Chapter 835 Game of Italy and France

Although the DC-3 transport aircraft is better in terms of data, if Arthur is asked to choose the aircraft he takes, he would actually prefer the Boeing 3

There is no doubt that the DC-3 transport aircraft is a more efficient and civilian transport aircraft than the Boeing 367.

Some of the designs of the Boeing 367, including toilets, are obviously designed to serve the middle and upper classes.

Under the premise of using the same engine power, the Boeing 367 is larger in size and weight, and fuel consumption will increase more costs.

What's more, despite having other facilities, the Boeing 367 can only carry a limited number of 31 people (3 pilots and 28 passengers), which is 3 fewer passengers than the smaller DC-3 transport aircraft. personal.

This means that if the flight cost of the Boeing 367 increases, the higher cost will be spread to fewer passengers, and the air ticket price faced by each passenger will also be higher.

Even with the development of airlines in various countries, the price of air tickets is still one of the issues that has been criticized. Take Australasia as an example. As the first country and region where the aviation industry originated, Australasia’s Royal Airways is one of the largest airlines in the world, and it can also receive low-cost funding from Boeing and Douglas Aircraft Company. price aircraft.

Logically speaking, Royal Air Lines' ticket prices should be relatively low. After all, the cost is indeed less than that of other airlines.

But in fact, a flight ticket from Sydney to Wellington is officially priced at A$60, 15 shillings and 7 pence.

At present, the per capita income in Australasia is only about 200 Australian dollars, which means that it takes more than half a year's income to travel between Australasia and New Zealand.

But the good news is that when the new generation of transport aircraft enters Royal Air Lines, ticket prices will also see a certain reduction because they can carry more passengers.

Although the aviation industry is not yet the main choice for public transportation in this era, its potential has been discovered by various countries.

If you want to use a boat, it will take at least 4 to 5 days to travel from Australia to New Zealand, and it must be a fast speedboat.

If it is an ordinary small civilian ship, the travel time between the two places may be extended to more than a week, or even close to ten days.

But if you use aircraft, even the DC-2 transport aircraft and Boeing 267 aircraft that are currently outdated can reach the destination within 15 hours as long as they carry enough auxiliary fuel tanks.

With the latest DC-3 transport aircraft and Boeing 367 transport aircraft, the time can be further reduced, and it may even take only 8 to 10 hours to travel from Australia to New Zealand.

This will be very helpful for Australasia as a whole. Because the Australasian Empire is too scattered and has tens of thousands of islands and archipelagos, it is more troublesome to manage.

With the development of the aviation industry, the time required to reach these islands is also constantly decreasing. This actually means that the imperial government's control over these areas is also constantly increasing.

What makes Arthur more excited is that both the DC-3 transport aircraft and the Boeing 367 transport aircraft have completed prototype testing and have even entered the preparation stage for mass production.

This also means that as long as Arthur is willing, the two aircraft companies can enter assembly line production at any time, and a steady stream of advanced transport aircraft will enter the civilian and military fields of Australasia.

However, the strategic role of the new generation of transport aircraft is too high, and Arthur does not intend to announce these two transport aircraft too early.

This also means that before the two transport aircraft are made public, Australasian airlines can only use products that are already outdated.

Even if Douglas and Boeing transport aircraft are provided to his allies in the future, Arthur will not sell the military version of the DC-3 transport aircraft, that is, the Sop-34 transport aircraft.

Jet engines are a brand new technology to all countries, so they will naturally have to hide it as long as it can be concealed.

Otherwise, when potential enemies like Germany, Italy and island countries develop jet engines and jet aircraft too early, Australasia's advantages in aircraft will be offset a lot.

Arthur would not do this to shoot himself in the foot, which is why Australasia's jet engine technology has been well concealed.

March 17, 1935, above Madrid, the capital of the Spanish Republic.

The weather was still sunny, and it was a good day for the Air Force to go out.

Enrique was driving a brand new Fiat CR.32 Arrow fighter jet with a comfortable look on his face, cruising leisurely over Madrid.

Since the last battle with the Air Force of the Spanish Republic, the Italian Air Force has no rivals above Spain.

There are only more than 60 Spanish aircraft in total. Most of them were lost in that air battle, and the remaining ones basically have no combat effectiveness.

This has also led to a terrible consequence, that is, the Italian air force can operate unimpeded in Spanish airspace, as if it is traveling over its own country's territory.

However, Enrique's comfort did not last long.

There was a strange noise in the sky soon, and Enrique also discovered the small black dot in the blue sky.

"Damn, what is that?" Enrique was a little confused and quickly picked up the telescope and carefully observed the small dot in the distance.

"Damn it, it's an enemy plane, enemy attack!" Before Enrique could see what the black dot in the distance was, his comrade Toranc's exclamation came from the co-pilot seat behind him.

"Damn it, do Spanish planes still dare to provoke us?" Enrique was a little surprised. He didn't think Spain's outdated planes could threaten Italy's advanced fighter jets.

"Enrique, that's not a Spanish plane!" Torunc behind him exclaimed again, bringing a piece of news that made Enrique change his mind: "The tail fin of that plane is a damn French one. Flag!”

"A French plane? Are the French going to participate in the Spanish Civil War?" Enrique was filled with doubts, but he did not dare to be careless in the upcoming air battle.

The Spanish aircraft are backward products, but the French aircraft are not.

As early as when Italy and Germany signed the Entente, Germany and Italy conducted detailed studies on French aircraft.

The French currently have two most equipped fighter jets. One is the modern monoplane fighter C1 proposed by the French Air Force, and the other is the low-wing monoplane D.500 developed by Devatina for the French.

No matter what kind of fighter it is, it is not a good thing for Enrique. Because these two fighter jets were manufactured in the past two years, they are considered the most advanced fighter series currently produced by the French.

"Have you figured out what kind of plane it is?" Enrique was a little anxious and asked Tolunk behind him loudly.

"Damn it, I can only see a blurry frame. It's completely impossible to determine which plane it is." Tronk tried his best to observe the appearance of the plane, but because the distance was too far, after all, Only a blurry frame is visible.

"Contact the combat department, Enrique. If those damn French dispatch more than one plane, we will be no match for them." Tronk suggested.

"What the hell, aren't these French people not planning to participate in this war?" Enrique was a little frustrated, as if he was talking to himself, and seemed to be asking Torunc: "They are coming towards us, are they really Do you want to fight with us?"

Things went as Enrique expected. When he was about to enter the shooting range, the French plane had already begun to attack Enrique.

This also means that the air battle between the two countries' aircraft begins instantly. No matter what they think, they only have one task left at the moment, which is to win this damn air battle and then return.

The news that French aircraft appeared in Spanish airspace was quickly reported to the Italian combat department and then to the Italian government.

Mussolini naturally received this news. Like the soldiers on the front line, Mussolini also could not believe that the French would dare to interfere openly in the Spanish Civil War.

Although they had already backed down at the beginning, what made the French choose to join this war again?

"Contact the German government. We need to be prepared for every move of the French." At a meeting of the Italian government, Mussolini ordered his men: "Let the army be ready for war. The French are definitely not making excuses. We have to prepare in advance.”

Knowing that French public opinion was anti-war, Mussolini planned to use French public opinion to put pressure on the French government.

The best way is to release the news that French aircraft have appeared in Spanish airspace. This not only means that France will directly confront Germany and Italy, but also means that France is likely to start a war with Germany and Italy.

Naturally, this is absolutely impossible for those anti-war French people to accept. This was also Mussolini's purpose, which was to use public opinion within France to undermine the actions of the French government.

Facts have proved that this trick is indeed very effective.

The First World War 20 years ago is still a painful memory that the French people cannot forget, and it still affects their views on the world situation to this day.

After hearing that the government's actions might lead to a full-scale war with Germany and Italy, the French people expressed dissatisfaction with the French government's actions and demanded a reasonable explanation from the French government.

Of course, the French government has already responded.

Faced with pressure from domestic public opinion and diplomatic pressure from Germany and Italy, the French government stated that those French aircraft bearing the French flag had actually been sold to the government of the Spanish Republic a few months ago.

Because it is a fighter jet that has been eliminated by France, and due to the hasty handover, the French flag on the fighter jet has not been erased, but the person operating the fighter jet has become a Spanish soldier.

The French government's statement can be summarized in a short sentence, that is, the aircraft has been sold to the Spanish government, and everything has nothing to do with the French government.

Is this really the case? Not necessarily.

However, there is not enough evidence, and the French government has begun to appease the domestic people and calm the pressure of domestic public opinion, so Germany and Italy can only give up putting pressure on the French government through public opinion.

As for threatening France with war, that is only the last option. Neither the German nor the Italian governments will do so in the short term.

In the plan of the German and Italian governments, they would not find a way to attack the French until they won the Spanish Civil War and gained Spain, a relatively strong ally.

At that time, Germany, Italy and Spain will dispatch three parties, and the French will have to face military pressure from the three parties, which will make the French army exhausted to deal with it.

As long as the French mainland can be captured, France's vast colonies will become a terra incognita.

In this way, a huge colonial empire will collapse on its own, and Germany will become the most powerful country on the European continent and a veritable European hegemon.

Although the pressure of public opinion did not make the French government compromise, it was forced to disclose the number of fighter jets sold to the Spanish Republic, a total of 120 aircraft.

The number of fighter jets sold by the French to Spain even exceeded the size of Spain's original air force. This also proved that the Spanish Republic had fallen into a complete disadvantage in this civil war and was eager to find other allies to seek opportunities to break the situation.

But this also means one thing, that is, the number of available pilots in Spain is likely to be insufficient.

It doesn’t mean that you can fly it just by having an airplane. You also need to have the ability and a good enough pilot to fly the airplane.

This means that the aircraft sold by France to the Spanish Republic are all single-seat aircraft. Otherwise, Spain will face a greater pilot vacancy.

In order to cope with the pressure of these 120 fighter jets, Italy urgently mobilized hundreds of fighter jets to Spain.

At the same time, the air combat situation on the front also revealed the type of fighter jet France sold to Spain, which was France's first modernized low-wing monoplane fighter designed by Dewatina, which was the D.500 fighter designed and implemented in 1933.

Coincidentally, the mainstream fighter used by the Italian Air Force, the Fiat CR.32 Arrow fighter, is also a new generation fighter developed since 1933.

The CR series fighter jets are a series of fighter jets developed by the famous Italian engineer Celestino Rosatelli. They were first born more than ten years ago.

Up to now, the CR series fighter jets have included CR.1 fighter, CR.5 fighter, CR.20 fighter, CR.20ldro water fighter, CR.20B two-seat trainer, CR.20bis fighter, CR.20Asso fighter, CR. 30 fighter jets and the latest CR.32 fighter jets.

The development of so many generations of fighter jets in more than ten years is enough to prove how legendary the aircraft development career of the famous engineer Celestino Rosatelli was.

As the latest fighter that only started mass production last year and was officially equipped to the army this year, the Fiat CR.32 Arrow fighter is not only the hard work of Celestino Rosatelli in recent years, but also the most popular Italian fighter. Advanced models.

Being able to use hundreds of Fiat CR.32 Arrow fighter jets to fight against the French's 120 D.500 fighter jets has shown that Italy attaches great importance to France in terms of aircraft.

This is indeed the case. In terms of aircraft research and development, France can be said to be relatively advanced among European countries.

Perhaps only the United Kingdom can surpass France. Others, such as Germany and Austria, which have relatively strong scientific research capabilities, are currently very backward in the development of military aircraft due to various restrictions.

Of course, Australasia is an exception. As the first country to implement global navigation by aircraft, no country currently knows the extent to which Australasia's military aircraft have developed.

However, thinking about Australasia's excellent transport aircraft, DC-2 and Boeing 267, I believe that their military aircraft design will never fall behind.

This is also the view of most European countries, including Germany, Italy and France, on the design of Australasian aircraft.

Even if it is not as good as the British, its aircraft manufacturing level should be at the same level as the French. This is what most Europeans think.

French and Italian planes fought over Spain, making another continental power, the German Empire, jealous.

If we look at the country's overall strength alone, Germany has recovered more than half of its strength, and its overall national strength exceeds that of Italy.

But now in terms of the development of heavy weapons, Germany is obviously inferior to Italy. This is also Germany's biggest problem at present.

In order to solve this biggest problem, the German government quickly promulgated the "Ordinance on the Reform of the Military Industry Industry" with the intention of vigorously developing heavy weapons.

The so-called reform regulations actually use all means to encourage the development of the military industry, especially the heavy weapons industry.

Compared with the previous military expansion operations, the German government is no longer hiding it. It is equivalent to publicly shouting to France that it will vigorously develop the heavy weapons industry.

What can the French do about this? The people of Paris have just held an anti-war demonstration. If we impose certain restrictions on the Germans at this time, wouldn't we be putting ourselves at the crosshairs of these anti-war factions?

Anyway, for the current French government, its reputation belongs to itself, but the government does not. Muddling along allows you to retain your current status and gain the support of the people. This is the most important thing.

As for thinking about the country and guarding against Germany, a serious threat, well, that is not a question that the French government should think about.

With the idea of ​​leaving the problem to the next French government, the French government completely relaxed and did not even respond to Germany's almost open provocation.

The German government is also happy with this. They can easily develop heavy weapons and equipment, and they don't have to worry about the French reaction.

As for the British, the British are the ones least likely to take action.

France has not taken any action. Do we expect the British to stand up against Germany on their own?

Throughout the history of the United Kingdom, for a country that advocates a regional balancing policy, there is nothing worse than being killed yourself.

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