Iron Sonata of World War II

Split-pipe (single-pipe) combustor is a relatively primitive type of combustor. A group of combustors is usually composed of 6-16 single-pipe combustors. Each single-pipe combustor has a tubular shell. Wrapping the flame tube inside, these combustion chambers are arranged in a circle, and the flame tubes of adjacent combustion chambers are connected by cross-fire tubes, so that there is no need to install an igniter for the flame tubes of each combustion chamber, as long as Install igniters on the flame tubes of two of the combustion chambers. After ignition, the flame will automatically flow to the adjacent flame tubes along the cross-fired tubes, and finally all the combustion chambers will be ignited.

The annular tube (connected tube) combustor is more advanced than the tube combustor. Its shell is no longer an independent tube, but a unified annular cavity surrounded by concentric inner and outer shells. body.However, the flame tubes of the annular tube combustion chamber are still independent, and these flame tubes are evenly arranged in the annular cavity formed by the inner and outer casings, and the adjacent flame tubes are still the same as the branch combustion chambers, using cross-flame The tubes are connected.

The annular combustor is the most advanced of the three combustors. Its shell is the same as the annular combustor, which is an annular cavity formed by concentric inner and outer shells.Its biggest improvement is that its flame cylinder is no longer an independent cylinder, but an annular mixing/combustion zone composed of inner and outer cylinder walls.Seen from the section, the annular combustion chamber is composed of four concentric circles, the innermost and outermost circles are the inner and outer casings of the combustion chamber, and the middle two circles are the inner and outer walls of the flame tube.

Regarding the annular combustion chamber, what needs to be pointed out here is that the simple concentric circle structure allows the designer to arrange the flow of air in the combustion chamber more freely.According to the flow of gas in the annular combustor, we can further subdivide the annular combustor into straight-flow annular combustor, baffle annular combustor and recirculation annular combustor.Among them, the straight-flow annular combustor is suitable for axial flow compressors, while the baffle and return annular combustors are more suitable for centrifugal compressors.

We don’t even need to learn more professional knowledge, we can deduce based on common sense: Among the three types of combustors, the annular combustor is the lightest in weight, and the flow loss It is the smallest and the space utilization rate is the highest.The split-pipe combustor is just the opposite, with the heaviest weight, the largest flow loss, and the lowest space utilization.As for the ring tube (joint tube) combustor, we can regard it as a transition type between the branch tube combustor and the annular combustor, and the performance index is generally between the two.

Although the advantages of the annular combustion chamber are very obvious, there are still many technical difficulties in the direct development of the annular combustion chamber.So Helena is still going to start with the relatively primitive in charge of the combustion chamber.Before Helena crossed, the split-pipe type had basically disappeared in the new generation of turbine engines, and basically it was still used in some aircraft model engines. However, in the 30s, the split-pipe combustion chamber entered the market as a jet engine. Coupons are not useless.

The branched combustor has a simple structure, and each single-tube combustor can be replaced independently without dismantling the entire engine like the annular combustor, which provides favorable conditions for testing and correction.Each small combustion chamber plus the branch combustion chamber is independent, which is easier to match with the centrifugal compressor, which gives Helena one more reason to choose it.In contrast, the more advanced annular combustors do not match well with centrifugal compressors, and when more advanced annular combustors are matched with centrifugal engines, baffle or recirculation designs are generally required, and the difficulty is set at 30 The age is not ordinary.

In the last plane, BMW once competed with Junkers for the power of the Me262 fighter. BMW’s work was the Bmw003 engine, which used a very advanced annular combustion chamber at that time, while Junkers’ Jumo004 used Relatively conservative divided combustion chamber.At the beginning, Bmw003 actually had the advantage. Its first operation time was two months earlier than Jumo004, and it was more favored by the German military at the beginning.

However, it was precisely because the design was too radical that Bmw003 suffered repeated failures in subsequent experiments, which finally made the Luftwaffe lose patience with it. In the end, Jumo004, the spare tire, came first and succeeded as the standard power of Me262.The unwilling BMW made a series of improvements to Bmw003, and finally passed the test in August 1944 and was approved for production.

However, the timing of the production of Bmw003 seems a bit embarrassing. Apart from the fact that the French were cheaper after the war, it basically did not play any role in the German war situation.Fortunately, the French developed the "Ata" series of turbojet engines on the basis of Bmw003 after the war, and eventually developed into the M53 turbofan engine, which is considered to have lived up to the advanced engine of Bmw003.

Chapter 174 The Crown Jewel

In addition to the compressor and combustion chamber introduced earlier, the most important part of the core machine of the jet engine is the gas turbine.Just as the compressor is divided into a stator and a rotor, the turbine of a jet engine can also be divided into a stator and a rotor.The blades on the stator are called guide blades, and the blades on the rotor are called working blades.

As the name suggests, the guide vane is a blade that only serves as a guide and does not need to rotate. When the high-temperature gas flows out of the combustion chamber, it will first deflect between the guide vanes, and then flush the work on the turbine rotor behind at a suitable angle. blade.Under the impetus of high-temperature gas, the working blades will drive the turbine disk to rotate, and then drive the front compressor to rotate at high speed, thereby continuously pressing air into the combustion chamber for fuel combustion, and so on.

It is not difficult to imagine that the turbine blade is one of the parts with the harshest working environment in the entire jet engine.In particular, the working blades on the turbine rotor not only need to withstand high temperatures ranging from [-] to [-] degrees Celsius to as high as thousands of degrees Celsius, but also need to withstand the tensile stress caused by the high-speed rotation of the rotor and the bending stress caused by high-speed gas erosion. , the intensity of this stress may reach thousands or even thousands of times of the blade's own gravity.

The working environment of turbine blades is so harsh, and with the continuous improvement of people's performance requirements for turbine engines, the severity is still increasing day by day.In the last plane, in the 1937 years after 80, the high-pressure turbine speed of the turbine engine increased from a few thousand revolutions per minute to tens of thousands of revolutions per minute, and the temperature at the front of the vortex also increased from less than 1000 Kelvin at the beginning to Above 2000 Kelvin.From a certain point of view, compared with the harsh working environment of the turbine blades, the high temperature of five or six hundred degrees in the high-pressure compressor can almost be called tenderness.

It is conceivable that it is difficult to manufacture turbine rotor blades that can operate in such a harsh environment without changing their face.If the material properties cannot meet the requirements, or there are flaws in the processing of the blades, it will not take long for the turbine blades to fail due to spalling, deformation or even fracture.

The consequences of spalling or deforming the turbine blades are very serious. This can cause double damage to the blades rubbing against the casing. If the blade breaks unfortunately, the problem will become even worse.Because once a turbine blade breaks, even a small piece, the consequences can be devastating.Under the action of strong centrifugal force, the broken blade will be as destructive as a flying knife. Its power is enough to destroy other parts in the engine, and it may even directly penetrate the casing, causing serious damage to the engine.

In order to prevent the above tragic consequences, designers must start from the three aspects of manufacturing materials, molding process, and airfoil design at the same time, and challenge the limits of contemporary ergonomics.If the advanced turbine engine is compared to the crown of the mechanical industry, then the high-performance turbine blade is the brightest jewel in the crown.

According to the classification of the matrix elements of the manufacturing materials, the superalloys used to manufacture turbine blades can be divided into iron-based, nickel-based, cobalt-based and other types.With the correct guidance of Helena and the continuous investment support of the "Peace Fund" in this plane, Germany started to develop high-temperature alloys much earlier than the previous plane, and did not take too many detours. Now there are many grades Iron-based superalloys and nickel-based superalloys have been developed.

Although the maximum operating temperature of these brands of superalloys does not exceed 1000 degrees Celsius, it is not considered advanced if measured by the standards of later generations, but considering that the jet engines in World War II on the last plane had a vortex temperature below 800 degrees Celsius , even without adding additional cooling means, sufficient design margin can be guaranteed.If it is supplemented by means such as internal cooling air passages, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the temperature before the vortex. Therefore, in terms of manufacturing materials, Helena has nothing to worry about. In the future, she only needs to maintain high-intensity R&D investment and continue to line up. .

In addition to manufacturing materials, the forming process is also a very important link in the manufacture of turbine blades.According to the forming process, superalloys are divided into three categories: deformed superalloys, casting superalloys, and powder metallurgy superalloys.Among them, the powder metallurgy forming process is mainly used for disks instead of blades in turbine engines, and it was not widely used in the last plane until after the 70s. Let’s put it on hold here. Let’s talk about the deformation and casting used in blade forming. craft.

Deformed superalloys are formed by mechanical processing, and when it comes to the processing of turbine blades, forging is the main method.This is also the earliest processing method used in the production of turbine blades. During World War II on the last plane, regardless of Germany or the United Kingdom, the turbine blades of their early jet engines were all formed by precision forging.

However, as the operating temperature of the engine turbine is getting higher and higher, more and more refractory metals must be added to the turbine blades, which brings a lot of trouble to the traditional forging process, and the casting process can be more convenient in Complicated cooling air passages are processed inside the blade, and the advantages of the casting process are becoming more and more prominent.

In the last plane, the British had suffered a lot in the face of this change. Because the early casting process was relatively prone to process defects such as segregation, shrinkage, inclusions, and looseness, it seriously affected the yield of turbine blades. .Therefore, the British have always held a strong skeptical attitude towards cast turbine blades. Until the 20s, they still cling to the forging process. As a result, Rolls-Royce fell behind the United States and the Soviet Union in casting high-temperature alloys.

In the previous plane, after the cast superalloy replaced the deformed superalloy and became the mainstream of turbine blades, it went through three stages of development.The first stage was from the 40s to the 60s, represented by polycrystalline superalloys using ordinary precision casting processes; the second stage was from the 60s to 80s, represented by directional superalloys using directional solidification technology; the third The stage is a single crystal superalloy developed after the 80s using a single crystal preparation process.

The main difference between polycrystalline superalloys, oriented superalloys and single crystal superalloys lies in the distribution of their internal grain boundaries.We know that metal is a kind of crystal, but when metal cools and crystallizes, there is not necessarily only one crystallization center inside.Therefore, when a superalloy with multiple crystallization centers inside is cooled and solidified, it is not actually a whole crystal, but a collection of grains grown around each crystallization center. The boundary is the so-called "grain boundary".Like a puzzle piece that easily falls apart at the seams, grain boundaries are a potential weak point in a turbine blade.

Due to the existence of countless crystallization centers in ordinary high-temperature cast alloys, there are a large number of such irregularly arranged grains inside. Once the external stress exceeds a critical value, the blade will begin to deform or even break at the grain boundaries between the grains. .Since the longitudinal stress in the turbine is greater than the transverse stress, the transverse crystallization in the blade is always the first one to surrender.

An effective way to solve this problem is to create a very precise temperature gradient for the molten metal as it cools, allowing the blade to solidify unidirectionally from one end to the other.In this way, after the cooling is completed, there are only longitudinal grain boundaries in the blade but no transverse grain boundaries, so that the blade can withstand much greater longitudinal stress without fracture.This kind of manufacturing process that allows the blade to crystallize in a specified direction is called directional solidification, and the blade produced by this process is also a directional superalloy blade.

The blade made of directional superalloy eliminates the transverse grain boundary, but the longitudinal grain boundary still exists. If the transverse stress is too large, there is still the possibility of being damaged. Then according to the previous thinking, people will naturally think: why not directly eliminate the grain boundary completely? What about the world?If the entire blade has only one crystallization center, then the resulting blade is a whole crystal without any internal weakness, wouldn't it be beautiful?Not to mention, after the 80s on the last plane, people really realized this seemingly whimsical dream. This is a single-crystal blade cast by a single-crystal preparation process.

Before Helena crossed over, several generations of single-crystal turbine blades had been developed, but now it was the 30s, and Helena could only start with forging and deforming high-temperature alloys.Not to mention directional superalloys and single crystal superalloys now, even the ordinary precision casting technology is not capable of being used on turbine blades.

What's more, the directional solidification and single crystal preparation process also need to re-study special superalloy grades. For example, directional alloys generally need to add rare metal hafnium, while single crystal alloys generally need to add rare metal rhenium.What do you think without these front-end technologies?What's more, even if there are special grades of superalloys, can the temperature control requirements of directional superalloys and single crystal superalloys be imagined in the 30s?So Helena really has everything in her dream, and she has nothing at hand. Why do other traversers never need to light up the front technology when they click on the technology tree?Helena thought tearfully.

Now Helena can only use precision forged turbine blades to withstand it first, while asking researchers to work harder on ordinary precision casting technology to see if the yield rate can reach an acceptable level before 1940.In this regard, Helena's experience from later generations is of no use, she can only rely on her experience.

Besides, even with ordinary precision forging and casting, Helena can't do precision casting or precision forging with no allowance for future generations.In other words, after the forging or casting is completed, what is obtained is still only a semi-finished product, which requires workers to carefully modify and polish it by hand.Whether the yield rate of this polishing is high or low, it all depends on the hand feel of the craftsmen of the big country.

Chapter 175 The End of the Era

Looking at the enthusiastic recommendation letter sent from the University of Göttingen in her hand, Helena felt a little dumbfounded.Under her strong promotion in this plane, the development of the German jet engine started much earlier than in history, but this does not seem to prevent Ohain, who invented the jet engine in the last plane, to show it tenaciously in front of her. own presence.

When Helena started the jet engine research project, Hans von Ohain was studying for a doctorate in physics under Professor Boll at the University of Göttingen, but by this time the old man had already developed a strong interest in aircraft propulsion technology Therefore, the energetic O'Hain chose Applied Mechanics offered by Professor Ludwig Prandtl as a minor.

According to Helena's original intention, she would consider recruiting this great god after O'Hain received her doctorate next year. The growth of talents requires a process, and Helena has always maintained enough patience for this.However, what Helena never expected was that it was not she who lost her temper first, but O'Hain.

Since this old man learned about the existence of the jet engine project from his mentor, he asked Professor Ball to help him enter the jet engine research and development team for an internship, so as to test their teachers and students in practice. The research results on the subject of "flow energy process".And O'Hain's request also won the support of Professor Ball, so there was this letter of recommendation in Helena's hand.

Putting down the letter in her hand, Helena couldn't help feeling that Professor Ball really had a preference for O'Hain.Professor Bohr's own research direction is biased towards theoretical physics, but Ohain is unwilling to be a pure theoretical physicist, but likes hands-on practice very much.For O'Hain's various unconstrained hobbies, Professor Ball gave the utmost tolerance and support.In the last plane, in order to test his jet engine for O'Hain, who has already graduated, Professor Ball even set aside the backyard of his research institute for O'Hain to use, and even helped O'Hain get the test equipment. and start the motor.

However, due to the lack of design experience, O'Hain's jet engine test was not successful during this period. Due to the unreasonable design of the combustion chamber, a long fire dragon would be emitted when the engine was running, and it was impossible to disconnect the starter motor. self-sustaining work.However, these failed practices have accumulated valuable experience for O'Hain's future success.

Professor Ball's letter of recommendation was somewhat beyond Helena's plan, but Helena still agreed to the request in the letter.Although O'Hain in this plane may not be able to become the inventor of the jet engine like in the previous plane, Helena thinks that it should be a good choice for him to practice in this project in advance and accumulate more practical experience .

While Helena was happily playing the game cultivated by the great god, an earth-shattering event happened in Germany, but it was also expected by Helena.Since summoning Hitler on June 1934, 6 and forcing him to step up the purge of left-wing forces in the Nazi Party through the "Night of the Long Knives", German President Paul von Hindenburg may have thought that he had finally completed his last life. A major event, his body declined at a speed visible to the naked eye.By July 17, the old marshal, who had once dominated the Eastern Front in World War I, was too weak to handle state affairs normally.

Hindenburg's last time was spent in his own family's manor. At this time, he had fallen into a state of sobriety and confusion at times.When Hitler went to visit him, Hindenburg on the hospital bed regarded him as Kaiser Wilhelm who had abdicated a long time ago. He tightly held the finger that Hitler stretched out, and murmured "Your Majesty" in his mouth, and then burst into tears. vertical and horizontal.

Well, although President Hindenburg scolded General Seckett when he learned that General Seckett tried to invite the former crown prince to participate in the military parade, in essence, President Hindenburg is also a royalist, It's just that President Hindenburg's royalist stance is hidden deeper than that of General Seekert, a political stunned young man.However, whether it is Hindenburg or Seekert, their wish to welcome back the Kaiser is doomed to be impossible.

President Hindenburg died on August 1934, 8, at the age of 2, on a hospital bed at his estate.Germany then held an extremely mournful state funeral for Hindenburg. According to President Hindenburg's last wish, he only needs to be buried in his own manor after death, but Hitler insisted on burying him in World War I. on the Eastern Front and erected a monument to Hindenburg.

Hitler did this, to a large extent, out of political needs.He was determined to present himself as the legitimate heir of Hindenburg.All right.Although Hindenburg actually did not think much of Hitler, who was born mediocrely, he not only called Hitler "Corporal Bohemia" in private, but also said to people: "Hitler can only be a postmaster", but he did not think so. Hinder Mustache eagerly used Hindenburg's funeral to make a splash for himself.

In any case, Hindenburg's death is equivalent to removing a mountain that has been pressing on Hitler's head.Although the suppression lasted only a little more than a year, Hitler was like a monkey monkey who had been suppressed by the Five Elements Mountain for 500 years. As soon as he broke through the mountain, he couldn't wait to use his fists politically.He decided to completely overthrow the republic established by the Weimar Republic and combine the two positions of president and general manager into one. The combined position is called "head of state".

In the previous plane, Hitler’s action won an astonishing 8% approval rate in the national election in mid-August. In this plane, due to the influence of Helena, the German government’s anti-crisis measures are more decisive and efficient. Therefore, the German economy rebounded far faster than the previous plane, and the unemployment rate fell faster.According to Helena's estimates, Germany's unemployment rate could drop to pre-crisis normal levels as early as early next year.

A by-product of this change was that in the elections in mid-August, the proportion of support for Hitler's actions exceeded 8%. Such a public opinion base made Hitler even more confident.After the national elections, Hitler officially held the two positions of President of Germany and General Manager of the Government and merged them into the "Head of State".So far, the republic of Weimar Germany has come to an end with almost no one mourning for it, and the curtain of an era is slowly falling.

Chapter 176 Reporter Interview

The death of President Hindenburg brought drastic changes to the political situation in Germany.In his will, Hindenburg clearly elected Hitler as his heir, and also called Hitler "the pioneer of a better future for Germany".This attitude was somewhat inconsistent with Hindenburg's tendency to limit Hitler's power all along, so that later historians disagreed on whether the will came from President Hindenburg's original intention.

Some historians believe that President Hindenburg, who was seriously ill during this period, was old to the point of fainting, and some people think that Hindenburg allowed Hitler to take office because he had no better choice, and some researchers even claimed that it was Hitler And the Nazi Party secretly tampered with the president's will.Helena is not a historian, so she is not interested in whether Hindenburg's will was intended, but one thing is certain, that is, Hitler was the most direct beneficiary of this will.

Although Hitler actually took over the presidency after the national vote, it was Hindenburg's will that really played a decisive role.In any case, the practice of having the former president designate the heir first, and then let the citizens vote for it, in Helena's view, is like shooting an arrow first and then drawing a target. It doesn't look like a normal democratic procedure.Well, the democratic process, in the entire history of the Weimar Republic, did not function properly at all.

In a sense, the reason why the crumbling Weimar Republic has not completely collapsed in the past ten years is entirely because the integration of various forces in Germany has not been completed, and because there is no political system that can win the unanimous approval of the main classes in the country. Therefore, for the time being, the Weimar Republic needs to be used as a platform for competition.

After Hitler cut off the left-wing forces within the Nazi Party, he finally won the trust of the Junker landlord class and the monopoly bourgeoisie, and the Nazi Party’s measures to restore the economy, reduce unemployment, and improve welfare were welcomed by workers and petty bourgeoisie , A political force capable of integrating all major classes in Germany has finally emerged, and it is time for the platform of the Weimar Republic to be dismantled.So in the national elections in August 1934, Germany finally legally abolished the parliamentary republic that had long existed in name only, and changed the state government to a dictatorship of the head of state.

The tragedy of the Weimar Republic is that, from the day of its birth, no class in Germany really supported its existence, and no political force was really willing to abide by its system.Even when its parliamentary republic was completely abolished, no one in the whole of Germany even wanted to mourn for it, but the majority rejoiced for it.

The changes in Germany have attracted a lot of attention in the world, but the focus of these people is not the changes in the German political system.What international observers and politicians from all over the world are eager to know is: what kind of attitude will the man who always wears a corporal uniform from the Second Reich, with a mustache under his nose, think about the current international situation, and Will it have a severe impact on the relationship between major powers?

The curiosity of the international community is actually not difficult to understand. Although Hitler had served as the general manager of Germany for a year and a half before ascending to the throne of the head of state, and had already participated in many political and diplomatic activities, but due to the scope of the German general manager’s It was mainly aimed at home rather than abroad, so during this period Hitler did not have much room to play on the international stage, which left a lot of room for speculation and imagination to the world.

And in the past two years, Germany's growing economic strength has also attracted the attention of the international community.Germany in this plane has not only achieved economic recovery first among western countries, but also the growth rate of industrial production is faster than that of the previous plane.Although the current military strength of Germany on the books is even far inferior to that of Poland, Germany is still the largest industrial country in Europe after all, and the world must take Hitler, the new head of Germany, seriously.

In fact, in 1932, when the crisis was at its worst, Germany's industrial output value once lagged behind that of the Soviet Union, giving up its position as the second largest industrial country in the world.However, because Hitler, on the suggestion of Helena, adopted more effective anti-crisis measures than the previous plane, Germany not only experienced a significant economic recovery last year, but also surpassed the Soviet Union in total industrial output value, regaining the The second place in the world's industrial output value.

These economic achievements made Helena very satisfied. After all, since 1932 on the last plane, Germany's total industrial output value has always been ranked behind the United States and the Soviet Union, and has never returned to the second position.

In 1938 on the last plane, the industrial output value of the Soviet Union and Germany accounted for 17.6% and 13.2% of the world respectively (some researchers believe that in 1939, after annexing the Czech Republic, the eighth largest industrial country in the world, the total industrial output value of the Soviet Union and Germany Close, but borders moved so quickly during that time that it's hard to find accurate statistics).

However, according to Helena's estimation, such a high-speed growth of the German economy can only last until the beginning of next year at most, after which the speed will gradually drop back to normal levels.Because in essence, Germany's economic growth in the past two years is actually a kind of restorative growth, which cannot be sustained for a long time.

In 1932, Germany had more than 40% of the unemployed population and more than 20% of the unemployed population, which means that at least half of the labor force was idle at that time.By the beginning of next year, when most of these idle laborers return to work, Germany is likely to experience a labor shortage like the previous one. At that time, if a large number of fresh labor cannot be supplemented, economic growth will only increase. Many rely on the improvement of labor productivity.

Faced with all kinds of curious, uneasy, anxious and even questioning eyes from the international community, Mustache is going to establish a good image of himself as a peace-loving person through a positive media public relations.So at the end of August 1934, Hitler, who had just sat on the throne of the head of state, readily accepted an interview request from the British "Daily Mail".

So entrusted by the "Daily Mail", the famous reporter Walder Price embarked on a journey to Germany.In the process of being interviewed, Hitler did not directly bring the topic to the international situation. Instead, he talked about his experience of escaping from death during World War I, as if reminiscing with an old friend.

"Once, I was having dinner with some comrades in the trenches, and suddenly, a voice seemed to say to me, 'Get up and go over there.' The voice was clear and lingering." Pause for a few seconds , Hitler went on to say: "At that time, I got up with a lunch box in my hand, walked along the trench for a while, and then sat down and continued to eat. However, before I had time to eat two bites, I saw a flash of fire not far away. There was a loud bang from where I was. A stray bomb exploded where I was sitting, killing everyone who stayed there."

Hitler's simplicity and frankness won the great favor of Walder Price, so the interview went very smoothly.At the end of the interview, Hitler shook Price's hand and said sincerely: "It is precisely because I have personally experienced war that I cherish peace all the more. Germany has a deeper understanding of the consequences of war than any other country." Impression... We believe that the present problems of Germany cannot be solved by war".

Chapter 177 Secret Army Expansion

In the newly renovated office of the head of state, Hitler was reading the "Daily Mail" in his hand word by word. There was a slight arc.If someone got closer, they could clearly see that Hitler had a large portrait of himself clearly printed on the front page of the newspaper he was reading just now.Obviously, the content of the headline on the front page of this old British newspaper is exactly the exclusive interview with Mustache made by Walder Price.

It turned out that shortly after Price returned to the UK, the "Daily Mail" spent the entire front page publishing the interview he wrote. This report entitled "From Soldier to Head of State" was so successful that it was The published "Daily Mail" was almost out of stock, and the newspaper office had to work overtime and urgently reprinted tens of thousands of copies to cope with the surge in sales.In this exclusive interview, Price faithfully recorded the process of his communication with Hitler with his proficient style of writing.Although there is basically no exaggeration, it is enough to make the image of a leader of a major country who adheres to the path of peace come alive on paper.

The reason why Hitler couldn't wait to show his pacifist image to the international community was inseparable from Germany's realistic political needs.In the past one or two years, with the promulgation of a series of anti-crisis measures, the German economy has gradually recovered, but the "Treaty of Versailles" is still a shackle on Germany.

However, the international environment at this time has undergone tremendous changes from a few years ago.On the one hand, Britain and France, which created the shackles, are mired in the economic crisis and cannot extricate themselves; on the other hand, the Soviet Union, which was excluded from the "Versailles System" back then, is rising rapidly.If the overall technical level is not considered, the total industrial output value of the Soviet Union has surpassed France and the United Kingdom successively, and is currently competing with Germany for the second industrial power.

As the relative strength of Britain and France is declining, while the strength of Germany and the Soviet Union is relatively increasing, the balance of power in continental Europe established under the leadership of Britain and France is becoming more and more precarious.Especially the flirting between Germany and the Soviet Union over the years, which made Britain and France feel like they were on pins and needles.

Now the strength of Britain and France is not as good as before, and it is still a bit difficult to suppress one of the Soviet Union and Germany; if the Soviet Union and Germany are to be suppressed at the same time, even if Britain and France unite, they will not be able to do it, not to mention that Britain and France often share different dreams. ?Under such circumstances, it has become the consensus of many British and French politicians not to exert strong pressure on Germany and the Soviet Union at the same time, because suppressing Germany and the Soviet Union at the same time will only force the two countries to move closer together, which will be a bad thing for the world hegemony of Britain and France. a disaster.

Since ancient times, no world hegemon has voluntarily left the center of the world stage even if his own strength is weak.In order to maintain the balance of power on the European continent, the British showed signs of loosening their attitude towards Germany.The most typical manifestation is that in May 1934, British Foreign Secretary John Simon even publicly proposed to give Germany an "equal armament status", which was unimaginable in the past.However, France did not let go immediately at that time. After all, the French had much more concerns than the British on the sensitive issue of rearming Germany.

In fact, in the mind of British Foreign Secretary Simon, Britain has two main opponents on the European continent at this stage: one is the red Soviet Union, and the other is its ally France.That's right, apart from the rapidly rising Soviet Union, France, Britain's nominal ally, is also regarded as a threat by the British!

It turned out that after the First World War, taking advantage of the severe damage to Germany and the Soviet Union, the French successively wooed Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia in Eastern Europe to form an alliance with them and established the so-called "Little Entente" in Eastern Europe. Almost the entire European continent except the Soviet Union.So for the first time since the Napoleonic Wars, France became the main arbiter of continental European affairs, and for a while there was nothing better.

The British will naturally not be satisfied with this situation, even if France is their ally.If all the small countries in Eastern Europe are worshiped by the French, where will Britain, the world hegemon, be placed?Therefore, whether it is out of the need to curb the westward advance of the Soviet Union or to check and balance the influence of France, the British need to find a thug on the European continent. Germany, which has been acting honestly over the years, seems to be a good choice. So there was a scene where British Foreign Secretary Simon publicly demanded that Germany's arms restrictions be loosened.

Helena is no stranger to the behavior of the British. Sitting on the mountain and watching tigers fight is a traditional art skill of John Bull. This means of offshore balance has been played by the British on the European continent for hundreds of years, and it can be said to be tried and tested.Because the Netherlands, Napoleon France, Tsarist Russia, and the Second German Empire were all killed by the British, so that British political diplomats have formed a firm mindset and regard past experience as an irrefutable truth .So John Simon confidently believes that the game that Britain has been playing for hundreds of years can still be played this time.

The reason why Hitler began to show his peaceful image as soon as he became the head of state is largely to respond to the calls in the British political circles to rearm Germany, and to respond to the concerns of some British and French politicians about this proposal.Seeing Hitler acting coquettishly and cutely in front of the camera every day, Helena had to sigh that this guy is really good at acting. If someone else performed, it might not be able to achieve such an effect of bringing people into the play.Seeing the "actors" in the crew she invested in act so hard, this made Helena, as a "producer", have more expectations for the movie's box office.

Although the United Kingdom and France have not yet reached an agreement on whether to allow Germany to rearm, Hitler couldn't wait any longer. He had just finished an interview with Price before putting the military expansion plan on the agenda. In September 1934, Hitler made a decision to expand the size of the army from 9 to 10 at the Arms Expansion Conference.At the same time, Hitler also formally decided to rebuild the air force, naval submarine force and naval aviation.Due to the vigorous instigation of Goering, Hitler's old confidant in this plane, the construction of naval aviation, which was relatively low in priority in the previous plane, was also raised to a relatively high priority position this time.

Since Hitler had no formal plans to tear up the "Treaty of Versailles" at this time, all this was carried out under extreme secrecy.Minister of Propaganda Goebbels ordered that words such as "general staff", "fighter fighter", "battleship", "submarine" and "aircraft carrier" be strictly prohibited in all public reports.

Even the internal information of the military is strictly controlled. Things that can be communicated orally should try to avoid using written documents. According to the words of Major General William Keitel, who is in charge of military expansion affairs: "Do not lose any documents, otherwise the enemy will It can be publicized and used, and things that are conveyed orally cannot be verified and can be ignored.” So a series of gratifying things appeared. For example, many factories received orders that stated that they were baby carriages, but the production The product that comes out is a rifle.

Although Germany's military expansion was carried out in secret, after all, it tripled the number of people at once. In fact, it is not that no one in Britain and France has doubts about Germany because of various clues.

Fortunately, at this time, Britain and France no longer want to provoke or humiliate Germany, so no one will send people to conduct irregular on-site inspections of German factories from time to time as in the past, otherwise they will have to reveal their secrets.As for the discontinuous clues that are accidentally leaked occasionally, as Keitel said, they can all be ignored.

Chapter 178 It's Amazing

In the just-concluded "Fourth International Tourist Aircraft Competition", with the blessing of high-grade fuel provided by Helena, the performance of the BF-108 series aircraft sent by the Bavarian Aircraft Manufacturing Factory can be described as amazing.Whether it is the speed of the racing flight or the snake-like acrobatics, this aircraft is enough to eclipse all competitors.In the end, BF-108B won the championship almost without any suspense.

In the previous plane, although BF-108 also received a lot of praise in this competition, the Argus As-8C engine it was equipped with was too weak, with a maximum power of only 240 horsepower (later Although it was replaced with an As-270C engine with a maximum power of 10 horsepower, the power is still not very sufficient), which caused the BF-108 to fly at the highest speed in that competition with its excellent aerodynamic shape, but eventually lost to the The previous champions: Poland's RWD-9 aircraft, and the Fi97 aircraft sent by the German company Fischler, only won No.3 results.

In contrast, the BF-108B in this plane is equipped with a 480-horsepower eight-cylinder air-cooled engine from BMW to participate in the competition, and the maximum power is twice that of the previous plane!Although the take-off weight of the plane has increased to a certain extent compared with the previous plane, in terms of power-to-weight ratio, it is still much higher than the previous plane.In addition, BF-108B used high-grade fuel in the competition, and the intake pressure of the engine was further increased, which allowed the engine to explode at a power level much higher than the design index.

To be honest, Helena was not at all surprised that BF-108B could achieve such impressive results.You must know that she hasn't taken out the single-seat combat BF-108A yet. That aircraft is equipped with an inverted V-shaped 12-cylinder BMW-7B engine with a maximum power of 750 horsepower.Well, the content of this competition is "tourism aircraft competition" after all, and the participating aircraft dispatched by the Bavarian Aircraft Factory still have to fit this theme.

The wonderful performance of BF-108B won the first batch of overseas orders for this aircraft. Add a row of seats to develop a two-row four-seater sightseeing plane, and plan to name it BF-108C.

Helena is also very supportive of this plan. After all, the best-selling BF-108 series in the last plane was the double-row four-seater model. Hundreds of this sightseeing plane were sold before and after. In the 21st century, some of them are still flyable.However, since the BF-108 series in the previous plane did not have a single-seater model, the two-seater model in the previous plane was named BF-108A, while the four-seater model was named BF-108B.

In the "Fourth International Tourist Aircraft Competition", in addition to winning a number of overseas orders, the BF-108 series has also been favored by German officials.After watching the performance of BF-108B in person, Albert Kesselring, head of the Imperial Aviation Department, immediately made a decision to purchase a batch of two-seater BF-108B for the "Aviation Sports Association" to train aviation sports talents for the country; In addition, a batch of single-seat BF-108A was purchased for aerobatic performances.

In the last plane, Erhart Milch, the deputy head of the Ministry of Aviation, has long held a grudge against the death of his friend when the plane designed by Messerschmidt fell, so he has been trying his best to suppress the Bavarian aircraft factory. products, which caused certain disturbances to the development of Germany's aviation industry.

However, in this plane, due to Helena's timely intervention, the Bavarian Aircraft Factory dismissed Messerschmidt's chief designer position in time after the air crash, and gave Milch an explanation.Therefore, Milch did not wear small shoes for the Bavarian aircraft factory like the previous plane, but agreed with Kesselring's decision in a fair manner.

Although there have since been some international voices accusing Germany of wanting to revive air power in the name of sports, especially the Poles who just lost the game were particularly loud.However, Kesselring made it clear in an interview that Germany has been developing its aviation industry within the framework of the "Treaty of Versailles", and the Poles' statement is completely groundless speculation and slander!This malicious accusation is purely out of jealousy of losing the game. The aircraft ordered by the German Aviation Sports Association has absolutely no weapons installed (voice-over: only the cannon mounting positions are retained).

What?Why do you say that sports aircraft need belly and underwing pylons?Oh, that thing is used to hang smoke cans, mainly used to draw colorful smoke in air shows; what?Why do you say there must be three hanging points?That's because the visual effect of three-color smoke is more brilliant than that of monochrome, which can bring better visual enjoyment to the audience.As for why it is necessary to specially reinforce the hanging point for hanging a smoke pot of tens of kilograms, it is of course because the current small colored smoke pots have too short a time to draw smoke and cannot meet the audience's growing viewing requirements. The fume pot can have a longer smoking time...

All in all, the Germans have long prepared a whole set of rhetoric for the purchase of BF-108 series aircraft to deal with the international community. Even if some observers suspect that there is trickery in it, it is difficult to find a strong excuse to attack the Germans.However, based on the experience of the last plane, Helena thinks that this kind of concealment will not last long.By the beginning of next year at the latest, Germany's reconstruction of the air force will be officially made public, and Britain and France will also acquiesce to this fait accompli.

It is not only the air force that is interested in the BF-108 series in the German military. The naval aviation that is still under construction has also expressed strong concern for this type of aircraft. Although the current German navy does not have an aircraft carrier, this does not prevent Goering. Value the value of BF-108B for training carrier-based pilots.

Due to the side-by-side two-seat layout, when used as a trainer, the instructors and students of the BF-108B can communicate face to face, which is of great benefit to shortening the training cycle for rookies, and how to quickly train qualified carrier-based aircraft pilots , has always been a long-standing problem in the construction of naval aviation.Seeing that the Navy was also interested in this aircraft, the senior executives of the Bavarian Aircraft Factory immediately patted Goering and said that the BF-108B has the potential to board an aircraft carrier. They will tailor it for the Navy on the basis of the basic model. Customize a dedicated carrier-based trainer.

Chapter 179 A Disgusting Opponent

After obtaining the official purchase order from Germany and successfully entering the international market, the long-standing cloud over the Bavarian aircraft factory was swept away.The company's high-level executives with great confidence are increasing their investment in the research and development of the next-generation fighter (the company plans to name it BF-109), while also increasing their efforts to promote the BF-108 aircraft internationally.Even China, which is far in the east, has become their sales target, which makes Helena quite surprised.