Chapter 320 Jet Engines

Berlin Imperial Palace.

Excited, Anna hurriedly walked in and reported, "Your Highness, the ambassador in Switzerland has sent a telegram. The British envoy wishes to discuss peace talks with us. Congratulations, Your Highness, the British have finally surrendered!"

"Oh, the British want peace talks?" However, Wilhelm's face showed no excitement. "They just want to buy time." If the current British Prime Minister were Chamberlain, he might believe in the sincerity of British peace talks. However, with Churchill, he wouldn't believe it even if the guy wrote a blood oath for peace talks.

Anna was taken aback. "Should we reply to the ambassador rejecting the offer?"

Wilhelm shook his head. "Why reject? They are just buying time, and we need time too. Let our ambassador play along with them. If they become too annoying, let them cede a few battleships to us first and then continue the talks."

Wilhelm felt that landing in England was a one-time opportunity. If the first attempt failed, the consequences could be unimaginable. Perhaps the confidence of the German army to land in England would be lost from top to bottom, while Britain would become more determined to resist. The U.S. assistance would continue to flow into the British mainland, and the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front might stab them in the back at any time. Just thinking about it sent shivers down his spine.

Therefore, he needed to be fully prepared and required time to integrate the forces of France and Italy before launching a full-scale landing on the British mainland.

Landing was an operation that heavily relied on logistics. In addition to the first wave of landing craft that stormed the beaches, there must be three to four subsequent waves of troops to follow up. The number of landing ships not only determined the strength of the landing but also ensured the continuous combat power of the landing forces. If there were problems with subsequent waves, the landing forces would face the danger of complete annihilation. This was a crucial issue that could not be ignored.

Unfortunately, current technology couldn't produce ground-effect aircraft. If they could manufacture something like the Soviet "Caspian Sea Monster" from the future, it would be much more convenient. Soldiers could be transported in divisions, and with just ten "Caspian Sea Monsters," they could transport an entire heavy tank brigade or a medium tank division in one go.

After sighing, Wilhelm grabbed the phone. "Connect me with Messerschmitt."

"Hail Hohenzollern! Your Highness, what can I do for you?"

"How is the design I sent you last time?"

"Your Highness, you're truly a genius. We've already produced a prototype based on the design you sent and conducted wind tunnel tests. The airframe has no issues, but..."

"But the engine problem isn't solved?" Wilhelm couldn't help but scratch his forehead. If only he had paid more attention to these things when he knew he would be transported here. He only remembered the principles of complex things like jet engines; he couldn't come up with more detailed drawings. (TLN: Wait what? Our MC doesn't remember the details of some super complex technology like he usually does? Is he still our MC?)

The voice on the other side sounded somewhat embarrassed. "Yes, the heat resistance of the main components of the engine is still insufficient. We need to wait until new materials are developed to meet the requirements you've set."

In fact, the current German aviation industry could already produce jet planes. However, Wilhelm had no interest in jet aircraft like the "Me 262," which was playfully called "one of the planes that killed the most German aces" by future military enthusiasts. What's even more troublesome was that the Germans had formed the 44th Fighter Wing, as if they were afraid their aces wouldn't die.

He needed a more mature and advanced jet aircraft.

When talking about the development of jet engines in World War II, many people would immediately think of the Me 262 and He 162. The Allied forces also had jet planes like the P-80 and Meteor, but compared to the jet planes fielded by the German military in the war, they paled in comparison.

This created a stereotype that Germany's technology always seemed to be ahead of Allied nations like the UK and the US for a long time. However, in reality, as early as 1930, a rudimentary centrifugal turbojet engine emerged in the UK. The creator was a 23-year-old student at the Central Flying School in the UK, Frank Whittle.

Frank Whittle was born in Coventry, England, in 1907. At the age of 15, he applied to the Royal Air Force in the UK, hoping to become an aircraft maintenance technician. Despite being rejected twice by the Air Force due to his overly slender physique during the application process, Frank, through persistent efforts, finally succeeded in entering the training school of the Royal Air Force in the latter half of 1923. In 1926, he was discovered for his unique flying talent and obtained the qualification of a flying cadet at the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell.

In his second year at the Royal Air Force College, which was in the fourth term of 1928, Frank published a paper titled "The Future Development of Aircraft Design." In the paper, he mentioned that for aircraft pursuing high speeds, high-altitude flight with low air resistance is the best way. Currently, the efficiency of traditional piston-engine-driven propeller aircraft at high altitudes is very poor. To improve the performance of an aircraft at high altitudes, a gas turbine-driven propeller engine or even a rocket engine would be a better choice.

Whittle's paper was not the only one of its kind in his time addressing the limitations of propellers, but it precisely hit the key points for the future development of aviation. It outlined a conceptual blueprint for a turbine engine in his mind. Over the next two years, Frank Whittle, serving in the military as a pilot, did not abandon this concept. Instead, he continued his research while in service. Through continuous efforts, in 1929, Frank proposed the concept of a jet engine that was driven by a reciprocating engine compressing air into the combustion chamber at the rear of the fuselage, where it was ignited to produce thrust through jet propulsion. Coincidentally, a similar design called a hot jet engine appeared on the Italian Peninsula during the same period, proposed by a young engineer named Secondo Campini. However, unlike Campini, Whittle eventually recognized the limitations of this type of engine due to the heavy and limited-volume reciprocating engine driving the compression section, resulting in poor overall power. He quickly abandoned the design of this type of engine and reintroduced a gas turbine engine.

At the end of 1929 to the beginning of 1930, Frank got an opportunity to present the concept of the centrifugal turbojet to the British Air Ministry through the recommendation of his superior.

However, this design faced ruthless criticism from Griffith.

Griffith, who made the criticism, was a giant in the field of British turbine engines. In a paper he presented in 1926, he explicitly addressed design issues with turbine fan blades for aviation, advancing the development of turbine fan blade engines. In 1927, he received sponsorship from the British Air Ministry and the Aeronautical Research Institute to develop an axial-flow turbo-screw propeller engine.

In his critique, Griffith believed that this centrifugal engine had a large frontal area, resulting in poor efficiency, making it unsuitable as an aircraft powerplant. In addition, the British aviation industry generally thought that the material requirements for this engine were too advanced and beyond the capabilities of current technology. As a result, not only did the Royal Air Force turn a deaf ear to Frank's design, but even companies like Armstrong Siddeley, Bristol Aircraft Company, and British Thomson-Houston (BTH), which produced electrical turbines, showed no interest in his turbojet design. This situation forced Frank to continue his research from 1930 to 1936 while facing financial difficulties, making it challenging to sustain his patents. Ultimately, he could only watch helplessly as the centrifugal turbojet patent he had painstakingly designed became invalid.

At the time when Frank was feeling disheartened, the Germans found him and bought his patents at a considerable cost, inviting him to work in Germany.