At the Nyasaland Aeronautical Research Institute, Viscount Glaston finally saw the impressive "Albatross" torpedo bomber.
At first glance, the Albatross torpedo bomber looks like an enlarged version of the Gale fighter.
Unlike the "Strong Wind" fighter, which only has one propeller engine at the nose, the "Albatross" torpedo bomber is equipped with a propeller engine on each of the left and right wings to increase thrust. Therefore, the "Albatross" fuselage is larger than the "Strong Wind".
The wingspan reaches an astonishing 22 meters.
"The Aeronautical Research Institute is studying how to install more engines on the aircraft. The current plan is to add an engine to the nose, or to install two engines on the left and right wings, so that the aircraft will have a greater range.
It can be loaded with more bombs and play a greater role." In order to make the British government willing to pay, Rock took out the best stuff from the bottom of the box.
At this stage, aircraft are still developing very fast. In the twentieth century, aircraft have just appeared. In another time and space, in 1913, the Russian Igor Sikorsky designed the world's first four-wheel aircraft.
engine aircraft, this was the later Sikorsky IM aircraft.
The current time point is definitely much ahead of schedule. Nyasaland Aeronautical Research Institute has the best aircraft engines and the most complete R&D team in the world, so it has greater advantages in research.
"How many bombs can the aircraft you are studying now carry?" Viscount Glaston wanted to know more information.
"About a ton." Rock said lightly, but the data made Viscount Glaston's heart tremble.
The main gun caliber of the dreadnought that the UK is building is only 305 mm, and each warhead weighs less than 300 kilograms.
Nyasaland's bombers can already carry about one ton of bombs, which on the surface is roughly equivalent to three shells from the main gun of a dreadnought. But how much does a dreadnought cost, and how much does a bomber cost?
Moreover, bombers can fly farther and are more convenient to dispatch, so there is no comparison between the two.
What's more, based on Viscount Glaston's understanding of Rock, Rock's data is probably an ambush. In other words, the bomber being studied by the Nyasaland Aviation Research Institute must have an actual bomb load of more than one ton.
As for how much it exceeds, Rock will definitely not tell the truth until the Ministry of War and the Nyasaland Aviation Research Institute officially cooperate.
In a hangar of the Aviation Research Institute, Viscount Glaston also saw the four-engine bomber Rock mentioned.
Compared with the "Strong Wind", the bomber equipped with four engines is definitely a giant in the air. Unlike the propeller engine of the "Strong Wind" fighter, the bomber's engine uses a pusher engine, that is, the propeller blades are in the engine casing.
At the rear, this engine layout can provide the pilot with a better view.
"Take our commonly used 50 kilogram aerial bombs as an example. This kind of aircraft can load 20 at a time. If it is an incendiary bomb, imagine the scene of twenty incendiary bombs being thrown together. The damage caused will definitely exceed that of the main gun of a dreadnought.
A salvo." Rock spared no effort. Compared with new weapons such as aircraft, the dreadnoughts that Britain was desperately building had reached a dead end and had no future at all.
Viscount Gladstone said nothing, looking at the giant in the sky with an ugly expression.
With a wingspan of more than 25 meters and a height of more than four meters, more than a dozen workers are installing various equipment around it. This scene is indeed not as grand as the construction scene of the dreadnought, but objectively it also proves that the cost is indeed low. If
With the kind of performance Roark introduced, Viscount Glaston's long-standing belief in the dreadnought was collapsing.
"We are still studying engines with stronger performance. If the engine research is successful, we can reduce the four engines to two, or continue to install four engines, but in that case, the performance of the bomber will be further improved. When the bomber
The bomb load can reach two tons, or three tons, and then the dreadnought will not be invincible." If this still does not make the War Department tempted, then Rock really has nothing to do.
"The problem is, we can't prove this to the War Department now." Viscount Glaston has already been tempted. The cost of building a dreadnought is enough to build a hundred such bombers, and the effect of a hundred bombers will definitely be
Far more than a dreadnought.
"In fact, it can be proved that the Medan Air Force is preparing to bomb Batavia, and then the War Department will be able to see the effect of the bombing." Roque doesn't mind practicing in East India, as Southern Africa needs experienced pilots.
"Queen Wilhelmina is in London seeking the king's intercession." Viscount Gladstone provided the latest news.
"Hasn't the Queen already ordered a nationwide mobilization? Then why mediate?" Roque doesn't care. Today's East India is no longer a direct attack by the Umbrella Company on the East Indian colonial government, but a self-organized resistance by the East Indians against the colonial government.
, even if Rock calls to stop, the East Indians will not stop.
"Haha, even if it is a nationwide mobilization, how many people can the Netherlands mobilize?" Viscount Glaston didn't care much. After the formation of the two major military groups in Europe, the United Kingdom has always wanted to draw the Netherlands into its own camp, but the Netherlands did it.
They strictly adhered to neutrality and refused to be coaxed by the British government.
Under the avalanche, no snowflake is innocent.
Therefore, this "strictly maintaining neutrality" is not so easy to be neutral, especially since the Netherlands still owns a colony as large as East India, so it is basically impossible to achieve neutrality.
The country now recognized as neutral in Europe is Switzerland. Switzerland is a country where all the people are soldiers and has no external ambitions. It honestly stays in its own one-third of an acre and engages in finance. The banking industry is unparalleled in the world. The territory is mountainous and complex, and there are no
With important mineral deposits, no matter which country it is, it will pay a huge price to attack Switzerland, and the gains outweigh the losses.
Relatively speaking, the geographical location of the Netherlands is even more important. It is located right between the United Kingdom and Germany. Various materials in East India are very important to Britain and Germany, so both Britain and Germany want to bring the Netherlands into their own camp. This kind of
Under such circumstances, the difficulty for the Netherlands to remain neutral can be imagined.
"Locke, if the factory is operating at full capacity, how many such bombers can it produce every year?" Viscount Glaston wants to determine the production capacity of Nyasaland. If it can only produce a few dozen bombers every year, it will not mean much to London.
"If it were purely a bomber, then there would be at least two hundred of them. But it is not this kind, but the Albatros with a relatively mature design. This kind of four-engine bomber needs to continue to be improved. The main bottleneck now is engine production. The engine production is insufficient, and the aircraft
The output of the engine cannot be increased. Now we have to develop a better engine. It will probably take another year or two, maybe only a few months. It depends on how determined London is." Rock's answer was still Glass.
Viscount Ton is quite satisfied. Southern Africa is now an aircraft factory. Two produce "Strong Wind" and one produces "Albatross". The largest factory has not yet been built. After it is completed, the aircraft production in Southern Africa will further increase.
"Locke, we must go all out. We must win the war. This is related to the fate of all of us." Viscount Glaston looked serious. Whether it is for Germany or the United Kingdom, the upcoming war is about
National destiny.
"I have been working hard. Italy and the Ottoman Empire have added a third batch of orders. The 'Strong Wind' has performed very well in actual combat. Italy and the Ottoman Empire are increasingly interested in aircraft. It is said that Italy is trying to manufacture its own
London is still a little slow in terms of fighter jets and bombers." Rock said that Britain is indeed powerful, but at the government level, Britain's huge bureaucracy does not perform well.
Since defeating Spain and the Netherlands one after another, Britain has become the most powerful country in the world and has ruled the world for more than a hundred years.
Over the past hundred years, Britain has accumulated huge wealth and strong self-confidence.
Sometimes too much self-confidence can turn into arrogance. This is the case with the generals of the British War Department. They are stubborn and stubborn, refusing to accept any new things. They are stubbornly immersed in giant ships and cannons and cannot extricate themselves. Although "Strong Wind" has
It has proven its value in North Africa, and Nyasaland has received more and more orders as a result, but the British government has not taken action, which makes Rock really regretful.
After Gale crossed the English Channel, Rock asked Winston and Neville to help lobby the British government to purchase the aircraft.
Winston and Neville did help a lot, but there was not much progress. The generals in the War Department did not believe in the prospects of aircraft at all. Even though more and more airships were equipped in Germany, the generals in the War Department still
disregard.
The airship equipped by Germany is the famous "Zeppelin".
In 1900, Count Zeppelin of Germany built the first rigid airship. This type of airship used a structurally intact keel to maintain the shape of the airbag, and used a piston engine as power, so it had good flight performance and a large load capacity. The airship manufactured by the Zeppelin Airship Company
Not only for commercial use, but also for military use. In the first ten years of its establishment alone, the company built 113 military airships.
These military airships formed Germany's powerful airship force. Airships could not only be used for reconnaissance, but also for ground bombing. The British War Department turned a blind eye to all this and did not prepare corresponding response measures at all.
Unlike the arrogant War Department, Rock is ready. The "Strong Wind" fighter jet is the best weapon to deal with the "Zeppelin". For the hydrogen used by the "Zeppelin", the Nyasaland Arsenal has developed a high-speed
Explosive bombs and incendiary bombs. If war broke out and Germany sent out "Zeppelin" to fly over the English Channel and bomb London like in another time and space, then Rock would invite Londoners to watch the fireworks.
