Mediterranean hegemon

In order to show support for United Airlines and Contini’s disciple, Aviation Minister Douhet also visited the site. Although he was very satisfied with the busy construction situation, after seeing these IWC aircraft, he knew clearly: the Ministry of War probably All non-Italian warplanes have been cleared to Contini. As for whether United Airlines can take over, whether it can operate after taking over, and whether it will lose money after operation, the United Airlines will not consider at all. Faced with this situation, he was quite helpless and said embarrassedly: "Calais, it's hard for you. It's because I didn't communicate well in advance..."

"Teacher, don't feel guilty, I think it's good." Contini smiled slightly, "For an army, maintaining such equipment with complicated systems and scarce accessories is obviously a disaster, and it is even more unimaginable in war. It is simply a nightmare for all logistics units, so the Army Department is right. Although they will soon separate the Air Force independently, they do not let it go. Instead, they use their brains. Since it is a burden, Of course, they have to do it thoroughly and comprehensively. I don’t think they made any mistakes. It is unimaginable for a civil airline to maintain a fleet of such a scale and system, which will greatly increase costs.

But United Airlines is not an ordinary civil aviation. It is a new aviation industry that integrates the Second Air Force, civil aviation, aviation training, aircraft manufacturing, and aviation clubs. So many different types of aircraft gave me many choices. From the perspective of maintenance and upkeep, multiple types of aircraft will obviously greatly test the mechanical level; from the perspective of training, students and enthusiasts can try different styles and experience different fun; for those of me who are interested in entering aircraft manufacturing, In other words, an in-depth understanding of these foreign aircraft will help us better grasp the trends in technological development and the direction of future changes.

In the final analysis, it is not economically worthwhile to have so many aircraft, but problems that can be solved with money are not problems, at least not big problems. "

Duhei couldn't help but roll his eyes. He had seen arrogant people, but never such arrogant people. How could a low-key person like old Ciano give birth to such a high-profile son? He thought slanderously: This personality is very similar to that of the leader. No wonder Mussolini is always full of praise when he mentions it. Of course, he knew that Contini was not bragging. Many people knew about this kid's speculation in Germany, but everyone thought it was 2 or 3 million US dollars. Who would have thought that there was another 10 million dollars in front of him that was not included in the calculation? Inside.

"Since you talked about trends and said you want to get involved in aircraft manufacturing, what angle do you plan to take as the first step..."

“First we can eliminate the parts that we can’t start with.”

"for example?"

Contini walked up to a French-made Newport fighter, patted the engine and said: "This is an aircraft with relatively strong tactical performance developed by the French during the war. It also installed a machine gun synchronization coordinator for the first time, but I think It can be ruled out that although the performance of the Land God 9-cylinder rotary engine installed on it is okay, its development stops here. In the future, aircraft engines will be dominated by fixed-cylinder star-shaped air-cooled and V-shaped water-cooled engines. I will never be in the world. Invest a penny in research and development costs in the field of rotary cylinder engines.”

"You seem to understand technology better than the engineers. Those technicians haven't dared to draw such conclusions yet. 80% of the aircraft in the last war were rotary..."

Rotary cylinder engines generally have a star-shaped layout structure. The cylinder rotates during operation. The higher the power, the faster the rotation. Although it can save some connecting devices, the huge inertia and power waste are difficult to overcome, and as the number of cylinders increases, As the number of cylinders increases and the weight of the engine increases, the rotation of the cylinder will encounter a natural upper limit. Later, all air-cooled engines became fixed cylinders, piston movements, and driven blades to rotate.

"Do you still remember what I said?" Contini took a deep breath, "Only by subverting the past traditions and mainstream can we achieve revolutionary innovation. If everyone just spins around on the rotating cylinder, it will definitely not be achieved. leap!"

Duhei was finally defeated by this momentum. He shook his head helplessly and said, "Okay, I understand that you don't want to do rotary cylinders. So what do you want to do? Don't say that you have to start with the engine first when building an airplane."

"Teacher knows me very well... There are two sayings in the aviation industry. The first is that if power is insufficient, the appearance will make up; the second is that as long as the power is enough, bricks can fly into the sky."

"Why haven't I heard this sentence? Did you make it up yourself?"

Contini realized that he had let something slip, and quickly said: "This is my preliminary summary of the relationship between power, appearance and manufacturing. For a good aircraft, appearance design and materials are of course important, but more importantly The engine - this is the heart! In addition, from the perspective of industrial collaboration, if we first enter the engine industry, we can also achieve complementarity with the motorcycle industry, after all, there is an engine in it.”

Contini didn't say anything: When I enter the automobile industry in the future, these engine design and production experiences will also be useful. Haven't you seen that Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Ronaldo are all aviation and vehicle giants? It can even be introduced into tanks and armored vehicles. This is all based on evidence.

"Okay, what do you want to build?"

“A two-pronged approach is used for air cooling and liquid cooling. The imitation target of air cooling is Lawrence’s J-1 engine, and the imitation target of liquid cooling is BMW V engine. By the way, it is also mixed with Rolls-Royce’s Eagle engine. "

Lawrence's J-1 is the ancestor of the radial air-cooled engine. Although it only has 200 horsepower, it has opened up other paths besides the rotary engine. It is deeply loved by the U.S. Navy. In order to help the company expand its scale and produce more products Continenti knew that a series of famous air-cooled engines in later generations, such as the Wasp and the Double Wasp, all started from this source; as for BMW's liquid-cooled engines, they were still small before the 1930s. It is well-known and can keep pace with Mercedes-Benz products. After Mercedes-Benz completed the development of the DB series engine, BMW gradually fell behind, and finally moved to air-cooled engines. Rolls-Royce's products are currently very famous in the aviation industry, and even more so. The predecessors of the famous Merlin, Griffin, Saber and other engines.

"Can you introduce these technical data?" Duhei was shocked. "These are the flagship products of various companies. Fiat has already tried to introduce technology patents, but failed. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"That's because their approach is wrong." Contini smiled slightly, "Lawrence will be acquired by Wright Company soon, and they won't value the technical patents of early engines so much. As for BMW... If you want to sell it, you can sell it to me. Don’t force it, Rolls-Royce products will definitely not open technology licenses. Those British guys are not even willing to open up to local companies, so how can they open up to Italy?”

"Then what do you do?"

"Technology is dead, people are alive... BMW... the French-Belgian coalition is about to enter the Ruhr area."

Hearing the irrelevant words spoken by the other party, Duhei was stunned for a moment, and then he thought about it: Once the German economy collapses, companies like BMW will definitely experience a severe blow. Unemployment and layoffs are inevitable, and they can then recruit freely. , you have people but are you afraid that you don’t have drawings? ——Isn’t this all in your head?

"As for Rolls-Royce's products, they are simple. The Eagle engine is readily available. When the time comes, just let the engineers reverse the engineering..."

"Son, patent law, patent law, if you do this, even if BMW doesn't come to settle the score with you, the British will definitely come to your door."

"Patent? Oh, there is such a thing in the world. Thanks for reminding me, teacher..." Contini slapped his head and pretended to be surprised, "I plan to use Rolls-Royce's 12-cylinder V-type liquid cooling technology. Using BMW’s design capabilities and relying on Italy’s industrial production model to launch a new engine, this engine will be the culmination of the industrial achievements of Britain, Germany and Italy. Whose patent have I infringed on?”

"When the British come to your door, don't say that I didn't warn you beforehand." Douhet could see that this guy didn't understand patent law. He clearly didn't want to pay the transfer fee - although others probably didn't either. transfer.

"I almost forgot to tell the teacher one thing. I used to study in the Law Department of the University of Rome, but now I have transferred to the History Department. The most famous judges and lawyers in Italy graduated either from the University of Rome or the University of Bologna. Speaking of which, many of them are my seniors. Which side do you think they will be on? I am never optimistic about the British coming to Italy to file patent lawsuits. If they are willing to come, I will spend money to accompany them... As for the UK, I never expect these things to be sold in the future. Go to England, it’s useless for them to win the lawsuit! If you make me angry, they will eat up Rolls-Royce as well!”

He paused and then said triumphantly: "As for Germany, they thanked me too late. You must know that Germany is not allowed to develop military aircraft according to regulations. If it makes me happy now, I won't mind sharing some fighter jets by then. Or giving them bomber information is better than them secretly developing in the Netherlands. Don’t think that I don’t know what they are doing in the Netherlands and Sweden. Teacher, we are a victorious country. Would it be okay if I reported it to the British and French Supervisory Committee? Will there be a bonus?"

Hearing Contini's righteous and arrogant words, Douhet was really convinced. He had learned the student's hooligan style - he was no worse than the leader, and even tended to catch up from behind. ! What a great skill to be a politician!

He never expected that, although he had not yet finished building an engine, Contini's hooliganism would soon break out, and the first unlucky person would be the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party and Member of Parliament Matteotti...