Iron Cross

Hoffman also saw the improved Me-323 model, which was specially given to him by Dr. Messerschmitt. According to the design indicators, the cargo capacity of this improved fat aircraft will exceed 19 tons, the maximum speed will exceed 340 kilometers per hour, and the maximum range will reach 1,800 kilometers (when fully loaded). Due to the changes in appearance, main technical indicators and performance compared with the original model, the Armament Department gave it a new number of Me-423. Facing this aircraft that has not even undergone a complete test flight process, the Air Force asked for 50 of them at once. It was not that they did not want more, but that they felt it was a bit expensive. The estimated price of a single unit was as high as 1.4 million Reichsmarks, and 50 units would cost 70 million - a Bf-109 was only 100,000 marks, and the price of a newly produced Bf-219 was only 140,000 marks. And 1.4 million is just an estimated price. According to consistent experience, the price will only be higher when it is actually off the production line.

But for Junkers, it is another 450 engine business (300 regular + 150 backup). In this way, the company no longer felt bad about the Ju-87 being forced to stop production because of the He-218, and even the Jumo-211J engine being stopped. The company can focus on the production of the Jumo-213 series engines. With the upcoming Jumo-004C series production, they seemed to see a lot of money waving at them.

After several new models of selection and competition, a consortium was vaguely formed between the aircraft and engine manufacturers. Messerschmitt chose Jumo products including Me-423 and Me-262, while Wolf chose BMW and Mercedes-Benz series engines.

Faced with the close competition of the Jumo-213 series, what should the replaced BMW801 series engines do? Or expand production!

At present, the Fw-190 is the aircraft with the largest production volume among the single models in service. In January, the monthly production exceeded 800, and it is expected to exceed 1,200 after the peak in March. Faced with such strong demand, and JuW company was already exhausted to meet it (each aircraft was calculated based on 1.5 engines), it naturally turned a blind eye to Jumo's business grabbing. In fact, Wolff company was also surprised by the Fw-190 order issued to them by the Armament Department. They calculated that under the current war damage ratio, the Air Force did not actually need so many Fw-190s. Even after June, the number of newly completed Fw-190s would be more than the number of newly graduated pilots - that is, pilots of all models.

Speer's idea was simple and crude: produce enough inventory, and stop production directly in September to switch to new fighters. This idea was strongly supported by Hoffman.

After the two aviation armament reorganization cases, Wolff, Messerschmitt, Heinkel and Junkers were very satisfied, but some companies did not have a happy life. Take Dornier as an example. The company's Do-17\\Do-217 bombers have been discontinued, and the Do-335 high-speed fighter driven by front and rear twin propellers that was painstakingly researched was sentenced to death by the Armament Department. For a time, it could only rely on OEM Ju-88 to maintain its business, and Ju-88 itself was facing a production change. Although the Armament Department has made it clear that the Italian SM79 bomber will be handed over to Dornier for production, the arrogant Mr. Claude Dornier is very dissatisfied with always producing other people's authorized models. Dornier also considered developing the Do-417 heavy bomber based on the Do-217 medium bomber, but both the technical reserves and the competitive pressure from other companies indicated that this project had no future, so it was quickly abandoned.

In such a desperate situation, Dornier Company got an opportunity that was not an opportunity: Japan sent 4 different designs of new naval aircraft, among which the high-speed carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft (Caiyun) had been assigned to Arado Company in advance. The remaining three models, one is a carrier-based fighter (Gale) - Messerschmitt and Wolff are struggling to compete for it, especially when they heard that this aircraft was the favorite of Japan's most successful aircraft designer Jiro Horikoshi, the two companies did not give in; one is a carrier-based joint attack aircraft (Meteor), which is said to have both dive bombing and torpedo attack functions. Heinkel and Junkers launched a tit-for-tat competition. Everyone thought very clearly that whoever won this model would have the possibility of mastering the only model of carrier-based attack aircraft in the future; the third is a land-based fighter (Shiden), but the Kawanishi Company that developed this model was originally a seaplane manufacturing company, and its technical strength is relatively weak in Japan. Considering that Germany has two land-based fighter projects that are very close to success, Ta-152 and Me-262, everyone is not optimistic about the Shiden project, so no big company is interested.

When sending technical experts to Germany for exchanges and learning, Kawanishi Company, which thinks it has a poor foundation, is the most active and humble. Most of the first batch of personnel are designers and engineers from Kawanishi. Faced with this embarrassing situation, Mr. Dornier was keenly aware of the unique advantages of the Zidian project and immediately applied for the project, which helped the Armament Department out of trouble. In order to compensate Dornier, Speer immediately strengthened the technical team led by Giuseppe Gabrieli, the chief designer of the Italian Fiat Company, to the company (they developed the G-50\\G-55 fighter).

Therefore, in late January, the first Axis United Aviation Design Bureau was established, code-named DFK Design Bureau - taking the initials of the three companies: Neil, Fiat and Kaishan. Out of the motive of always striving to be the best and giving those big-name companies a bit of a show, the designers of the Three Kingdoms made up their minds to get the Zidian project started. While several other aircraft models are still reviewing the drawings step by step and considering the overall indicators and goals, the DFK Design Bureau has held three meetings on the Zidian project. It is also difficult for such a large and complex team to communicate. Fortunately, designers from the three countries have I can speak some English, so English becomes the language of daily communication. The goal of the design bureau is very clear. This aircraft must not only become an excellent medium and low-altitude fighter, but also have the function of being mounted on a ship, and can be used on both sea and land.

Mr. Dornier admired Japan's original design, which boldly adopted laminar flow airfoils and automatic air combat flaps that have not yet been fully promoted in the world, especially the latter, which can make the aircraft fly with the help of a less complex mechanism. The corresponding optimal flap deflection angle and lift-to-drag ratio can be obtained at various speeds. The project also uses a rod force adjuster to enable the aircraft to have better steering force and rudder effect at various speeds— —The control stick of the Bf-109 is very heavy during high-speed flight and is called the "slate in the air." This is one of the reasons why excellent pilots prefer the Fw-190.

The new designs adopted by Zidian are very bold, far beyond the conventional ideas of German designers, but they are just in line with Dornier's own ideas - otherwise he would not dare to try weird shapes like front and rear twin-propeller aircraft, so he believes that these designs are not only There is no need to change it, but it should be optimized and perfected as much as possible.

Another key to project selection is the engine. The original design used a 2,000-horsepower Yu engine. DFK considered that the liquid-cooled engines of the DB series and Jumo series have already been reserved, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to get them. In addition, if they want to go on sale, For ships, for the sake of maintenance convenience, it is best to use air-cooled engines. However, in the specific selection, Dornier defied public opinion and decided to use BMW's latest 901 series engine.

This is after careful consideration. BMW's most mature product is undoubtedly the 801 series. This double-row 14-cylinder radial engine has been developed into the E model after absorbing relevant Japanese Mars engine technology (this is the version of the Fw-190A and Ju-98 Standard engine), it has 2,000 horsepower and is 54 kilograms lighter (although the Mars engine with the same power is lighter, its cross-section is larger and its stability is not good). The next step is to develop the 801F model, which is expected to have a horsepower of 2400 horses. The 901 series is a double-row 18-cylinder air-cooled radial engine based on the American Pratt \u0026 Whitney Double Wasp R-2800 based on Hoffman's requirements (BMW engine technology was originally developed based on the introduction of Pratt \u0026 Whitney technology , so it is not particularly difficult to imitate), and with the drawings of Japan's famous engine technology (which is also an imitation of Pratt \u0026 Whitney's double-row 18-cylinder product) as a reference, the horsepower of the produced 901 series has also stably reached 2,000 horsepower ( The best production versions of the R-2800 at this time were 2300-2400 hp).

But the 901 series is not good enough yet. It has the same power as the 801 series and a thicker cross-section, which will bring more resistance. In the face of doubts, Dornier still insisted on using the 901 series. He said: "The 14-cylinder engine is now 2,000 horsepower, maybe 2,400 horses in a year. The 18-cylinder engine is now 2,000, and maybe it will be 2,400 in a few months." . Now the numbers are the same, can we say that the future development space and potential are the same? If they are the same, what are the 18 cylinders used for?”

Since we have to strive for the first place, we cannot go step by step. According to his suggestion, the DFK Design Bureau finally placed its bet on the maturity of the BWM901C model - it is expected to reach 2300 horsepower, and the backup engine was selected from the Yu series with 2100 horsepower. .

Since this was the first joint development project with personnel in place, Hoffmann attached great importance to it and took time to listen to reports from several DFK designers.