Here’s another snippet from Book 4…
January 30, 1942 - Office of the Director of Naval Operations, Pelican Island, Galveston County, Republic of Texas
“Admiral von Stahlberg, Admiral Tucek will see you now.”
“Thank you Louise” Karl said as he stood and walked into the DNO’s office. He briefly came to attention, then relaxed when Tucek waved him to a chair.
“Welcome back, Karl. How’s the family?”
Karl grinned. “Both of the babies are starting to walk, and it’s driving Vi nuts trying to keep up with them.”
“I thought y’all had hired an assistant to help her with the kids. I mean, what with her own problems and all.”
“We did, but she still wants to do as much as possible. Said she’d spent far too much time growing up around other children who were raised by nannies and governesses, and never even saw their parents. She’s determined that our children won’t be like that. Sometimes I think she tries too hard, though.”
“I can see that would be hard on her. Speaking of problem children, what do you think about the two designs that the Bureau of Aeronautics is working on for the next generation fighter plane?”
“From what I’ve seen so far, they both look like good choices. Like the Trident, both are designed around the new 12 cylinder, 3,000 cubic inch version of the Dallas Diesel Corporation’s axial opposed-piston diesel engine. I understand that the current version of that is good for upwards of thirty-six hundred horsepower even before adding a turbosupercharger or nitrous oxide injection. So both new fighters should be real screamers.
The Cyclone, from Gonzales Aircraft, is the more conventional of the two. Basically, they have redesigned the Hurricane, much like Hawker Aircraft in England has with their Typhoon, building a bigger, stronger airframe that can take a much bigger engine. Unlike Hawker, GAC is borrowing a trick from the Yankee’s Bell P-39 and putting the engine in the middle of the fuselage, behind the cockpit with a driveshaft running to the propellers in the nose.”
“Propellers, plural?”
“Yes, sir. Just like on the PB-4 Thunderbirds and everything else using the new engines, they use paired contra-rotating props, both to eliminate torque effects and to make it easier to turn all that power into usable thrust.”
“Why did they put the engine in the middle? Isn’t that kind of a strange way to do it?”
“Not really, sir. Swapping the positions of the engine and the cockpit gives the pilot much better visibility, both for takeoff and landing as well as in combat. And as I said, the Yankees already have a fighter in production with that feature. Only they did it to allow mounting a large cannon to fire through the propeller hub. The Cyclone will still have its guns in the wings.”
“I see. What about the other plane, the ’Dart’ I think it’s called?”
“Yes, sir the Dart. It was designed by Central Texas Aerodynamics, but I imagine they’ll need to subcontract large scale production to another company since they’re up to their eyeballs in building PB-4s and Conestoga transport planes. The Dart comes by its name honestly, since that’s pretty much what it looks like. Like everything CTA does, it’s a canard design, with the horizontal stabilizer in the front instead of at the back.”
“I suppose I’m going to regret asking this, but why?”
Karl grinned. He knew Admiral Tucek was no dummy, but his expertise lay in ship design, not planes. “Well, sir, I could go into a long technical explanation about aerodynamic balance, center of gravity and a lot of other things, but bottom line is it will allow for a much more compact design which will be very handy for carrier operations. But that’s not really the radical part. The main wing is. They’re using what they call a ‘clipped delta’ wing. It looks like a triangle that has had two of the corners clipped off.
Like the Cyclone, the engine is in the middle, but the props are in the back, pushing the plane instead of pulling it. The whole effect is that it really does look like a dart, or an arrowhead if you prefer.”
“So which of the two is better? Which one should we buy?”
“There’s advantages to both, sir. The Cyclone, being the more conventional design, will be faster to get into production and likely somewhat less expensive to buy, but the Dart is looking like it will be substantially faster, as well as having more potential for future growth and improvements. Both will be carrying the same armament, so that’s a wash. If it were up to me, I’d choose the Dart. However, and I know this isn’t what either you or the Secretary of War want to hear, but until a clear winner emerges, I think we need to consider buying both of them.”
“What if they don’t work out. Will we be stuck with the older planes for the entire war?”
“It’s not that bad, sir, with the engine upgrades we’re doing, the Hurricane, Hailstorm, and Harpoon will be good for another year or two at least. Worst case, sir, we end up getting fighters from the Yankees. That new plane from Vought, the Corsair, looks like a good choice. I understand the prototype topped out over 400 miles an hour in level flight some time back. For the land-based squadrons, that plane that North American is building for the Brits, the Mustang, could also be a good choice.
Now that I think of it, we might be better off equipping all of our land-based air groups with Yankee aircraft, just to ease the production and logistic issues. It’ll be a lot easier for us to just equip our carrier squadrons and let the Yankees provide the land-based stuff.
Tucek rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Karl. Leave me with the tough decisions and facing the politicians.”
“Well, sir, isn’t that why you have that extra star and the fancy office?” They both grinned, since Tucek’s office was still in an out-of-the-way corner of the Archive building. Unlike the Yankees with their new ‘Pentagon’ project, the Congress wasn’t about to spend good money on new offices for the Navy anytime soon.
“I’m glad you brought up stars. I wasn’t sure how to tell you this earlier. When the Congress passed the war budget for this year, they included a proviso authorizing the wartime-only promotion of senior field commanders to the brevet rank of General or Admiral.
That means that effective February 1st, you and Bill Stormcloud are full four-stars. Since the two of you are going to be working with the highest ranking officers from other nations, especially Britain and America, you’ll need the higher rank in order to stand with them as equals.
By the same token, I’m moving up to brevet Fleet Admiral and Isaac Hearns and Bob Merwin will be Brevet Field Marshals.”
Karl boggled at the idea.
Copyright 2024 D.A. Brock
