Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

A domestically developed trainer aircraft would inevitably waste a lot of time. Since Factory 320 had already started manufacturing fighter jets, this type of domestically developed trainer aircraft could only be handed over to Base 011. However, the research and development capabilities of this base were even weaker. Therefore, if they could obtain a prototype trainer aircraft for reference, it would be of great value.

At this time, Qin Yang's words seemed a bit presumptuous. He hadn't even seen the T-45, yet he claimed he could solve the problem of the 'death dive.' Wasn't this a joke? However, Pellehark didn't hesitate at all: "Okay, I can pass on the message for you."

This aircraft wasn't something they had tinkered with; it was a joint effort between McDonnell Douglas and British Aerospace. He was just passing on a message, so what was the harm in that? It wasn't his responsibility to ensure its success.

What he valued was the stealthy modification. The progress of the Easterners was truly astonishing, especially in certain areas. Their Grumman Corporation could also benefit from it.

Across the ocean, at the U.S. Naval Aviation Training Base test site.

A small T-45 trainer aircraft was launched from a catapult, and a group of technicians cheered.

"Our McDonnell Douglas products are the best," one technician said.

As a professional aircraft company, McDonnell Douglas had produced many advanced aircraft. Not to mention the countless passenger planes, they had also dabbled in many military aircraft.

During World War II, the famous C-47 transport aircraft was their masterpiece. During the Cold War, they continued their efforts, creating many advanced warships, including the F-4 Phantom, F-15 Eagle, and F/A-18 Hornet. These fighter jets established McDonnell Douglas's legacy. At its peak, 80% of the fighter jets in the U.S. Navy and Air Force were McDonnell Douglas products.

As for Lockheed, they had to take a backseat.

The current McDonnell Douglas was still at its zenith. For them, developing a carrier-based trainer aircraft seemed easy.

However, facts proved they were wrong. They could develop advanced carrier-based fighter jets like the Phantom and Hornet, but they found themselves unable to handle a small trainer aircraft.

The T-45 trainer aircraft circled in the sky, and the pilot, Tom, skillfully pressed the control stick, uttering a muffled sound.

"Come on, baby, let's do a simulated landing!"

As an excellent test pilot, Tom, although not a naval carrier-based aircraft pilot, had conducted countless carrier-based landing experiments. This time was no different. During the process of flying towards the simulated aircraft carrier deck on land, he constantly corrected his course. His technique was impeccable.

However, during the operation, the nose of the aircraft slowly drooped downward. He had already noticed something was wrong, so he began to pull his control stick, but the nose continued to drop!

"Tom, quickly pull the plane up! You've deviated from the glide slope!" An exclamation came from the radio.

Tom certainly knew he had deviated from the glide slope, but he was helpless. The plane continued to descend! Tom had unknowingly pulled the control stick all the way back. Cold sweat broke out on his back, and his face was filled with horror.

The plane didn't respond and continued to dive!

This scene was enough to make many people tremble with fear. Someone on the ground shouted, "Death dive! It must be a death dive! Damn it, how did the problem from the Phantom appear here!"

"Eject! Eject immediately!" Tom heard the voice of the ground controller in his headset. Tom didn't hesitate and immediately pulled the red ring between his legs.

Although it was a two-seater trainer aircraft, there was no one in the back seat. After all, what was being tested now was the most dangerous Phantom dive. The canopy above his head was jettisoned, and then a ball of fire rose from his buttocks, and he quickly flew into the sky.

The trainer aircraft continued to dive until it crashed to the ground, and then a large fire rose.

A pure white parachute appeared in the sky, and the parachute slowly fell. Tom landed on the ground, watching an off-road vehicle speeding towards him.

"Damn it, the curse from the past has appeared again!" Countless people frowned.

Back then, when jet engines were just becoming popular, they encountered many problems, especially this terrifying Phantom dive, which stumped everyone.

When the Phantom fighter was designed, there was the problem of the horizontal stabilizer being blocked by the main wing. This would cause the horizontal stabilizer to be affected by the airflow of the main wing. The designer's solution was to significantly droop the horizontal stabilizer, as if it were drooping its tail. This allowed the horizontal stabilizer to extend out and avoid the downwash airflow of the wing, making the Phantom fighter's shape extremely ghostly.

However, this still couldn't solve the problem. The designer finally opened a seam at the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer, so that the airflow through the seam would accelerate through the horizontal stabilizer, which increased the trimming moment of the horizontal stabilizer and solved the problem.

Unexpectedly, this terrible problem appeared on the T-45 again.

Can the same method be used to solve it? Of course not! Because the T-45's horizontal stabilizer cannot be drooped. It's not like the Phantom, which has the engine nozzles arranged on its belly and a longitudinal beam at the tail.

How to solve it?

"It should be caused by the stall of the airflow on the surface of the horizontal stabilizer," one technician said. "In this conventional layout aircraft, the wing generates lift, and the horizontal stabilizer generates a downward trimming moment. Losing the trimming of the tail, the aircraft will be nose-heavy. The horizontal stabilizer of this aircraft is arranged very high, and it is easily disturbed by the downwash airflow of the wing and stalls."

"But why haven't we discovered this in our previous aircraft?" said a British Aerospace technician.

"In order to get on the ship, we have increased the lift coefficient. Moreover, this situation mainly occurs during landing. It should be that after opening the landing gear and flaps, the generated airflow further disrupts the tail airflow."

How to solve it? Everyone was at a loss.

Harry, the engineer leading the research and development, frowned. He originally thought it would be easy, but unexpectedly, there were traps everywhere.

"Mr. Harry, you have a phone call."

At this time, someone actually called him? Harry ran to the side of the tower, picked up the phone, and a familiar voice came from inside.

"Harry, my old friend, I heard you are working on a carrier-based trainer aircraft. Have you encountered a death dive similar to the Phantom fighter?"

"It was just discovered today. How did you know?" Harry was immediately stunned.

Pellehark on the other end of the phone was also stunned. What was going on?

"Looking at the shape of your plane, I knew it. By the way, my friend in the East said he has a way to solve this problem. Would you like to try it?"

"Which friend?"

"General Qin."

"Okay, we can try."

The other party actually agreed. It seemed they attached great importance to this issue. Pellehark, who had already returned to Grumman Corporation, was also very surprised. They actually believed that General Qin could solve the problem for them?

Since General Qin could foresee things, perhaps he really knew.