Chapter 834 DC3 and Boeing 367

Chapter 834 DC-3 and Boeing 367

Australasia's military expansion is not a good thing for the island country.

Including the armies of the Philippines and Kalimantan, the number of troops Australasia can control exceeds 1.3 million, which is more than three times the current number of island countries' armies.

In the Pacific, Australasia's only competitor is the island nation. It goes without saying who the purpose of the military expansion is. This has also caused high tension in the island country.

The situation faced by island countries today is very different from that of island countries in history.

Because of its relatively small area, the island country does not have much oil. Historically, the island nation was extremely dependent on oil from the United States before the outbreak of World War II.

There is a piece of data that can reflect how exaggerated the island country’s dependence on external oil is. Before World War II, more than 90% of the island country's total oil consumption came from imports from abroad.

Of all imported oil, 80% is imported from the United States, and more than 10% comes from Southeast Asia, the most important of which is the Dutch East Indies.

In this world, the two regions and countries that historically provided oil to island countries, the United States and the Dutch East Indies, have all perished.

This has made the oil crisis in island countries more serious than in history, and has also forced island countries to find other ways to maintain domestic oil consumption.

The first is to buy from Australasia at a high price. Australasia has three major oil-producing areas: the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia and Australia. Even the Alaska Territory has a lot of oil reserves.

It is no exaggeration to say that Australasia's oil reserves are sufficient for its own use until new energy sources are discovered and become popular.

One of the reasons why the island countries and Australasia have entered a state of competition is precisely because the island countries are extremely short of oil resources, while the Southeast Asian region controlled by Australasia has relatively rich oil reserves.

One of the reasons island nations are nervous is because their oil sources can easily be cut off by Australasia.

Currently, there are only two ways for island countries to purchase oil. One is to travel across the ocean and purchase small amounts of oil from South American countries. The other option is to buy oil from Australasia at a high price.

However, neither of these methods can be used as the main method of oil import, which is also one of the reasons why the island country does not have many cars and tanks.

Precisely because of the high cost of oil, people in island countries generally do not like cars. Especially after Australasia and the United Kingdom jointly controlled oil prices, the island country has fallen into a comprehensive crisis in terms of oil.

What is even more unfortunate is that the island countries have not discovered large oil reserves in any of the areas they occupy.

Today is different from the past. All new heavy weapons such as aircraft and tanks require a large amount of oil as a fuel source.

The island country that has been strangled in terms of oil is equivalent to having its lifeline strangled, and there is no chance to resist.

At this time, the islanders discovered that the treaty they signed against Russia had actually become a chain that restricted their access to oil.

Russia has a lot of oil reserves, and Russia's Far East ports are relatively close to the island countries, so they are capable of importing a lot of oil to the island countries.

However, because of the anti-Russian treaty signed with Germany, the island country cannot reach any cooperation with Russia, and purchasing oil from Russia has become nonsense.

There is no other way. The islanders can only accelerate their plans to search for oil in all lands, while on the other hand they attempt to launch a larger-scale war, and even prepare for a war with Australasia.

At this time, Arthur didn't know the islanders' plans. Even if Arthur knew, he wouldn't care too much.

At this time, Arthur had successfully gone to Douglas Aircraft Company to see the DC-3, the most famous transport aircraft in history.

Nearly eight years have passed since the development of the previous generation transport aircraft DC-2. After receiving some of the transport aircraft production lines and drawings from the Royal Aircraft Factory, Douglas finally perfected his design ideas and built a new generation of DC-3 transport aircraft based on the ideas.

Unlike military jets, the DC-3 uses an ordinary propeller design. Facts have proved that even after so many years of jet aircraft, propeller aircraft still have their own unique role.

The new generation transport aircraft uses twin-engine piston engines and will be a brand-new twin-engine propeller transport aircraft.

Because of the limitations of the previous generation of transport aircraft in terms of transport capacity, Douglas deliberately increased the passenger capacity of the latest generation of transport aircraft, the DC-3, to 34 people (3 pilots and 31 passengers).

The entire DC-3 transport aircraft has a total length of 19.52 meters, a wingspan of 29.12 meters, and a height of 5.2 meters. It is much larger than the previous generation.

The empty weight of the entire aircraft is approximately 18,355 pounds, which is 8.34 tons. In addition to the 34-person crew, the DC-3 transport aircraft can carry more than 6,000 pounds (2.7 tons) of supplies.

Because the maximum take-off weight has reached 31,000 pounds, which is 14 tons, the carrying capacity of the DC-3 transport aircraft has been greatly enhanced.

In terms of speed, because it uses a relatively ordinary propeller as power, the speed of the DC-3 transport aircraft is not high.

Even Douglas Aircraft Company specifically hired Diesel as the engine designer, and also invited a large number of engine design experts from Australasia.

But the best data produced by this aircraft can only reach a maximum speed of 385 kilometers per hour.

Although it lags far behind the latest fighter jets, it is almost the same as the previous generation fighter jets, that is, the fifth-generation fighter jets.

Considering the powerful transportation capacity of the DC-3 transport aircraft, the slightest disadvantage in speed can be completely ignored.

Of course, the maximum speed is actually just a reference value. When an airplane is actually flying, it is impossible to fly at its maximum speed all the time.

During the actual test, the DC-3 transport aircraft could only maintain an average flight speed of about 275 kilometers per hour at most, which is the cruising speed in the conventional sense.

There were some other data, and Arthur glanced at them hastily:

Maximum range: 1,600 nautical miles (2,963 kilometers)

Practical ceiling: 26,400 feet (8,050 meters)

Climb rate: 1130 feet per minute (5.75 meters per second)

The above is all the data of this civilian version of the DC-3 transport aircraft.

Judging from these data, Arthur is still very satisfied.

You know, this is just the most common civilian version. The civilian version has been greatly improved compared to the previous generation of transport aircraft, not to mention the improved super transport aircraft, which is the military version adopted by the army.

Yes, there is a military version of the DC-3 transport aircraft.

The civilian version of the DC-3 transport aircraft maintains its original name, while the military version of the DC-3 transport aircraft has another brand-new name, Sop-34 transport aircraft.

Sop, taken from Special operations, means special operations.

This also shows the greatest role of military transport aircraft. In addition to transporting military supplies, it also brings paratroopers to the enemy's rear for raids.

The military version of the transport aircraft uses the most advanced jet engines, but still maintains a twin-engine structure.

In terms of the appearance of the aircraft, there is almost no big difference from the civilian version of the DC-3 transport aircraft.

But because of the difference in power systems, the military version is undoubtedly more powerful in terms of load capacity and speed.

The empty weight of the military version of the transport aircraft reaches 8.7 tons, and the maximum take-off weight reaches 16 tons.

This also means that the Sop-34 transport aircraft can carry up to 7.3 tons of people and cargo.

In terms of speed, the Sop-34 transport aircraft has a maximum speed of 455 kilometers per hour and a cruising speed of 325 kilometers per hour, which is much higher than the civilian version.

Finally, there is the voyage. If part of the load is discarded and replaced with two additional fuel tanks, the Sop-34 transport aircraft can reach a maximum range of 4,250 kilometers.

Even without these two auxiliary fuel tanks, the Sop-34 transport aircraft can still maintain a range of 3,125 kilometers, and its strategic role will undoubtedly be greatly improved.

Although Arthur didn't know much about the specific performance of the historical DC-3 transport aircraft. But Arthur is certain that the current Sop-34 transport aircraft must surpass the DC-3 transport aircraft in terms of data.

After all, historically, jet aircraft have not been developed until now. Now, Australasia's new generation of aircraft basically uses jet engine technology, and it is an improved second-generation version.

Perhaps because the headquarters of Douglas Aircraft Company and Boeing are not far apart, after learning that Arthur had arrived at Douglas Aircraft Company for inspection, Boeing also extended an invitation to Arthur and stated that Boeing's new generation aircraft has also been developed. Finish.

The competition between the two aircraft companies is what Arthur wants to see. Arthur is also curious about whether Boeing, which lagged behind Douglas Aircraft Company in the design of the previous generation of transport aircraft, can make a comeback in the new generation of transport aircraft.

At the invitation of Boeing, Arthur went to the Boeing Company not far away after completing his inspection of Douglas Aircraft Company.

Boeing and Douglas Aircraft Company are already the two giants of the world's aircraft in the field of previous generation transport aircraft.

Especially after the Royal Aircraft Factory in Australasia gave up its civil aircraft business, the two most famous companies in Australasia and even the world are Boeing and Douglas.

Of course, the DC-2 transport aircraft is obviously more trusted by other countries in terms of performance and carrying capacity.

So far, more than 65% of the world uses DC-2 transport aircraft. Boeing's previous generation product, the Boeing 267 transport aircraft, only accounts for about 20% of flights.

However, from this data, we can also see how advanced Australasia's aircraft manufacturing industry is in the world.

Even for the remaining 15% of flights that do not use Australasian aircraft, more than 10% use imitation DC-2 transport aircraft and Boeing 267 transport aircraft.

In other words, products developed by other countries only account for less than 5% of the world’s flights.

The reason for this current situation is caused by many reasons.

The first is flight safety. Boeing and Douglas are two of the three major aircraft manufacturers that have launched aircraft around the world.

In the past eight years, DC-2 and Boeing 267 have not had any major accidents. This is also the reason why the two aircraft manufacturers have been able to develop rapidly in the past eight years.

Aircraft manufacturers in other countries either design aircraft products that are too backward or cannot guarantee the safety of the aircraft, which also hinders their products from entering large-scale commercial flights.

Precisely because of the excellent market shares of Douglas Aircraft Company and Boeing, these two companies are able to generate a large amount of revenue for Arthur every year, and the research and development funds they receive every year are also constantly growing.

When Arthur arrived at Boeing, a large number of employees from all over the company came to greet him, and the atmosphere was very lively.

By the time Arthur went to the Boeing conference hall, Boeing had already prepared the drawings and specific data of the new generation aircraft it designed, the Boeing 367.

It is worth mentioning that, like the previous-generation aircraft Boeing 267 transport aircraft, the naming method of the Boeing 367 is very simple. That is, Boeing adds the number of the top speed of 367 kilometers per hour to form the complete name of the Boeing 367.

This also revealed that the top speed of Boeing's new generation aircraft is lower than the DC-3's 385 kilometers per hour and can only reach 367 kilometers per hour.

Arthur was confused, because the engine suppliers of Boeing and Douglas Aircraft Company are both Diesel engine factories, so logically there should not be such a huge difference in power.

But when Arthur focused on the other data of the Boeing 367, Arthur instantly understood the reason why the Boeing 367 lagged behind in terms of speed.

Judging from the size of the aircraft, the Boeing 367 transport aircraft is larger than the DC-3 transport aircraft. As a transport aircraft that also uses twin propellers as power, the Boeing 367 transport aircraft pays more attention to load and range, and does not pay as much attention to the speed of the aircraft as the DC-3 transport aircraft.

The Boeing 367 has a total length of 20.12 meters, a wingspan of approximately 29.37 meters, and a height of 5.35 meters.

The empty weight of the entire aircraft reached 8.75 tons, which has exceeded the weight of the Sop-34 transport aircraft equipped with a jet engine.

The maximum takeoff weight of the Boeing 367 can reach 15.65 tons, and the maximum payload can reach 6.9 tons.

The increase in load capacity comes at the expense of speed. The Boeing 367's top speed is only 367 kilometers per hour, and its stable cruising speed can only reach 252 kilometers per hour.

What surprised Arthur even more was that the Boeing 367 completely inherited the clever internal design of the Boeing 267 and even carried it forward.

If you want to use a short sentence to describe the difference between the Boeing 367 transport aircraft and the DC-3 transport aircraft, it is obvious that the Boeing 367 transport aircraft pays more attention to the passenger riding experience, while the DC-3 transport aircraft pays more attention to the aircraft's carrying efficiency and role.

The Boeing 367 transport aircraft not only has a bathroom, but also has more spacious seats. In addition, in terms of aircraft design, the Boeing 367 is equipped with an adjustable pitch propeller, a cabin heating system, a wing and tail de-icing device, and an autopilot.

Of course, this so-called autopilot cannot achieve true automatic driving. It can only help the aircraft maintain a straight flight through an electric gyro stabilization device and a three-axis stabilization system.

I’ll just update it today, please vote for me and support!