Chapter 345

Ha Gong Da, staff quarters.

Knock knock, knock knock!

Hearing the knock, Qin Miao blearily opened his eyes—who could it be?

"Comrade Qin Miao, are you home?"

"Wait, I'm coming!"

Opening the door, a gust of cold wind blew in, Qin Miao shivered at once; he hadn't even seen the visitor's face clearly before he hurriedly stepped back.

"Come in and speak, come in and speak!"

Several people hurried in, faces full of smiles.

"Comrade Qin Miao, our Northern Institute has, following your design, completed the modification of the J-8's nose; we've come this time to invite you to attend the maiden flight of the modified aircraft…"

Qin Miao rubbed his eyes, then saw clearly that the visitors were all from the Northern Institute, with the leader being none other than Old Gu!

"Well… you guys can just tinker with it yourselves; even if I went over, I wouldn't be much help."

As soon as he said that, everyone present felt a bit embarrassed; you all came all this way—surely that shows enough sincerity? And yet you're unwilling to go?

Do you know how significant our J-8 is? It's the first domestically developed fighter jet in the country! It marks the leap from imitation to independent development—a huge step forward—and yet you won't even come over to take a look?

How much do you look down on our 601 Institute?

Seeing everyone's grim faces, Qin Miao hurriedly said, "Everyone, it's not what you think; it's mainly because Labor Day is coming up, and I need to take Miaomiao back to the Capital for a visit…"

In this era, Labor Day only gives one day off, but the 1982 holiday is special because it falls on a Saturday, allowing a three-day break—enough for a round trip to the Capital.

"That won't be a problem; anyway, going from Ha Cheng to the Capital you have to pass through Shenyang."

Ha Cheng lies at the northernmost tip of the motherland; heading south you must first go through Changchun, then Shenyang, crossing into Hebei before you can enter the Capital.

As long as you take the train, you basically have to go that route!

Qin Miao felt a little embarrassed; he really wanted to tell everyone he planned to fly back—the train wastes too much time! With only three days total, the round trip would be spent entirely on the road!

"Whichever day you take the train south, we'll do the maiden flight the next day—we'll be waiting for you!"

Fine!

With things having come to this point, can Qin Miao still refuse?

"Then let's book tonight's train." Since there's no avoiding it, I'll go—and I shouldn't hold them up; after all, nobody's easy, and it wouldn't look good to keep the elder brother of the nation's aviation industry waiting.

"All right, then tonight's sleeper, and we'll arrive tomorrow morning!"

That night, on the sleeper car.

"Comrade Qin Miao, we heard that back when you hadn't even registered for school, you were already on the train researching and solving technical problems with the teachers from Department Four, right?"

"Cough cough, that's all in the past—nothing worth mentioning."

"That's right; we're just bored now, so why don't you tell us how the J-8 could be further improved?"

As expected, this is a case of 'the old man's intention is not the wine'!

Just the maiden flight isn't much, but watching 611 develop a third‑generation jet has got 601 anxious; though they lack confidence in a clean‑slate redesign, they hope to upgrade the J-8 so it can substitute for 611's third‑gen jet, in case the 611 project fails…

Qin Miao felt helpless; he really wanted to say that Old Master Ba had no need for improvement, but… seeing everyone's eager eyes, he could only think it over in his mind.

The old J-8 with nose intake, tinkered with from the 1960s to the 1980s, only completed its side‑intake improvement in the mid‑1980s; after that came the late‑1980s peace‑era plan, which originally intended to upgrade the J-8 using American avionics, only to be thoroughly screwed over by the Americans.

In the 1990s, seeing they had no projects left, the Northern Institute kept tinkering, swapping in Soviet avionics to produce the J-8IIM, aimed at export—but not a single unit sold; then came the J-8IIACT, a technology demonstrator using digital quad‑redundant fly‑by‑wire, followed by the J-8III, and supposedly even an aerial‑tanker variant…

"The J-8's forte is outstanding high‑altitude, high‑speed performance, but its flaw is clear: poor maneuverability." Qin Miao said, "If you really want to change it, you could try turning this aircraft into an unstable‑layout design and installing advanced digital fly‑by‑wire flight control…"

Among those J-8 improvement items, Qin Miao actually didn't fancy any of them; but if we had to pick a general from the ranks of the short, the J-8IIACT would be worth a try.

Compared with other J-8s, this aircraft has a pair of canards added above the intake; that moves the lift center forward, shifting from stable to unstable, and with fly‑by‑wire control it becomes much more agile!

"The horizontal tail can also be made fully movable; under fly‑by‑wire operation it allows differential control, which would greatly improve the J-8's roll performance."

What Qin Miao could think of is basically just that. The main goal is to let these 601 folks build some technical reserves, preparing for future projects; after all, later on Shenyang Aircraft would, knowing shame then bravery, independently develop a stealth carrier‑based jet, and shortly thereafter almost simultaneously with Chengdu Aircraft fly a sixth‑generation machine…

"All right, let's proceed with research along these lines. Comrade Qin Miao, do you think that after developing this way we could match 611's project?"

Qin Miao honestly shook his head: "No."

What a joke—no matter how you tweak a second‑generation airframe, it's still just a second‑generation jet!

Thus, silence fell in the carriage.

Chu Miaomiao looked at the atmosphere and wanted to smooth things over.

"Everyone here are senior scientists, while San Shui is just a sophomore—how could his words be taken seriously…"

"Everyone, the technologies I just mentioned for those improvements are those needed for third‑generation, even fourth‑generation aircraft; so don't be discouraged—master them and you'll naturally be able to build up expertise over time." Qin Miao hurriedly reassured them.

However… these people obviously still lacked confidence; they wrapped up the discussion hastily, went to sleep in the berths, and when they woke up it was morning and they had arrived at Ha Cheng.

After getting off the train, the workers from Factory 112 were already on the platform to meet them; everyone took a vehicle to Factory 112, had breakfast, then proceeded to the apron, where pre‑takeoff preparations were underway.

Qin Miao glanced around—only factory personnel were present; where were the Air Force people?

This is being given the cold shoulder, huh—no wonder they summoned me just to boost numbers.

With mixed feelings, Qin Miao looked at the aircraft and had to admit, the description 'handsome man of the skies' still fits this plane.