Chapter 834 DC3 and Boeing 367

Chapter 834 DC-3 and Boeing 367

Australasian military expansion is not a good thing for the island countries.

Including the armies of the Philippines and Kalimantan, the number of troops that Australasia can control exceeds 1.3 million, which is more than three times the number of troops in the current island countries.

In the Pacific, Australasia's only competitor is the island countries. Needless to say, the purpose of the military expansion is naturally not to say, which has also caused high tension in the island countries.

The current situation faced by the island countries and the island countries in history is very different.

Because of their small area, the island countries themselves do not have much oil. In history, before the outbreak of World War II, the island countries were extremely dependent on oil from the United States.

There is a piece of data that can reflect how exaggerated the island countries' dependence on external oil is. Before World War II, more than 90% of the total oil consumption of the island countries came from imports from abroad.

Of all the imported oil, the total amount of oil imported from the United States accounted for 80%, and more than 10% came from Southeast Asia, the most important of which was the Dutch East Indies.

In this world, the two regions and countries that historically provided oil to the island countries, the United States and the Dutch East Indies, have all perished.

This has made the island countries' oil crisis more serious than in history, and has forced the island countries to find other ways to maintain domestic oil consumption.

The first is to buy it from Australasia at a high price. Australasia has three major oil-producing areas in the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia and Australia, and even the Alaska Territory has a lot of oil reserves.

It is no exaggeration to say that Australasia's oil reserves are completely enough for itself until new energy sources are discovered and become popular.

One of the reasons why the island countries and Australasia entered a state of competition is that the island countries are extremely short of oil resources, while the Southeast Asia controlled by Australasia has relatively rich oil reserves.

One of the reasons why the island countries are nervous is that their oil sources can be easily cut off by Australasia.

At present, there are only two ways for island countries to buy oil. One is to travel across the ocean and buy a small amount of oil from South American countries. The other is to buy oil from Australasia at a high price.

But neither of these two methods can be used as the main way to import oil, which is also one of the reasons why the number of cars and tanks in the island country is not too large.

Because of the high cost of oil, the people of the island country generally do not like cars. Especially after Australasia and the United Kingdom jointly controlled the oil price, the island country has fallen into a comprehensive crisis in terms of oil.

What's more unfortunate is that the island country has not found any large oil reserves in all the areas they occupied.

Today is different from the past. All new heavy weapons such as airplanes and tanks require a large amount of oil as a fuel source.

The island country that has been strangled by the neck in terms of oil is equivalent to having its lifeline strangled, and there is no chance to resist.

At this time, the islanders found that the treaty they signed against Russia has become a chain that binds them to obtain oil.

Russia has a lot of oil reserves, and Russia's Far East ports are relatively close to the island country, and it is capable of importing a lot of oil to the island country.

But because of the anti-Russian treaty signed with Germany, the island country cannot reach any cooperation with Russia, and buying oil from Russia has become nonsense.

There was no other way. The islanders could only accelerate their plans to search for oil in all lands, and on the other hand, they attempted to launch a larger-scale war, and even prepared for a war with Australasia.

At this time, Arthur did not know the islanders' plans. Even if Arthur knew, he would not care too much.

At this time, Arthur had successfully gone to Douglas Aircraft Company to see the famous transport plane in history, DC-3.

It has been nearly eight years since the development of the previous generation of transport plane DC-2. After receiving part of the transport plane production line and drawings of the Royal Aircraft Factory, Douglas finally perfected his design ideas and built a new generation, the DC-3 transport plane, based on the ideas.

Unlike military jet aircraft, DC-3 uses an ordinary propeller design. Facts have proved that even though jet aircraft have been born for so many years, propeller aircraft still have their own unique role.

The new generation of transport aircraft uses a twin-engine piston engine and will be a brand new twin-engine propeller transport aircraft.

Because of the limitations of the previous generation of transport aircraft in terms of transport capacity, Douglas deliberately increased the passenger capacity of the latest generation of transport aircraft, that is, DC-3, to 34 people (3 pilots and 31 passengers).

The entire DC-3 transport aircraft is 19.52 meters long, 29.12 meters wide, and 5.2 meters high, which is much larger than the previous generation.

The empty weight of the entire aircraft is about 18,355 pounds, or 8.34 tons. In addition to 34 passengers, the DC-3 transport aircraft can also carry more than 6,000 pounds (2.7 tons) of supplies.

Because the maximum take-off weight reaches 31,000 pounds, or 14 tons, the carrying capacity of the DC-3 transport aircraft has been greatly enhanced.

In terms of speed, because it uses a relatively ordinary propeller as power, the speed of the DC-3 transport aircraft is not high.

Even though Douglas Aircraft Company specially hired Diesel as the engine designer, it also invited a large number of engine design experts from Australasia.

But the best data of this aircraft can only reach a maximum speed of 385 kilometers per hour.

Although it is far behind the latest fighters, it is almost the same as the data of the previous generation of fighters, that is, the fifth generation fighters.

Considering the powerful transportation capacity of the DC-3 transport aircraft, the slight disadvantage in speed can be completely ignored.

Of course, the maximum speed is actually just a reference value. When the aircraft is actually flying, it is impossible to always fly at the maximum speed.

During the actual test, the DC-3 transport aircraft can only maintain an average speed of about 275 kilometers per hour, which is the cruising speed in the conventional sense.

There are some other data, and Arthur also hastily glanced at it:

Maximum range: 1600 nautical miles (2963 kilometers)

Practical ceiling: 26400 feet (8050 meters)

Climb rate: 1130 feet/minute (5.75 meters per second)

The above are all the data of this civilian version of the DC-3 transport aircraft.

Judging from these data, Arthur is still very satisfied.

You know, this is just the most common civilian version. The civilian version has made great improvements compared to the previous generation of transport aircraft, not to mention the improved super transport aircraft, which is the military version adopted by the military.

Yes, there is a military version of the DC-3 transport aircraft.

The civilian version of the DC-3 transport aircraft retains its original name, while the military version of the DC-3 transport aircraft has another brand-new name, the Sop-34 transport aircraft.

Sop, taken from Special operations, means special operations.

This also shows that the biggest role of military transport aircraft, in addition to transporting military supplies, is to carry paratroopers to the enemy's rear for raids.

The military version of the transport aircraft uses the most advanced jet engine and still maintains a twin-engine structure.

In terms of the appearance of the aircraft, there is almost no big difference from the civilian version of the DC-3 transport aircraft.

But because of the different power systems, the military version is undoubtedly more powerful in terms of load and speed.

The empty weight of the military version of the transport aircraft reaches 8.7 tons, and the maximum take-off weight reaches 16 tons.

This also means that the Sop-34 transport aircraft can carry up to 7.3 tons of people and cargo.

In terms of speed, the maximum speed of the Sop-34 transport aircraft reaches 455 kilometers per hour, and the cruising speed can reach 325 kilometers per hour, which is much higher than the civilian version.

Finally, there is the range. If part of the load is discarded and replaced with two additional fuel tanks, the Sop-34 transport aircraft can reach a maximum range of 4250 kilometers.

Even without these two auxiliary fuel tanks, the Sop-34 transport aircraft can still maintain a range of 3125 kilometers, and its strategic role will undoubtedly be greatly improved.

Although Arthur does not know much about the specific performance of the DC-3 transport aircraft in history. But Arthur is sure that the current Sop-34 transport aircraft will definitely surpass the DC-3 transport aircraft in terms of data.

After all, in history, jet aircraft have not been developed so far. Now, the new generation of aircraft in Australasia basically uses jet engine technology, and it is an improved second-generation version.

Perhaps because the headquarters of Douglas Aircraft Company and Boeing Company are not far from each other, after knowing that Arthur had arrived at Douglas Aircraft Company for inspection, Boeing Company also invited Arthur and stated that Boeing's new generation of aircraft had been developed.

The competition between the two aircraft companies is what Arthur wants to see. Arthur is also curious whether Boeing, which lags behind Douglas Aircraft Company in the design of the previous generation of transport aircraft, can make a comeback in the new generation of transport aircraft.

At the invitation of Boeing Company, after finishing his inspection of Douglas Aircraft Company, Arthur went to Boeing Company not far away.

Boeing Company and Douglas Aircraft Company are already the two giants of the world's aircraft in the field of the previous generation of transport aircraft.

Especially after the Royal Aircraft Factory of Australasia gave up the business of civil aircraft, the most famous companies in Australasia and even the world are Boeing and Douglas.

Of course, the DC-2 transport aircraft is obviously more trusted by other countries in terms of performance and carrying capacity.

So far, more than 65% of the world's flights are using DC-2 transport aircraft, and Boeing's previous generation product Boeing 267 transport aircraft only accounts for about 20% of the flights.

However, from this data, we can also see how advanced the Australasian aircraft manufacturing industry is in the world.

Even for the remaining 15% of flights that do not use Australasian aircraft, more than 10% use products that imitate DC-2 transport aircraft and Boeing 267 transport aircraft.

In other words, the products developed by other countries themselves account for less than 5% of the flights in the world.

There are many reasons for this situation.

The first is the safety of flight. Boeing and Douglas are two of the three major aircraft manufacturers that have held aircraft voyages around the world.

In the past eight years, DC-2 and Boeing 267 have not had any major accidents, which is why the two aircraft manufacturers have been able to develop rapidly in the past eight years.

Aircraft manufacturers in other countries either designed aircraft products that were too backward or could not guarantee the safety of the aircraft, which also hindered their products from entering large-scale commercial flights.

It is precisely because of the excellent market share of Douglas Aircraft Company and Boeing that these two companies can generate a lot of income for Arthur every year, and the research and development funds they receive every year are also growing.

When Arthur arrived at Boeing, a large number of employees from Boeing came to greet him, and the momentum was very lively.

When Arthur went to the Boeing conference hall, Boeing had already prepared the drawings and specific data of the new generation of aircraft designed by itself, Boeing 367.

It is worth mentioning that, like the previous generation of aircraft Boeing 267 transport aircraft, the naming method of Boeing 367 is very simple, that is, Boeing plus the maximum speed of 367 kilometers per hour, forming the complete name of Boeing 367.

This also exposed the maximum speed of Boeing's new generation of aircraft, which is lower than the DC-3's 385 kilometers per hour, and can only reach 367 kilometers per hour.

Arthur was confused because the engine suppliers of Boeing and Douglas Aircraft were both Diesel Engine Factory, so it was reasonable that there should not be such a huge difference in power.

But when Arthur focused on other data of Boeing 367, he instantly understood why Boeing 367 lagged behind in speed.

In terms of the size of the aircraft, the Boeing 367 transport aircraft is a circle larger than the DC-3 transport aircraft. As a transport aircraft that also uses twin propellers as power, the Boeing 367 transport aircraft pays more attention to load and range, and does not pay as much attention to the speed of the aircraft as the DC-3 transport aircraft.

The Boeing 367 is 20.12 meters long, with a wingspan of about 29.37 meters and a height of 5.35 meters.

The empty weight of the entire aircraft reached 8.75 tons, which has exceeded the weight of the Sop-34 transport aircraft equipped with a jet engine.

The maximum take-off weight of the Boeing 367 can reach 15.65 tons, and the maximum load can reach 6.9 tons.

The increase in load is the sacrifice of speed. The maximum speed of the Boeing 367 is only 367 kilometers per hour, and the stable cruising speed can only reach 252 kilometers per hour.

What surprised Arthur even more was that the Boeing 367 completely inherited the ingenious design of the Boeing 267 inside the aircraft, and even carried it forward.

If you want to use a short sentence to describe the difference between the Boeing 367 transport aircraft and the DC-3 transport aircraft, it is obvious that the Boeing 367 transport aircraft pays more attention to the passenger experience, and the DC-3 transport aircraft pays more attention to the aircraft's carrying efficiency and function.

The Boeing 367 transport aircraft not only has a toilet, but also has more spacious seats. In addition, in terms of aircraft design, the Boeing 367 is equipped with adjustable pitch propellers, cabin heating systems, wing and tail deicing devices, and autopilots.

Of course, this so-called autopilot cannot achieve true autopilot, and can only help the aircraft maintain a straight flight through an electric gyro stabilizer and a three-axis stabilization system.

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