Chapter 213 The Father of the Airplane

At around 1 pm on April 24, 1908, Chen Hao, Huang Yunya, Liang Cheng and others took a train to Oakland, California.

After getting off the train, under the guidance of Li Jianfei, everyone took a carriage to the Auckland Aircraft Company and met Feng Ru, who was famous for Chen Hao every day.

The inventor and maker of the aircraft were known to many as the Wright brothers of the United States. In honor of these two great scientists, the U.S. government named the largest air force base "Wright Base" and built a famous "Wright University" near their hometown of Deton, Ohio.

Little did he know that a Chinese student who lived in the same era as the Wright brothers relied entirely on the land of America, designed, manufactured and flew the first plane in Chinese history. He was the father of China's aircraft and the patriotic Feng Ru.

Feng Ru was born in a poor peasant family in 1884. Feng Ru liked to make toys such as kites and cars since she was a child, and she was full of yearning for myths, especially flying stories.

Feng Ru has a strong desire for knowledge. He often hears people say that there are many novel things that cannot be seen in China on the other side of the ocean. So Feng is determined to go to the United States to open his horizons and do something in the future.

In 1894, Feng Ru embarked on a voyage to the United States and soon arrived in the western city of San Francisco, the United States, and began a new life. That year, he was only 12 years old.

After arriving in the United States, Feng Ru gradually understood why Western countries were so powerful and bullied others everywhere. It turned out that it was because their industry was developed and they used machine production to develop the country. So Feng decided to learn technology and save China with technology.

Six years later, Feng Ru transferred to New York, where he studied machine manufacturing. He studied very hard and often studied until late at night to discuss a problem.

Due to the urgency of life, in order to learn more about the development of Western science and technology, Feng Ru often bought newspapers, books and magazines for the saved food and accommodation expenses. In order to pay tuition, Feng Ru also had to use her spare time to work.

Despite this, Feng Ru's academic performance was still among the best in the class. Seeing that Feng Ru studied so hard and outstandingly, the school decided to waive his tuition.

Years have passed, Feng Ru lived up to expectations and had extensive knowledge of mechanical manufacturing. He is well-versed in 36 types of machines and has also invented and manufactured water pumps and pile drivers.

The radio generator designed and manufactured by Feng Ru is very popular among users due to its good performance and has become a well-known machine manufacturer.

In 1903, when Feng Ru learned that the Wright brothers invented the plane, she decided to rely on the power of the Chinese to build the plane.

Feng Ru once said to his helpers: "Now is an era of fierce competition, and aircraft have become an indispensable military equipment. If we can build millions of aircraft and stationed in various ports in China, it will be enough to make China's national defense stronger, and foreign powers will never dare to bully us again."

When someone asked questions about whether Feng Ru was capable of developing an aircraft, Feng Ru firmly said: "I vow to use my life to develop an aircraft for the country. If I fail, I would rather die."

In the original history, through publicity, Feng Ru received extremely meager funding from three patriotic overseas Chinese. In 1907, he set up a simple aircraft manufacturing plant in Oakland east of San Francisco, and started the work of developing aircraft with three assistants.

At that time, the Wright brothers' plane had just taken off not long ago. In order to maintain their monopoly, they blocked all their information.

Therefore, Feng Ru could only draw design drawings from scratch based on the knowledge of aerodynamics he had mastered.

In order to understand the situation of various countries developing aircraft at that time and to learn from others' strengths, Feng Ru and his assistants bought newspapers and magazines all the money they saved in their lives.

They got up early and went to bed late, worked day and night, overcame one technical difficulties after another. After half a year of hard work, they made the first plane.

As far as Chen Hao knows, although Feng Ru's first test flight was 6 years later than the Wright brothers, it has improved the performance of the aircraft.

Especially after improvement in 1911, "Feng Ru 2" created a good result of 105 kilometers per hour, a range of 35 kilometers and altitude. Its results exceeded the 1909 international flight competition speed champion Curtis's speed of 75.2 kilometers per hour.

The overseas aviation community also highly praised this, saying that in the aviation field, the Chinese left white people behind.

Facts have proved that in the early stage of world aviation, the level of Chinese aviation represented by Feng Ru was at the forefront of the world.

Without Chen Hao's help, Feng Ru could have reached this point with his own efforts.

Now, with the strong support from Ye Hui, Zheng Tiexue and others sent by Chen Hao, Feng Ru not only established a large aircraft manufacturing plant and engine manufacturing plant with an area of ​​nearly 10,000 mu. He also opened a medium-sized flight academy to train Chinese aircraft manufacturing technicians and pilots.

In early February 1908, Feng Ru built an aircraft with better performance in advance.

The aircraft is named "Huaxia One". Its wings are 29.5 feet long and 4.5 feet wide. The internal combustion engine has 30 horsepower. The propeller rotates 1,200 rpm.

"Huaxia One" broke the world record of flight competition with a flight altitude of more than 700 feet and a speed of 65 miles per hour, winning the award, making the Chinese aerospace technology surpass that of the West. Feng Ru also became a recognized aircraft designer, manufacturer and pilot.

Why did Chen Hao send people to support Feng Ru with great fanfare during this period to use the ready-made resources of the United States to open a large aircraft manufacturing plant?

It turns out that airplanes, as new things that humans have never seen before, have been explored almost from scratch. The predecessors in the aviation industry invented aircraft for test flights, mostly for life-and-death deaths.

Mainstream scientists believe that hot air balloons and airships are the only props that can allow humans to take off. Using engines to provide power to enable aircraft to fly in the sky is simply a fantasy and is completely incompatible with scientific principles.

During this period, Americans paid little attention to experiments about aircraft.

As early as a few years ago, the US government funded a group of aviation enthusiasts led by Langley to build aircraft. However, it invested a lot of money and ended up with a plane being destroyed.

As a result, the American people began to protest the government's wasted taxpayers' money for impossible success in flight experiments. Under pressure from public opinion, the US government officially withdrew its investment in aviation.

Soon after, people's interest in aviation was even more cold. Basically, people who study aviation flights in the United States were spontaneous research by folk enthusiasts. Of course, these studies are often regarded as jokes by the public.

Therefore, Chen Hao sent people to support Feng Ru with great fanfare, establishing a large aircraft manufacturing company in the United States, and opening a flight academy to train Chinese pilots.

As long as the real military uses of the aircraft are not leaked out early, at the critical moment, with many aircraft ahead of the times and excellent pilots, the whole world will be controlled by the Chinese.

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Chapter completed!