Chapter 488: Reconnaissance Planes and Fighter Planes

Facts have proven that history can indeed be changed.

Although the World War did not break out in 1913 in history, European countries were already no strangers to things like airplanes, and tanks had also more or less taken shape, which is why Britain was able to deploy tanks in the First World War.

But now, under the interference of Spain, European countries generally value airships rather than airplanes.

Although airplanes have also been developed in European countries, this product, which is extremely unstable when flying, cannot be compared with airships in terms of either function or potential.

Airships can do the reconnaissance work that airplanes can do, and airships can even be used to transport supplies, which is something current airplanes are far from being able to do.

Airplanes only have the advantage of speed, but because European countries are not keen on the research and development of airplanes, the finished airplanes currently developed by European countries do not have a very large gap in speed compared to airships.

Comparing the two, airships are naturally more valued by European countries.

The military observer groups sent by many European countries, including Spain and Britain, also use airships to observe the war situation on the front lines.

The airships of these neutral countries all have relatively bright coatings, which is to allow the warring countries to better identify the airships and avoid accidental damage.

The military observer group sent by Spain is currently divided into three parts, stationed on the Western Front, the Eastern Front, and the Balkan Front respectively.

After months of detailed observation, it can now be almost certain that European countries, including Germany and France, only possess air force units composed of airships and do not have any military airplanes.

Judging from the intensity of the war on the front lines, if these warring countries had developed combat-capable airplanes, they would have long since put these airplanes into the battlefield.

After all, the daily casualties on the battlefield are huge, and if they could master air superiority, they could at least reduce the losses of the army.

The only thing that is not very certain is Britain, but according to the news from the Royal Security Intelligence Agency in Britain, it is highly probable that Britain has not paid too much attention to the research and development of airplanes.

Under the interference of Spain, the British government has focused most of its attention on the development of the navy. They cannot even keep their status as the hegemon of the navy, so naturally, they cannot have any mood to develop things like airplanes, which currently do not show much use.

This is the best good news for Spain. Currently, in terms of tanks and airplanes, the achievements made by Spain are definitely leading, and they have already opened up a large gap with European countries.

As time came to February 1913, the Spanish airplane R&D project team finally reported a piece of good news to Wang Gong: Spain's new generation of airplanes now has functions that surpass airships.

Wang Gong attaches great importance to airplanes. Upon learning that Spain's airplanes already had quite excellent finished products, Wang Gong did not hesitate and immediately rushed to the suburban laboratory where the airplane R&D project team was located to personally watch Spain's first practical airplane.

For the personal arrival of His Majesty the King, the entire airplane laboratory was quite excited.

Because this means that their experimental results have been recognized by the King, and there is naturally no need to worry about future R&D funds.

As the general head of the airplane R&D project team, Francisco Lawson Herick had been waiting at the entrance of the laboratory with a group of scientific researchers from the project team early in the morning, and Wang Gong also arrived with several high-ranking military officials amidst the respectful gazes of the crowd.

Without too much nonsense, everyone immediately entered the runway area of the laboratory, where two completely different airplanes were parked, waiting for everyone's appreciation.

"Your Majesty the King, please look, these are the two different types of airplanes we have newly developed. We have named them fighter-type airplanes and reconnaissance-type airplanes respectively.

The reconnaissance plane you see is named Imperial Eagle, a name derived from a large bird of prey in Spain. This airplane is 5. 8 meters long, 2. 2 meters high, has a wingspan of 8. 6 meters, and uses our latest rotary air-cooled engine, with a total weight of 428 kilograms.

After our testing, the maximum takeoff weight of this Imperial Eagle reconnaissance plane can reach 677 kilograms, and it can carry a load of 249 kilograms.

To facilitate reconnaissance, we only installed an improved Maxim heavy machine gun in the nose direction and only carried 632 rounds of ammunition.

After our testing, the average flight speed of this reconnaissance plane can reach 185 kilometers per hour, the service ceiling is 5775 meters, the maximum climb rate is 4. meters per second, and the maximum range is 375 kilometers.

Considering the problem of insufficient endurance, we installed a setup on both sides of the airplane that can carry auxiliary fuel tanks. If two auxiliary fuel tanks are carried, the maximum range of this reconnaissance plane can reach 570 kilometers.

The carried auxiliary fuel tanks can also be dropped at any time to ensure that in dangerous moments, our pilots can abandon the load brought by the auxiliary fuel tanks and get rid of the enemy at a faster speed."

Hearing the introduction of Francisco Lawson Herick, Wang Gong nodded, still quite satisfied with the current paper data of the airplane.

The airplanes of this era are certainly not comparable to the airplanes of later generations; whether it is flight stability and safety, or flight speed and range, they are only a fraction of the airplanes of later generations.

However, fortunately, other countries do not have airplanes of the same level at this time, and even if the airplanes developed by Spain are slightly simple, they are enough to crush the air forces of other countries by relying on the generation gap.

Other European countries are generally equipped with airships, and these bulky big guys in the sky have no power to fight back when facing airplanes.

Wang Gong had no questions, but several generals of the military had some doubts. Looking at the strangely shaped airplane in front of them, they asked: "Mr. Francisco, the machine gun of this airplane is placed at the nose. Will it conflict with the propeller at the nose?

If the machine gun bullets hit the propeller, doesn't that mean our pilots will face a suicidal situation?"

Hearing the inquiry from the high-ranking military officials, Francisco Lawson Herick was well prepared and said with a smile: "It will indeed face such a problem, but we have long had a response.

We have developed a component called a firing interrupter. Through the mechanical device linked to the propeller shaft, we can achieve the function of preventing machine gun bullets from hitting the propeller blades.

The specific method is that when the blade is aligned with the gun barrel, the gear protrusion or cam triggers the linkage mechanism to pause firing, allowing the bullets to pass through the gap between the blades.

When the propeller leaves the aiming range of the gun barrel, the device returns to its original position, and the machine gun can continue to fire.

In this way, our pilots do not have to worry about hitting the propeller blades and can deal with the enemy more easily.

Including the other fighter plane, such equipment is also installed to ensure that our bullets will not cause any damage to our own airplane."

Hearing the answer from Francisco Lawson Herick, the several generals of the military nodded, indicating that they had no questions.

It is also mainly because the current Spanish military has little contact with new weapons like airplanes. Except for the problems that can be seen on the surface, they actually do not quite understand what functions and roles this strangely shaped guy in front of them has.

Seeing that Wang Gong and the several high-ranking military generals accompanying him had no questions, Francisco Lawson Herick continued to introduce: "As for the other fighter-type airplane, its code name is Bullfighter.

We installed two machine guns on this fighter plane, located on both sides of the nose. This also makes the airplane look like it has two bull horns, which is also the reason why we named it Bullfighter.

Unlike the reconnaissance plane that can only carry one person, the Bullfighter fighter plane can carry two pilots, and the entire volume of the airplane is a whole circle larger than the Imperial Eagle reconnaissance plane.

The length of this fighter plane reached 6. 8 meters, 2. 5 meters high, and the wingspan is 9. 7 meters. Because the airplane volume is larger, coupled with the installation of two machine guns, the weight of the entire airplane reached 542 kilograms.

We equipped this fighter plane with a more powerful engine, allowing the maximum takeoff weight of the fighter plane to reach 771 kilograms, and it can carry a load of 229 kilograms.

In the case of carrying two pilots, this fighter plane can still be equipped with at least 1500 rounds of machine gun bullets."