Chapter 318 All Parties Come for the Airship

The scenes in London and Rome were no different from those in Los Angeles. A large number of media, curious people, capitalists with hidden intentions, and military forces and groups formed tens of thousands of people who watched the Dawn airship.

Every time the Dawn airship arrived at a place, it would immediately become the focus and hot spot of the local area or even the country, and was widely reported by the local media.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this round-the-world voyage plan made many European and American media earn a lot of money and also gave many tabloids on the verge of bankruptcy a new life.

According to estimates, the number of people who went to watch the airship worldwide during this round-the-world plan exceeded 700,000, and the number of people who paid attention to the round-the-world voyage exceeded 5 million.

The airship in Australasia instantly became the world's most famous technological product, and people took boarding an airship to travel around the world as their lifelong goal.

On May 21, 1912, after a month and ten days, the Dawn airship returned to the sky over Sydney again, and was also welcomed by a large number of Australasia people.

This is the first time that Australasia has been at the forefront of the world in the history of circumnavigation. It is the Australasians and the flying equipment developed by Australasia that have completed the mission of circumnavigation for the first time.

At this time, the suburbs of Sydney are already crowded with people, and the media from all over the world have surrounded this area.

Everyone knows that if this circumnavigation plan is successful, Sydney will temporarily become the most dazzling pearl in the world.

In order to get the first news of the airship's circumnavigation and the subsequent developments, these foreign media have to go to Sydney.

This is also good news for Arthur. At least in the past month, Sydney's consumption level has risen a lot. These foreign media and tourists who have come from afar have created a considerable GDP contribution for Sydney.

As the Dawn landed on the open space in the suburbs with airflow and dust, the band that had been prepared for a long time immediately played cheerful music to celebrate this memorable moment.

After a while, the hatch of the Dawn airship gradually opened. First, the attendants came out, then the passengers of the airship, and finally the pilot and Director Theodore.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have completed a great moment together. On behalf of the royal family and government of Australasia, I congratulate you and encourage you, and present you with a commemorative badge." Arthur smiled and spoke on the built platform.

The souvenir of this round-the-world voyage is a gold-clad silver badge. The front of the badge is the appearance of the Dawn airship, and the back is clearly engraved with a sentence: This badge is only used to commemorate the round-the-world voyage plan of Australasia's self-developed AU-3 airship, code-named Dawn, which started on April 10, 1912. The plan lasted a total of one month and eleven days, and ended successfully on May 21, 1912, and was commemorated with this badge.

The total weight of this badge is as high as about 100 grams, of which the gold content exceeds 30%, that is, about 30 grams.

According to the current value of gold and silver, the cost of this badge is as high as more than ten pounds, which is several months' salary for ordinary people in Australasia.

Of course, the commemorative significance of such items far exceeds the actual value. If the commemorative significance of this badge is taken into account, the value may be multiplied several times or even dozens of times for Australasia and some people in certain aspects.

For Australasia, such a badge is indeed of extraordinary commemorative significance. In addition to the commemoration of this round-the-world voyage, this badge was awarded by Arthur himself, which also added a lot of intangible value to this badge.

Although for passengers with a ticket price of thousands of pounds, such a badge with a cost price of no more than ten pounds is nothing.

But after all, the workmanship is very small and exquisite, and it has special commemorative significance, so the passengers who received the commemorative badge are still quite satisfied.

On the Australasia side, of course, all the passengers on the airship were invited to attend the celebration banquet held tonight.

The passengers naturally had nothing wrong with it. After all, there was no reason not to participate in a grand and free banquet.

For some capitalists who have already had ideas about airships, the most important task at present is to inquire about the situation of the Australasian Airship Company, so this banquet has become a necessity.

After everyone left temporarily, Arthur looked at Director Theodore and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, Director Theodore. You have completed an event that is worthy of being recorded in the history of Australasia. You are a hero of the entire Australasian!"

Although the performance of the airships produced by the Aviation Laboratory is already very reliable, it is the first time to conduct an ultra-long-distance circumnavigation. It is impossible to say that there is no danger.

Director Theodore, as the director of the Aviation Laboratory, was able to personally take charge of this circumnavigation, risking the possibility of falling off the boat and dying, and completed an action that made Australasian shine. It can be said that he has made great contributions.

"It is my duty to contribute to His Majesty and the country. What's more, the performance of the Dawn airship is trustworthy, and our trip is more like a public travel." Director Theodore replied very respectfully.

"Okay, take a good rest for a few days! After attending today's celebration banquet, I approve a three-day holiday for you and all operators. After three days, I'm afraid the aviation laboratory will have to undertake a more difficult task. I estimate that the demand for airships this time is not small." Arthur patted Director Theodore on the shoulder and said.

Arthur couldn't be unaware of the actions of European and American capitalists, and naturally knew why they came to Sydney.

To be honest, this is a good thing for Arthur and Australasia. The more airships are sold, the more profits Arthur can make, and it will also make major European and American countries fall into a deep pit.

Imagine that a few years later, the various airships developed by various countries are flying in the sky, and when they are about to bombard the enemy country, the Australasia aircraft appear in the sky, instantly crushing and slaughtering these airships in all aspects. How wonderful will the faces of European and American countries be at that time?

You know, the most advanced AU-3 airship at present, if you look at the selling price, Arthur's profit for each airship sold is as high as at least 20,000 pounds.

These profits can just allow Australasia to build an airplane, or save up the profits of dozens of airships, and even build a super dreadnought.

The celebration banquet that night was very large, including the senior officials of the Australasia government, the royal family, businessmen and capitalists at home and abroad, media newspapers with good influence and relatively famous worldwide, all the passengers, operators and attendants on the previous plane, etc., were invited to this banquet.

Arthur also attended the banquet briefly, but did not steal the show. Instead, after encouraging everyone, he handed the banquet over to Director Theodore and the aviation laboratory.

After Arthur and the government officials left, the banquet, which was originally a little serious, became relaxed, and everyone began to talk and laugh, as if there was no level difference.

"Director Theodore, I wonder if your institute can sell airships like the Dawn to promote the development of the world's aviation industry?" When the banquet reached its climax, someone took the opportunity to ask a question while Director Theodore seemed to be in a good mood.

"Well, that's a question." Director Theodore pretended to think for a while, and when everyone looked at him, waiting for his answer, he continued: "In fact, everyone can see that our AU-3 airship really has the ability to travel around the world. Even if there is no stop, it can sail for at least half a month on the basis of carrying less than 40 people, which is at least 15,000 kilometers. It is no exaggeration to say that this airship can go directly to anywhere in Europe or America, and it only takes about half a month."

"This also means that such an airship has extremely high strategic value. In theory, the relevant technology should be kept strictly confidential."

Although it was determined at the beginning that such an airship did not need to be kept secret, facing these capitalists, Director Theodore would naturally not be stupid enough to tell everything.

According to Arthur's instructions, these capitalists should beg Australasia to sell airships, rather than Australasia begging them to buy airships, so as to maximize the benefits and suppress these greedy capitalists.

Seeing that many people looked disappointed, Director Theodore said slowly, "However, things are not without hope."

"Director Theodore, what do you mean?" Someone asked boldly.

"In addition to its extremely important strategic value in military terms, the value of this airship in aviation is also crucial to human development and human life. As for the consideration of these factors, His Majesty specifically told me that if we can ensure that the purpose of purchasing the airship is for non-military purposes, we can currently sell the AU-3 model airship to the outside world." The appetite-worrying part was over, and Director Theodore began to answer.

After hearing what Director Theodore said, many people present breathed a sigh of relief. After all, there are not many people among them who come specifically for military purposes. Who would be so stupid as to openly purchase the airship of Australasia for military purposes, except for some countries that have very good relations with Australasia.

The US military then formulated two plans to encourage some domestic capitalists to go to Australasia to buy airships, and then see if they can get one or two airships from these capitalists for research.

At the same time, the United States is also preparing to vigorously carry out research on airships. The US military does not believe that the United States of America will not be able to catch up with Australasia's development in airships in five years.

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