist these days. Many students are struggling financially, so if they have money, they can contribute it. As for the food coupons and other receipts needed to buy gifts, you guys can collect those!
Professor Liu chimed in, "Qin Liang, how can you be so extravagant with money, coming from such a remote mountain village? Take the money back right away. Old Zhao has always been honest and upright, and has never accepted a single gift from his students. Even if you did bring something over, he would insist that you take it back with you. To him, the best gift you can receive is your academic achievement! Zhao Xiaoxia, just find a few classmates to represent the students and visit him!"

"Ah."

Zhao Xiaoxia nodded and left, her mind filled with suspicion. Didn't everyone speculate that Qin Liang was the child of one of the teachers at the school? How come he's from some remote mountain village again?

Qin Liang didn't care about any of that. After watching Zhao Xiaoxia leave, he turned to Director Luo and asked, "Director Luo, what exactly happened?"

"Old Tu and his team went to the capital to report to the relevant department leaders. The leaders were initially very interested, but... later they contacted the Air Force for coordination, and that's when things went wrong!"

"Why is it broken?"

"The Air Force said that maneuverability isn't urgent; the key is to solve the J-7's all-weather combat capability," Director Luo said. "They even criticized Lao Tu, saying he picked up the sesame seeds but lost the watermelon. The Air Force's priority project is the J-7-3; they want to get Factory 132 back on the right track..."

J-3, that damn thing? Qin Liang was speechless.

The J-7, with its nose-mounted air intake, cannot be equipped with a large-caliber radar. Pilots need to guide the aircraft to the vicinity of the target on the ground and then visually locate the target. This means that it can only operate during the day. However, the troops urgently need to improve their night combat capabilities, which can naturally be done during the day as well. This is the all-weather combat capability.

In 1971, China provided North Korea with 12 Type 033 destroyers. In return, North Korea asked China to conduct surveying and mapping of their MiG-21PF fighter jets. This aircraft was larger, with an airborne radar installed in the air intake cone on the nose, making it capable of all-weather operation.

Thus, in 1975, the J-7 major upgrade project officially began and was named J-7-3. In particular, in 1976, the East sent a delegation to Egypt to inspect the all-weather fighter MiG-21MF. As a result, the J-7-3 project decided to refer to this aircraft for improvement.

Then came 77, which was last year. The Third Ministry of Machine Building held a meeting to convey instructions from higher authorities: concentrate efforts on developing the J-3, and the Air Force should have two thousand of them!

Looking at the experiences of later generations, we can see that the Air Force's promise was incredibly ambitious!
In March 1978, the higher authorities organized another delegation to Romania to continue their investigation of the MiG-21MF!

Even the veteran aviation industry, the Northern Research Institute which was working on the J-8, had its opinions. They said that the MiG-21MF was outdated and should be used to develop the J-8.

The superiors' advice was: The Air Force has its eye on it, insist on having it!
Of course, the key point was that in November 1978, they brought back a real MiG-21MF from Egypt! With this, they could actually start reverse engineering it!
Tu Lao wanted to directly copy the design, while 611 required a thorough understanding of the technology... After all this back and forth, it wasn't until 84 that the J-3 made its maiden flight!
Then, the Air Force pulled a crazy stunt: "No, this kind of aircraft is too outdated, we don't want it!" Not only did they stop placing further orders, but they even cancelled the 17 aircraft that Factory 132 had started building with its own funds! They really ripped Factory 132 off!

Right now, the Air Force is focused on the J-3, and will soon be organizing personnel to go to Egypt to acquire that outdated MiG-21MF. Therefore, the Air Force doesn't care about improving maneuverability at all! Double delta wing, what's the point!
How to do?
Qin Liang took a deep breath.

"It seems the only option is to modify the nose section!"

Modify the nose? Everyone was immediately shocked: "Qin Liang, do you know how much work it takes to modify the nose? You have to blow air in a wind tunnel, do all sorts of experiments, and perform a lot of calculations. This workload is almost the same as designing a completely new aircraft!"

"But we'll have to do all that work when we replace the wings, right? Why don't we just combine them into one thing?"

(End of this chapter)