Chapter 578 Summer Thunder (10)

All along, carrier-based fighters have used Bf-219A, while land-based fighters have mainly used Bf-219B after a period of time. The difference between type A and type B is that type B is equipped with MW-50 system (water/methanol spray liquid), which is slightly heavier than carrier-based aircraft and has a slightly faster maximum speed.

Carrier-based aircraft have been tested to be equipped with type B, but if type B is not "drug-proof" after adding take-off and landing equipment, its performance is not as good as type A. If it is "drug-proof", the engine life will be shortened. For aircraft carrier formations that cannot replace spare engines during sea operations, this is not only equivalent to wasting an aircraft in vain, but may also bring danger to pilots-who knows when the engine will have problems. Problems on land can still be saved, but parachuting at sea is obviously a life-or-death struggle, so type A was finally chosen.

After the improvement of the A and B types, with the arrival of Jiro Horikoshi and his team, Messerschmitt, known as the "king of patches", further developed the C type, hoping to further extend the life cycle of the Bf-219 until the company's new generation of carrier-based fighters (Gale Kai) are successfully formed, so as to defend the company's absolute king status in the fighter market. After the Me-262 was determined as the main fighter, the production volume has begun to rise sharply.

The Japanese team is mainly composed of chief designer Jiro Horikoshi, structural calculation expert Sone, weapon instrument expert Changzhong and landing gear expert Kato Sadahiko. Behind him are more than 40 professional designers and technical experts from three countries of the MRM Design Bureau. In the words of Jiro Horikoshi: All the experts you can think of are here, and they are world-class.

Faced with the results of the early changes made by the German side, Jiro Horikoshi himself was also surprised. He did not expect such a revolutionary change, as if giving the Zero Fighter a new life. The most interesting one is Sone. He was responsible for making careful calculations to reduce weight. Now he not only added back the weight that was subtracted, but also racked his brains to calculate how to further strengthen the structure without affecting the flight status.

The C type has relatively large improvements, mainly including:

First, the replacement of the engine. BMW has thoroughly mastered the technology of the Rong engine and used its exquisite manufacturing process to further squeeze the limit by boring the cylinder diameter by 3mm, achieving an increase in total displacement, which is 45 horsepower higher than the original engine power, and the weight is almost unchanged. Based on this 45 horsepower, the subsequent performance has improved a lot.

Second, the folding wing tactics were developed. Messerschmitt has developed folding wings on the Bf-109T. The original Zero fighter has not been able to fold due to insufficient structural strength. The C type has further strengthened the wing part on the basis of the A type, and the single wing can be folded upward and inward by about 1.6 meters, saving a lot of parking space.

Third, the firepower is reconstructed. In order to offset the increased weight after folding and strengthening the structure, Jiro Horikoshi boldly proposed to cancel the two 13mm aircraft machine guns, and then move the two 20mm/MG151 aircraft cannons from the wing tips to the wing roots, and increase the single-gun ammunition from 150 rounds to 220 rounds - the firepower projection per unit time is reduced, but the firepower sustainability is enhanced.

The total weight of the improved Bf-219C increased by 27 kg, and the maximum flight speed increased from 619 km/h to 631 km/h, and the rest of the flight performance remained basically unchanged.

The benefits of using folding wings are obvious. The fighter capacity has increased by 25% at once. The hangar space that originally carried 30 fighters can now accommodate 38 aircraft. This is obviously of great significance to aircraft carriers that must be meticulous and use every space to the extreme.

Ozawa pulled Jiro Horikoshi aside and whispered to him in Japanese: "Is there a problem with the firepower?"

"No problem. Compared with the MG151, our 99 gun is simply garbage. The ammunition is only half as powerful as the Germans. And you should know that the domestic Zero Fighter 20mm ammunition is only 60 rounds, mainly relying on machine guns. Now the MG151 is still retained, and the ammunition has increased, which will not affect the use of pilots."

Seeing his confident look, Ozawa was relieved, and asked about the follow-up progress of the Gale Kai, and looked forward to seeing it soon.

"It will take some time." Jiro Horikoshi admitted that he was delayed in China at the beginning, and said angrily, "If I had come 3 months earlier, the situation would not be like this... But you know those bureaucrats." Ozawa could only sigh about this.

After in-depth discussions and listening to the pilots' test flight opinions, everyone agreed that the firepower-adjusted C-type would not have a particularly big impact on the elite naval fighter pilots, but the benefits of the folding wings were too great. The C-type should be the direction of use of carrier-based aircraft in the short term, and in the long run, we have to wait for the next generation of main carrier-based aircraft. Marshal and Ozawa considered it again and again, and for the sake of safety, they did not choose to replace all of them, but only half of them.

Afterwards, the fleet's senior leaders went to Heinkel Company accompanied by the Armament Department. They took a bigger step in upgrading the He-218 and launched the He-218D.

The engine of this model was changed from DB601E to DB605B (605 is an upgraded version of the 601 series), equipped with a first-stage two-speed mechanical supercharger (mainly for medium and low altitude performance) and has stable mass production capabilities. The power reaches 1575 horsepower, which is 125 horsepower more than the original 601E engine. However, the engine size, diameter and volume are basically the same as DB601E, and the weight has only increased by more than 50 kilograms. After many wind tunnel tests, Heinkel Company accurately adjusted the center of gravity distribution of the entire aircraft, and appropriately lengthened the fuselage and tail to maintain balance, and the fuel tank capacity has also increased.

This can be regarded as a major improvement of the He-218 series. After the improvement, the maximum speed of the aircraft has reached more than 611 kilometers per hour. More importantly, the take-off and landing and handling performance at low speeds have become better. Several pilots who went with him praised it and believed that it could at least reduce the take-off and landing accident rate of novice pilots by more than half.

Heinkel told the fleet's top brass that the next generation modification was also being promoted, and it was expected to use the latest DB605D engine, with the overall power increased to more than 1,700 horsepower, and then the folding wing and other functions would be introduced.

Marshal and Ozawa followed suit and replaced half of the He-218s in the fleet.

Marshal was a little surprised. Last time he heard that Heinkel's new generation modification would include the folding wing function, why did they rush to launch the new model without waiting for the folding function to be designed and finalized? After Junkers saw the Ju-198 (Meteor Kai) technical verification aircraft, he understood the intention of Heinkel's flattery: they had clearly felt the pressure from Junkers and were ready to use technical improvements to extend the product life and grab the market as much as possible.

Ju-198 is not an upgraded version of Ju-98, but a completely different model.

The Meteor Kai has both dive bombing and horizontal attack functions, and is very simple to produce, extremely suitable for mass production, and the main wing folding is considered in the design. Compared with the Japanese original, the improved German model is stronger and faster, and the most critical bomb load index has also been improved - it can carry 1,000 kg torpedoes or 800 kg aerial bombs.

Ozawa asked the Japanese experts present, and they generally believed that compared with the He-218 and Bf-219, the Meteor Kai has the least number of parts and the lowest production requirements, and it is basically no problem to bring it back to Japan for production - as for the first two aircraft, they dare not guarantee it.

In terms of engine selection, due to the previous experience of Do-412 and the successful comparison of Ar-352, Junkers wisely chose the BMW801 series engine, but reserved an interface for the 901 series. The only thing that disappointed everyone was that this aircraft is still under development, and the expert group said that it will take at least December to go into mass production.

As the commander of the aircraft carrier formation, Ozawa was very fond of the Meteor Kai, which combines dive bombing and torpedo capabilities, has excellent maneuverability and is particularly easy to produce. He looked around the aircraft again and again, and finally went back reluctantly.

On the way back, the two quickly discussed that if the Ju-198 was successfully developed, the aircraft carrier would still be equipped with three types of aircraft after the Ar-352 was officially installed, and the composition ratio could be adjusted to about 40%-45% fighters, about 5% carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft, and then 50% attack aircraft. When facing different tasks, general-purpose attack aircraft can bring great convenience and combat effectiveness. If the increase in the number of carriers brought by folding is considered, Ozawa is optimistic that the fleet's combat effectiveness can be increased by at least 40%.

His only concern is that the Meteor Kai has higher requirements for the quality of pilots-both torpedoes and dive bombings must be mastered, and the training will be more difficult.

When he told Marshal about this doubt, the latter laughed: "Why do you do this? Isn't it better to equip more pilots? It must be difficult to train pilots who can both torpedo and dive bomb, but it is much easier to separate them into two types of pilots. I have over-equipped dive bombing and torpedo attack pilots, and they can also form effective rotations - the plane is still the same plane, and different pilots are assigned to different tasks."

Ozawa nodded in agreement, but felt gloomy when he thought of the actual situation in China: "Germany has a way to equip enough pilots, what about Japan? When the new folding-wing aircraft is put on board, I am afraid that even the pilots on the new aircraft carrier will not be able to gather enough."

"Don't worry about General Hori Teikichi, he will definitely train reserve pilots vigorously when he returns this time." Marshal comforted him, "Besides, we can also provide some pilots. When the combined fleet goes west again, there is no need to worry about this matter."

Late at night on July 23, the main force of the huge German naval fleet set off from Italy, ready to start implementing the "Peace Pearl" plan...