Chapter 212： New aircraft

In the second month after the arrival of 1915, Edel visited the Coanda Aircraft Factory.

The use of aircraft over European battlefields is now commonplace, and most of today’s aircraft are still used for reconnaissance. Because of the emergence of Edel, Romania used a machine gun mounted on the fuselage in the Second Balkan War and shot down a Bulgarian aircraft, which also opened up the minds of various countries to the use of aircraft.

Now warring countries are equipped with a large number of aircraft with machine guns for reconnaissance and combat. Therefore, the original space-time can only be used for investigation at this time, and the scene of seeing the opponent's plane spitting and spitting and pulling out the pistol to shoot at it is gone. Now basically when I see the opponent, I start to circle so that the first officer can control the machine gun to shoot at the enemy aircraft. In the most fierce Battle of the Marne, Britain, France and Germany sent out hundreds of planes to fight each other. However, because they could only flanks and the shooting angle was not good, this big scene of hundreds of planes was actually a reality. The numbers shot down are also more touching. From morning until sunset, the two sides were shot down 27 planes, which was really tragic.

Now facing the huge number of aircraft of various countries participating in the war, Romania certainly cannot lag behind. Romania has the smallest gap with other countries in the emerging matter of airplanes. Only by being in the first group can Romania have a better development in the future. Now Edel is here to inspect the latest Romanian aircraft, and it is also the first new aircraft to be assembled entirely from domestically purchased parts.

In the past, Romanian aircraft were purchased from engines produced by the French Landshen Company, but now the Romanian Power Laboratory and the Coanda Aircraft Factory have finally produced their own engines, which are completely new. It is different from the rotary cylinder engine currently used in various countries, but completely relies on the ideas of Henry Coanda and Feraicu, the rotary shaft star air-cooled engine produced.

The only downside is that the shaft for this engine must be imported from Germany. And because it is the first rotary shaft engine, it has a certain reduction in service life compared to the current rotary cylinder type, and can only reach 600 hours of service life. But all this is worthwhile, because the horsepower of this engine has reached 120 horsepower, far surpassing the 100 horsepower engines currently used in various countries.

"Your Majesty, please see, this is the new fighter we prepared for the Romanian military, and it is also the world's first nose-shooting fighter."

Feilaiku pointed to the plane in front of him, and excitedly talked to Edel. "Of course, the emergence of this aircraft is inseparable from the idea given by your majesty. The idea of ​​this shooting coordinator really makes us look at our horizons. This aircraft will become the most advantageous weapon for our Romanian airspace defense."

Hearing Firaicu's flattering, Edel was also smug in his heart. After all, how could he have forgotten the big killer, the shooting coordinator, of course, he needed to share his thoughts with the two aircraft designers in front of him. These two were not unexpected, and he quickly developed this gadget.

Edel looked at this petite airplane and listened to Firaicu explaining its performance to himself.

"Your Majesty, we privately named this aircraft Condor. It has a length of 615 meters, a wingspan of 910 meters, and a height of 24 meters. It is equipped with our own rotating shaft star air-cooled engine. The empty weight is 387 kg and the maximum take-off weight is 580. Kilograms, with two improved Maxim machine guns installed in the nose. It can be said that it is the best fighter in the world."

Hearing what Felayku said, Edel asked. "So compared to our previous Navigator II aircraft?"

"The two are not comparable."

Feraicu explained. "Although the engine horsepower of the Navigator 2 aircraft is much stronger, the aircraft is larger, and its turning and speed cannot be compared with this new aircraft. It can be said that the new Goshawk can single out two at the same time. Navigator II. If the number increases, Navigator II has no chance of winning."

After listening to Feraicu's efforts to promote sales, Edel still wants to see it for himself. "Let me take a test flight."

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

After answering Edel, Feilaicu recruited a test pilot to get on the plane and let Edel personally observe its performance.

Looking at the new plane circling up flexibly in the sky, Edel felt that this new plane was really good, much more flexible and faster than the previous ones. Now he has the answer in his heart. It seems that Romania's various aircraft need to be updated. Fortunately, there are only more than one hundred aircraft to be replaced.

"At this time, I will ask the army to purchase a terrific new aircraft. I believe that the purchase of this new aircraft will not be less than 200."

After the test flight, Edel made his promise to Firaicu and Coanda beside him.

Hearing Edel's words, Coanda immediately assured him. "That's great. We will continue to work hard to develop new aircraft so that the defenders of the Romanian sky will not lag behind other countries."

Hearing Coanda’s assurance, Edel nodded in approval. It seems that Coanda and others do not have blind self-confidence and know their own level. In Edel's view, it would be good to be able to keep up with the pace of the current countries. Don't look at the aircraft that is more advanced than other countries, but there is no generation gap. Countries such as Britain, France, and Germany, which are in war, can catch up in a while, and the investment in science and technology during the war is currently impossible for Romania to achieve.

For example, machine guns, tanks, submarines, airplanes, etc. were all obtained practical performance in World War I. Romania's leading position is only the advantage brought by the start-up. Ultimately, in this era of technological innovation, it still needs the investment of national strength and capital to achieve results, which is also lacking in Romania.

Of course, Edel needs more than just fighters What he needs is a bomber to attack the ground. So he told the two most famous aircraft designers in Romania. "I am very satisfied with this aircraft, but it is mainly aimed at the enemy's aircraft, and Romania still lacks a special ground attack aircraft."

"A plane designed to attack the ground?"

Seeing the confusion of the two designers, Edel knew that they hadn't turned the corner yet. In fact, all countries have not realized the importance of specifically targeting ground attack aircraft. The only exception is Germany, but they took a detour and handed over the task of ground attack to the airship, which is not a good choice. In fact, the United Kingdom, the first to develop bombers, does not have this idea. It will have to wait until November next year for Handley Page to develop the world's first O/100 bomber. Now Edel intends to develop it first.

"Yes, this aircraft needs at least 300 kilograms of ammunition, and needs a range of more than 300 kilometers, and the speed cannot be lower than that of a Goshawk fighter."

Edel made high demands as soon as he came up, which was also to put pressure on the two of them.

Felaicu said immediately after thinking about it. "Your Majesty, if you follow your requirements, then this new ground attack aircraft will require at least two engines."

"There is no problem."

"And the price is definitely twice as expensive as the current goshawk."

"This is not a problem either."

"Then how long is our development time?"

"two years"