Darkstone Code-Chapter 909 - 907: Wind Tunnel and Aerial Combat

"Boss, I’d like to have a private word with you."

The Chief Engineer timely extended the invitation. He glanced at the colleagues around him who were watching, showing a rather serious expression.

At this moment, besides having results that others covet, the greatest fear is facing staff poaching.

Previously, when working at the company, it was quite similar. Whenever there was any breakthrough in technology, people from other factories would frequently appear.

From finding ways to steal technical data to enticing technical personnel to job-hop with their technology, their methods are more unscrupulous and direct, sometimes even resorting to threats.

To deal with these people, aside from raising everyone’s awareness, there aren’t many other effective methods.

The key is still to have someone who can stabilize everyone, instead of... letting those who resign leave.

When people find out that leaving doesn’t require paying additional costs, opting for a better life becomes the optimal choice, leading more people to choose to leave. He must discuss this with Lynch.

Lynch agreed to the Chief Engineer’s invitation, and the two went into his office.

"You shouldn’t have said that!" As soon as they entered the room, the Chief Engineer closed the door and spoke softly to Lynch, "We should, to some extent, try to retain them. Others might think..."

The Chief Engineer thought for a moment and found a term, "cold and heartless, and right now it’s not suitable for us to reduce our R&D personnel, we still have a lot of follow-up work to do."

He talked about many things that require manpower, such as some new components and new designs.

Current airplanes actually have significant limitations, in terms of shape, engine power, internal layout design, there are substantial issues.

All these need skilled hands to handle, and the two who left happened to be carrying out important work.

Coupled with some influence on others, the work of the research institute may fall into a state of stagnation in a short time.

Lynch listened to him for a while before slowly saying, "Don’t you guys know?"

The Chief Engineer asked somewhat unexpectedly, "What should we know?"

"The Ministry of Defense has increased the order, it’s now an order for six hundred aircraft."

Lynch walked to the window, opened it, letting the wind blow in, "As we expand the production line, we will recruit more excellent designers."

"I understand what you’re worried about, we need the mature experience of these people..."

The Chief Engineer nodded repeatedly, such experience is the most valuable wealth. If we need to hire new people, it might take a while before they reach this level.

"But you’re overlooking one fact, their experience wasn’t innate, it was acquired through later experiences."

"We can accelerate this process!"

Lynch rubbed his thumb against his index and middle fingers, his fingertips felt a bit warm, "Money can accelerate this process."

"I’m not afraid to spend money. You can crash a hundred aircraft, I can afford it, so our team must be one that grows at a super-fast pace. Besides, I have a new plan."

"Have you heard of a wind tunnel?"

The Chief Engineer shook his head bluntly, "Heard of it, that thing is useless!"

Seeing the confused expression on Lynch’s face, he continued, "The factory where I previously worked had a wind tunnel, but that thing was meant for cars, and the wind speed wasn’t that fast."

In his explanation, Lynch realized that although the development in the field of aviation seemed to have encountered some problems, the automotive sector has developed rapidly.

Especially in the quest for market share, major car companies have united to create a number of professional and amateur car racing competitions, which become news hotspots every year.

Moreover, if any company’s car wins the championship, then that company’s car sales will see a noticeable increase.

In this era, people’s consumption concepts are quite blind; they blindly focus on what successful people are buying.

Whatever they buy, others buy. The logic applies to car racing too. Whatever brand of car wins the championship means the overall quality of that brand is considered good.

In order to make race cars go faster, all major car companies have their own testing methods.

Using wind is obviously a very good method because they can’t keep the race car running at maximum speed for long and capture complete data.

But making the car stop then blowing wind on it is obviously much easier, they can even discover aerodynamic flow patterns in the process and amend some designs.

However, he didn’t think a wind tunnel could be effective for airplane issues, "Cars can be fixed on the ground, but planes are in the air, the situation is more complex, we cannot effectively simulate flying conditions."

Lynch’s reaction was quick, "Then why not hang the plane up?"

The Chief Engineer thought for a serious moment and then shook his head, "I don’t know, I’ve never used it, I can’t give you a judgment."

"Just build it and let the facts speak!" Lynch said as he got to the door, hand on the handle, "Remember, I’m not afraid to spend money!"

Finishing, he opened the door and walked out, the Chief Engineer with a somewhat complicated expression followed closely.

When the two of them left the office, the two previously resigned employees were saying their goodbyes to others, perhaps to them, this was a good opportunity to realize their self-worth.

After seeing them off, Lynch then had the Chief Engineer announce the "good news."

The research institute, which was somewhat unsettled just a second ago, was instantly taken aback with joy by this "good news."

What’s five percent of over a billion?

At least five million!

Dividing the five million according to the positions within the research institute, even the least would get at least a hundred thousand!!

In an era where the minimum hourly wage was only two hundred and seventy or eighty yuan, tens of thousands was already a large sum, and it can almost be said it’s very rare in the Federation for someone to produce a hundred thousand cash effortlessly.

The Ministry of Defense’s order boost showed everyone a more promising future. Right now, getting a hundred thousand to several hundred thousand in bonuses for just one experimental model, what about the future?

More products in the future, more expensive products, wouldn’t they bring in more money?

Those academic researchers could only gaze at Lynch with excitement, while the civilian scientists began flattering Lynch, understanding the "essence" of socializing better than the pure researchers.

So, any last bit of restlessness stabilized, no one entertained uninteresting notions of whether they could also switch jobs.

Fixed dead wages, where’s the fun compared with dividends, especially in military sales!

By the way, the Chief Engineer once again reiterated Lynch’s words outside of the research institute with his own feelings, stirring the researchers even more.

This also means that as long as they continue to work here, they could solve almost any problem!

Why leave?

Only fools would leave!

No one thought about going after those two unlucky ones, with two less people, they could share more money.

Once the emotions settled a bit, Lynch finally talked about the purpose of his visit today.

"Our research institute and our aircraft have been leaked..."

Angry curses filled the room immediately, the scientists’ way of cursing was no less blunt than some street gangsters, from invoking the wives of the leakers, to their mothers, even to unborn daughters, none were spared.

After letting the anger dissipate for a while, Lynch continued, "Why did I not stop the colleagues who were leaving just now?"

"Because soon the whole world will know about this and study it."

"We are ahead of the times, a few steps ahead of others. As long as we can maintain these advantages, we will always be the leaders in this industry."

"And regarding the work ahead, I have a few suggestions..."

The Chief Engineer immediately arranged for everyone to sit down, pulled out notebooks and pens, and he himself stood by the blackboard next to Lynch, ready to take notes.

This strange "sense of ceremony" is actually quite pleasing because it fulfills some people’s desire for pleasure in certain aspects.

A group of scientists listening and taking notes was indeed a rare experience and treatment.

"Firstly, I heard that after this sortie, the aircraft had some damage to their fuselage?", he turned to look at the Chief Engineer, who nodded in affirmation.

Especially at the junction of the fixed wings and fuselage, there was already some metal tearing, though not too severe.

The cost of replacing the fuselage isn’t too high, essentially an easy swap.

"We must find a way to solve this problem. If there is a crash, it would be a heavy blow for us."

"Materials, or redesign to allow it to withstand more force without changing the materials."

"The second request, find a way to integrate a machine gun with the fuselage..."

Seeing the confusion on the researchers’ faces, perhaps they found it unnecessary, even the Chief Engineer himself seemed to think so.

In their tests, using machine guns from the air to attack the ground wasn’t encouraged.

Firstly, it couldn’t guarantee attack precision, and after lowering the altitude, ground personnel could also retaliate, posing danger to both the aircraft and pilot.

The researchers within the institute advocated using bombs as the means of attack, diving appropriately and bombing with area damage, proving more efficient than using machine guns.

"Maybe you think it’s unnecessary, but I must say the targets of machine gun attacks are not ground targets but aerial ones."

"The leak of the aircraft project implies that sooner rather than later, there will be many airborne enemies."

"We not only need weapons and aircraft to eliminate ground forces but also weapons to counter enemy aerial equipment."

"Faster, higher, with more continuous firepower!"