Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Near the provincial capital, 011 New Base.

"Once the plane flies back, we'll take it and leave immediately," Thomas said.

This isn't a good place. All sorts of accidents happen when we're here. Thomas believed it was a sign from God, and he didn't want to stay any longer. Who knew what else might happen?

"Okay, but do you have a pilot?" Yu Ximing asked.

Thomas was stunned.

George had flown the plane back, but it ended up in the middle of nowhere. They struggled through the jungle for a long time to get out. If it were a military pilot, they would have received relevant training, because accidents could happen during missions, and they might crash anywhere.

But George was the company's test pilot, focusing on technology. He had never received such training. He spent seven or eight days in the mountains and was severely traumatized. After returning to the base, he took a plane and left overnight, refusing to stay any longer.

So, they didn't have a pilot!

So, what to do next? Find a new pilot from the country? Or hire a pilot here? Or dismantle the plane's wings and have a transport plane fly in to take the plane away directly?

Either way, it would be very troublesome.

"By the way, the plane has already taken off from there and is estimated to fly over in two hours," Yu Ximing continued, "Before you find a new pilot, how about we help you study it first?"

"Alright," Thomas agreed. After all, they had some free time, and it was better to do something than nothing.

"We've already obtained a scaled-down model of the plane and put it in our wind tunnel to test," Yu Ximing continued, "We've already discovered many problems, and perhaps we can find solutions."

Perhaps? Thomas didn't have much hope. What level could these Easterners have? But it was always good to let them try.

Yu Ximing also breathed a sigh of relief. Surveying and copying always required disassembling and reassembling. Many places still had traces of disassembly, because it was easy to tell the difference between simply screwing something on and taking it off and screwing it back on. The skins that were removed also used new rivets.

Now that they were helping to solve the problem, it would require disassembly, which would make it easier to cover up the traces.

The roar of a plane came from the distance. When that familiar plane landed, Thomas finally breathed a sigh of relief. The people were safe, and the plane was safe. This was good news.

As for working with the Easterners and preventing them from contacting the plane alone? They were already exhausted and would let the Easterners do whatever they wanted.

The plane landed smoothly. The Eastern pilot was indeed amazing. After just one contact, he was able to master the operation of the plane. Should they try to trick this pilot and lure him to the West?

The plane taxied directly into the hangar. Next, the Eastern technicians would help with the modification.

Thomas found Lei Zi.

"Lei, your skills are very good. Can we talk?"

"Of course. How about going to the restaurant? We can chat while drinking?"

So, in the pilot's restaurant, Thomas and Lei Zi had a pleasant chat. The more they talked, the more surprised Thomas was. This Eastern test pilot knew a lot of knowledge and was no worse than their Western counterparts. This was a first-class test pilot!

A test pilot was a more advanced pilot, or rather, a flight engineer. They not only had to understand flying but also had to understand the plane. When a malfunction occurred during the test flight, they had to immediately determine where the fault was and what caused it, and provide improvement suggestions to the designers.

Lei Zi could do this. Looking at his侃侃appearance, Thomas was determined to poach Lei Zi.

And then… they drank too much. Thomas didn't even know how he got back to the dormitory. In short, when he woke up, it was already the next day.

"Mr. Thomas, are you awake?"

Thomas covered his head and looked at the receptionist: "What's the matter?"

"Engineer Yu said that there is already a modification plan for the plane. If you wake up, you can go and take a look."

Modification plan? So fast? Thomas couldn't believe his ears: "Really? Okay, I'll go take a look."

How did the Easterners modify it? When Thomas came to the hangar, he saw that many of the plane's skins had been removed. In the tail section, a new small frame was being riveted. Looking at this device, Thomas was a little confused.

"What are you doing?"

"Adding a strake to the horizontal tail."

"Adding a strake to the horizontal tail? Your imagination is too rich. I've studied airplanes for decades and have never heard of adding a strake to the horizontal tail."

"Now you've seen it."

"Damn it, take it off. Drilling holes in the frame like this will reduce the strength of the fuselage!"

"It's already been drilled."

Thomas had the urge to hit someone. Why didn't you tell me about your modification plan in advance? If you had told me in advance, I wouldn't have agreed to you modifying it like this. Now, it's already been riveted, and I don't even know if the plane will have structural damage.

"Mr. Thomas, since it's already been modified like this, why not try it after it's modified?" Qin Yang, who had disappeared for many days, finally appeared.

"President Qin, you're an amateur. You don't even know that the strake wing is the latest aerodynamic achievement. This thing is installed on the main wing, not on the tail wing."

"Yes, I don't understand. What is the strake wing for?" Qin Yang asked.

"This thing is very useful. It can generate vortices, increase the speed of the boundary layer at the wing root, thereby delaying the separation stall at the wing tip, and greatly enhance the aircraft's high angle of attack performance."

"Since it can delay the stall at the wing tip, doesn't that mean it can delay the stall of the tail rudder?"

Thomas was stunned. That's right, why didn't I think of that?

The horizontal tail failing during a dive is the same as the situation of the wing at a high angle of attack. As long as there is a strake wing, it can delay the stall and maintain the rudder's effectiveness, thus solving the problem.

No designer has ever thought of adding a strake wing to the tail, but the Easterners thought of it. This method is the simplest, and perhaps it can really solve the problem!

Thinking of this, Thomas's heart was filled with excitement again. He had a premonition that this time might really solve the problem!

President Qin is too amazing! An amateur actually solved the problem that troubled their professionals. No, it shouldn't be President Qin who solved it. He just raised this question. It should be their Eastern aircraft designer who solved it. There are actually many talented people here!