Chapter 224 Torpedo Bomber

There was nothing to stress about Carter's flying club, and Charles gave orders for them to be on high alert and convert all pilots to fighter pilot training.

Gallieni recruited a large number of pilots from the society, and at the same time set up a special flight academy to recruit young people who were interested in joining the Air Force.

Only in this way can the pilots for subsequent operations be guaranteed.

…

Charles went to the aircraft factory to find Eric immediately.

Eric invited Charles to sit down in the lounge of the aircraft factory and made a cup of hot coffee for Charles and himself.

After listening to Charles' description, Eric couldn't help but exclaimed: "God, we should develop a single-seat aircraft in the shortest time!"

The Avro has good performance, but it is a two-seater and the extra seat is completely unnecessary for a fighter.

But Charles thought there was no rush.

"The Germans also don't have dedicated single-seat fighters." Charles replied: "Although this needs to be done, it can still be delayed."

"Slow down?" Eric asked Charles doubtfully, "But other than this, it seems that we don't have anything else to do."

Charles smiled but said nothing. Then he asked, "How is the development of the engine going?"

Eric nodded hurriedly: "They are great, Colonel! You are right, you signed a group of crazy people, especially that Dorn..."

"The one who speaks French?" asked Charles.

Charles remembered this Don. He was one of the few people who wanted to bring his family to Paris for long-term development.

Charles jokingly asked him why, and he replied: "I think differently from others. I think Paris will not be in danger. The Germans have lost the opportunity to occupy Paris. There is nothing to worry about."

Charles didn't know whether he should praise him or not.

From the perspective of World War I, he was quite far-sighted. The Germans really couldn't occupy Paris. But World War II...

"Yes, that's him!" Eric held the coffee cup in both hands to keep warm: "He was elected as the leader by the R&D staff..."

"Shouldn't he be the director of the R&D department?" Charles asked doubtfully.

"They like to call me that." Eric smiled and replied, "They are very casual. If they have any questions, they just call me 'head' and 'head'. They call me 'old man'."

"What about me?" Charles asked curiously.

"They call you 'the boss', and more people call you 'the Corsican kid'." Eric laughed when he said this.

Charles was stunned for a moment, he didn't understand what "Corsican Boy" meant. The next second he realized that this was a slightly insulting nickname given to Napoleon by the British.

"Nice nickname." Charles smiled slightly. Perhaps this is British humor.

"They have only been here a few weeks, and they have already increased the engine's horsepower to over 100," Eric exclaimed. "This is a huge improvement, and it is still being improved."

Charles nodded in satisfaction, saying that a 100-horsepower engine would be enough to meet current needs.

Charles didn't say much. He took out a blueprint from his briefcase and handed it to Eric. "Next, we should produce this type of aircraft."

Eric took the blueprint and looked at it, then looked at Charles in surprise: "This... this is a big one, Colonel."

Charles said "hmm".

Eric continued to flip, then looked up at Charles again: "It has three engines?"

"Yes!" Charles answered, holding his coffee. "One on each wing, and one at the rear. The only difference is that the rear one is the pusher."

After taking a small sip, Charles asked, "Are you having trouble?"

"No, of course it's not difficult." Eric raised the blueprint and replied, "The R&D department can provide the engine, and you provide the blueprint. All we have to do is produce it according to the blueprint. This is what we are good at."

"It's just..." Eric frowned.

"Just what?" Charles asked.

"This may be beyond my duties, Colonel." Eric was a little worried: "But if you need an aircraft to fly into the air for combat, it shouldn't be so big. You should also consider its maneuverability. A big guy like this...it may not be able to turn in time, so it can't avoid enemy bullets..."

"I know." Charles interrupted Eric: "So it's not used for combat, it's used for bombing!"

Charles leaned forward and pointed to a spot on the blueprint: "This is the rack for the bomb."

Eric said, "Oh!" "Got it, Colonel! Dropping bombs on the enemy's heads, good idea!"

Then Eric didn't ask anything, because this involved military secrets, and Eric knew what to ask and what not to ask.

In fact, there was nothing to hide from Eric about military secrets. The blueprints were the most important military secrets. Charles didn't say much because Eric might not understand some military matters.

The drawing that Charles gave Eric was of the famous Caproni Ca.3 bomber from World War I, made in Italy.

The reason why Charles chose this bomber was that it could directly stack the number of engines: in the early days of World War I, the horsepower of aircraft engines was generally around 80 to 100, which made it difficult for bombers to carry heavy bombs.

But the Caproni bomber was different. It had an additional engine directly behind the fuselage, allowing it to carry 800 kg of bombs.

Later, when the engine was upgraded to 150 horsepower, there was no problem in directly replacing it with a high-horsepower engine.

More importantly, the Caproni bomber can carry torpedoes... This bomber was converted into a torpedo attack aircraft by the Navy at the end of World War I and successfully mounted torpedoes to equip a torpedo bomber squadron.

It's a pity that it didn't work and the battle ended immediately, so there is no record.

This bomber was in line with Charles' needs. The only problem was that Charles only remembered the general shape and layout and could not give detailed data.

However, these can be solved by test flights.

Charles said, "This is just a preliminary design. You need to find someone to further improve it."

"I understand, Colonel!" Eric flipped through the blueprints without looking up, and answered confidently, "Leave it to me!"

Eric is very knowledgeable about airplanes and is an expert in aircraft manufacturing. He can see that the blueprint has already determined all the major directions and only some details need to be changed and improved.

…

Coming out of the aircraft factory and sitting in the car returning to the headquarters, Charles was thinking that the next thing to do was to let Steed make the aerial bomb.

This thing was not difficult for Steed, it was just an enlarged version of a mortar shell.

Then, bomb the German airport while they are not prepared!

The German flying elites were concentrated there, as well as a large number of fighter planes that had just been equipped with machine guns. A batch of bombs dropped there would make all their efforts during this period of time go to waste!

(The picture above is a Caproni bomber. You can see the propeller at the rear of the fuselage. Just above it is the rear gunner. There is another gunner at the front of the aircraft, plus two pilots, for a total of four crew members)

(The picture above shows the naval version of the Caproni bomber during World War I, which can carry an 800 kg torpedo)

(End of this chapter)