I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 85 Beautiful Lines

The fan's loud whirring sound was deep and heavy, creating a sense of oppression.

However, Chen Changzai and his students did not pay any attention to the interference of these voices.

Chen Changzai looked out the observation window at the small airplane model that was fixed in place inside the wind tunnel.

The proportionally smaller, fixed-pitch, two-bladed propeller in front of it was also started to rotate by the small motor in the model.

Simulate its disturbance to the air during flight.

On the side facing the wind tunnel exit, a student controls the various moving surfaces of the model by pulling a joystick and using ropes connected to the model.

After the model propeller started spinning, the mineral oil outside the wind tunnel was also heated, and thick white smoke billowed out.

Then the smoke is sent into the smoke delivery duct by the exhaust fan.

At this moment, Chen Changzai was fine-tuning the angle of the thin smoke nozzle in the wind tunnel.

The smoke trails emitted from the nozzles flow from various points on the aircraft's front, across the nose and fuselage.

Because mineral oil fumes are composed of countless extremely tiny oil droplets.

They have high surface tension and are not easily dispersed by air due to intermolecular forces.

So these plumes of smoke, like a white thread, flowed backward across the aircraft's surface with the strong winds from the fan, leaving traces of airflow.

Beside Chen Changzai, Su Zhihong was operating a Zeiss folding camera that was stabilized on a tripod.

Following Chen Changzai's instructions, I took pictures through the observation window of the beautiful lines drawn by the white smoke, images of it gently flowing across the surface of the aircraft.

Because film is extremely precious in northern Shaanxi, Su Zhihong would only press the shutter when there were obvious signs of smoke movement in very important parts of the airplane.

Meanwhile, the other aviation trainees who were observing from the two observation windows were recording what they saw, either by drawing or by writing.

Until an hour later.

This first wind tunnel simulation experiment was finally completed.

After the airplane model, with a wingspan of more than one meter, was taken out of the wind tunnel after being blown around for an hour, it was ready to be transported out.

A thin film of oil has been left on its body, and there are still a lot of oil stains in some places.

These are the areas on the aircraft fuselage where vortices are easily generated.

The students are also recording the locations where eddies are generated.

At this moment, Chen Changzai said to Su Zhihong: "Zhihong, it seems that we should choose to use the Soviet 'U-2' model (after 1944, it was renamed 'Po-2' in honor of the aircraft designer Polikarpov).

It was the right choice to use it as the base model for our first trainer aircraft.

Its aerodynamic layout is very ingenious, especially its small vertical tail and large tail control surface.

This design is a truly ingenious idea.

This design virtually made the aircraft impossible to crash.

Su Zhihong chuckled and said, "Yes, teacher, when this plane enters a stall death spiral..."

As long as both feet are off the rudder pedals and both hands are off the control stick, the aircraft can automatically right itself using its massive tail rudder.

Even if the aircraft engine stops, its equally large horizontal tail fins will still be able to withstand the impact.

It can also automatically control the aircraft's descent speed.

That descent speed, which is almost no more than two meters per second, is slower than the speed of skydiving.

With such control of the tail fin and rudder, it would be difficult for this aircraft to crash.

This Soviet aircraft designer, Comrade Polikarpov, was truly a remarkable genius.

"Yes, he is a person who deserves respect in the aircraft design world."

The trainer aircraft he designed has saved countless lives.

His achievements are great.

Therefore, you also need to thoroughly understand the basic principles of this aircraft.

After all, the engine we use is not the same as the radial engine they use.

When we study their aircraft, we should learn from their strengths and then combine them with our actual conditions.

"Let's build our own airplanes." Chen Changzai said to Su Zhihong after a moment of reflection.

The U-2 aircraft is indeed the best trainer aircraft in the era of low speed.

The domestically produced Y-5, later known as the "unbreakable" Y-5, adopted this safety tail structure from its prototype, the An-2.

After all the trainees had recorded all the data they needed to record, the rather large model was wiped clean and gleaming before being taken back into a cave.

After Chen Changzai, Su Zhihong, and the members of the aircraft team returned to their laboratory.

Chen Changzai held a meeting with them.

Chen Changzai said, "Students, our model wind tunnel experiment was quite successful this time."

However, this is still a long way from the point where our planes can take to the skies.

We have now successfully developed this six-cylinder inline aviation gasoline engine.

It can only be considered our first experimental subject.

It's just a technological platform that allows you to accumulate experience in aircraft engine manufacturing.

Even if you put it on an airplane right now, it would just be a small thing that can only fly slowly and levelly at extremely low altitudes.

To truly take our aircraft into the sky, we still need high-powered V-type or radial engines.

Now you have accumulated enough experience in the research and development and manufacturing of inline aero engines.

This will make the second step of developing the V-type engine easier for you.

As for the radial air-cooled engine, it is a very difficult challenge for us now, both in terms of research and development and manufacturing difficulty.

That would waste too much of our time.

Therefore, I think you should devote all your energy to the research and development of V-type aircraft engines.

Although our current 500-ton forging press can only meet the forging requirements of crankshafts for small-power aero engines.

But our 1,000-ton free forging press is also nearing completion.

I think in three months at most, this 1,000-ton forging press will be able to forge crankshafts for you that meet the requirements for medium-power and above aircraft engines.

In the future, we will also have forging presses with capacities of 5,000 tons and 10,000 tons, as well as hydraulic presses.

At that time, we can forge any crankshaft you want.

But you need to at least have this need.

Don't let it come to the point where we already have better and larger forging presses, but you haven't developed newer aero engines and better aircraft.

So how should we produce things for you?

So, students, we're just getting started, and we haven't even produced any real results yet.

We need to work even harder.

Chen Changzai's words left all the students in the aircraft research and development team speechless, their heads bowed.

They have worked very hard over the past six months.

However, for various reasons, their progress in aircraft and aero engines has not been very fast.

Compared to the development of ground equipment and weaponry, the progress is very slow.

This is due to both the materials used and the technical difficulties involved.

The main problem is that their foundation is too weak.

Among the entire aviation research and development team, Su Zhihong is the most highly educated and professional.

The others, their starting point was indeed too low.

Even those who came to northern Shaanxi from other places and had attended high school or university were among these people.

However, their major was not aviation.

One reason they were able to join the aircraft development team was because they were all interested in airplanes.

Another reason was that Chen Changzai believed they had a knack for understanding airplanes, which is why he gathered them together.

Even the most perceptive person cannot fully grasp all the knowledge about airplanes and aero engines in just over half a year.

Airplanes are different from things on land. On land, no matter what happens, you always have a good chance of escaping.

So some things are still passable.

But things are different in the sky.

Once you're in the air, your fate is entirely in the hands of the plane you're piloting.

If a plane crashes, the chances of the pilot surviving are actually not that high.

Even skydiving is the same.

Therefore, in the field of aircraft, safety and reliability are of paramount importance.

Without these two points.

So for those of them who are involved in industry, in aircraft research and manufacturing.

That would be irresponsible.

The development of the aviation industry is inherently extremely difficult, fraught with risks and challenges.

Even in later, more advanced times.

The path of development of China's aviation industry has been paved with the blood and lives of countless people.

So let's start from the beginning.

Chen Changzai instilled the concept of safety and reliability in the minds of his students.

However, for something to be safe and reliable to emerge, a lot of time is needed to accumulate experience.

Although what Chen Changzai said today was a bit harsh.

But he still had to say it.

Because in the future, whoever controls the skies will control the initiative on the battlefield.

The sense of urgency in Chen Changzai's heart did not allow him to stop for even half a second.

He himself will not stop, nor will he let the students who follow him stop.

He can't hold up this sky by himself.

The only way to achieve this is to get more people to work together with him.

Everyone looked rather dejected.

At this moment, Chen Changzai laughed.

He said, "What's wrong? You were quite excited when we were doing the wind tunnel experiment."

Does that mean you'll lose all your energy and spirit?
You must remember that our journey has only just begun.

The difficulties we are facing now are nothing more than a small pebble.

The difficulties we will face in the future are mountains and rivers.

But no matter what hardships we encounter, we must be steadfast and forge ahead to overcome them.

If it's a big mountain, we'll climb over it.

If it's a big river, we'll build boats and bridges to cross it.

As long as we work hard, there is no difficulty in this world that we cannot overcome.

I also believe that you will be able to overcome these difficulties that stand in our way.

I look forward to the day when the airplanes that can freely soar in the skies of our country are all designed and manufactured by you.

Those enemies who covet our airspace, their planes will all be shot down by the fighter jets you designed and manufactured.

I believe that day is not far away, and that day will surely come soon.

Do you have confidence?

As soon as Chen Changzai finished speaking, Su Zhihong and the other twenty-odd people stood up from their small stools.

He said loudly to Chen Changzai, "Yes, we are confident that we can overcome all difficulties."

We are confident that we can use the aircraft we manufacture to protect our airspace.

We are confident that we can defeat any invading enemy.

At this moment, Chen Changzai also stood up and said to the students in front of him, "Okay, then let's work together."

We did not bleed or sacrifice ourselves on the front lines.

However, we can provide the best weapons for our comrades on the front lines from the rear.

This will enable them to better protect themselves and better eliminate the enemy.

salute."

After Chen Chang finished speaking, he gave all the trainees a standard military salute.

Because he was also a warrior.

He and his students and comrades were all warriors on the industrial front.

After this meeting, Chen Changzai devoted himself entirely to the research and development of the new V-type aero engine with his students.

During this period, the design of the new artillery was basically finalized.

If we want to discover any problems, we'll have to wait until the prototype is successfully manufactured.

New problems can only be discovered during actual firing tests of the artillery.

Moreover, Chen Changzai also believed that...

Given the current industrial scale and production capacity of northern Shaanxi.

Its industrial capacity has reached a bottleneck.

When facing the current production tasks for ground weapons and other auxiliary equipment.

Current production capacity is already saturated.

However, rapidly increasing production capacity is not an easy task.

Besides needing more equipment.

The training of skilled workers cannot be accomplished in a day or two.

Even now, the science and technology schools at headquarters are still continuously training various technical talents and industrial workers.

However, in the entire northern Shaanxi region, not everyone can be put into industry.

In addition to workers, we also need farmers to cultivate the land and soldiers to fight.

Although industrial support has enabled some agricultural areas to use industrialized equipment for agricultural production.

For example, hand-held tractors and small agricultural steam engines, which are the kind of steam locomotives used in later times.

However, it is still necessary to maintain a balance between industry and agriculture.

Of course, these are things that the leaders at headquarters need to worry about.

At least for now, it seems that the leaders at headquarters have a very clear understanding of this point.

Although almost all the human resources in the entire northern Shaanxi region have been mobilized.

However, there was no imbalance in human resources.

The military industry can now produce a variety of weapons and equipment.

If it is the attacking side, then there are still significant shortcomings.

But if it's the side on the defensive...

So, let's talk about the weapons and equipment that the troops are currently replacing and that will soon be equipped with.

It is still possible to conduct defensive operations.

Even when facing the main force of the Japanese army's attack.

Chen Changzai believed that our troops were also capable of giving those little devils a bloody lesson.

Therefore, for the foreseeable future, Chen Changzai will focus his main efforts on aviation research and development.

(End of this chapter)