Planes and Planes and Planes

The military personnel had their own stands, and perhaps because of their presence, every inventor of the aircraft seemed very excited.

Previously, the military allocated funds to some inventors in the field of hot air balloons to help them further their inventions. To be honest, this made inventors of non-hot air balloon aircraft extremely envious. Now their opportunity has come.

After exchanging a few words with Lin Qi, Mr. Truman went to a corner with the military personnel for a quiet conversation. They were discussing some ideas from several inventors they were following closely.

In fact, since the invention of submarines, the military did not use them immediately because they had been considering how to counter them.

It's not just the Federal that has submarines; other technologically advanced countries, such as Gefra, also have submarines.

The Federal may be the first country to turn underwater equipment, which has always been used for civilian purposes, into weapons of war. Once these submarines begin to show their ferocious and sharp claws in the East Ocean, other countries will soon follow suit.

Sometimes, despite the changing times and technological advancements, what's lacking is just an idea, a flash of inspiration.

After numerous tests, it was found that when observing the Sea Surface from the perspective of a ship, the submarine hidden in the water is completely invisible due to factors such as light. However, if viewed from a higher angle, reducing the visual difference caused by the refraction and reflection of light on the Sea Surface Sea Surface, people can spot the submarine with the naked eye.

So, over the past two years, the military has allocated a lot of money to inventors of hot air balloons that they believe may not be valuable but can be deployed to the battlefield at any time, to develop a "rapid ascent observation hot air balloon" project that can be mounted on ships and quickly taken off for observation at any time.

However, the military has always believed that hot air balloons cannot solve these problems well. First of all, hot air balloons are easy to shoot down, even though they have armored hot air balloons, they are still easy to shoot down.

Secondly, once hot air balloons can no longer stay in the air for long and become consumables, more hot air balloon equipment will have to be installed, taking up more space on the ship. Once the hot air balloons are exhausted, submarines will become a major weapon.

Therefore, the military turned its attention to non-hot air balloon aircraft, which might be able to solve this problem.

After talking with the military personnel for a while, Mr. Truman sat back down next to Lin Qi, and the aircraft exhibition began.

The first to appear was a very standard fixed-wing aircraft, at least it was very similar to the aircraft in Lin Qi's memory.

The designer of this fixed-wing aircraft is an inventor who is well-known in the field of aircraft invention. He first had his assistant tow the aircraft around the site, while he himself stood on the side of the stands to introduce his new design to everyone.

"... In this design, I used more Aluminum Alloy. Mitro Industries revamped their Aluminum Alloy formula last year, resulting in a slightly stronger yet lighter Aluminum Alloy..."

"... Based on some issues we encountered in the previous design, we made targeted modifications. We increased the wingspan and wrapped the wings in sheepskin..."

Wrapping airplane wings in genuine leather... that's really amazing. Lin Qi found it hilarious, and some people even laughed out loud.

Of course, some people were not so happy, not referring to this inventor, but to other inventors who had not yet had a chance to showcase their work.

Everyone knows the value of a "brilliant idea" in invention and creation, but its greater value lies in the process of fooling laymen and investors. The inventor who put armor on the hot air balloon simply put forward the idea and obtained a lot of funds to realize it.

This shows how important "I have an idea" is to them.

Wrapping airplane wings in genuine leather is not a bizarre idea; in fact, some people have even stuck feathers into airplane wings in the past. The reason for this phenomenon must be that it is effective.

There is currently no perfect aerodynamic system suitable for widespread application, and people are still exploring this area. However, some amateur inventors have discovered through continuous experiments that animal leather is more stable than wooden aircraft wings without any coating or outer covering during actual use.

They may not know the underlying principles of doing this, but they know the benefits of doing it.

The inventor went on to explain why he had wrapped the airplane wings in sheepskin, and after presenting a great deal of data, Lin Qi roughly understood some of it.

In layman's terms, the current design is lighter and more stable in flight, and the redesigned center of gravity also reduces the chance of accidents during landing.

He also listed some hypotheses, such as replacing the engine with a more advanced one would make the plane fly faster, and that if he could get more funding, he could completely replace the wooden structures in the aircraft design with Aluminum Alloy...

In short, in his opinion, this aircraft was almost perfect!

The inventor and his assistant then began the test flight. They had made preparations before the exhibition started. When the plane was parked at the end of the runway, the people in the stands gradually stood up.

This is an exciting time; humanity's desire and dream to conquer the sky has existed since the dawn of human society.

Ancient people always dreamed that humans could fly like birds. Now, inventors in the Federal are making continuous progress every year on the road to conquering the sky.

After accelerating, the plane successfully took off, and Lin Qi was somewhat surprised, "It flew!"

Mr. Truman remained calm, saying, "Yes, it flew. People could do that ten years ago, but until now, all we can do is fly."

He didn't seem as excited as the others; he was calm, and even gave off a somewhat disappointed feeling.

Aircraft have existed for a long time and can fly, but that's all they can do.

After flying a few kilometers, the plane would crash. If the pilot was lucky, he could survive and design the next aircraft. If he was unlucky, his creation would be destroyed. At one time, some people thought that these aircraft inventors were all frauds who cheated investors out of their money. Not only were their creations useless, but they also posed terrible dangers.

These issues persist even now: takeoff is easy, but landing is always a major problem, as is flight distance.

To make takeoff easier and to fly farther, it is important to ensure the total weight of the aircraft. Currently, the aircraft with the largest payload can only carry two pilots of relatively thin build, apart from its own structure.

So far, this may indeed be an industry full of potential, but people still can't see the future in the short term.

Compared to a hot air balloon that costs thousands of dollars, an airplane that costs tens of thousands of dollars and could cost a life seems even less suitable for use in war.

This is also why Lin Qi initially subconsciously described Mr. Truman's field of aircraft as "dangerous," mistakenly believing that these inventions were for war, a view that Mr. Truman did not share.

These planes are probably only good for suicide.

Military assessors are still evaluating the aircraft, assessing the shortest acceleration distance for takeoff, the takeoff speed, the takeoff angle, and its stability in flight.

Two years ago, an aircraft experienced severe vibrations during flight, which ultimately led to its disintegration. Stability has become one of the standards for judging the quality of an aircraft.

The onlookers cheered, but the inventor in the sky began to sweat. He had done all he needed to demonstrate, and now it was time to land.

Modern airplanes have two landing methods. If you are very confident in your airplane design, you can land on the runway. This is one of the reasons why the wings of fixed-wing aircraft are still made of wood. Its flexibility and stretching performance bring some convenience when people need to glide.

Another option is to land in a haystack and gamble that you won't be crushed by the engine or killed by the shattered propellers.

Ultimately, the inventor chose to land on the runway; he needed to land on the runway to secure military funding.

The plane adjusted its angle and altitude and began to decelerate, while the people in the stands tensely clenched their fists.

The moment the aircraft's front wheel made contact with the ground, a loud "pop" of a tire burst echoed throughout the stands, and the military personnel responsible for evaluating the aircraft immediately marked it with a large "X".

Fortunately, the problem wasn't too serious afterward. After the front tire blew out, the aircraft deformed rapidly, the landing gear broke off, and after shattering, the fuselage crashed heavily to the ground.

The aircraft was well-balanced. If either wing had touched the ground, it could very well have been another fatal accident, although from the current perspective, it is already an accident.

The inventor, looking as if he'd just been pulled out of the bathtub, stood in front of the stands, forcing a smile. "It's... safe, I've proven it!"

Mr. Truman shook his head; he was disappointed and had little hope for what lay ahead.

At this moment, Lin Qi suddenly interjected, "It might be because of the track; it's not smooth enough."

Mr. Truman looked at him with some curiosity, "You know about these things too?"

Lin Qi smiled and said nothing; neither of them took the matter to heart.

In the later aircraft displays, the exhibits were largely similar, mainly focusing on the wings, until Lin Qi saw a propeller-driven aircraft appear.

It was a flight cabin shaped like a large egg. The pilot sat on the engine and used a transmission rod to rotate the propeller directly above the aircraft, attempting to use lift to raise the flight cabin.

Mr. Truman looked at it very carefully, which was also the purpose of his visit. It may not be the first rotorcraft in history, but its level of completion is already very close to the helicopter that Lin Qi had in mind.

However, everyone was ultimately disappointed. Despite the best efforts of the aircraft and its designers, it still failed to take flight.