Chapter 896 Pigeon Helicopter
At 12:31 p.m. on August 7, all French government officials and members of parliament in Paris were controlled by the army.
Just over ten minutes later, under the gaze of many Paris citizens and the army, the famous Admiral Weygand entered the French government, and walked out about an hour later and went to the French Parliament.
At 2:30 p.m., a press diplomacy meeting was held in the French Parliament. The current Deputy Minister of Defense Roon, the commander of the Armored Corps, Major General Charles de Gaulle, and Army General Weygand all attended the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, Weygand made a shocking announcement that because of the treasonous behavior of the current French government, he would abolish the current French government and establish a temporary military government.
Weygand said that the attempt to surrender to Germany was a serious betrayal of France, and all members and officials who agreed to surrender to Germany would be sanctioned by Congress.
In addition to establishing a temporary military government, Weygand also stated that the French Parliament would be abolished until France won the war.
At the end of the meeting, Weygand also announced the appointment of positions in the French provisional government.
Weygand himself served as the president of the French interim military government and concurrently as the commander-in-chief of France. Former Deputy Defense Minister Ron became the Minister of Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the interim military government.
Charles de Gaulle was promoted to Chief of the French General Staff, Minister of the Army and Commander-in-Chief of the Paris Garrison.
Obviously, the three giants of the French interim military government are these three.
Because France itself is a country with serious bias, the status of the French Army is far greater than that of the Navy and the Air Force.
Especially after the current large-scale expansion of the Army, the influence of the Army has even far exceeded the sum of the Navy and the Air Force.
Weygand's statement caused an uproar, which also represents one of the most powerful countries in Europe. France has experienced considerable turmoil in a short period of time.
But what the media of various countries did not expect was that at this press conference, the British and Australasian media expressed support for Weygand's statement, and even publicly stated that France is on the right track.
What surprised the media of various countries even more was that two hours after this French diplomatic press conference, Britain and Australasia successively expressed their recognition of France's interim military government and stated that the relationship between France and Britain and Australia will never change.
Smart people have already seen that the British and Australasia are definitely behind the French military coup.
After all, only when France is at the forefront of the resistance against Germany can the British and Australasia become safer and reduce a considerable part of the losses.
However, it doesn't matter whether these people can see it or not. After the army led by Charles de Gaulle completely occupied the French government and parliament, and after the British and Australian governments quickly expressed their positions, the situation in France has stabilized.
After controlling a series of major peace advocates such as President Albert, Petain, Gamelin, and Laval, the remaining peace advocates can no longer make any waves.
What's more, the French interim military government has been recognized by Britain and Australia, which is equivalent to being recognized by most countries and regions in the world.
The opposition of Germany and Italy is useless because they are already at war with France.
Weygand, who became the president of the French interim military government, immediately announced the abolition of the Paris undefended plan on the afternoon of his inauguration, and redeployed the army to the north of Paris to build a more solid defense line.
At the same time, an order from the Ministry of National Defense was issued to the Maginot Line, requiring the Maginot Line to gather 200,000 troops and immediately march west to support Paris.
In the "Letter to All Frenchmen" published by the French Provisional Military Government to all of Paris and France, we can also see the attitude of the current Provisional Military Government and Weygand himself, that is, to resolutely carry out the Paris Defense War and defend Paris to the death.
With the changes in the French government, the army was also remobilized.
The most embarrassed at this time should be those French diplomats who are in contact with the German army. They are still trying to contact the German army, but their domestic government has undergone tremendous changes.
At this time, in addition to President Albert and other prisoners, perhaps only the governments of Germany and Italy are in a bad mood.
They are only one step away from taking Paris without bloodshed, but they were preempted by Britain and Australasia.
Compared with the previous French government, the French Provisional Military Government is obviously more difficult to deal with. Their attitude towards the war will be more determined, which is not a good thing for the Germans.
Although the French government's headache was completely solved, the poor situation in France was also worrying.
In order to allow the current interim military government to concentrate on fighting the Germans, Australasia decided to increase its support for France after discussing with the British.
First, the Australasian Expeditionary Force expanded from 600,000 to 800,000, and Australasians would account for 30% of the total number, or about 240,000 people.
Secondly, the Australasian government promised to support France with 1,200 aircraft, 550 tanks and 2,725 vehicles within three months.
This batch of weapons and equipment will be sold to the French government at a price 30% lower than the market price, so that the French army has sufficient weapons and equipment to fight against Germany.
The most important thing is the promise from the British. Compared with Australasia, the British are currently the country that can really help France.
After a brief discussion with France, the British promised that the troops retreating from Dunkirk would return to France within 30 days to help France protect Paris.
Secondly, Britain will join forces with the Indian, South African and Egyptian armies to open up the East African battlefield and eliminate Italy's colonial rule in East Africa and North Africa.
In addition, after the victory of the war, the Libyan colonies occupied by Italy will be ceded to France to expand France's colonial scope in Africa.
The continuous promises made by Britain and Australasia successfully made President Weygand and the French Provisional Military Government decisively choose to continue fighting against Germany.
After dealing with the French government, Britain and Australasia were relieved.
Britain can keep its homeland away from the war. It only needs to continuously invest troops and supplies in France to win the war at a small cost.
And Australasia does not have to worry that Germany will be beyond its control now. Now that Britain and France are stronger than in history, it may not be so easy for Germany to win the alliance between Britain and France.
What's more, there is a big country to the east of Germany that is eyeing Germany, which is also what the Germans are worried about.
Once the war on the Western Front comes to a standstill, will the German government choose to continue to stalemate with Britain and France, competing with each other in national strength, or will it choose to look for new opportunities in the east?
For Arthur, if he can drag Russia into this war, it will definitely be very cost-effective.
After this war, the strength of almost all major powers will be greatly weakened, but Russia, which has not yet participated in the war, is obviously not among them.
If Russia is not weakened, Russia will become the biggest enemy of Australasia after the war, and even the situation after World War II may be a hegemony between Australia and Russia.
If Russia can be consumed as much as possible in this war, not to mention that Russia will lose its hegemony, at least Australasia can gain the upper hand in the hegemony.
Just like the United States in history, as long as it takes the lead, it can kill Russia even if it competes with consumption.
Back to Australasia, in addition to solving the French government, Arthur also received another good news, which is Douglas Aircraft Company's research on helicopters.
The so-called helicopter is a variant of an aircraft, a new type of aircraft that can take off and land on the spot.
For current aircraft design, taking off and landing on the spot is a way that has never been explored. This also means that aircraft design manufacturers need to abandon all previous aircraft designs and concepts, start again, and design a truly new aircraft.
Australasia's research on helicopters can be traced back to the development of jet engines.
It is precisely because of more powerful aircraft that the development of this type of helicopter has become possible.
And now, after a long period of research and development, Douglas Aircraft Company's first generation of helicopters finally has a test aircraft.
Although he has witnessed too many new weapons with his own eyes, Arthur couldn't help but want to go to Douglas Aircraft Company in person to check it out when he heard the news of the successful development of helicopters.
Although Australasia is now ahead of other countries in the world in terms of aircraft, helicopters are a completely new field and are also very important.
Because helicopters can take off and land directly, they have a wider range of applications.
Even in special circumstances, helicopters do not need a helipad at all and can land on a relatively flat ground at any time.
It can even be the roof of a building, on an aircraft carrier or other objects instead of the ground.
In various fields, helicopters have an irreplaceable role that airplanes cannot replace, and they are definitely a very important helper for Australasia now.
Soon after arriving at Douglas Aircraft Company, Arthur also officially saw the first helicopter in Australasia, a transport helicopter named Pigeon by Douglas.
In terms of overall design, it is still very similar to the shape of helicopters in later generations. This helicopter has two propellers in total. The main propeller is located directly above the cab, providing power for the helicopter's takeoff and landing, and is also the power source of the entire helicopter.
The auxiliary propeller is located at the end of the helicopter, and its main function is to generate a reaction torque that can offset the reverse rotation of the fuselage when the main rotor rotates.
"Your Majesty, please see, this is the specific properties of our new Pigeon helicopter." Douglas smiled and handed Arthur a copy of the helicopter's specific data, and introduced: "
What you see is our test aircraft. The entire test aircraft is 10.18 meters long, with a lateral wheelbase of 3.07 meters and a height of 3.82 meters.
The main propeller diameter reaches 11.6 meters, which is also the most suitable length after our calculation.
In terms of power, we use the latest diesel engine, and the maximum speed is expected to reach 185 kilometers per hour.
The entire test aircraft weighs 1.175 tons, and the maximum take-off weight is expected to reach 1.825 tons.
As for the specific data in various aspects, we can only see the results after the specific test of this test aircraft."
Arthur nodded and said calmly: "Then start the test."
Today's test alarmed many generals of the Australasian military. After such a long development, the aircraft has long proved its importance in the military and civilian fields.
Helicopters are quite special aircraft, and the military's top generals also attach great importance to helicopters.
Especially after learning that Arthur would also visit the test site, the military became more excited and crazy. You know, all kinds of weapons that Arthur watched the experiment in person have been proven to be of vital importance to the war.
This also means that, at least in Arthur's mind, the role of helicopters is not weaker than those weapons.
After receiving Arthur's order, the test of the new helicopter began soon.
This test is also very simple, and it is to test the maximum take-off weight and flight speed of the helicopter, and test the stability of the helicopter.
These are almost the three elements of the aircraft, load, speed and stability.
After several rounds of seemingly simple but actually very complicated tests, the specific data of this test aircraft was finally delivered to Arthur.
In terms of load, the performance of this test aircraft is better than its expected data. The maximum take-off weight of this helicopter is predicted to be only 1.825 tons, but in the actual test, it successfully flew into the sky with a weight of 1.915 tons.
Although it is only 90 kg in load, the extra 90 kg means that the helicopter can accommodate more supplies and has greater strategic significance.
In terms of speed, the maximum speed of this test aircraft has exceeded 200 kilometers per hour, and the stable cruising speed can reach more than 133 kilometers per hour.
Although the speed is far less than that of a normal aircraft, no vehicle on the ground can compare with this helicopter, which already represents its significance.
What's more, this test aircraft is only the first generation, and it will undergo a lot of improvements and tests before it will be officially put into production.
This also means that the performance of the Pigeon series helicopters can be improved, and its speed will definitely be faster after it is truly put into production.
The test aircraft can climb up to 3.4 meters per second, and its practical ceiling is about 2750 meters. The fuel storage capacity of an ordinary fuel tank is 127 liters. The full-load range of the test aircraft using an ordinary fuel tank can reach 145 kilometers, and the maximum range can reach 425 kilometers.
If an auxiliary fuel tank is installed, the fuel storage capacity can reach 189 liters. On this basis, the full-load range can be increased to 227 kilometers, and the maximum range can be increased to 616 kilometers.
Although there are certain defects in the range, considering that the helicopter itself is not large, and because it has just been developed, this defect can be appropriately ignored.
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