Chapter 1811 This plane is bought
If Xiao Peng knew how anxious Yevmenov and the others were, he would definitely ask back: "Who the hell said I stole the plane? I clearly bought it!"
He gave the €100,000 directly to the head of the Dixon Island Air Force, and the small military aircraft became Xiao Peng's. It was a fair exchange of money and goods.
Speaking of which, Xiao Peng was extremely happy when he bought this plane. He didn't expect that he could buy this thing here: the Yun-5B from Daxia.
What was the best-selling aircraft in the world after World War II? It was a biplane that first flew in 1947 and is the last biplane still in production: the Soviet An-2.
When this aircraft was first put into production, Western countries laughed at it. After all, biplanes were outdated. What they didn't expect was that this aircraft would become the best-selling aircraft after World War II. From its birth to today, it has been introduced by Poland and Bactria, and more than 18,000 of these aircraft have been produced worldwide!
This thing is incredible! It takes off in a super short time, can fly on water with floats, and can take off and land on snow with sleds. Have you ever seen a plane that can fly backwards?
The An-2 can fly backwards!
This is really amazing.
When the Japanese WWII ace pilot Saburo Sakai was interviewed, people asked him: Do you prefer driving a car or flying a plane? Saburo Sakai's answer was: Of course a car, because planes don't have a reverse gear.
Then he definitely has never flown an An-2 - the plane can fly backwards as long as the wind is strong enough.
There are so many amazing things about this plane: it can take off and land in fields, and the take-off distance is less than 170 meters; it can also fly at a height of five meters; operation and maintenance are super simple, and basically, apart from the engine and fuel tank, there is nothing much to repair about this plane. To put it bluntly, just add a few pipes and skin, install the engine, and then let's fly; it can also weed, fertilize, sow, and kill insects... Currently, this plane has been developed with more than 40 functions. In short, it is a durable and versatile aircraft.
Are there any downsides? Of course there are. Why is it called an "air tractor"? It's noisy and a bit slow...
Well, not just a little, it's very slow. The slowest speed of other planes is faster than its fastest speed - this plane has a fastest speed of about 250 kilometers per hour, and its cruising speed is about the same as that of a car. It can fly at 90 kilometers per hour without stalling and it still flies very low. If you encounter this plane in an air combat, you really have no way to deal with it.
But since the planes can't do anything about it, is there any other way? Yes, an AK-47 will do.
Shooting down an airplane with a gun is basically a plot in a fantasy TV series, but it is not magical at all when it happens to the An-2.
During the Vietnam War in 1968, the CIA built a radar station on a mountain near their base, allowing them to detect any movement by the North Vietnamese army. This infuriated the North Vietnamese, who sent in four An-2s for an airstrike. Their attack was very World War I-style: biplanes flew slowly overhead, with crews dropping grenades and explosives...
What did the Americans do when they saw this? They used a UH-1 helicopter to catch up with the An-2, and then the American soldiers on the helicopter opened fire on the An-2 with AK-47s in their hands.
There are quite a lot of complaints about this incident: first of all, the fact that the helicopter caught up with the fixed-wing aircraft shows how slowly the An-2 flew; then the fact that the American soldiers used AK-47s is also worth complaining about - during the Vietnam War, many American soldiers threw away their weapons and used AK-47s because this gun was less likely to malfunction and was easier to use than their own guns.
In any case, the final result was that a UH-1 helicopter shot down two An-2s, creating a rare miracle in the history of air combat where a transport helicopter shot down a fixed-wing aircraft.
But the flaws do not outweigh the merits. This is indeed a good aircraft. Even in Daxia, which has the "strongest economic level in history", the domestic version of the An-2, the Y-5, is still the most common transport aircraft in the entire country.
Then why didn't the Russian Air Force Base on Dixon Island use the An-2 but the Daxia Yun-5?
Back in the 1950s, when relations between the two countries were strong, the Soviets gave the technology for this aircraft to China. Even the Soviets themselves likely considered it too simple. So, in 1957, China also began producing the aircraft, naming it the "Harvest No. 2," later renamed the "Yun-5." However, it was discovered that this aircraft was incredibly powerful! Safe, reliable, easy to maintain, and inexpensive, China began mass production. Furthermore, the aircraft continues to be improved and is still in production today. Of the over 18,500 An-2s produced, over 1,000 were produced by China.
Russia is in a worse situation.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia lost the giant Antonov Design Bureau (located outside Kiev, Ukraine), along with a host of industrial capacity built in Eastern Europe. The An-2 aircraft had only two Soviet-era production lines, one in Ukraine and one in Poland, both now out of Russia's grasp. Consequently, Russia has never produced a single An-2 transport aircraft. All that remains is a so-called "refurbishment plant" and a collection of An-2 parts.
This issue was not reflected much when the alliance was first dissolved, after all, there were still many An-2s in the country. However, after so many years, Russia found that it had no more suitable light transport aircraft than the An-2 - this aircraft has too many functions, and it is very important for Siberia in terms of agricultural transportation.
So Russia wanted to resume production of the An-2, but found that it couldn't!
The various aviation composite materials needed for production and research and development are too expensive. If they want to produce the improved version of the An-2, TVS-2, by themselves, the price of a single unit will exceed 1.5 million US dollars!
In addition, they also have to face problems such as slow mass production process, high prices and poor sales. Although they still have airlines like Sukhoi Aircraft Corporation that produce heavy fighter jets and can still make a living by relying on international orders, small aircraft like An-2 that are related to people's livelihood are not on the development agenda of the Russian aviation industry at all because of their poor profits.
The solution they finally came up with was to go to Daxia to buy the Y-5. This was how Xiao Peng was able to buy the Y-5B on Dixon Island.
But then again, the Russian military is really aggressive, selling military aircraft without any hesitation! Aren't they worried about getting into trouble?
In fact, Xiao Peng was overthinking it: the Dixon Island Air Force was really not worried about getting into trouble!
The environment here is terrible! How terrible is it? Just before Xiao Peng arrived, a strong wind blew through, and the roof of their air force base building, the only four-story building on Dixon Island, was completely blown off! Losing a small transport plane in a place like this is not a big deal, is it?
Not to mention a light transport aircraft, if there is a customer who really wants to buy their Su-34 bomber, they dare to sell it!
As long as you can transport it away!
Xiao Peng didn't care what the outcome would be, now he could finally leave that damn place.
What is his goal?
Dudinka, of course!
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