Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 161: The First Knight of the Sky



It had been years since Bruno first introduced his designs for the concept of a functional tank. What Bruno had conceptualized was a rough draft. It was based upon his knowledge of tanks from his past life, crudely drawn blueprints of a theoretical tank based upon a design from the Second World War during his past life, and of course, his own current functional knowledge of mechanical engineering.

The thing was that creating machine guns, semiautomatic rifles, submachine guns, and artillery pieces was a hell of a lot easier than making armored vehicles, warships, submarines, and airplanes.

While warships and submarines were theoretically easier for his naval engineers to comprehend, as they more or less already understood such concepts, armored vehicles and warplanes were brand new applications of warfare that nobody had really conceived until now, or at least had created a functional design.

Bruno's basic concepts were, of course, revolutionary in this design, as he had a hundred-plus years of developmental history stored away within his memory and thus had a preconceived notion of what worked and what didn't.

But the rest of the world would be compelled to find this out the hard way, as they had in his past life. Even so, every component of these warplanes and armored vehicles was being designed from scratch. A semi-automatic 5cm gun, for example, was not something within the current German inventory.

The term semi-automatic was misleading to those familiar with small arms but not artillery pieces. While a semiautomatic firearm meant that it fired with one function of the trigger and automatically ejected and loaded the next cartridge, it could not be fired if one continued to hold down the trigger, unlike automatic fire, or what was commonly referred to as "fully automatic."

Semi-automatic in terms of artillery and tank guns simply meant that upon firing the main gun of the armored vehicle, it would automatically eject the spent cartridge, where a new round would manually have to be loaded by the tank crew.

This, in and of itself, was not exactly something currently employed by artillery and was seldom done so outside of anti-aircraft guns and armored vehicles. Even so, though Bruno may have given his engineers the basic principles behind its design and how it functioned, it was up to them to figure out how to make it a functional reality.

The same overall process applied to pretty much every component of the two armored vehicles he had designed, as well as the airplanes and warships. In addition to this, Bruno had also more or less done the same with the 3 1/2 ton trucks he was producing for transportation of men from the rear echelons to the front line, as well as equipment.

As a result, some of these things took longer to produce than others. It had been years since Bruno introduced the concept of the He-51 to his engineers, and even longer for the armored vehicles. Even now, the aircraft was the one with the first functional prototype, as it actually required fewer mechanical pieces to properly function.

Its weapons were simply machine guns embedded into the fuselage and rigged up with a fire control system. As a result, Bruno was now looking at the first functional prototype of the He- 51, which looked more or less like the final product from his previous life.

Albeit without a proper coat of paint on it, Bruno intended to, of course, introduce aviation camouflage, as well as camouflage to his armored vehicles. It would be foolish not to do such a thing, considering the vast advantages it would give him compared to his opponents. For example, Bruno intended to later introduce the German late-war "Intruder" camouflage pattern for his aircraft, which saw service from 1944 onward during the Second World War of his past life. A pattern that proved to do its job quite well, all things considered.

Whereas for armored vehicles, he planned to introduce the "Ambush" pattern, which saw its adoption the same year. But right now, he saw a shiny aluminum fuselage sitting in his hangar bay, on the airbase he had personally constructed for testing this plane.

Standing in front of him was a young cavalry officer who had volunteered to be the first test pilot. He had received extensive instruction on how to properly fly the plane. He was currently dressed in an experimental pilot uniform based upon designs used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War of Bruno's past life.

Albeit instead of the blue color which the Luftwaffe was renowned for, it had the standard Feldgrau of the Imperial German Army because at the end of the day, the Luftstreitkräfte was not a separate branch, but rather an extension of the German Army.

After all, it was only under theoretical construction at the moment, and it would be years before it grew to such an extent in size and scale that it required to operate as an independent branch of the Imperial German Military.

Bruno, as well as several other generals of the German Army, had gathered to witness this test flight of the world's first combat aircraft. This entire event was classified, and because of that, Bruno had established the airbase way out in the countryside.

He had also ensured proper security was in place within a reasonable distance so that any attempt to observe or record the test flight would ultimately be in vain. Bruno saluted the cavalry officer, whose courage allowed him to test a highly theoretical, prototype aircraft of which nobody knew whether or not it would actually succeed or, God forbid, crash and burn.

Either way, Bruno's words were an encouragement to the man and acted as commendation to his bravery and courage for volunteering for a position most would never consider, even if they were promised immense wealth in return.

"Lieutenant, I must say that you have shown exceptional bravery here today. Few men have what it takes to climb into that cockpit and test this experimental aircraft, which is well above and beyond the designs that the world has seen so far.

I don't need to tell you the immense risk you are taking, as you are already all too aware. But nevertheless, you have my utmost respect and gratitude for the undertaking you are about to be a part of. All I can really say is godspeed, my friend!"

His speech was short and to the point; after all, he did not want to give the man undue confidence that may result in him making a mistake that he otherwise would not make. Something that, while piloting an experimental aircraft, could easily cost him his life. Because of this, he saluted the man, who, after returning it, climbed into the cockpit of the He-51 prototype, where he ignited the engine and prepared for takeoff. Bruno quickly returned to the observation post, where the other generals were.

They silently nodded to one another in recognition while staring unblinkingly at the airstrip where the experimental aircraft sat. Nobody said a word, as the atmosphere was far too dreadful. The anxiety was enough to cause a lesser man to break down as they silently said their prayers for the test's success.

Both for the sake of the brave man who had volunteered for this monumental undertaking, as well as for the future of the German military. In the end, after several minutes of unimaginable dread, the plane took to the skies, where cheers erupted both from the generals who had gathered to witness this occasion, as well as the crew and engineers who worked on

the plane.

The lieutenant performed a basic flight pattern around the airbase while giving a salute to the generals as he passed by their air traffic control tower, before eventually landing the plane safely. The first flight test of the He-51 had proven to be an enormous success.

And when the Kaiser heard of this, he was so excited and impressed by this news that he gave the lieutenant a non-hereditary knighthood, referring to him in private circles as the "First

Knight of the Sky."