Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 833 Let the Gold Devouring Beast Lay Golden Eggs (Fourth update, please subscribe)
October 10 seemed to be an extremely peaceful month, with nothing major happening in the world. It seemed that nothing major was worth recording in history.

At most, the Federal Republic of Germany joined NATO.

Apart from that, everything is peaceful around the world.

calm……

This may not be a bad thing for the little ball.

On October 10, the C5 four-engine jumbo jet manufactured and developed by Nanyang Aerospace Industries made its first cross-sea flight. Unlike the adventurous C707, the C717's test flight seemed a bit conservative.

保守是有原因的——去年12月13日，一架由BOAC运营的德哈维兰DH 106型彗星飞机在地中海厄尔巴岛附近8000米的高空突然解体并坠海，机上35人无一幸免。仅在三个月后3月17日，南非航空一架从罗马起飞的彗星飞机在西西里岛北部几乎以同样的方式在巡航高度解体，机上21人全部遇难。两起惨烈的事故导致所有在役彗星飞机被无限期停飞。

Even the 717, which had been in operation for almost two years, was implicated - because of its inadequate test flight, it was subject to external criticism, and of course there was worldwide suspicion of jet aircraft. After all, no aircraft had ever suffered so many fatal accidents in such a short period of time.

As a result, the 717 passenger plane was also grounded for a month due to the Comet incident, and only resumed flying after various inspections.

Therefore, the C707's test flight must be more thorough. After all, the world is now questioning whether jet airliners are reliable.

"Pity!"

Sitting in the car, looking at the calculated range of the C707 passenger plane after completing its first long-distance cross-sea voyage, Li Yian said with regret.

"It's a pity that the range is only 7200 kilometers..."

The 7200-kilometer flight distance is definitely enough if it is only used for the Atlantic route. Whether it is from London to New York or from Paris to New York, it can meet the needs. However, for Nanyang, it is a bit too high and too low. Because it takes 12000 kilometers to fly directly from Nanyang to the United States. In other words, taking a 707 passenger plane to and from South America still requires a transfer in Hawaii.

Likewise, direct flights to the UK are not an option as the distance is still a little far enough.

"We still need to keep working hard to develop large aircraft!"

Feeling the difficulty of the direct flight, Li Yian felt more relieved in his heart. After all, the success from 717 to 707 meant that Nanyang had carved out its own path in the field of large aircraft.

"If everything goes well, it will be put into operation next year, while Boeing and Douglas' jets have not yet started test flights. In other words, the C707 will have no rivals for at least the next two years."

Life is the loneliest thing!
Of course, this kind of invincibility is exactly what Nanyang needs. Only in this way can it seize the current opportunity, lay a solid foundation in the world civil aviation market, and become the setter of future civil aviation standards.

Once this golden opportunity is missed, it will be gone forever. Fortunately, we have seized this opportunity now.

"The big plane... belongs to us..."

With emotion, the convoy continued driving on the highway. Compared with a few years ago, there are more and more cars on the highway now. Looking at the cars that overtake the convoy from time to time, Li Yian said to himself.

“Maybe, in a few years, we can consider widening the highway.”

This is inevitable. After all, Nanyang's expressway is a ring-island expressway. If it is not widened from time to time, along with the surge in the number of cars, congestion will inevitably occur on the expressway.

Fortunately, land for widening had been reserved when the highway was built.

"Let's wait a little longer. When there is an economic crisis in the future, we can use the highway to boost the economy."

While driving, Li Yian occasionally cast his eyes toward the high-speed railway construction site in the distance. The high-speed railway in Nanyang has been fully rolled out for two years. Like the Ring Island Expressway, the high-speed railway is also a ring island high-speed railway. Currently, the West Coast High-speed Railway has been basically completed. According to the project plan, it is expected to be completed in 1959, that is, before the Olympic Games.

A few hours later, the convoy passed the checkpoint and entered Wanhu Cape. Unlike the confidentiality in the past, now with the clarion call of "March into Space", Wanhu Cape was also declassified and entered the public eye.

The reason why Li Yian came here today is because today is the third test flight of the Wanhu-5 rocket.

Although he knew that there was a high possibility of failure, Li Yian still came. He hoped that through the support of his own people, he could send a signal to the outside world - Nanyang will continue to advance into space unswervingly.

Compared with the Soviet Union's launch site, the Wanhujiao launch site is probably the best launch site in the world. It is almost on the equator. The lower the latitude, the better the launch site can take advantage of the earth's rotation, which can save more fuel and increase the payload. The equatorial launch site is the optimal solution.

Although Nanyang has the advantage of an equatorial launch site, the space industry does not only require a launch site. The related efforts it requires are unimaginable to the world.

For example, when the Soviet Union was promoting its space industry, it often used the whole country's strength to push forward. The amount of manpower and material resources their space program mobilized is a messy account that can never be calculated clearly.

But the United States's can be quantified.

Take the famous "Apollo Project" for example. From 1960 to 1973, the United States invested 258 billion US dollars in the "Apollo Project". At its peak, companies, more than universities and more than scientific research institutions participated in the project, with a total of more than people.

How can the current Nanyang compare with such human, material and financial resources?

In fact, if you think about it carefully, it is natural for the United States to come from behind in the "space race". With such national strength support, even if the Soviet Union was one step ahead at the beginning, it was only a matter of time before the United States caught up with the Soviet Union.

But what is certain is that Nanyang will never be able to catch up with this money-burning competition.

It's not just Southeast Asia. In fact, as a former hegemon, Britain also tried to maintain the dignity of the British Empire in the early days of the Cold War and came up with a series of plans covering all aspects, most of which ended in failure because of lack of money.

A penny can make a hero fall, and the same is true when it comes to spending money on the country.

Compared with the UK, Nanyang's biggest advantage is that the government owns a large amount of state-owned assets. Although the funds that can be invested are much stronger than those in the UK, it is impossible to ignore people's livelihood and blindly invest in aerospace.

Moreover, what Nanyang has always been most proud of is its living standards.

Therefore, how to use limited funds to achieve the same goal has become something that the Nanyang Space Program must accomplish, and it is also something that Li Yian needs to consider.

In this era, the aviation industry is an industry with high investment and low returns. In fact, before Musk entered the aerospace industry, the space programs of all countries in the world were unprofitable, including but not limited to the "Apollo Program". Even from a macro perspective, the "Apollo Program" obtained a lot of valuable data and experimental materials, trained a large number of scientific workers, and developed many technologies to complete the plan and solve various problems encountered in practice. Other uses have been found. The achievements of the Apollo Program have also inspired many people spiritually - not just Americans.

However, this plan was still a loss-making one. Although human technological progress benefited greatly from the plan, the investment was so huge that even the United States could not support it. In 73, after the failure of Apollo , the plan was quickly ended because it was too expensive. The money to send three people to the moon was almost enough to purchase a complete fleet of fully equipped aircraft carriers.

Even the United States cannot afford such huge expenses.

Similarly, the Soviet Union, with its institutional advantages, could not hold on either. Take the Soviet Union's "Buran" space shuttle project for example. Although the cost of building the spacecraft was 14 billion rubles, the entire project cost 200 billion rubles, which is roughly equivalent to 1% of the Soviet Union's GDP. No one could support such a high investment.

"Any industry with high input and low output is unsustainable..."

When the convoy entered Wanhujiao and drove towards the launch site, Li Yian was secretly thinking in his heart how to transform this industry from a "money-eating beast" into a big white goose that lays golden eggs.

(End of this chapter)