Empire Conquest
Chapter 436 - 432: The New Three Items

Chapter 436: Chapter 432: The New Three Items

In the past few months, the most significant change had been in the shipborne air force.

At the end of last year, after completing live-fire tests, the main task of the 41st Special Mixed Fleet stationed in the Xu Sea was to allow the shipborne air force to complete their re-equipment and adaptation training.

Most importantly, all three types of main battle ship-borne aircraft were completely replaced!

It could be said that the smallest change was actually in the ship-borne fighters, with only the latest batch being replaced and the previously equipped "Xiaotian" handed over to the second-line troops.

Compared to the first three batches of "Xiaotian," the fourth batch had replaced their engines.

Throughout the entire war, both shipborne and land-based combat aircraft prioritized changing to more powerful engines when upgrading.

The reason was quite simple, increasing engine output power was the simplest way to improve flight performance.

Using a new-style engine that reached a maximum output power of 1800 horsepower and an emergency output power of 2000 horsepower, the maximum flight speed of the fourth batch "Xiaotian" surpassed 575 kilometers per hour, becoming the fastest flying ship-borne fighter after the outbreak of the great war.

Additionally, other aspects of flight performance were significantly enhanced.

The most noticeable was the climbing speed.

Under emergency take-off conditions, the time required to climb to 6000 meters was reduced from 8 minutes to 6 minutes, far surpassing other ship-borne fighters.

Approximately two years later, this climb speed record of "Xiaotian" would be surpassed by the F6F.

Of course, by then, the main ship-borne fighter of the Imperial Navy was no longer the "Xiaotian."

Relatively speaking, other improvements were quite limited.

If anything, it was the use of a more powerful voice radio, increasing the working distance to 250 kilometers and providing limited formation command capabilities.

In addition, the multi-use performance of "Xiaotian" had been reinforced.

Under normal conditions, the payload capacity of the fourth batch "Xiaotian" was increased to 1000 kilograms, not only far exceeding all previous ship-borne fighters but also double that of the early models of "Wasp." Although the fourth batch "Xiaotian" was not specifically enhanced for ground attacks when manufactured, after they were commissioned, military personnel installed eight rocket launcher points under the wings of the fourth batch "Xiaotian."

Thanks to its excellent take-off and landing performance, "Xiaotian" became the most widely used ship-borne aircraft during the war.

Compared to fighters, it was not so simple for torpedo attack aircraft and dive bombers; they were all replaced with the latest models.

Replacing the "Wasp" was the Light Bomber-4 model "Vermilion Bird" dive bomber.

Strictly speaking, "Vermilion Bird" was the first type of ship-borne aircraft to be designed and started mass production after the outbreak of the war.

Although the project was initiated before the war and had completed the preliminary tender, it was not until the second quarter of last year, in April, that the design work of this new dive bomber was completed and passed the Navy’s acceptance, receiving a Navy order in the same month.

Moreover, "Vermilion Bird" was the first type of specialized ship-borne dive bomber.

The Land Air Force also participated in early research but backed out before entering the official procurement stage, turning instead to purchase another type of dive bomber.

Interestingly, the type of dive bomber chosen by the Land Air Force, called "Falcon," had actually been rejected by the Navy in the tender for being too cumbersome. The key issue was that the Land Air Force later found this type of dive bomber unsatisfactory as well, purchasing only a few hundred and quickly relegating them to second-line troops.

The primary reason the Land Air Force never purchased "Vermilion Bird" was a matter of pride.

If it must be said, the comparison between "Vermilion Bird" and "Wasp" is somewhat like that between "Xiaotian" and "Typhoon."

Although purely in terms of performance, "Wasp" was not considered bad among the early models of dive bombers during the war, and the later models were indeed very formidable, surpassing the 99 ship bomb and SBD in all respects. From the perspective of wartime achievements, "Wasp" was the primary hero of the Imperial Navy during the early stages of the war. However, by the middle stage of the war, particularly as the range of engagement expanded, the inherent drawbacks of "Wasp" were quickly magnified.

For example, slow speed, short range, and low payload capacity.

Speaking of the "Vermilion Bird’s" performance advantages, they were mainly reflected in these aspects, especially range.

The "Vermilion Bird" was the first ship-borne aircraft of the Empire’s Navy having a maximum range exceeding 2500 kilometers, and with a 500-kilogram bomb attached, it could reach a combat radius of 750 kilometers.

Indeed, the "Vermilion Bird" was also the first dive bomber chosen as a reconnaissance aircraft by the Empire’s Navy.

Replacing the "Flying Fish" was the Light Attack-4 Type "Thunderbolt" torpedo attack aircraft.

If one could say the "Vermilion Bird" shone brightly, then the "Thunderbolt" appeared quite ordinary.

Compared to the "Flying Fish," the biggest improvement in the Thunderbolt’s main performance was just increasing the max flight speed to 475 kilometers per hour and extending the sea combat radius to 700 kilometers. In other areas, such as climb rate, cruising speed, and agility, there wasn’t much improvement.

Of course, it was definitely sturdier, which also meant it was heavier.

It’s not surprising, really.

Among the three types of ship-borne aircraft, the torpedo attack aircraft had the largest payload, and the attack phase required flying at ultra-low altitude at the highest speed, demanding the highest structural strength of the aircraft body. It often needed an additional crew member, so using the same materials, the torpedo attack aircraft were the heaviest. If using the same engine or an equally advanced engine, their flight speed would definitely be the slowest.

Thus, not just the Empire’s Navy but all Great Powers’ navies faced the "torpedo bomber trap."

However, in sea dominance combat, the torpedo attack aircraft remained an indispensable type of ship-borne aircraft.

The Liangxia Navy and Newland Navy were both accelerating the construction of post-treaty Battleships, and live-fire testing proved that torpedoes were the top weapon against Battleships.

More crucially, all post-treaty Battleships without exception used the extra tonnage primarily to increase protection.

With the rapid growth and expansion of the shipborne air force, relative to traditional threats like large-caliber armor-piercing bullets, torpedoes and bombs dropped by ship-borne aircraft posed a greater threat.

As a result, since the treaty era, the Great Powers paid particular attention to the Battleships’ horizontal and underwater protection.

By the post-treaty era, horizontal protection had basically reached its limit, and the focus was on strengthening underwater protection!

This required increasing the power of torpedoes, i.e., increasing the warhead explosive charge.

Additionally, as the anti-air firepower of Battleships strengthened, it was necessary to enhance the torpedo bombers’ survivability by increasing the range of torpedoes.

These requirements led to the development of larger aviation torpedoes.

Consequently, to increase the payload of torpedo attack aircraft, since infinitely enlarging the airframe was impossible, it was necessary to reduce or sacrifice other performance attributes.

Because of this, the Empire’s Navy didn’t place too many excessive demands on the performance of torpedo attack aircraft.

Overall, the basic flight performance of torpedo attack aircraft was still far inferior to dive bombers.

For this reason, the shipborne air force made adjustments to attack tactics based on the shortcomings of torpedo attack aircraft.

Now, all commanders switched to flying the "Vermilion Bird," and in common attack tactics, torpedo attack aircraft were placed at the rear.

This arrangement was mainly to avoid anti-air fighters.

Of course, the Navy did have some demands.

For torpedo attack aircraft, the greatest requirements were range and payload, and these were the areas where the "Thunderbolt" showed the most significant improvement over the "Flying Fish."

From this perspective, the "Thunderbolt" could be considered an excellent torpedo attack aircraft.

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