Chapter 60: Building an Air Force! (Recommended, Collected)

  With a word from Liu Xiang, the equipment was quickly transported to Chongqing. Liu's own troops were mobilized, and when the soldiers heard that they would have a chance to get American weapons if they could transport the machinery up to Chongqing as soon as possible, they worked with great enthusiasm, like they had been injected with chicken blood. Not only was there no damage, but there weren't even many scratches to be seen - after all, this was all done by human power!

  After the machine arrived, H·S's personnel quickly assembled it. After at most a month of debugging, they could produce airplanes. However, Sun Xiang faced a big problem - there were no raw materials, especially alloy aluminum. Raw materials are the foundation of an airplane. Without good metal materials, even the best plane would be useless.

  Liu Xiang patted his chest to guarantee that he would definitely have these metal raw materials. It turned out that Liu Xiang, who was anxious about being equipped, wanted to make equipment himself and had specially imported a set of steel smelting machinery from Germany. However, the German expert assembled the equipment and left, which made Liu Xiang anxious. At this time, Sun Xiang happened to bring people to build an airport, which made our "Liu Mengzi" extremely happy, and he directly used these machines in exchange for the American equipment in Sun Xiang's hands.

  The technical expert of H·S Company looked at the equipment of this small steel mill and exclaimed in surprise, "This set of equipment has no problem producing metal for making airplanes, as long as the iron ore can keep up."

  All worries were resolved and Sun Xiang set off to the air force base in Nanchang, Jiangxi, as all personnel and planes were ready, just waiting for the founding of the army!

  Jiangxi, Nanchang

  On June 15, 1937, the Nanchang-based fighter aircraft (fighter in Chinese) unit, Sun Xiang met with Mao Bangchu, commander of the Nanchang Guidance General Headquarters and Deputy Commander Gao Zhihang.

  When it comes to Gao Zhihang, Sun Xiang is not unfamiliar at all. The spirit of the Chinese Air Force was fought by this hero, and the first Japanese plane shot down by the Chinese was from his hands. It can be said that he was the brightest star in the Chinese Air Force at that time! He was once summoned by Mussolini for his flying skills in Italy, which was a sensation throughout the army.

  This Mao Bangchu was also an extraordinary figure, who had been appointed as the commander of the Third Air Force in Nanchang just in May.

  Mao Bangchu was the nephew of Mao Fumei, Chiang Kai-shek's first wife. After graduating from the third period of Whampoa Military Academy, he devoted himself to military aviation and studied in the Soviet Union and Italy with excellent results. Due to the multiple factors that made Mao Bangchu a favorite of Chiang Kai-shek, such as being a Zhejiang native, a Whampoa alumnus, a relative by marriage, and a talented commander in military aviation, especially in establishing and presiding over the Central Military Academy's Aviation Class, the Ministry of War's Aviation School, and later the Central Aviation School, he gained Chiang Kai-shek's trust. It can be said that this time, the establishment of the air force was led by Sun Xiang, Chen Nade, and Mao Bangchu.

  Sun Xiang saw countless excellent talents in this aviation school, such as Liu Cuigang, Liu Zhaosheng, Dong Mingde, Li Guidan, Zheng Shaoyu, Le Yiqin, Luo Yingde and other outstanding pilots. Sun Xiang's arrival caused cheers among these students, as a world-class super pilot, Sun Xiang's experience and skills were invaluable treasures, which could be lifesaving at critical moments.

  Sun Xiang spent a day at Nanchang Aviation School as a giant panda, explaining some things to note and flight skills. In the evening, he had dinner with a large group of students.

  After dinner, Gao Zhihang sneaked over and asked in a low voice: "Sun Xiang, are you going to join us now?"

  Sun Xiang nodded: "I came back just for the sake of strengthening the army. Now that the situation is unstable, we need to make more preparations."

  Gao Zhihang exclaimed excitedly: "That one vote of yours was done beautifully, those few little Japanese guys were completely at a loss as to what to do with you!"

  "That's just one of their small teams, there are at least a hundred planes waiting to take off in North China."

  Gao Zhihang's eyes widened: "Does this little Japanese kid dare to make a move?"

  Sun Xiang sneered: "Others have already prepared to take us down, otherwise why would I come back from Spain ahead of time?"

  Gao Zhi nodded and said, "I understand, but now our planes are of Soviet and American make, the models can't be unified. The most common one is the American Hawk-3 aircraft, but this plane can't compare with your F4U."

  Sun Yihui replied, "The plane is a big problem. I have 50 F4Us here, and all of them were assigned to pilots with high flying skills in the early stage. This is our terminal force. To be honest, if I can fully utilize the capabilities of the F4U, it's no problem for me to take on five planes alone. Generally speaking, when fighting against Japanese 96 land-based aircraft, one person can take on two planes without a problem. Then we conducted strict formation training, which played a very significant role in large-scale warfare."

  Gao Zhi nodded: "That's for sure, how about the flight level of your several partners?"

  "Don't worry about this," Sun Xiang said confidently with a flick of his head. "They're all top-notch US military pilots."

  "With a light sigh, Gao Zhihang said: 'In that case, at least in the air force, we won't be dragging our country's feet, but as for the army...'"

  Sun Xiang burst out laughing: "This is no longer a problem for us to consider, don't be careless, Comrade Gao. You should know that the current level of industrialization in Japan is higher than ours. As long as it doesn't affect the Japanese mainland, we can't defeat them at all. Their planes and tanks will be produced continuously. Have you thought about it? What if our planes and tanks are used up? Will we rely solely on imports?"

  Gao Zhihang sighed: "Industry is not as good as others, there's nothing to say. I've been to Europe and their industrial foundation is quite high. In Italy, I saw many factories where skilled workers can produce a large number of weapons and equipment. This is something we can't match now. Alas, I don't know when we'll be able to fly our own domestically produced planes."

  Sun Xiang smiled with a pleased expression: "The day is not far away, although it's not our own independent research and development, but this is an airplane made by our country itself."

  "Oh? When? Where was it produced? What model?"

  "I've already built an airport in Chongqing, an aircraft factory, and even a steel mill at a low cost. The production will start as early as the end of July, and the model is the F4U we're currently using. Hehe, by then we'll be able to defend our country's skies with our own planes."

  Gao Zhihang became excited, his body trembling with excitement, his spine electrified all the way to the top of his head: "Great! Now all the planes are imported, as long as your airport is put into production, we will absolutely not give the Japanese a chance to be arrogant. I firmly believe that we can win this war. The performance of the F4U, I've seen it, it's truly a perfect plane, whether it's takeoff weight, speed, range, firepower... it's simply too perfect! This kind of plane is exactly what we need."

  Sun Xiang licked his lips: "Except for the engine, which needs to be imported, everything else can be manufactured by ourselves. The engine is something that we cannot produce on our own in the short term, so we still need to rely on H.S.'s supply. However, the price won't be too high, so this won't cost us too much military expenditure. This way, we're also indirectly helping the army."

  Gao Zhihang returned to the base with a spirited and refreshed air. As soon as Sun Xiang arrived at his temporary residence, he was stopped by Chen Nade.

  "Steve, tell me, what are your chances of winning here?" Chen Nard asked seriously.

  Sun Xiang looked calmly at Chen Nade and dug his ears: "I said we must win, do you believe it?"

  Chen Nard remained unmoved: "Where did your basis come from?"

  Sun Xiang: "I now have over 400 experienced American pilots, plus students from Chinese aviation schools and usable pilots from various places. I can at least assemble a thousand-man air force. More than 300 experienced pilots from the US Paulin Air Base have joined us, all of whom are familiar with the F4U's operation and can fight as soon as they board the plane. What we need to do now is to let the students from Chinese aviation schools get familiar with the planes as soon as possible, so that the planes can exert their own strength. At that time, I don't believe we can't defeat the Japanese air force!" Sun Xiang's words reveal strong confidence, which is undoubtedly infectious.

  After listening to Sun Xiang's words, Chen Nade couldn't help but feel confident about the future of the Chinese Air Force. In his mind, he unconsciously painted a picture of the future: large numbers of F4U aircraft taking off and shooting down countless Japanese planes with the red circle emblem!

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