Start with a blacksmith shop.

Chapter 133 Fly! Fly!

The feeling of flying in the sky was amazing; he couldn't even describe it in words, especially since he was flying a model airplane he had made himself.

Although he had already flown in the virtual laboratory, the virtual experience gave him a different psychological experience compared to reality.

A speed of 800 kilometers per hour can be considered subsonic at this point, a speed that some older fighter jets may not even reach.

Sitting in the cockpit, Li Zhenhua was still not entirely satisfied with the current speed.

He pushed the throttle lever to its maximum, wanting to see how fast his model airplane could actually fly in reality.

In the sky, the fuel level inside the 475-liter fuel tank of the model airplane was swirling and dropping.

Fuel is injected into the engine, where it mixes with highly compressed air and explodes in the combustion chamber, producing high-temperature expanding gas, which is then ejected from the exhaust nozzle through the turbine.

Through these processes, the fuel is transformed from a liquid into an airflow with tremendous thrust, propelling the aircraft forward.

Even after flooring the accelerator, Li Zhenhua had no reference points in his field of vision, and he didn't perceive any change in speed.

However, the data displayed on the instrument panel that was transmitted back showed a different picture. It showed a speed of 1136 kilometers per hour, and the speed was still increasing rapidly.

This is why there was no one on the model airplane. If someone were on it without an anti-G suit and it was flying so fast, they would definitely experience blackouts.

Just as he was having a great time and getting a little carried away, only a little over 100 kilometers away from them was the Quancheng Air Force Base.

Where there is an air force base, there must be a radar station. The radar station here monitors all the high and low airspace around the base.

Although route applications and such are not processed here, they still communicate with the civil aviation control tower, and all routes in Kyushu are monitored by their department.

Fan Lei is a radar operator at this radar station, and his job is to face the radar screen every day and record the aircraft passing through the airspace.

The work is tedious, but for Fan Lei, it is also very meaningful, as this job is to maintain the safety of the Kyushu airspace.

He had been sitting in front of the radar for too long that day, and just as he stood up to stretch, write a report, and go to the restroom,

If you accidentally see a small green dot on the screen, what does this mean?

This meant that an aircraft had appeared on the radar. Upon seeing the small green dot, his urge to urinate vanished, and his attention was completely focused on the small green dot.

I sat back down in my seat and took a few seconds to reflect on what I had learned that day.

There's a patrol mission at the airport today, but it's not time for them to return yet; that's the notification he received early this morning.

Moreover, if a commercial airliner were to pass by, it would definitely have an air identification number, instead of just a small green dot like it does now.

Even if a civilian aircraft were to pass by temporarily, a notification would surely be sent. However, Fan Lei thought back carefully and realized that no one had informed him of any temporary aircraft passing by.

After considering both the military and civilian situations, he re-locked the radar in front of him.

I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things; the radar scanned the sky every five seconds.

Staring intently at the radar screen, five seconds later, the small green dot reappeared on the screen.

Fan Lei could finally be certain that he had discovered something.

He actually found the aircraft, an aircraft without any registration or aeronautical identification number.

After several data refreshes, the various data of the little green dot were automatically calculated and displayed on the screen.

The speed reached 834 kilometers per hour, and it was still increasing rapidly, all within the time of three radar scans, or fifteen seconds.

The aircraft's speed had already increased to 1403 kilometers per hour, which is supersonic flight.

The speed of sound is 340 m/s, and one hour is 3600 s, which is 1224 kilometers per hour. This 1403 kilometers per hour already exceeds this speed.

An aircraft flying at Mach 1.1—that's a military aircraft, to put it in perspective.

This is not a speed that civilian aircraft can achieve, unless it's some kind of supersonic Concorde flying above!

At the same time, he was piloting the model aircraft, which had just broken the sound barrier in the air. The simulator's internal speakers transmitted the huge explosion sound received by the aircraft's radio equipment without missing a single detail.

But he ignored the sound barrier; instead, he turned his head and looked behind him.

On the screen behind, a sonic boom cloud created by the model airplane breaking the sound barrier was still there, not yet dissipated.

He uttered three curses in quick succession, revealing his inner turmoil. That was a sonic boom cloud, a sonic boom cloud generated by a model airplane.

At the same time, Fan Lei's heart was also unsettled, and he felt a surge of anger.

In the short time he was stunned, the speed of the aircraft on the radar screen had reached 1836 kilometers per hour, or Mach 1.5.

In that instant, countless speculations flashed through his mind: Whose aircraft is this?

As Fan Lei mentally searched for the source of the attack, he felt the hairs on his body standing on end.

He then looked at the radar screen again, and was stunned when he saw the data displayed!

The aircraft flew at an altitude of 498 meters, and judging from the area reflected by radar, it had a wingspan of only 1.3 meters, but a length of 2.1 meters.

Yes, at this point, the model aircraft's wings were under Li Zhenhua's control, folded up to their maximum sweep angle, with a wingspan of only 1.9 meters at a 75-degree sweep angle.

What kind of thing would this data-driven spacecraft be? A person probably couldn't fit inside it at all.

Could it be a stealth reconnaissance aircraft from another country? Its reflected fuselage area is relatively small due to its stealth design.

But regardless of the situation, this still needed to be reported to superiors. In the empty radar station, he was the only one on duty at the moment.

He reached for a red landline phone, picked up the receiver, pressed the call button, and took a deep breath after the call connected.

"Sir, I've detected a supersonic aircraft in our airspace..."

We've been flying in the sky for almost ten minutes now. It's great, wonderful, and powerful to be able to experience the thrill of piloting a fighter jet right here on the ground.

Moreover, this model airplane weighs 1.2 tons plus fuel, which is 1.6 tons, while its thrust is 2.8 tons, resulting in a thrust-to-weight ratio of 1.75.

Currently, the thrust-to-weight ratio of the US-made F-22 is probably around 1.2, though the actual ratio may be higher or lower.

Even with such a high thrust-to-weight ratio, it's already possible to execute many impressive tactical maneuvers.

He can do all sorts of maneuvers, from falling leaves and cobra kicks to barrel rolls and bell rolls, let alone the model airplane he's currently flying.

With a power-to-weight ratio of 1.75, it can perform any kind of movement.

For aircraft, as long as the engine is powerful enough, even if the starting layout is terrible, even if it's just a brick, it can still fly.

With its excellent aerodynamic design and powerful engine, many maneuvers are a piece of cake for this model aircraft.

But if you ask him to do those actions, he absolutely will not do them, not because he doesn't want to, but because he doesn't know how.

He himself sat in the cockpit controlling the model airplane, but the experience for people on the ground wasn't very good.

Because after the model airplane took to the sky, it only stayed in their sight for a short time before flying out of their view.

Head held high, I searched the entire sky but couldn't find any trace of the model airplane. I had no idea where Li Zhenhua had taken it.

At this moment, it has been flying for twelve minutes, and at a speed of Mach 1.5, it has been flying for five minutes. In such a short time, it has already flown 250 kilometers.

In other words, at this very moment, the model airplane is already 250 kilometers away from them in a straight line. It would be strange if they could even see it!

After Fan Lei reported what he had discovered, the radar station chief soon led his men into the duty room.

Fan Lei was pushed aside, and his position was given to the stationmaster.

The station chief then looked at the radar, which showed that the aircraft was flying at Mach 1.5 in an airspace of 500 meters.

Furthermore, it is not far from their radar station, only 30 kilometers away, and judging from the other party's flight trajectory, it is very likely to pass by their side in a few minutes.

After deducing this information, they immediately sent people to the open space outside to see what that thing actually was.

The station chief didn't just arrange this one plan; he immediately used a red landline phone to make a call and report their discovery to the Air Force.

Soon their intercom system connected to a channel, a channel with only two units.

"This is the Falcon Team. This is Falcon One, the lead aircraft. The remaining units are my wingmen. Falcon Two, please repeat your findings!"

The sound came through the loudspeaker in the intercom system, and the radar station chief described the situation he had just discovered.

"...Falcon One, be careful when you approach. Based on my radar cross-section, its length is only 2.1 meters, and its wingspan is a mere 1.3 meters."

I'm not sure if it's really that big, or if it's a stealth fighter, and the reflector we see is just that size after being disguised!

Just as the stationmaster was reporting the situation, the door was pushed open forcefully from the outside.

A soldier ran in and shouted to the stationmaster, "Stationmaster, I saw it, I saw it, it's..."

(End of this chapter)