Chapter 868 Ho-229
Everyone was stunned when they heard that the vice president was also going to resign.
"Mr. Vice President..."
The vice president waved his hand firmly. "I have made up my mind. I will write my resignation letter now." After saying that, he left quickly without waiting for anyone to say anything, leaving everyone confused.
"What should we do?!"
The current constitution does not mention the way to deal with "the vice president is unable to perform his duties" (the original US Constitution had very limited descriptions of the functions and status of the vice president. When the founding fathers of the United States established the position of vice president, they did not seriously consider or discuss it at all). In the past, whenever the vice president died or left office for some reason, the White House simply left the position vacant and filled it at the next election. In the history of the United States, there have been 16 vice presidential vacancies.
This loophole was not filled until the 25th Amendment to the Constitution (1965). According to the bill, whenever the vice president's position is vacant, the president shall nominate a vice president, who shall take office after being approved by a majority of the two houses of Congress.
Now, the president and vice president are going to resign at the same time. This is really an unprecedented and unheard-of "strange thing".
Soon, the news reached Congress, and Congress was in an uproar. President Wilkie was still okay, after all, his health did not allow him to continue to perform his presidential duties; but the vice president's behavior was more like evading responsibility, or to put it bluntly, it was desertion!
But no matter how people blamed, pleaded, complained, or appealed to their emotions and reasoned; the vice president was determined to resign. It was as if even if you disagree, I will pat my butt and leave, which made everyone so angry that they almost went up to beat him up.
Just when the US Congress was in a mess, Yannick came to a secret flight base to visit the test flight of a newly developed aircraft by the Horton brothers (Reema Horton and Walter Horton).
The reason why he was interested in this was that the appearance of this new aircraft, numbered "Ho-229", was quite peculiar, very similar to the later American B-2 bomber, with a completely tailless flying wing layout without a horizontal tail or a vertical tail.
Some military fans in later generations thought that the "Ho-229" was the predecessor of the B-2 bomber, but such a flying wing layout was proposed as early as 1910. In 1924, Boris Cheranovsky of the Soviet Union developed the world's first flying wing aircraft. Six years later, John Northrop of the United States (he was the founder of the American military giant Northrop Grumman, and later it was this company that designed and manufactured the "B-2") also built the American flying wing aircraft "1929 Flying Wing" (X-216H).
In 1943 in the original time and space, the Horton brothers began to develop large military flying wing aircraft. Faced with increasing pressure from the US and British air forces, the already overwhelmed Imperial Marshal Goering fully supported the Horton brothers' flying wing aircraft. At the same time, clear technical performance requirements were put forward - it must reach a bomb load of 1 ton, a speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour, a combat radius of 1,000 kilometers, and it must have both air and ground combat capabilities.
Such performance is not easy to achieve even in later generations, especially the heart of the aircraft, the power system. The piston propeller engine at that time could not meet the requirements at all. Fortunately, by 1944, Germany had made some achievements in jet engine technology. The Horton brothers immediately realized the great value of this revolutionary power device to flying wing aircraft. They used the Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine as the power and built a jet-powered flying wing aircraft named "Horton IX".
As the first practical jet-powered flying wing aircraft in history, the "Horton IX" was designed with a safe overload of 7G. Its cockpit was located quite forward, with a Junkers Jumo-004 turbojet engine installed on each side, and the tail nozzle protruding on the rear surface of the wing. The middle part of the wing body adopts the traditional welded steel pipe structure, and the whole machine is basically covered with multi-layer plywood. Of course, metal is used near the engine nozzle to withstand high temperature. The outer part of the wing is a full wooden structure, and its important edges are made of special reinforced materials made of thin wood sheets and resin pressed together. Only the wing tips are all metal. At first, some people doubted whether the wooden fuselage could withstand the powerful jet power, but the test results showed that such a design can fully meet the strength requirements while reducing weight. In addition, due to the lack of important metal resources during the war, it was somewhat necessary to use wood as the main material. Besides, the requirements for manpower for carpentry are relatively low.
This aircraft was tested three times in total, and the third test flight resulted in a crash and death. However, Goering, who was desperate, still ordered 40 aircraft and began production at the Gotha company's factory. As a result, Germany was defeated before it could roll off the production line, and these unfinished aircraft bodies and some improved models and production lines all fell into the hands of the Americans. One of the V3 prototypes was used for testing. After a round trip between the United States and Britain, it was marked with the number T2-490 by the Americans and placed in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM).
Yannick watched the "Ho-229" circling in the sky for several circles and preparing to land, muttering in his heart that the test flight was quite smooth.
The rear landing gear of the "Ho-229" had already touched the runway, but when the front landing gear fell, it was not known whether it was too much force or a brake problem. The left landing gear broke apart, and the entire aircraft suddenly lost control. The left wing slid forward along the runway for a long distance before stopping. The left wing that rubbed against the runway had already caught fire.
Fortunately, the ground crew on the side ran over and put out the fire with a fire extinguisher and saved the test pilot.
Seeing Brother Holden's face turn a little pale, Yannick said. "It's a good design. But now is not the time. The design of this aircraft is too advanced. Wait 20 years, when computers develop to be responsible for most flight functions, that's when it will show its talents."
Before modern flight control computers and wire transmission systems mature, flying wings will have no practical value at all. This is true whether it is the Ho-229 or Northrop's early XB35 and YB49 test machines. This is also the reason why most countries, including Germany, stopped developing flying wings after the war.
"Twenty years?" Brother Holden looked shocked. Rima Holden hesitated and said carefully. "Well, Your Highness, will this layout design be outdated by then?"
"Outdated?" Yannick almost laughed out loud. The most advanced bomber in the world in later generations is the B-2 with a flying wing layout. How can it be outdated? "Of course not, and this layout design has a big advantage." That is, its unique shape can reduce radar reflection waves, and with special absorbing materials, it can be invisible on radar. It is said that the radar reflection cross section of the B-52 bomber is 100 square meters, while the B-2A is estimated to be 01 to 1 square meter, which is only equivalent to the radar reflection cross section of a flying bird in the sky, which makes it difficult for radar to detect it.