Chapter 263 : Wooden Fighter Aircraft?

The Battle of Luke was a step-by-step offensive operation.

First, rocket artillery delivered Magic Suppression Munitions to cripple the targeted area's ability to manipulate magical elements. This was followed by Solidified Gasoline Bombs to inflict massive casualties while cutting off sections of the battlefield.

Once favorable battlefield conditions had been established, aerial combat forces launched the second wave of large-scale air strikes, further annihilating the enemy's fighting strength.

Large-scale concentrated operations had always been the Alliance's greatest strength, and likewise its most reliable path to victory.

During this operation, aside from the Vanguard fighter formations—the primary force of the second assault wave—which suffered losses of roughly thirty percent, the Alliance's casualties in every other aspect were negligible.

The Allied Army, on the other hand, suffered approximately seventy thousand casualties according to preliminary estimates.

Nearly one-third of its elite forces had died inexplicably in the Luke region.

The exchange ratio could only be described as a complete and overwhelming victory.

The only disappointment was that the Navy's force projection capability remained too weak.

Its little more than one hundred carrier-based Zero fighters had done little beyond cleaning up scattered enemy remnants. Organizationally speaking, they were practically auxiliary units supporting the land-based Air Force.

As a result, many senior figures within the Navy found themselves rather embarrassed.

They continuously urged the shipyards to accelerate the launch of the new warships, pestering the leadership of the Ministry of National Defense Construction and the Naval Ship Design Bureau until they felt utterly overwhelmed.

"It's not that we don't want to work faster. Even if we finish the ships sooner, what good will it do? Think about it—the ships still need carrier aircraft. If we've got ships but no fighters, we'd still have to wait. I'd suggest you go pressure the Aircraft Design Institute instead..."

Hearing this, one naval officer secretly rolled his eyes behind them.

"If they weren't worried about attracting the attention of the Military Police Corps under the Internal Affairs Department, they'd have stormed the institute already."

Everyone knew it was easier to bully the weaker target.

Harassing the Design Bureau carried no consequences, and since it was a sister organization of the Aircraft Design Institute, repeated complaints would eventually reach the institute anyway.

As for the Aircraft Design Institute...

They had indeed temporarily set aside the carrier aircraft project.

Thanks to Anna's arrangements, they had instead met a distinguished visitor who had traveled thousands of kilometers from Ernesto.

Several weeks earlier—

Wellington awkwardly explained Ernesto's current aerial predicament to the elderly Alliance expert before him.

He hoped the Alliance Aircraft Design Institute could design a fighter suitable for domestic production in Ernesto.

To that end, he had brought extremely detailed surveys of Ernesto's natural resources, together with extensive environmental data.

One could say that Ernesto had practically laid itself completely bare before the Alliance.

That was only one source of Wellington's embarrassment.

The other was Ernesto's severe shortage of critical mineral resources.

Iron ore, aluminum ore, and rubber—

The country lacked all of them.

Even the currently confirmed reserves were insufficient to sustain its existing military-industrial system, requiring continuous assistance from the Alliance simply to fill the shortfall.

Producing aircraft, tanks, artillery shells, and other resource-intensive equipment was even more unrealistic.

In other words, Ernesto desperately needed fighter aircraft.

Yet it lacked what it believed were the necessary resources to manufacture them.

Instead, it hoped the Alliance could point out an alternative path.

For anyone who genuinely loved their homeland, exposing the nation's weakness inevitably brought an indescribable sense of humiliation.

Fortunately, the elderly expert saw nothing strange about it.

After putting on his glasses and reading through Ernesto's resource survey, he smiled.

"Who says your resources are insufficient? You've got plenty."

Wellington stared blankly.

"Huh?"

The expert pointed to one particularly eye-catching section of the report.

Forestry Resources

Birch: 34.6%

Balsa Wood: 19.5%

Pine: 22.3%

"Wood?!!! You can build airplanes out of wood?!"

"Absolutely! Not only can you build them—they can be excellent!"

When Mitia had unlocked aircraft technology, she had never considered using wood as the primary structural material.

The Alliance's Subcontinent possessed exceptionally abundant mineral resources.

There had never been any shortage of metal.

However, as the Alliance's scientific knowledge gradually developed from nothing into a complete theoretical framework, its experts had transformed as well.

They had progressed from merely replicating the Empress's technical blueprints without truly understanding them—

Essentially conducting technological archaeology—

Into a respected scientific institution capable of independent innovation, no longer requiring the Empress's constant guidance and even occasionally surprising Mitia with entirely new achievements.

Naturally, they had also experimented with alternative technological paths.

They discovered that under certain circumstances, wood could serve not merely as a substitute for metal—

But sometimes even as the superior option.

For example, aircraft constructed from balsa wood were exceptionally lightweight, placing very low demands on engine power.

They were also easy to repair, relied upon widely available raw materials, and used trees that grew extremely quickly.

The Alliance simply had no practical need for such technology.

Ernesto's current circumstances, however, were perfectly suited for the technological route that had long since been shelved.

Wellington was overjoyed.

Of course, the idea still existed only on paper.

Its feasibility had merely been demonstrated in theory.

It had never actually been implemented in practice.

A proper prototype would still need to be built and tested.

Since the carrier fighter project had already entered its final finishing stages and no longer required the institute's full attention, the experts devoted most of their efforts during this period to designing the new wooden fighter.

The Alliance's previous fighter development programs had left behind countless design blueprints.

The engineers selected suitable ones and optimized them once again.

They first built a batch of wooden scale models for small wind tunnel tests.

Once the required birch and balsa timber arrived—

In less than a month, drawing inspiration from traditional wooden warship construction, they produced a genuine-looking fighter aircraft.

Its wooden airframe, triangular wooden cross-braces, and laminated Bakelite skin were assembled together before the completed aircraft was towed out of the manufacturing workshop.

The structural frame consisted of laminated birch strips ranging from five to eight layers thick according to the load-bearing requirements of each section.

These were impregnated with phenolic resin and borax before being combined with the Bakelite laminate.

The Bakelite laminate itself consisted of birch veneers bonded together with Bakelite film under a temperature of 150 degrees Celsius.

The aircraft's empty weight was approximately 2.6 tons.

Its maximum takeoff weight reached 3.4 tons.

It was astonishingly lightweight.

If the Alliance did not export phenolic resin, Ernesto would likely find it difficult to obtain.

Fortunately, pine could serve as an alternative.

Since pine wood was also extremely light, the aircraft's overall weight would not change significantly.

Its armament consisted of two general-purpose 20mm autocannons.

Because of its limited payload capacity, every kilogram of ammunition had to produce the greatest possible destructive effect.

A pair of 20mm autocannons was undoubtedly the ideal solution.

The Alliance had employed the 20mm autocannon for many years.

It had served across naval, land, and aerial platforms.

Its design had already been simplified almost to its theoretical limit, while maintaining an exceptionally low failure rate.

It could rightly be called the king of cost-effectiveness.

The Seris Alliance was even willing to provide Ernesto with the complete autocannon blueprints free of charge and assist in establishing localized production.

There were, however, two absolutely indispensable components that only the Alliance could supply.

They were the very soul of every propeller-driven fighter—

The propeller...

And the engine.