Chapter 55 Forest Fire Patrol Aircraft

Wang Ye certainly didn't know that a series of operations he had undertaken just to earn some foreign exchange would cause such a stir thousands of kilometers away on the African continent of Tanzania.

The day after returning from Yuntai City, Wang Ye was already seated in the conference room early in the morning.

Although it was only a little after eight o'clock, with the golden sunlight streaming in, the room began to warm up gradually. A fan buzzed softly, bringing in a cool breeze.

"Everyone has been studying very hard over the past half month."

"But the results have been very impressive!"

"The exams from a few days ago, I finally finished grading them last night, and everyone passed!"

"Let's give ourselves a round of applause!"

In the meeting room, Wang Ye sat at the head of the table, casually holding a cigarette between his fingers, smoke curling up as he spoke. A burst of laughter and hearty applause filled the room in response.

"To be honest, I never expected that at almost fifty years old, I would still be taking exams!"

Accompanied by laughter and applause, the head of the production department sighed, and a lively discussion ensued.

"Indeed! It kept me up all night for a while!"

"Hey? Can't blame Director Wang for that. It's something the elders chose for themselves. You could have chosen not to enroll in the night school!"

"Not enroll? If I didn't, I'd just be watching from the sidelines later! I'm telling you, young man, are you eyeing my position as head of production? Let me tell you, wait and see!"

"Hahaha, the Yangtze River waves behind push the waves ahead. If you work hard now, you can keep up. As for the future, we'll see!"

"Hey! Let's take it step by step! But now, let me fall behind? That's impossible!"

The discussions in the meeting room stemmed from the beginning of the month, when the installation and debugging of motorcycle engines began. Due to the lack of engineers and technical workers, Wang Ye had to embark on the path of independent training.

So Wang Ye established an entity called the "Workers' Night School," with classes held every evening from 7:30 to 11:30, covering theoretical and practical demonstrations, with the core focus naturally being on motorcycle engines!

All the students were either workers with potential selected by Wang Ye based on a comprehensive survey, or they volunteered themselves, including young people from the machinery factory.

The total number of students eventually reached an astonishing more than 120.

Even though the head of the production department and others were older, they were unwilling to fall behind and joined in the learning process, which was quite strenuous!

Fortunately, the overall educational level of the machinery factory was acceptable. At least everyone could read and write, and there were no illiterates among the workers. Otherwise, Wang Ye dared not imagine how he could manage this endeavor!

From the start of classes, the first phase of learning lasted for half a month. Two days ago, Wang Ye printed a batch of test papers, conducted a proper exam to assess the situation, and was quite satisfied with the results!

After all, these workers were all skilled masters, and they were quite proficient in mechanical matters. So the learning speed was very fast.

And the younger ones were even better. Growing up in the machinery factory from a young age, they had absorbed a lot, and with Wang Ye's theoretical teachings and practical part demonstrations, the effect was quite good!

For this reason, Wang Ye dismantled the only two new motorcycles in the factory to use as teaching aids, which made the old factory director feel quite distressed.

"So today."

"I want to discuss the issue of trial production on the production line."

Upon hearing this, more than twenty people in the meeting room suddenly became excited, and even a relatively young worker joked, "Director, if our motorcycles are produced, can we get a discount when we buy them?"

As soon as these words came out, the meeting room erupted into excitement. After all, in this era, although bicycles were no longer rare, they were still not cheap. Motorcycles were the real fashionable items!

If possible, who wouldn't want to own one?

Under the eager gazes of everyone, Wang Ye smiled and said, "Of course, everyone in the factory will buy them at cost, and if you can't pay all at once, it's okay. The factory will issue you IOUs, and you can pay monthly deductions from your salary!"

"But, there will be limits on purchases for each household, and you have to draw lots and queue up. And no reselling allowed!"

"Otherwise, you're finished!"

As soon as Wang Ye finished speaking, there was a wave of cheering in the room.

As for the subsequent details Wang Ye mentioned, no one cared. Drawing lots and queuing up were normal, right? Did they expect the factory to not make any money and just produce for themselves? As for reselling, bah! Anyone who did that would be drowned in spit! This was a welfare benefit provided by the factory to everyone!

Amidst the excited discussions of everyone in the room, Wang Ye waved his hand and said, "However, I may have to disappoint you a little."

"Although our production line is ready, I don't plan to produce motorcycles for the first batch!"

As soon as this was said, everyone was taken aback. The motorcycle engine production line could only produce motorcycle engines. If they didn't produce motorcycles, what else could they produce?

"Not producing motorcycles? Then what are we going to do?"

Finally, the old factory director, holding a pouch of tobacco, looked at Wang Ye with a puzzled expression, and under the gaze of everyone, Wang Ye opened the blueprint in front of him, hung it on the nearby blackboard, and said, "We're going to do this!"

When everyone saw the blueprint, they were all stunned!

The eyes of the old factory director widened, and he couldn't help but stand up, walk over, and carefully examine the drawing for a few seconds before turning around with a look of disbelief.

"Wang Ye, are we taking too big of a step here?"

"Besides, this motorcycle engine is too small to be used on a helicopter, isn't it?"

It was clear that the old factory director's words received unanimous agreement from everyone present. Seeing everyone nodding enthusiastically but with a touch of madness, Wang Ye smiled and said, "Everyone, take a good look. This isn't a helicopter."

"It's a gyroplane!"

"The power source of a helicopter comes from the rotor above, while the gyroplane's top rotor has no power, and the power comes from the propeller at the rear!"

"And this thing isn't very big, with a takeoff weight of only six or seven hundred kilograms."

In this era, gyroplanes were a completely unfamiliar concept to everyone present, and even unheard of. Then a group of people crowded up, carefully examining the schematic drawn by Wang Ye.

After a moment, the head of the technical department hesitated and asked a question, "Director, with a takeoff weight of only six or seven hundred kilograms, what can this gyroplane do?"

"I think it can only seat two people at most!"

Hearing Wang Ye's explanation, all the puzzled looks on everyone's faces turned into realization, and finally, directly into excitement. After all, everyone understood how significant the advantages of air-to-ground superiority were!

"So, next, we'll discuss two issues."

"The first is the design points and trial production process of a 1.2-liter, four-cylinder horizontally opposed air-cooled motorcycle engine."

"The second is the establishment of a special metal laboratory."

"Alright, why are you all still standing there? Come back and sit down!"

As soon as Wang Ye finished speaking, the people who had been crowding around the blackboard all hurriedly returned to their seats, but the excitement on their faces was palpable!