I Became a Tycoon During World War I - Chapter 224

Chapter 224: Torpedo Bomber

Carter's flying club didn’t require much attention. Charles issued an order to keep them on high alert and had all the pilots undergo training to become fighter pilots.

Gallieni, on the other hand, called for a large-scale recruitment of pilots from society and began establishing a dedicated air force academy to recruit young people interested in joining the air force.

Only by doing so could the supply of pilots for future operations be ensured.

...

Charles arrived at the aircraft manufacturing plant without delay and found Eric.

Eric invited Charles to sit in the factory's lounge and made a cup of hot coffee for both himself and Charles.

After hearing Charles' description, Eric couldn’t help but exclaim, “My God, we should develop a single-seater plane as quickly as possible!”

The “Avro” had good performance, but it was a two-seater, and the extra seat was completely unnecessary for a fighter.

But Charles felt that this wasn’t urgent.

“The Germans also don’t have a dedicated single-seater fighter,” Charles replied. “Although this needs to be done, we can still take our time.”

“Take our time?” Eric asked, puzzled. “But aside from that, it seems we don’t have anything else to do.”

Charles smiled without speaking and then asked, “How is the engine development progressing?”

Eric nodded enthusiastically. “They’re doing great, Colonel! You were right; you’ve signed a bunch of crazy people, especially that Dorn…”

“The one who speaks French?” Charles asked.

Charles remembered Dorn, one of the few who wanted to bring his family to Paris for long-term development.

Charles had once joked with him about the reason. Dorn had replied, “I think Paris won’t be in any danger. The Germans have already lost their chance to occupy Paris, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Charles wasn’t sure whether to praise him.

From the perspective of World War I, Dorn was quite far-sighted. The Germans couldn’t capture Paris. But World War II…

“Yes, that’s him!” Eric said, warming his hands with his coffee cup. “He was elected by the developers to be the leader…”

“Shouldn’t he be the head of the development department?” Charles asked, puzzled.

“They like to call it that,” Eric laughed. “They’re very casual. When there’s an issue, they just call each other ‘chief’ or ‘head’. They call me ‘old man’.”

“What about me?” Charles asked, curious.

“They call you ‘the boss’. More people call you ‘the Corsican boy’.” At this point, Eric laughed heartily.

Charles froze for a moment. He didn’t understand what “Corsican boy” meant. The next second, he realized: it was the slightly derogatory nickname the British gave to Napoleon.

“Not a bad nickname,” Charles chuckled lightly. Perhaps this was British humor.

“They’ve only been here a few weeks and have already increased the engine horsepower to over 100,” Eric sighed. “This is a huge improvement, and they’re still working on it.”

Charles nodded in satisfaction. An engine with 100 horsepower would meet the current needs.

Charles didn’t say much else. He took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Eric. “Next, we should produce this aircraft.”

Eric took the drawing and, upon seeing it, looked up at Charles in surprise. “This… this is a big one, Colonel.”

Charles simply replied with a “Hmm.”

Eric continued flipping through the pages and then looked up again. “It has three engines?”

“Yes!” Charles replied, holding his coffee. “One on each wing and one in the rear. The difference is that the one in the rear is a pusher engine.”

Taking a small sip, Charles asked, “Any problems?”

“No, of course not,” Eric said, raising the drawing. “The development department can provide the engines. You provide the blueprints. All we need to do is produce it according to the blueprints. That’s our expertise.”

“Only…” Eric furrowed his brows.

“Only what?” Charles asked.

“This might be outside my scope, Colonel,” Eric said with some concern. “But if you need a plane to go into combat, it shouldn’t be this large. You also need to consider its maneuverability. A big plane like this… it might not be able to turn quickly and thus could be unable to avoid enemy bullets…”

“I know,” Charles interrupted Eric. “That’s why it’s not for combat, it’s for bombing!”

Charles leaned forward and pointed to a spot on the blueprint. “This is the bomb rack.”

Eric exclaimed, “Oh, I see, Colonel! Dropping bombs on the enemy’s head, great idea!”

After that, Eric didn’t ask anything further, as it involved military secrets. He knew what was appropriate to ask and what wasn’t.

In fact, there was no need to hide military secrets from Eric; the blueprint itself was the most important secret. Charles didn’t elaborate because some military matters might be hard for Eric to understand.

The blueprint Charles handed to Eric was the famous Caproni Ca.3 bomber from World War I, made in Italy.

Charles had chosen this bomber because it could directly add engines to increase its power. Early in World War I, airplane engines typically had between 80 to 100 horsepower, which made it difficult for bombers to carry heavy bombs.

But the Caproni bomber was different. It added an engine at the rear of the fuselage, allowing it to carry 800 kilograms of bombs.

Later, when the engines were upgraded to 150 horsepower, it would be no problem to fit larger engines.

More importantly, the Caproni bomber could carry torpedoes. In the later stages of World War I, the navy modified it into a torpedo bomber and successfully equipped a torpedo bomber squadron.

Unfortunately, it didn’t see much action because the war ended before it could be used effectively.

This bomber met Charles’s needs perfectly. The only problem was that Charles only remembered its general shape and layout, not the detailed specifications.

However, these could be worked out through test flights.

Charles gave Eric his instructions. “This is just the preliminary design. You’ll need to find someone to improve it further.”

“I understand, Colonel!” Eric flipped through the blueprint without lifting his head, confidently replying, “Leave it to me!”

Eric was an expert in aircraft manufacturing. He could see that the blueprint had already determined all the major aspects, and only some details needed to be adjusted and improved.

...

Sitting in the car returning to headquarters after leaving the aircraft manufacturing plant, Charles was thinking about the next steps: he needed Steed to make the aerial bombs.

This wouldn’t be difficult for Steed. A larger version of a mortar shell was about the right size.

Then, while the Germans weren’t prepared, he would bomb their airfields!

Their airfields were home to the German flying elite and a batch of fighter planes that had just been equipped with machine guns. A few bombs could ruin all their efforts so far!

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