"Epoch-making and revolutionary!" The test flight of the Comet jet was dubbed this by major newspapers in London.
The lively public opinion also shows that London citizens are looking forward to Britain's restart after the war. Because of the test flight of the Comet jet airliner, this jet craze is spreading from the UK to the world.
It's hard to say what the difference is between the Comet passenger plane and the original one. Anyway, from Alan Wilson's perspective, the passenger plane looks like this, a little like Airbus and a little like Boeing. That's normal.
In any case, this British jetliner, which flew for the first time, ushered the world's civil aviation into the jet age. It gave Britain a boost. Two days later, the behemoth Comet 1 landed at Canberra Airport in Australia.
This big guy that is out of tune with the times has attracted many passengers at Canberra Airport, who are pointing at it. The British flag pattern on the tail fin shows the nationality of this big guy, and many Australians are very envious.
Pamela Mountbatten was looking forward to it. Alan Wilson, who was carrying a parachute, felt like a head of state under the ultraviolet light of the southern hemisphere. He stepped off the Comet No. 1 in full view of the public, trying his best to control the pace and let himself
It seems like he has seen the world before.
Pamela Mountbatten, who had identified her target at a glance, trotted away and hugged the man who was carrying a bag and preparing to eat chicken. "Don't you like flying? You don't feel down to earth."
"So you are not carrying a parachute!" Alan Wilson pointed to the paratrooper equipment he was wearing. Now even if he quickly joins the paratroopers and becomes a dandelion in the sky, it will not be against the rules at all.
If it weren't for the crowd of onlookers around her, Pamela Mountbatten would have wanted to just hang on to the man, but the concentrated gaze finally made the girl feel the heat, and she let go embarrassedly.
As for her fiancé's remarks about cherishing his life, Pamela Mountbatten was not picky at all. Alan Wilson had always been like this, and now he dared to cross half the world and come here on the experimental Comet One, which already made her extremely pleasantly surprised.
It's all touching and nothing else.
After a while, the crew members were separated, greeting the men and women standing side by side, and also saying hello to their bosses. Many of them knew Pamela Mountbatten, and they were just getting to know Alan Wilson.
"Miss Pamela, why did Mr. Allen come to Australia?" Captain Hunter seemed to have just discovered the secret and sent an assist to the couple who had just met.
"How does it feel like a long voyage? Let's find a place to eat and chat." Alan Wilson grabbed Pamela Mountbatten's hand and asked how it felt like this long voyage.
The Comet airliner has just been launched for a few days, and the whole world is praising the first jet airliner. However, as a new thing, there are bound to be problems, and only the captain can feel these problems.
Just like what Alan Wilson and de Havilland talked about, the most important thing is reliability. Reliability is a big thing. Air travel has not yet become popular. People still travel long distances on ocean ships, and flying is only for the rich.
Only senior officials can enjoy it.
In fact, many passengers on British International Airways flights were commissioners, military officers and other local officials sent by the British government to manage overseas colonies.
If one fell down, it would be no ordinary person who would be wiped out. Alan Wilson was not an airplane designer, so it was impossible to avoid all the problems of the No. 1 aircraft.
Needless to say, all major British airlines have high hopes for Comet 1, even though Comet 1 is still in the test flight stage.
"It's not a big problem that you need to refuel every four hours. I believe that local engine companies will improve this problem. The key is that we eliminate design problems. How to judge the plan conservatively, the jet airliner itself is the latest
No matter how conservative the plan is, it will not appear conservative under the concept of jet airliner."
Fortunately, Pamela Mountbatten was there, and the Comet airliner underwent water pressure testing. A huge pool was designed to immerse the aircraft in water and conduct various pressure tests.
The water pressure in the aircraft fuselage continued to increase and decrease to simulate the pressure conditions faced in actual flights. After a long period of time, it was equivalent to nine thousand actual flight hours. After another six weeks, the water pressure in the aircraft was
When the pressure inside the body suddenly dropped, the metal around one of the windows broke and the fuselage exploded.
Obviously, the fuselage is too thin, which completely exposes two fatal flaws in the aircraft design. The first is its structure. In order to fly higher and faster and reduce weight, the outer shell of the aircraft has been cut to a certain extent.
thickness.
Moreover, when flying at high altitudes, the cabin needs to be pressurized to ensure that passengers can breathe normally. Therefore, the thickness reduction of the outer shell and the pressurization of the cabin are applied to the fuselage at the same time. Under the combined effect of these two factors, the aircraft will eventually burst.
.At the same time, this experiment also improved the windows of Comet 1 and turned them into rounded windows.
It was this water pressure experiment that caused de Havilland to lose to Pamela Mountbatten, the top British second generation, and improved the Comet No. 1 machine into today's Comet No. 1.
As for whether there are other problems, this requires the crew to explore during the flight.
From the moment Alan Wilson arrived in Australia, Pamela Mountbatten could not take her eyes away. She saw the arrogance in Princess Margaret's eyes, the high spirits in her own eyes, and the smile on her face that never faded.
After a while, Pamela Mountbatten followed her fiancé and returned to her place of residence. She talked about what she gained from coming to Australia this time, "Some nobles had ideas for me, but I refused without hesitation.
"
"My dear, do you want to say that you are very popular?" In front of Princess Margaret, Alan Wilson listened to Pamela Mountbatten's candid confession and changed the subject, "Yes, so big
Who can not be tempted by a fortune? How many fools like me are there in this world?"
"They are not worthy to be compared with you." Pamela Mountbatten's eyes seemed to be dripping with water, enough to melt any man's iron will.
Princess Margaret didn't dare to say anything out loud. After being taught a lesson by Pamela Mountbatten, she no longer dared to talk about this topic. Her eyes flickered between the two of them.
"Now it seems that such a large iron mine was really given up by this man?" Princess Margaret was suspicious. She didn't believe this statement at first, but now she had to believe it in this situation.
"Prime Minister Ben Chifley attaches great importance to the news about iron ore. Reports of optimistic estimates of reserves of one billion tons also make the whole of Australia excited." Pamela Mountbatten said about the iron ore, and then she felt a little confused.
, "However, if it is too costly to recruit workers from the mainland for exploration, I think it is better to recruit Australian workers for exploration. What do you think? Should we recruit Chinese workers?"
"Australia is not suitable for recruiting foreign ethnic groups! I have always believed that the White Australia Policy is correct." Alan Wilson shook his head slightly, but seemed to have thought of a way, "If there is a shortage of local workers in Australia, Malaya and Japan
Confederate prisoners of war, test your tone and see if it works. But it's not certain whether they can return to Japan alive."
Regardless of his previous life or this life, he never thought there was anything wrong with protecting the interests of the main ethnic group. Australia should implement the White Australia Policy and close the door to Asian immigrants.
As the world's top resource country, Australia can be invincible just by selling minerals.
As early as World War I, Australia's development level was already on par with European countries, and there was no dependence on any particular country. As long as the minerals were there, Australia could cope with any external force.
In the foreseeable future, no country can do anything to Australia, and it is impossible to occupy the magpie's nest. Australia has already tightened its restrictions on foreign immigrants and will not give this opportunity at all.
During the Pacific War, the Japanese army invaded Singapore on a large scale. Australia, as part of the United Kingdom, also sent troops to station in Singapore.
As a result, because the British army completely underestimated the military strength of the Japanese army, Singapore fell into the hands of the Japanese army in just one week. 130,000 British troops surrendered to the Japanese, including 15,000 Australian soldiers.
That's why Australia's hatred of Japan is absolutely deep-rooted! What the Australian people believe in is blood debt repayment as a matter of course!
"When the war just ended, there were more than 600,000 prisoners of war in Malaya from the Japanese Southern Army. I don't know how many are left now, but we cannot detain these prisoners of war permanently." Alan Wilson knew in his heart that if the Korean War
If it breaks out, Japan's status will be reflected.
Japan is the stronghold of the United States in controlling Asia, and its economic shackles will be lifted. Then next year at the most, the United States will definitely put pressure on British Malaya to release hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war.
These prisoners of war could not stay for long. The 1950s and 1960s were the beginning of Japan's economic rise, and it was also at that time that Australia lifted its iron ore export ban.
Now here comes the problem. No matter how Alan Wilson calculates, British Malaya and Japan are planned to start at about the same time. He will always use some off-the-shelf moves to stumble this competitor.
"As for the development of iron ore, if Malaya hands over 100,000 Australian prisoners of war, they may not survive much, but from the perspective of British interests, this is not a bad thing." Alan Wilson smiled at his fiancée.
suggested, "It would be better to torture to death, but we'd better leave evidence. I just don't know if Australia wants the chance to retaliate."
Princess Margaret opened her eyes wide and looked at Pamela Mountbatten's taught admiration, and her body shook involuntarily.