I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 238: Shire’s Classroom

Chapter 238: Chapter 238: Shire’s Classroom

Shire is not concerned about Kobudo’s traps.

At most, Shire cooperates with Kobudo in interviews to continue increasing his popularity and support rate in the Merit Newspaper.

But these interviews have nothing to do with the airport or incorporating army airplanes, instead they shift the focus to frontline supplies, such as Shire continuing to donate marching blankets and socks to the frontline, as well as food, cigarettes, and other supplies.

Kobudo even revealed in several articles that: Shire has no interest in incorporating army airplanes, believing that it’s about the quality of troops rather than the quantity. He possesses the world’s highest quality elite flying unit, and adding rabble would only be a hassle.

Kobudo understands human nature. He knows that "seeking help" and "being sought" are entirely different, although both involve incorporating army airplanes.

If Shire adopts an attitude of "seeking help," offering various generous conditions to call on army pilots to join voluntarily, the pilots might be wary: "Why is Shire so anxious for us to join? Is there something in it for him? Could it be dangerous?"

But if Shire maintains a stance of rejecting them at the door, the pilots instead become anxious: Look, Shire doesn’t want us, it must be that we haven’t met his requirements or there are some difficulties, we should strive harder!

As a result, they flock to him like fish swimming upstream.

Shire has focused his attention on aviation bombs and the Caproni Bomber recently.

He believes that using fighters to dogfight and shoot down Germans one by one is too inefficient. Bombers can eliminate enemy aircraft along with their pilots, even prospective pilots, easily and effortlessly — that is truly satisfying!

The speed of aviation bomb development is very fast. After all, this matter is handled by the Saint-Étienne Arsenal, which has experience, foundation, and talent. It took only a week to develop and the performance was very stable after testing.

The Caproni Bomber took slightly longer, with Eric and the research department producing three prototypes in two and a half weeks.

They originally thought it would take at least several weeks of test flights to make corrections and then proceed to mass production.

However, the success of the test flights surprised everyone. Its performance was quite outstanding, even carrying an 800 kg load, it could fly at a speed of 113 km/h.

This made Eric overjoyed, he excitedly reported to Shire over the phone:

"This is simply a miracle, Colonel, we once suspected it was a refined model even before the test."

"It’s hard to imagine. The prototype is so perfect."

"113 km/h, do you know what this means?"

"It could become the safest dedicated bomber in the world!"

Shire understood Eric’s point. Currently, most fighters like the Aphro, can only reach speeds of around 100 km/h, and the Germans’ fighters are no exception.

However, the Caproni Bomber with three engines could fly at 113 km/h even when carrying heavy loads.

All fighters, whether ours or the enemy’s, can’t keep up with the Caproni, so naturally, they can’t dogfight and shoot it down.

This meant it didn’t need fighter escorts at all, it could venture into enemy territory to bomb and then retreat safely.

Shire calmly instructed Eric on a few matters:

"I hope the research department will continue to enhance engine power."

"Moreover, start mass-producing bombers, try to produce 20 within two weeks."

"Meanwhile, the development of single-seat fighters can be put on the agenda!"

Eric responded enthusiastically: "Yes, Colonel!"

Then he couldn’t help but exclaim: "We might create a miracle in aviation history!"

Shire didn’t want to create any miracles in aviation history, he only hoped to keep the bomber’s speed advantage.

One day, when the Germans enhanced their engine power to let their fighters catch up to the 100-horsepower Caproni, Shire would have developed a 150-horsepower engine on his side.

Thus, the bomber’s speed would once again surpass the German fighters, and the German airfields would still be groaning under the bomber’s wings.

This would simplify air combat, as German pilots would need to stay alert while worried about being bombed.

...

The snow stopped that day, the sunlight reflected off the snow layer making it dazzling and somewhat blinding.

Shire took some time to visit the Carter Flying Club. He wanted to know the training status of the pilots in the first squadron.

When the car entered the airport, Carter was in a classroom on the first floor, gesticulating as he taught the students.

The listeners appeared to be new pilots, without the weariness and weathered faces of Carter’s previous team, replaced with some innocence and passion.

However, Carter’s teaching abilities seemed subpar, making the classroom lifeless and somewhat oppressive.

Carter was also troubled, scratching his head impatiently, he and the students seemed to be performing a mutual "torment" scenario.

Carter saw Shire entering from afar, and he nodded toward the students, asking, "Haven’t you always wanted to meet Colonel Shire?"

The students straightened up, energized.

Carter smiled and waved to Shire outside the door. The students simultaneously exclaimed, was this young Colonel Shire in front of them?

Carter approached and shook hands with Shire, said helplessly: "Say a few words, Colonel, many of them joined our flying squad just to meet you. They don’t really want to attend classes."

The classroom quieted down for a few seconds, the students finally confirmed it was Shire in front of them, and applause erupted instantly.

Shire casually walked to the lectern, spoke calmly: "Hello, gentlemen. If you joined the flying squad just to meet me, you might be disappointed. Because you might see me more on the streets of Paris than here."

The students smiled knowingly, many indeed made this mistake, thinking Shire was the flying squad leader and could become his subordinates here.

But the reality was, Shire rarely visited the flying club, maybe once a month.

When the laughter subsided, Shire asked a question: "Do you know what makes the flying squad different from other branches?"

The students were silent for a while, then answered one after another:

"The flying squad fights the enemy in the sky, Colonel."

"We have faster speed!"

"We have more women who like us!"

...

The students burst into laughter, Carter glared angrily, they hurriedly stopped laughing but continued to smile.

This is the nature of pilots, they should be carefree and have their own personality. If everything is done by the book, it would be hard to become an excellent pilot.

Shire did not get angry because of this, he gave his answer word by word: "I think the biggest difference is that you are alone, gentlemen, on the battlefield you can only rely on yourself, no one else can help you!"

The students’ expressions became serious, some nodded silently.

They understood Shire’s meaning, air combat at this time lacked basic communication equipment, coordination between planes was difficult, they could only rely on themselves, biting the enemy’s tail or being bitten, plane malfunctioning, leaking oil, or being hit by the enemy and falling...

Everything had to be faced alone, until the last moment.

Sometimes even with comrades nearby watching, they couldn’t help, could only watch it all happen.