The journey starts from the Titanic

Chapter 203 The First Battle-The First Sign of the Rise of the Aviation Industry!

Under the prayers of Old Leland, Arnold's second test flight was finally a surprise and a complete success.Although there are still some minor issues to be improved, there is no doubt that this is a superior aircraft.

In Arnold's words, it is the best airplane he has ever flown, which completely represents the aviation level of the United States. He has already sent this exciting news back to Washington headquarters.

Situ Nan called this aircraft the F1 fighter, hoping to make F1 the main fighter of the US Army Air Force.This goal is not difficult to achieve. The establishment of the US Army Aviation is short, and the main fighter type has not yet been determined. Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company has caught up with the good time.Relying on the superior performance of F1 fighters, Situ Nan does not believe that any aircraft company in the United States can produce aircraft that can compare with F1 fighters.

At present, there are not many aircraft manufacturers in the United States, and the competition is not too fierce. As long as Situ Nan is willing to burn money, it is not difficult to develop an advanced aircraft.

However, neither the current largest Curtis Aircraft Company nor the Wright Aircraft Company, which has a long history, will not be the rival of Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company, because Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company has a significant advantage that no one can compare. That is Cummins Power Company and Cummins Power Research Institute.

The best Cummins R101 engine in the United States equipped on the F1 fighter this time is the result of the Cummins Power Research Institute spent more than two years and invested a lot of manpower and material resources in research and development.

This was piled up entirely with money, and it was also Situ Nan Finance University. Generally, aircraft companies that are in the accumulation stage don't have that much money to invest tens of millions of dollars in research and development.

The fact that the Cummins Power Company’s $350,000 wind tunnel was just spent on the wind tunnel made most aircraft companies retreat.

Cummins Power Research uses the University of California at Berkeley as its technical base, bringing together a group of advanced scientific and technological talents in the United States, especially after digesting the engine manufacturing technology of the original Lincoln Aircraft Company, after painstaking research, finally developed this Cummins R101 engine.

No hard work, no gain, success is not something you can get casually. Cummins Dynamics Institute has finally come up with the first convincing result!

Although the Cummins R101 engine is undoubtedly rubbish in the eyes of later generations, the Cummins Power Company, which has only 50 people in total, is just a little better than the cottage factory, but the success of the F1 fighter has made Situ Nan suffer. Inspire.

In his view, Cummins Power Company or Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company is a seed. If you take care of it, you may not be able to become a towering tree like General Dynamics or Pratt & Whitney in the future?

"By the way, why didn't Xu Zhouyang come? Today is an important day. The success of the F1 fighter is not only the success of Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company, but also the success of Cummins Power. Why don't we see our hero behind the scenes?" Situ Nan asked.

"Xu originally wanted to come, but an experiment could not come temporarily. He told me that on the basis of Cummins R101, they have developed a more powerful engine, which is said to have reached 250 horsepower. They missed the excitement of today." Old Leland said.

"Oh. That's it!" Situ Nan nodded and said, "Since the plane has been successfully tested, you also saw Arnold's performance just now. Our plane is completely ready to go to the battlefield with machine guns installed! Now it's time to strike the iron. While it’s hot, take out mature products and let the army officer see how good we are!"

"Okay! I believe the lads of the Army will love these new toys." Old Leland smiled. Not only fighters, but he also saw the prospect of transporting planes opening up an additional bomber production line.

The Cummins R101 engine gave old Leland a lot of confidence, and it is also appropriate to install this powerful engine on a transport aircraft.Whether it is a fighter jet or a bomber (transport aircraft), as long as it has sufficient power, it is a bit inferior in other aspects and is also an excellent aircraft.

In this regard, Old Leland had to admire Situ Nan’s foresight. He invested heavily in Dow Cummins Power before the establishment of an aircraft company. Now, relying on its leadership in the field of engines, Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Co. Bombers will do more with less.Just like a person with deep internal skills, no matter what moves he learns, his power is incomparable.

"By the way, today's young designer Douglas is very interesting! We have to hold on to such outstanding talents. The so-called technological leadership is actually the leadership of talents. I hope the company can make more efforts in talent training. Situ Nan mentioned intentionally or unintentionally.

After Arnold returned, the Army Aviation Administration (probably the increasingly fierce air battles in Europe affected the American Army of the hillbillies. Thanks to the war, the original Army Aviation Communications Division was upgraded to the Aviation Administration, directly under the Secretary of the Army. This is for the future The Air Force became an independent army and laid the foundation.) It was decided to expand to 24 flying groups on the basis of the original 24 flying squadrons, two-thirds of which were sent to Europe.

To achieve this goal, the Army Aviation Administration plans to purchase 500 aircraft from Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company.Among them, 400 F1 fighters and 100 F1 fighters converted into reconnaissance aircraft.

In order to train pilots, the Army Aviation Administration set up the pilot training base in the western region in Los Angeles and opened related majors at the University of California, Berkeley.A year later, Situ-William University was initially completed and joined the plan.One is that the two schools are close to each other, and the other is Situ—William University is a local university that can provide venues for pilot training.

This move made the freshman Situ-William University and aviation forge an indissoluble bond. Later, his aviation major became the most popular major in the United States and one of the best aviation majors in the United States. Young talents in the industry are flocking, and every year students graduating from Situ-William University have become the target of competition for aviation giants such as Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company.

At the request of the Army Aviation Administration, the Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company first produced 1,000 two-seater trainers, which were actually "downgraded versions" of F1 fighter jets. The reason was simple: cheap.

After receiving the order from the Army, Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company added two production lines, expanding the number of people from the original 1,000 to 8,000.In addition to producing F1 fighter jets, it later also produced transport aircraft and seaplanes. The factory expanded from Long Beach, California to San Francisco in northern California and San Diego in the south.

In addition to Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company’s large-scale expansion, Cummins Power Company is not far behind, and the scope of expansion is even greater. In addition to its headquarters in Long Beach, it also has branches in Buffalo, Detroit, Houston and other major cities in New York. Factory, employs 5,000 people.

The Cummins R101 engine produced meets the needs of Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company, while also providing it to Curtis, Wright and other aircraft companies.Between 1917 and 1918, Cummins Power Company produced more than 4,500 engines, most of which were Cummins R101 engines, almost monopolizing the high-end engine market in the United States.

The Lafayette Flying Team is fortunate to be the first users of F1. In order to advertise and open up the international market, Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company sponsored 20 F1 fighters.

In November 1918, before the icy winter came, these 20 new F1 fighters were finally transported to the front.

A week later, without being fully familiar with the performance of the aircraft, an American cowboy pilot named Vince Carter of the Lafayette Flying Squad shot down two German Fokker aircraft in one fight. Slightly stunned.

You know, three months ago, this American cowboy was still picking up cow shit behind the cattle in Texas!Apart from participating in a cowboy contest, he knows nothing about flying.

The battlefield is the best place to test weapons and equipment.The magical performance of the American cowboy attracted the attention of the French Air Force!After the proud Gaul chicken pilots personally tested the F1 fighter, they immediately realized that the plane made by the American hillbilly that they looked down upon was not inferior to the current French most advanced Newport 28 fighter.

(In fact, the F1 fighter has surpassed the Newport aircraft, but the French will not admit that they lost to the Americans in aircraft manufacturing. In fact, they lost to Situ Nan.) After the shrewd French saw the power of the F1 fighter, It made a very pragmatic decision and placed an order for 200 F1 fighters and a production license for 300 F1 fighters from Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company.

To produce a license is to request Cummins Power Company to transfer Cummins R101 engine production technology.

Regarding the Cummins Power Company, Old Leland was not sure about it, so he put the Frenchman's request before Situ Nan.

Situ Nan naturally agreed to make money. Anyway, Cummins Power will soon come out with a more advanced Cummins R201 engine. It is not a big deal to sell it to the French after taking advantage of the price.

After obtaining the consent of Situ Nan, the cunning old Leland, after fishing for a period of time in France, finally sold the relevant technology of the F1 fighter to the French Newport company for $2.5 million, and the 200 F1 fighters also Sold for a sky-high price of $3 million.

After one received a total of 5.5 million U.S. dollars in income from the French, Old Leland and Xu Zhouyang laughed.Excluding the cost of 2.8 million US dollars, the net profit is 2.7 million US dollars, which can not only make up for the large amount of research funds in the front, but also slightly surplus, which can be used for company expansion.

There are reasons why the French are so happy. The main reason is that the F1 planes are of good quality. The French Air Force urgently needs them. Second, they don’t need to pay for themselves. The French can use loans from the US government to buy American arms. Are there Germans?After defeating the Germans, someone naturally paid the bill.

Ha ha!Maybe some of these funds came from the debts issued by the US government to Robles Securities!

Chapter 204 The Navy Wants Aircraft?

After making a deal with the French, Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company's subsequent expansion went much smoother, and the additional investment required was less than Stuart expected.

As for Cummins Power Company, which produces excellent products such as Cummins R101 engine, Stuart need not worry about it. Cummins Power Company, which holds a large number of product orders in his hand, can easily borrow sufficient funds from financial institutions such as Wells Fargo Bank. You can use other people's money to develop yourself.

In short, thanks to the outstanding performance of Cummins Power Company and Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company under the Cummins United Group, more and more people are beginning to know Cummins this famous brand.

Busy American military industry!The busy California military industry!Busy aircraft industry!Busy Long Beach City!

Since Cummins Power Company entered, in just a few years, other related aircraft manufacturing companies have appeared around Cummins Power Company and Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company. In addition to key parts and core technologies, Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company gradually Some products are outsourced to other companies and concentrated on aircraft design and development.

Aircraft manufacturing is a very large industry and has a huge influence on the country's industrial development.Although it is too early to make this conclusion, Situ Nan appreciates this approach of Old Leland very much.

Eat meat by yourself, distribute bones to the surrounding brothers, divide labor and cooperate, and slowly form a complete aircraft production chain, which undoubtedly accelerates the scale effect of the aircraft industry centered on Los Angeles, especially in Long Beach, 8% A population of ten is engaged in aircraft-related jobs, which has become the prototype of the American Aircraft City!

The development of aircraft also promoted the development of the petrochemical industry. Occidental Petroleum invested heavily in building a large chemical plant in Los Angeles to produce professional aviation gasoline, automobile gasoline, lubricants and a series of petroleum products.

In the second half of 1918, in the face of the fierce German counterattack, the U.S. Army Aviation Administration placed a US$6 million aircraft order with Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company for the purchase of F2 fighters upgraded from F1 fighters. .

After the expansion, the production capacity of Cummins-Lincoln Aircraft Company has been greatly improved, and the production speed has reached 100 per month. Almost every day, several aircraft are driven out of the assembly plant and then transported to the front line.Fortunately, this order was just completed and the war was over.

Regarding American airplanes, Britain, another major aviation country, is jealous and disdainful. They always think that their camel-type airplanes are the best, and only the unbelievable French will use American airplanes.

Also, the aircraft of World War I is not a weapon to determine the outcome of the war after all. As long as the powerful Royal Navy is still rampant in the oceans all over the world, the British have the capital to be proud of.

Seeing Army planes flaunting their might on the French battlefield, the U.S. Navy felt a little bitter. When did they get crushed by the army's gangsters?The army has what they have, and they have better equipment than the army!

Since Theodore Roosevelt took office, the United States began a large naval plan, so the navy has always been a major military expenditure.Before the war, the cost of a warship was enough to feed the army's 20,000 to 30,000 baozi.Therefore, for the Army, the Navy, which considers itself the Great Sea Wall of the United States, has always been disdainful.

Since the second half of 1917, more and more new F1 fighters appeared on the Western Front. The strong horsepower, flexible operation, and powerful firepower made German pilots suffer. Many ace pilots were careless, right. The performance of the F1 fighter was not understood, and was cut by the F1 fighter.

The seemingly clumsy F1 fighter jet produced by the United States is even more difficult to deal with than the British Camel aircraft?

After the loss of a large number of pilots, German pilots finally did not dare to compete with F1 fighters for speed. Close combat also had to be careful about the firepower of F1 fighters. It was not until half a year later that the Luftwaffe launched a new 135-horsepower engine fighter. Have the courage to fight F1 fighters again.

Prior to this, they had lost 230 planes under the guns of F1 fighters, so F1 fighters were also called "F1 disasters" by the Germans.