Chapter 382 The "Mammoth" Plan

The plan to withdraw from North China was quietly underway. After repelling the enemy's attack, Anyang returned to peace again. The volunteer army was also secretly packing his luggage and planning to evacuate Anyang on a large transport plane.

There are still 30,000 people in the city, half of whom are willing to leave, and the rest are middle-aged and wealthy families with land in Anyang. They are not willing to start over in an unfamiliar place, and because of the news, they are not too cruel to the Japanese.

Speaking of cruelty, the Party and the warlords and bandits from all over the country are different in nature from the Japanese army, and there is not much difference in the degree of persecuting the people.

There are hundreds of large transport aircraft traveling to Anyang every day. This first-generation military transport aircraft, named Mammoth i, is the main means of transportation for this evacuation operation.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the retreat plan, the Volunteer Army also put on a stance of counterattack, and the army was frequently mobilized. Military transport aircraft continued to transport large empty wooden boxes to Anyang, disguising them as military supplies.

On the way back, some troops were secretly evacuated. The reason why the local residents did not give priority to evacuating was mainly due to confidentiality. In Anyang City, there were also many Japanese secret sentries and spies, as well as some leading parties. If the plan to evacuate from North China leaked secrets, it would bring great danger to this operation.

More than a hundred mammoth i-type military transport aircraft are docked in the airport. The rectangular single wings span is 55.2 meters, its wing area is 300 square meters and its length is 28.46 meters. It does not use the slender and thin body of the traditional transport aircraft, but looks fat and bloated, with reduced side windows of the fuselage, and the small tail prying position is moved behind.

This type of transport machine will also be divided into two styles according to actual needs.

The d-0 type is unarmed. In addition to the cargo door machine gun, the d-1 type also has two bubble-shaped rotating gun towers of anti-aircraft machine guns used by aviation mechanics on the back of the middle wing.

The cargo hold of the d-1 type can also be equipped with a fuel tank with a relatively half of the conventional fuel capacity. The range usually takes 750 kilometers when carrying 12 tons of cargo, and the range can extend to 1,000 kilometers when transporting 10 tons of cargo.

When taking off overweight, hydrogen peroxide fuel assisted rockets are also required. When transporting personnel, they can carry 120 armed soldiers or 60 wounded stretchers and health soldiers. When transporting personnel, they can transport more than 200 unarmed personnel. When transporting liquid cargo such as fuel, they can carry 50 to 55 oil barrels with a capacity of 250 liters.

The mammoth i-shaped body has a fat belly, which is its biggest feature. Currently, a total of 1,417 aircraft are produced, more than half of which are used for this evacuation operation.

Although this large transport aircraft developed by gliders has become the best prey for fighters due to its benzene-heavy body and slow speed, its large volume, low-bottom cargo hold, open nose door and multi-wheel landing gear design are considered to be the originator of the mainstream military transport aircraft in the future.

Speaking of the Mammoth I type, the research plan has also experienced several twists and turns.

In the autumn of 1931, because the Northeast Army retreated without fighting after the September 18th Incident, the three eastern provinces quickly fell. Hualian wanted to go deep into the north, but had no way to go. Under a wave of opposition from all sides in the country, sending the three light infantry divisions to North China was already the limit that Hualian could do.

The long supply line will put the volunteer army in a dilemma of being unable to survive, so developing a military transport aircraft with sufficient carrying capacity has become a key issue that the military must think about.

The Supreme Defense Department of the Hualian League decided to delay the frontal combat operation against Japan and concentrate on preparing the plan to enter Hebei. Based on his understanding of history, Zhong Yang believed that the most important thing was how the Chinese army could carry out airborne landing operations in major cities in the north.

This requires large gliders that can transport cannons, tanks, trucks and large numbers of paratroopers.

On October 12, 1931, the Ministry of Aviation of China United issued a directive to Tianyu Group and Xinghua Community to quickly develop large gliders that can be used for long-distance airdrop combat. The specific requirements put forward by the Technical Bureau of the Ministry of Aviation at that time were mainly the following two points.

The first point is that it must be able to carry the main force of the Chinese tank battle at that time - the Gray Wolf II modified tank or self-propelled artillery and its crew, fuel and ammunition.

The second point is that it must be able to carry 88mm high-fire and anti-tank artillery and trailers, as well as to carry more than 100 fully armed soldiers.

The Technical Bureau of the Ministry of Aviation requires the two companies to propose their own design plans in two weeks and prepare for the production of 100 aircraft. The development plan for this large glider has a secret code name - "Dandelion" combat.

Hualian Aviation Department designated Xinghua News Agency to design a fully-wood-structured glider, while Tianyu Group designed a metal skeleton-shaped glider. The two companies began competitive trial production, which was also determined by the internal competitive system of the China Economic Union.

Tianyu Group and Xinghua News Agency have their own aviation industry groups, but Tianyu Group is still relatively strong in aircraft research and development. However, Xinghua News Agency is not much different, especially with Zhong Yang's technical support recently, the development momentum is also fierce, and there is a trend of catching up.

The design drawing submitted by the design team led by Dr. Von Neumann on October 31, 1931 still retains the figure of the German G38 transport aircraft in the mid-1920s. The heavy main wing, which became the main part of the body, has a wingspan of 62 meters, a wing area of ​​925 square meters, and a 9.5 meters wide, is a cargo holder made of wooden beams.

The single cockpit of the operator is on the port side of the middle wing. The leading edges of the two ends of the middle wing project outwardly the rotating machine gun tower. Four steel sleds are equipped in the front and rear of the lower side for landing, and a separable, 8-ton travel trolley with 32 wheels is used during takeoff.

Although with Zhong Yang's technical support, Liu Haoran's scientific research team quickly mastered the advanced all-metal aircraft manufacturing technology, it was not his strength to manufacture wooden aircraft. In addition, the wood purchased hastily poor materials and poor adhesives, making it difficult to achieve design strength.

Results In the strength test, the main spar No. 1 broke at 50% of the design strength and the main spar No. 2 broke at 60%. The added structure to increase the strength increased the weight of the body.

At the same time, the extremely small tail made several main generals of the Air Force worried that it would be as unstable as autumn leaves in the air. At the beginning, Xinghua News Agency began to name this trial aircraft "Osprey", and later changed it to "Mammoth", a prehistoric giant elephant.

In February 1932, Mammoth's prototype No. 1 was completed. It only reached 16 tons for a load capacity of 20 tons. When the test load was loaded with the Wolf II tank, the cargo hold carrier base was damaged again. After structural strengthening, its load capacity dropped to 11 tons, which was further away from the original requirements.

On the other hand, the design team of the Aviation Technology Company under Xinghua News Agency led by Liu Haoran proposed the improved "Mammoth" on the last day of the regulations.

It is centered on a box-shaped cargo holder that is 11 meters long, 3.15 meters wide and 3.32 meters high. The front nose is a shell-shaped cargo holder door that can be opened to both sides, which can be directly loaded with large volumes of cargo. In order to facilitate vehicle entry and exit, the bottom plate of the cargo holder is very low from the ground and a special ramp is designed.

The bottom plate of the cargo cabin is strengthened with a solid skeleton and can carry 22 tons of cargo. The cargo cabin floor area is about 40 square meters, and the entire cargo cabin volume reaches 108 cubic meters. After adding auxiliary partitions in the middle section, 200 fully armed soldiers can be transported.

This design is very novel and is very different from all existing military transport aircraft. It is a product that subverts the traditional design concept. It is this pioneering nature that makes the Hualian Air Force have a wider blue sky.

The improved "Mammoth" has a steel pipe welded metal wing beam with an n-shaped structure above its cargo hold, and its wing shape is maintained with wooden wing ribs.

The leading edge of the main wing is a wooden plywood shell, and the other parts are cloth skins. The main wing spar steel pipe support frame extends backwards and is hinged with the full wingspan of the moving wing, which is divided into four sections.

The two sections on the left and right sides are ailerons, and the two sections of the inner wing are flaps with adjustment plates. The inner wing section of the entire main wing is horizontal and the outer wing has an upper angle. Two-thirds of the inner wing extending outwards are large pillars strengthened between the skeleton at the bottom of the cargo compartment.

The rear fuselage extending back from the cargo hold is made of steel-bone cloth, and the all-wood tail wing is also reinforced by pillars. There are four steel landing slids on the left and right of the lower part of the fuselage, and the tail end of the fuselage is also equipped with a tail pry with buffering device.

In order to take off and run, the wheels of the ju90 main landing gear are installed on both sides of the main wing support pillar as main wheels, and the wheels of the BF109 main landing gear are installed under the nose as front wheels. After takeoff, these wheels will be abandoned. The cockpit of the operator is placed on the ceiling of the cargo hold at the front edge of the main wing, with a good vision.

There were 5 crew members on board, including 1 operator, 1 communications officer, 1 commander, and 2 machine gunners. The fixed weapon on board was a 7.9mm anti-aircraft machine gun extending from left to left to right at the upper part of the nose cargo hold door. There was also a small window for soldiers to shoot with airborne machine guns.

After review, the Hualian Aviation Department issued a directive on November 6 to produce 200 aircraft, including prototypes. The "Mammoth" design team worked overtime day and night to conduct detailed designs, and the drawings were handed over to the production department as soon as the drawings were released. United Metals Company in the Industrial and Economic Union was responsible for manufacturing the welded fuselage skeleton and main wing beams of steel pipes.

The furniture factory of the Guangdong-Sea Business Association manufactured wooden tail wings, main wing ribs, front edge shells and main wings and fuselage junction plastics, and finally completed the assembly by Xinghua News Agency's heavy factory. At the end of December, the Ministry of Aviation changed its model number to mm321, and mm263 became the number of a rocket-powered aircraft in Xinghua News Agency later.

14 weeks after receiving the production order, in early February 1932, the assembly plant completed the prototype No. 1 of the "Mammoth" and 62 were assembled on the production line at the same time, of which 11 had entered the final assembly stage.

On February 25, the 4-ton counterweight of prototype No. 1 was successfully tested by ju90. In addition to the heavier rudder feeling, the handling ability was good and there was no need to modify the design. In order to reduce the burden on the operator, the designer proposed to be manipulated by two people. Starting from the No. 101 produced, it was changed to a two-seater cockpit.

Later, the single-seat cockpit is called a type A, and the two-seat cockpit is called a type B.

In order to conduct practical tests of "Mammoth", personnel were drawn from the Ninth Air Force, who was in the airborne combat, and a special detachment was organized into a special detachment. Among them, there are many glider operators and tractor pilots who participated in the actual glider combat.

Before this, only the "three troika" scheme of three BF110c dual-engine heavy fighter jets was adopted. At the same time, according to the design, the mammoth also used a take-off rocket fueled by hydrogen peroxide, that is, 6 to 8 rocket thrusts with 550 kg or 4 thrusts with 750 kg or two rocket thrusts with 1,000 kg.

They are hung under the middle wing outside the main wing of the "Mammoth" main wing pillar, and are abandoned after taking off and recycled to be refilled for fuel. However, this rocket has unstable performance, different starting and poor results, but it must be used.

When the landing and descent speed of "Mammoth" is 140 kilometers per hour, it must glide on the ground for more than 400 meters. In order to shorten the landing and gliding distance, a large striped speed reduction parachute is also required.

The danger of using three bf110s to storm a "mammoth" is not difficult to imagine. The storm cable is a steel cable with a diameter of 10 mm, and the storm cables used by the pilot aircraft are 100 meters long, and the storm cables of the left and right aircraft are 80 meters long.

When the three tractors started, the "Mammoth"'s take-off assisted rocket also began to ignite, and it took at least 1,200 meters of paved runway. When the speed reached 110 kilometers per hour, the "Mammoth" pulled the rod away from the ground, then the two tractors left and right left and right left, and the last one left the ground was the tractor in the front.

Then they slowly climb to a height of 500 meters at a speed of 130 kilometers per hour, with a rise rate of 0.5 meters per second, and then slowly accelerate to a speed of 170 to 200 kilometers per hour, and fly horizontally. During climbing, the three tractors must maintain the same rising angle. If you are not careful, the sudden increase in tension will break the tractor cable. When the airflow is chaotic, the danger of air collision is extremely high.

During the test flight carrying 120 soldiers, the assisted flight rocket on the right side of the "Mammoth" did not ignite when it left the ground, causing the entire plane to slide to the right, causing the collision of three tractors. The "Mammoth" and the tractors crashed in the forest around the runway, and all 6 crew members, 120 soldiers and 3 tractors pilots died, making it the worst flight accident in 1932.

After careful research and accident summary, the "Mammoth" loading a 4-ton counterweight was failed by the German-style Ju90 4-carrier transport aircraft. It was mainly because the runway at Guangzhou Airport was not long enough, and the test aircraft also cut down nearly 5,000 meters of forest at the end of the runway before the test flight.

The "mammoth" was extremely unstable during the slide, and then it was violently swayed after leaving the land. In order to escape from danger, the tractor had to cut off the tractor and increase the accelerator to dive at a small angle, and resume stable flight a few meters away from the ground. The abandoned "mammoth" forced a landing in a field near a village. In order to keep the secret, the Chinese army blocked the area.

Two weeks later, it was towed back to Guangzhou Air Force Base with two tanks.

Later, the "Mammoth" conducted several test flights. Because the tail area is too small, the stability is extremely poor during tract flights and the carrying capacity is far from meeting the standards, it is considered a failed design.

In addition, the "Pelican" i-type progress of its rival Tianyu Group was progressing smoothly, and the Ministry of Aviation decided to give up the "Mammoth". The prototype No. 1, No. 2 and the 98 gliders that were being manufactured were cut off by disappointed and depressed technicians and then split into wood chips, turning them into fuel for the locomotive.

This trial plan costs 45 million Huayuan, and the authority value reform had not been completed at that time. Judging from market-oriented standards, this could be considered a big loss than trading.

Research is not always smooth. Even with the support of smart factories, in the real world, various unpredictable situations are likely to encounter us unexpectedly before success.

Fortunately, the establishment of the Ancient Chinese Society has tolerated this failure and also provided strong guarantees for the accumulation of technology.

Despite the continuous accidents, in June 1932, three months after the first flight, the Hualian Air Force formed the Mammoth Large Transportation Glider Wing. The wing includes three glider squadrons equipped with 6 "Mammoths" and three tractor squadrons equipped with 12 BF110c.

In view of the experience and lessons learned by "Mammoth" in practical test flights, the China United Airlines Ministry decided to install engines on the test engine so that it has certain maneuverability to expand its scope of use. In March 1941, it ordered Xinghua News Agency to carry out this development.

There are two plans.

One is a large-scale Mammoth C-type powered glider equipped with four engines when loading, which takes off the cruising altitude and lands at the destination without the traction aircraft.

The second is to be equipped with 6 engines, which can take off and land on its own like ordinary transport aircraft. The applicable 1,000-horsepower engines include five air-military engines independently developed by Hualian. Since the engine should give priority to meeting the needs of first-line military aircraft, the legal star-shaped air-cooled engine with 14 cylinders was finally selected.

In order to coordinate the engine, an aviation masturbator was equipped on each side of the left and right sides of the "Mammoth", and its seat was set on the front edge of the main wing on the outside of the central engine, so the number of passengers increased from 6 to 8.

The fuel tank is located on the back of the cargo hold, there are 4 in the main beam of the middle wing, and there are two behind the main beam. The lifting and landing device is a strip frame with two front wheels and three main wheels, each with two front wheels and three main wheels. Like a tank, each wheel is suspended to accommodate takeoff and landing on uneven grounds.

After actual testing, the improved "mammoth" has the ability to take off on the grass, which means the expansion of the scope of application of the transport aircraft.

After a series of debugging, the design of "Mammoth" was finally completed and can be produced in a fixed manner. It has a bloated and ugly appearance, but in fact it has a solid structure and low failure rate, and is still a relatively reliable transport aircraft. The biggest advantage is that the production process is simple. At the beginning of manufacturing, each aircraft needs 40,000 man hours, and later it is reduced to 12,000 man hours.

Moreover, most of the workers in Guangzhou aviation factories are unskilled technicians in the Army Reserve Technical Brigade.

After continuous improvement, Mammoth also began to abandon its original wooden structure and switch to using ultra-light aviation aluminum as the skeleton and outer skin. It is comparable to wood in weight, but its stability and defense capabilities are incomparable.

In order to get products that satisfy the military faster, Tianyu Group also joined Xinghua News Agency's "Mammoth" plan with the help of senior management, and made every effort to develop this promising military product.

The finished products were completed soon. The "Mammoth" has a wingspan of 70 meters, a length of 40.25 meters, and a full-equipped aircraft weighs more than 50 tons. It is planned to carry 35 tons of cargo.

The power of 6 Grom Rhone 14r engines with a maximum speed of 340 kilometers per hour at a height of 3800 meters. The range of cruising at a speed of 310 kilometers per hour is set to be 2,000 kilometers.

For this aircraft, the two companies spent two years and countless manpower and material resources. This is the weapon research and development process in the industrial era, which may not be smooth sailing, but is essential.

Without enough national strength, you cannot rise in war

Chapter 382 The "Mammoth" Plan

Chapter 382 The "Mammoth" Plan

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