I Became a Tycoon During World War I - Chapter 242

Chapter 242: Charles' Classroom

Charles didn't care about Kobdo's trap.

At most, Charles would cooperate with Kobdo for interviews to continue increasing his popularity and boosting his support rate in The Meritorious Report.

However, these interviews had nothing to do with the acquisition of army planes or the airport; instead, they shifted the focus to frontline supplies. For example, Charles continued donating marching blankets and socks to the frontline, along with food, cigarettes, and other materials.

In fact, Kobdo subtly conveyed this message in several articles: Charles had no interest in acquiring army planes. Charles believed that an army's strength lay in its quality, not in its numbers. He had the world's highest quality elite flying force, and adding a ragtag bunch would only bring him more trouble.

Kobdo understood human nature; he knew that "asking for help" and "being asked" were two completely different things, even when both involved the acquisition of army planes.

If Charles adopted the "asking for help" attitude and offered various favorable conditions to encourage army pilots to voluntarily join, the pilots would instead become wary. "Why is Charles in such a hurry to have us join? Does he have some ulterior motive? Will it be dangerous?"

But if Charles acted like he was rejecting them, the pilots would become anxious: "Look, Charles doesn't want us. It must be because we don't meet his standards or because of some other difficulty. We should work harder to get in!"

Thus, more and more pilots would flock to him.

During this period, Charles focused his attention on aviation bombs and the Caproni bombers.

He believed that the efficiency of engaging in tailing and shooting down German planes one by one with fighter jets was too low. Bombers, on the other hand, could take out enemy planes along with their pilots—and even their reserve pilots—without breaking a sweat. This was a much more satisfying task!

The development of aviation bombs was progressing rapidly. After all, this project was being handled by the Saint-Étienne armaments factory, which had experience, a solid foundation, and talent. Within just a week, they successfully developed the bombs, and after testing, their performance was very stable.

The Caproni bombers took a bit longer. Eric and the research department took two and a half weeks to produce three prototypes.

They initially thought they would need at least a few weeks of test flights to fix any issues before starting mass production.

However, the success of the test flights surprised everyone. The bombers' performance was excellent, and even when carrying 800 kilograms of weight, they could still fly at 113 kilometers per hour.

Eric was overjoyed. He excitedly reported to Charles on the phone:
"This is nothing short of a miracle, Colonel! We were even questioning whether this model had been tested or improved before."

"It's hard to imagine that the prototype could be so perfect."

"113 kilometers per hour—do you realize what that means?"

"It might become the world's safest dedicated bomber!"

Charles understood what Eric meant. Most fighter jets, such as the "Avro," had speeds of around 100 kilometers per hour, and the German planes were no exception.

Yet, the Caproni bomber, equipped with three engines, could still fly at 113 kilometers per hour even with heavy loads.

All the fighter jets, whether friendly or enemy, would never be able to keep up with the Caproni. Of course, they wouldn't be able to tail and shoot it down.

This meant that the bomber didn’t need fighter escorts. It could fly straight into enemy territory to bomb and return unscathed.

Charles calmly gave Eric a few instructions:
"I want the research department to continue increasing the engine power."

"Also, mass production of the bombers should start as soon as possible. Try to produce 20 planes within two weeks."

"Meanwhile, the development of single-seat fighters can be prioritized now!"

Eric excitedly responded: "Yes, Colonel!"

Then he couldn't help but exclaim, "We might be on the verge of creating a miracle in aviation history!"

Charles had no interest in creating any aviation miracles. He just wanted to maintain the speed advantage of the bombers.

One day, when the Germans improved their engines to make their fighters capable of catching up with the 100-horsepower Caproni, Charles would already have a 150-horsepower engine developed.

At that point, the bombers' speed would once again exceed that of the German fighters, and the German airfields would still be under the bombers' wings.

This would make aerial combat easier, as German pilots would need to constantly worry about being bombed while fighting.

...

That day, the snow stopped, and the sunlight reflected off the snow, making it dazzling.

Charles took some time off to visit the Carter Flying Club. He wanted to check on how the pilots of the first squadron were training.

As the car entered the airfield, Carter was passionately giving a lecture to the trainees on the first floor of the building.

The students seemed to be new pilots. They didn’t have the weary and weathered expressions of Carter’s previous team but were instead full of innocence and passion.

However, Carter didn't seem to be a very good teacher. The classroom felt dull and somewhat stifling.

Carter, looking troubled, seemed to be desperately trying to entertain the students, as if performing an act of "mutual torment."

When Carter spotted Charles entering, he raised his head to gesture at the students and asked, "Didn’t you all want to meet Colonel Charles?"

The students perked up and sat up straight.

Carter smiled and waved toward Charles. The students immediately whispered, "Is this young Colonel Charles?"

Carter walked up to Charles and shook his hand, then helplessly said, "Say a few words, Colonel. Many of them joined our flying squadron just to meet you, and they aren't really interested in the lecture."

The classroom fell silent for a few seconds. The students finally realized it was indeed Charles. Then, the classroom erupted into enthusiastic applause.

Charles calmly walked up to the podium and spoke in a steady tone:
"Hello, gentlemen. If you joined the flying squadron just to meet me, you may be disappointed. You will probably see more of me on the streets of Paris than you will here."

The students laughed knowingly. Many of them had made that mistake. They thought that Charles was the squadron commander and that they would become his subordinates here.

But the truth was that Charles rarely visited the flying club, only about once a month.

When the laughter died down, Charles asked a question:
"Do you know what the difference is between the flying squadron and other branches of the military?"

The students paused for a moment before responding one after another:

"The flying squadron fights the enemy in the sky, Colonel."

"We have faster speeds!"

"We have more women who like us!"

...

The students burst into laughter, and Carter shot them a fierce look. They quickly stifled their laughter but still had smiles on their faces.

This was the nature of pilots. They should be free-spirited and have their own personalities. If everything was too rigid, it would be difficult to become an excellent pilot.

Charles didn't get angry. He answered slowly, word by word:
"I believe the biggest difference is that you are on your own, gentlemen. On the battlefield, you can only rely on yourselves. No one can help you!"

The students' expressions grew serious, and some of them silently nodded.

They understood what Charles meant. At that time, aerial combat lacked basic communication equipment, and coordination between planes was very difficult. Pilots could only rely on themselves: tailing the enemy or being tailed, dealing with mechanical failures, leaking fuel, or even falling after being hit by the enemy...

Everything could only be dealt with alone, until the last step.

Sometimes, even if a comrade was nearby, they couldn't help. All they could do was watch as it all unfolded.

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