mtl008 Chapter 705: Test Flight of the J-5
Chapter 705: Test Flight of the J-5
After hearing Li Junhua's response, Chennault nodded. No matter how good an airplane is, only a test pilot can fly it to its limits. Only after being tested by a test pilot can it be successfully put into service.
“This plane is really beautiful.”
Chennault looked at the J-5 and exclaimed in admiration from the bottom of his heart.
"The teacher once said that beauty is fighting power, and the strongest weapon is always the most beautiful."
Li Junhua closed his work log and sighed sincerely.
"Chief of Staff, Chief Engineer Li, I want to test-fly your J-5, what do you think?"
Chennault asked.
Although Li Junhua really wanted to have an experienced test pilot to help test the performance of the aircraft, it was indeed difficult to find such talent in the Eighth Route Army. This time she asked Chennault to come over in the hope that he could help train a group of such talents, but this move also involved complex considerations from all aspects. Li Junhua could not make a decision independently, so she turned her attention to the chief of staff.
The chief of staff laughed and said, "General Chennault, we, the Eighth Route Army, have asked you to come here because we want you to help us train an excellent team of pilots. It is within the scope of our cooperation to have you test the new fighter planes for us.
It’s just that I just saw the new aircraft today and I’m not familiar with its performance yet. It would be very risky to test fly it now.
Do you think we should get familiar with the subject for a while before conducting a test flight?
This is also for your safety.”
After listening to the chief of staff, Chennault waved his hands and said: "Chief of Staff, you have led troops in battle for so many years. If you see a good gun, can you resist taking it and firing a few shots?
Don't worry, if there is any problem with the test flight, I will bear all the consequences, and Special Envoy Davis can be a witness for us."
Since things have come to this, the chief of staff said nothing more: "Then please ask General Chennault to test our new fighter.
However, for your safety, and the safety of the people of Taiyuan City, we will conduct a brief test today and try not to fly outside our air defense identification zone outside the city."
"Okay! I'll follow the Chief of Staff's instructions."
Chennault agreed on the spot and ordered his entourage to get his flight suit.
While Chennault was preparing, the chief of staff also walked aside with his guards and whispered: "Go report the situation to the commander and the division commander, and ask them to notify the Taiyuan City air defense force to prepare for battle.
If Chennault dares to fly our new fighter plane out of the air defense identification zone, our air force will decisively open fire and shoot down the plane. "
A sharp look flashed in the chief of staff's eyes. This new fighter plane was of great importance. If Chennault suddenly decided to escape to the National Army by flying the plane, no one could take the responsibility.
Therefore, no matter how extreme the situation is, the Chief of Staff must prepare a backup plan just in case.
Soon, Chennault's entourage brought a complete set of anti-gravity suits, which are special clothes worn by fighter pilots under high acceleration conditions. They can reduce the load on the body caused by overweight.
As a professional aviation engineer, Li Junhua could naturally understand the ins and outs of this clothing at a glance, but his own aviation industry at the Liaoyuan Arsenal was unable to produce it.
Although these clothes may seem simple, they actually have high requirements for various technologies, especially ergonomics, textiles and composite materials in light industry, which have very high technical requirements.
The aviation industry includes not only the technology to make airplanes fly, but also a complete set of technology for the pilot's life and health system. It is a very systematic project.
There is no way. The time given to Liaoyuan Arsenal is too short. We can only quickly tackle some important technologies within a short period of time. There is still a long way to go to improve the entire system.
Thinking of this, Li Junhua wrote the word "systematization" in her work notebook to remind herself that China's aviation industry still has a long way to go and there are still many shortcomings that need to be addressed.
After putting on the anti-G suit, Chennault sat in the cockpit and covered his face with the glass mask.
Chennault was very surprised by just the boarding process, because these details were enough to show that the Eighth Route Army's aviation industry and its affiliated metal processing and special glass manufacturing had reached a very high level.
In this way, while both sides were constantly surprising each other, the J-5's first field test flight began.
When Chennault began to pay attention to familiarizing himself with various operating methods, Li Junhua and her team of engineers provided careful guidance, ensuring that Chennault quickly understood the operating methods of the new aircraft and that he could get up and down smoothly.
In fact, Li Junhua was still a little nervous at this time. No matter how confident he was and how sure he was about his work, after all, it had not been actually tested in the sky. Until the last moment of a smooth landing, no one could determine whether this test flight would be feasible.
After Chennault closed the cockpit, everyone retreated to a safe distance and looked out the window at the J-5 ready to take off on the airport runway in the control tower.
"Report to the tower, I'm ready."
Chennault's voice came from the tower's high-power wireless communication equipment.
"take off."
Li Junhua suppressed his somewhat excited emotions and gave the order for the test flight calmly and steadily.
As the J-5 engine started, the fuselage began to shake slightly, like a falcon shaking its wings, determined to conquer the blue sky.
As the plane began to taxi, Li Junhua and other engineers were all nervous. Although they had gone through countless tests and calculations in the laboratory, they were still worried about whether the material of the tires could withstand the rapid friction, and whether the structural strength of the landing gear could keep the plane stable under high-speed impact.
However, as the J-5 successfully accelerated to take-off speed and lifted off the ground under Chennault's control, almost everyone in the engineering team breathed a sigh of relief.
As relieved.
Perhaps it was because the windows of the command center were too small at that time to allow everyone to find the most suitable observation angle. All the engineering teams, including the chief of staff and the US envoy and his entourage, walked out of the command room. Those who could find telescopes used them to observe, and those who could not find telescopes squinted their eyes and tried their best to search for the J-5 that had turned into a black dot.
As the J-5 took off at a higher altitude and flew farther and farther, the roar of the aircraft gradually dissipated, and everyone's inner tension gradually subsided.
Li Junhua led the entire Liaoyuan Arsenal aviation industry engineering team to stare at the black dot high in the sky. For this small black dot, they couldn't remember how many times they had worked all night long, but it was all worth it.
They were suddenly moved, and many of them even had tears in their eyes, because for the first time, the Chinese sky finally had fighter jets made by the Chinese people.