Untimely Excursions

by Hall, Gerald

  “The Admiralty has stated a preference for six-inch guns in their contract.” Theo noted.

  “We will have to purchase the main guns from another company if we are going to put six-inch guns on them. Father chose not to invest additional funds into facilities to manufacture larger caliber guns, of course.” Judith replied.

  “We should have our Ordnance division dust off the plans for heavy caliber automatic loaders then. We can have everything electrically driven to the maximum extent possible. It will also give us a sufficiently high enough rate of fire to make up for the small number of barrels.” Beatrice noted.

  “A turret with two autoloading six-inch naval rifles will mass nearly as much as two manually-operated twin turrets of the same caliber. But it will require far fewer crew to operate. I do have concerns that we will be forced to go to a single weapon instead of a twin because of space and tonnage limitations though.” Theo explained.

  “You are probably be right. We also have to consider the cost of an autoloading twin six-inch turret. If our proposal is far too expensive, then the Admiralty may have no choice but to reject it.

  Do we have anything drawn up yet that might fulfill all of the Australian Admiralty’s requirements, Theo?” Beatrice asked.

  “Yes, I think that we do. They might require some updating though. I have had my naval architects work for the past several years on conceptual designs to meet a variety of possible requirements. As we develop other weapons that might be suitable, my designers have modified their conceptual warship designs to incorporate the new technology. I am certain that we can put a twin-rail CMS-2 aft, a large helicopter flight deck with hangars for two helicopters, at least half a dozen anti-ship missiles, a turret forward with one or two autoloading six-inch guns, one or two CMS-3 launchers and a small array of point defense guns. Would it be possible to design a smaller version of the CMS-3 missile launcher box, perhaps with six cells instead of eight?”

  “Yes, I’m sure that would be a very easy modification for our missile division to accomplish, Theo.” Judith answered.

  “Excellent, if you can get the designers from our missile division to get me the specifications for it, I could perhaps put a pair of those launchers amidships to cover the flanks. We would need a second director though so that each launcher can engage a separate target.”

  “We just have to make sure that we can do all of this in a package that the Admiralty can afford. We will have to emphasize that the life-cycle cost for our proposal will be better than any other bid, especially in view of the limited number of personnel in the Navy.” Judith reminded Theodore and Beatrice.

  “I’m just glad that someone at the Admiralty finally woke up and saw the need for larger and more capable platforms to help protect our carriers and other naval formations.” Theo commented.

  “I worry that this might draw money from the Vulcan procurement program. We have a substantial investment into that both here and at our subsidiaries in England. In addition, I have flown in our prototype. It is an incredible aircraft that would help us defend our nation very effectively.” Beatrice worried.

  “The Defense Ministry has enough money if they manage it reasonably well, I’m sure. We are certainly paying enough in taxes to Canberra. We are also employing a lot of people who pay taxes as well. The military needs both programs to be fully funded, especially now that we have to protect New Guinea after its annexation. I will be sure to exert as much influence as possible on our connections in Parliament to help us here.” Judith informed the others.

  “I suppose that we have our work cut out for us. But at least this time, it will be because the politicians in Canberra finally woke up. If we are lucky, the leaders in London will see what we are doing and will ask to make a version of our design for themselves. But I have to say that I am totally stoked about all of this.” Beatrice optimistically replied.

  Chapter Fifty-Two:

  Fliegerhorst Gardelegen (Military Airfield Gardelegen)

  30km West of Berlin

  November 15, 1958

  A Luftwaffe major wearing a traditional grey uniform long coat stood at the edge of the airfield’s parking apron watching aircraft taking off and landing. Over his uniform cap, he wore a pair of protective headphones to muffle the loud noise of the jet engines. A Gotha GO-229 landed and then taxied up towards the major before it was parked. A couple of aircraft mechanics raced up to secure the exotic-looking fighter-bomber after its twin engines were shut down.

  “This aircraft is certainly fast and very maneuverable, Herr Major. But it is a lousy gun platform. I can’t keep it steady enough to keep my guns on target.” The frustrated Gotha pilot said after landing his flying wing fighter on the new concrete airstrip that had replaced the previous large grass airstrip. He had quickly gotten out of his aircraft and saluted his squadron leader curtly who had been standing there waiting.

  “I understand, Oberleutnant. The engineers at Gotha are certainly aware of this issue and are already working on the problem.” Luftwaffe Major Heinrich Mueller replied.

  “Perhaps someone can design a cannon that can fire at a much higher rate of fire. That way, when a pilot can get his crosshairs onto a target, he can destroy the enemy with only a second’s worth of firing?”

  “I’m sure that someone at Mauser or Rheinmetall-Borsig is already working on something of that nature. But there are others who are developing reliable guided missiles that you can accurately fire at a maneuvering target from your aircraft here also.” Major Mueller replied before turning and walking back to the large headquarters building or Fliegerhorstkommandantur. He saw a familiar face standing on the walkway to the building. Major Mueller had known the senior engineer from Junkers for more than a decade now.

  “Guten Tag, Major. I see that your pilots continue to practice in a very spirited manner with their Gotha fighters.” Johann Michel warmly greeted the Luftwaffe squadron commander. Johann was carrying a large black document tube when Heinrich walked up.

  “Herr Michel, I am pleased to see you again. They love the speed of these jets. But it is sometimes hard to hit their targets with guns with the short amounts of time available because of those speeds, even with the new calculating sights that our jets employ. It is a far cry from the last days of the war when I was a mere junior Leutnant flying a Junkers bomber. My gunners were firing MG 81Z machine guns at Soviet Yak fighters with nothing more than a set of metal wire crosshairs to aim with.

  I wonder how our pilots can do half of what they are expected to do. It is even worse for the airmen who are flying jets from our Flugzeugträger warships like Graf Zeppelin.”

  “Jawohr, Major. Operating from the pitching deck of a moving warship has to be one of the most difficult tasks for a pilot to master. Yet, the Amerikaners, Englanders, Australians and Japanese all seem to have much success in doing so.”

  “Ja, they have. Which is why we must also master the operation as well. Our Gotha’s and Arado’s are very good aircraft. But it seems that they have their limitations. Your people at Junkers are fully aware of this, I’m sure.”

  “I know. The Kriegsmarine is all too aware of this as well. That is why it has approached us with a problem concerning their aircraft carriers and the aircraft that they are flying. Currently, they have the three warships that are capable of operating conventional fixed-wing aircraft.

  But only Graf Zeppelin is large enough to effectively operate jet aircraft. It is also the only Flugzeugträger in the Kriegsmarine that has an angled flight deck that allows her to simultaneously conduct launch and recovery operations. It will require a completely different type of jet to operate from those smaller flight decks. Right now, only slower propeller-driven aircraft and helicopters can operate from Weser and Lützow. Weser is the superior of the two light Flugzeugträger as it was a conversion from a Hipper-class heavy cruiser hull rather than a Panzerschiff.

  This is why our people at Junkers have approached both the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine with a new jet d
esign that may solve this problem, however. It would also potentially give the Luftwaffe an aircraft that is not nearly as dependent on runways to operate from. Let me show you.”

  The two men walked into Heinrich’s office inside the Fliegerhorstkommandantur.

  Johann pulled out a set of technical drawings and spread them out across a nearby table. The schematics showed a compact jet aircraft with a double delta wing that incorporated streamlined intakes for a turbojet engine into the wing roots. A highly canted butterfly V-tail was located aft with the control surfaces located on either side of a vectored engine exhaust.

  “That delta wing looks like something that Alexander Lippisch might have designed.” Heinrich commented.

  “As a matter of fact, Herr Lippisch did a lot of consulting on the wing design for us. We had managed to keep him gainfully employed so that Herr Cavill was not able to lure him away to Australia.”

  “Thank God for that.” Heinrich swore.

  “Indeed. Herr Lippisch was not overly happy over our choice of a butterfly tail to serve as both a vertical and horizontal stabilizer. But in the end, the choice has made our aircraft much more maneuverable at high angles of attack as well as more stable in level flight.

  Our engineers are proposing an aircraft that uses a combination of a conventional turbojet engine with a vectoring nozzle with a pair of lift engines mounted behind the cockpit. The large delta wings provide enough volume for fuel to provide for an effective range.”

  “I didn’t think that we had any jet engines that had enough thrust to lift an aircraft like that with a full fuel and weapons payload.”

  “Our Junkers Jumo company has not been able to build a dedicated jet engine that can lift an aircraft vertically on its own. But we can lift an aircraft with the combination of thrust from the main turbojet engine and the two lift engines. Even that claim requires certain qualifiers however. The engineers at Junkers say that the aircraft’s payload is relatively limited while taking off vertically. But, that payload and range would be substantially larger if the aircraft utilizes even a short takeoff run so that the wing can provide some lift to supplement the engines.

  The jet engine that are using for the combination of cruise flight and vertical lift is a modified variant of the Jumo 101A turbojet that is also employed by our Junkers 104 four-engine commercial jet airliner. This use of a common engine design saves us considerable development time and cost. We will also be using another Jumo design for the lift engines.”

  “How short of a takeoff run would this aircraft require to increase the payload to an amount that is roughly comparable to that of a conventional jet fighter-bomber?”

  “Our engineers estimate that this aircraft can clear a fifteen meter obstacle after a four hundred and fifty meter takeoff run on land with close to double the vertical takeoff payload. Using a flight deck run of less than one hundred and fifty meters and twenty knots of wind over the deck, the aircraft should be able to operate with full internal fuel, one hundred rounds of 30mm ammunition each for two automatic cannons and close to twenty-five hundred kilograms of external payload. That is the same estimated payload for the short takeoff from a land base.”

  “That is very interesting, Herr Michel. What about its performance once it gets into the air?”

  “Our wind tunnel tests indicate that this aircraft may even be able to significantly exceed the speed of sound in level flight. The large wing of this aircraft will potentially give it very high maneuverability at the same time.”

  “What other surprises does this new warplane of yours also have?”

  “It should be capable of intercepting enemy aircraft in all types of weather conditions. That is because of the new radar designed by Telefunken that will be installed in the nose. This radar can also be used to illuminate a target aircraft so that a missile can be guided to hit that aircraft.”

  “I am quite impressed, Herr Michel. You can be certain that I will send my recommendation along to the people that I know at the Ministry of Military Production. I have some very influential friends there, you know.”

  “Yes. As a matter of fact, I do know. That is why I am talking to you about it, Major. My people at Junkers want to get back into the business of building warplanes. Messerschmitt, Gotha and Arado have dominated the German production of military aircraft since the end of the war. That has left us, Heinkel and Dornier only producing commercial aircraft and transports. Even mighty Focke-Wulf has been relegated to building only helicopters. All of these aircraft are far less profitable for our company than military aircraft are.

  Still, we expect to have a prototype flying less than four months from now. It’s important that we can produce what we promise, of course. This could very well get us back into the warplane business.” Johann calmly replied with a knowing smile.

  “I look forward to seeing this prototype when you have it ready to fly. More importantly, I want to have an opportunity to pilot it myself someday.”

  “I will see what I can do, Herr Major. But in the meanwhile, I must return back to my office at Junkers. I have much to do. Of course, if this design is successful, we could have many other customers who are eager to fly it as well. I can think of at least three other nations possessing Flugzeugträger who would benefit greatly from operating an aircraft such as this. ” Johann said finally before rolling up the schematics, putting them back into their transport tube and leaving Major Mueller’s office.

  “I’m sure that you are right, Johann. I just hope that we can afford the development cost for such an ambitious concept, much less the procurement costs to buy a quantity for ourselves.” The Luftwaffe officer said to himself.

  Chapter Fifty-Three:

  Cavill Industries Headquarters

  Derby, Western Australia

  November 17, 1958

  “Let’s go out to the militia firing range. It will be relaxing to get some target practice in. Plus, we can talk in private without anyone listening in.” Judith told her siblings.

  “That sounds like a great idea. I remember when Dad and Mum would take us all out there while they would go out to shoot while we were all still kids. Is there anything in particular that you want to shoot, Judith?” Sarah asked.

  “What would I like to try out? I am anxious to shoot the new CR-3 rifle. I understand that the rifle’s modular system is quite remarkable in how quick and easy it is to convert from one configuration or even caliber to another. I think that the Australian Army would find it a very useful replacement for the old CR-1 rifles.” Judith said.

  “Of course, the Derby militia is going to receive them first, I’m sure.” James chipped in.

  “Obviously. They already have large stocks of the 6.5x50mm Arisaka pattern rifle cartridge. We decided to use the same cartridge in the primary configuration of the CR-3 as we had long used in our original CR-1 automatic rifles. That will save the militia a tremendous amount of money. The basic round continued to prove itself to be quite effective, so we saw no practical reason for changing it.” Sarah noted.

  “True, but I love the implications for the civilian and export markets as well. Our engineers have already designed a variety of upper receiver groups that even include one that turns the rifle into a 20 gauge semi-automatic shotgun, another upper receiver group that turns the weapon into a 9mm submachine gun and still another that turns it into a belt-fed light squad machine gun with a 50cm long heavy barrel.” Judith explained.

  “It took a lot of clever engineering to put all of this into a bullpup design. We have even made the firearm more user-friendly as well. One feature was the simple exchange of a couple of parts to convert an individual weapon so that it would be much easier for a left-hand shooter to use it. This is very important with the operating action being so close to the shooter’s face. But the bullpup configuration allows the firearm to be much shorter while retaining a sufficiently long barrel for long-range targets. I think that the hardest part was designing a trigger mechanism that allowed for accurate f
ire of the firearm.” James enthusiastically said.

  “That sounds very promising indeed. Certainly, it will drive the local legislators crazy who want to ban private ownership of firearms because of all of the different applications for the CR-3 in addition to the military market.

  Now, are you planning on bringing your new girlfriend with you to the range, James? She seems to be a good sort. I know that you like taking the Sheila’s out there to see how they will react to guns being fired.” Beatrice slyly asked.

  “Yes. As a matter of fact, I am bringing Miriam to the range. Are you bringing Mister Hawker with you as well? You’ve spent so much time with him lately that I have begun to think that you are getting a little clucky.” James said with a laugh.

  “I might if Douglas is not too busy at work. He is a good man, you know. But, we aren’t quite that serious just yet.

  Still, getting back to more important issues, our engineers are literally working overtime trying to integrate our ‘suggestions’ into so many of their designs. Do you ever worry that we are pushing too much technology, too quickly? That is how our mother got into trouble, you know.” Beatrice asked.

  “We are so far into unknown territory concerning the direction of the future that the only real control that we have over how this new history proceeds is for us to drive it ourselves. Our father had the vision of humanity settling beyond this world as a means of ensuring its ultimate survival. We are working on that already with our space rocket program. But we still have to pay for all of this. We aren’t going to be able to do that building trucks, I’m afraid.” Judith interjected.

  “I know. I just find it a little uncomfortable that we have had to focus so much on our military-related sales rather than on more civilian-oriented products.”