Compared with the powerful British Royal Navy, the navy of southern Africa can only fight a small fight, and large warships such as aircraft carriers cannot be afforded even by the Edward Shipyard.

To put it mildly, Roque doesn't look down on the current aircraft carriers, the aircraft carrier developed by Edward Shipyard still has a wooden deck, and there is no equipment such as catapults and arresting cables installed on the deck, and the steam turbines installed on the ship are still purchased from the British, saying that it was developed by Edward's Shipyard, but in fact Edward's Shipyard just built a shell.

However, the value of aircraft carriers is not reflected in the cost, but in the integration of existing technology, the British Royal Navy modified seaplane carriers can only carry two seaplanes, but the aircraft carrier developed by Edwards Shipyard can carry 80 improved "Gale" fighters, this is the difference.

However, it was precisely because of these 80 "Strong Wind" fighters that Winston's desire to buy was discouraged.

"It's too expensive, 10,000 pounds for a plane, 1,680,000 for an aircraft carrier, and 250 if you add an airplane—" Winston didn't know that this figure had a special meaning for the Chinese.

“248！” Roque emphasized.

"What's the difference?" Winston shook his head and sighed, the price of 1.68 million was already unacceptable to Winston.

"Of course there is a difference, I think you should know, France and Japan are both conducting research on aircraft carriers, the French modified the Lightning, the research progress of the Japanese is now lacking information and I don't know, the price of the aircraft carrier developed by Edward's shipyard is indeed a little expensive, but how much is it worth to allow the Royal Navy to train in this area in advance, train more naval pilots, and continue to maintain a leading position in global waters?" Roque is not afraid that Winston will not buy it, and the arms race is not subject to personal will.

"The French modified Lightnings are shit!" Winston looked down on the French, which was very British.

"IMHO, the Admiralty's modified athletic god is also shit." You're welcome Roque, in terms of aircraft carriers, I'm sorry, everyone here is rubbish.

", I don't want to see you right now." Winston was annoyed that the Athletic had been modified at the behest of Winston, the Lord of the Admiralty.

But the next day Winston had to go to Roque, without Roque's company, Winston couldn't even enter the Edward shipyard, let alone see the legendary four-engine bomber.

Roque is not angry, the budget of the fourth Tiger battlecruiser in the Lion-class battlecruiser that the British Royal Navy has just passed the budget is only 2.1 million, but the final cost reached 2.6 million, Roque is still more honest in this regard, saying that 250 is 250, and will not add costs after the construction starts.

The Tiger Battlecruiser is the last large battleship of the British Royal Navy to use coal as the main fuel, and it will be the most powerful capital ship of the British Royal Navy after completion, and it is also the Iron Duke Battleship that has just passed the budget this year and will start construction next year, with a cost of only 1.9 million.

Here you can see Britain's strong shipbuilding ability, the battleships to start construction next year are not only the Tiger and the Iron Duke, all four Iron Dukes will start construction next year, January 12 is the Iron Duke, January 25 will start construction of the Marlborough, this Mallborough is the Winston family's Mallborough, May 30 Ben Bao started construction, May 31 is the last Indian Emperor.

If you look at it this way, adding an aircraft carrier doesn't seem to be much of a problem, money, like toothpaste, there will always be a squeeze.

Roque and Winston first went to the city of Milner in Rhodesia, and the Nyasaland Aeronautical Research Institute is now also home to many teams, adding transport planes and various aircraft for the use of the Navy on the basis of reconnaissance planes, fighters and bombers, and torpedo planes, and there are more than a dozen research institutes of various kinds.

Winston could only be silent when he heard Roque's introduction, this is the biggest difference between Britain and Southern Africa, Britain is indeed powerful, but the structure is complex, the personnel are bloated and inefficient, and Winston, the Minister of the Navy, is actually very aggrieved.

Roque is like a fish in water in southern Africa, as a member of the Matilda family, Roque is also deeply trusted by Ard, the Nyasaland Aeronautical Institute and the Edward Shipyard are even Roque's private property, what research Roque conducts is a matter of one sentence, and countless resources are available for Roque to mobilize at will.

The Nyasaland Aeronautical Institute and the Edward Shipyard have many technicians recruited from the UK with high salaries, and why these technicians are lost to Nyasaland is a question worth studying.

There is a fact that must be emphasized that in another time and space, British aircraft carriers and tanks were actually successfully developed under the auspices of Winston, but this time and space aircraft carriers and tanks have become patents in southern Africa, and if Winston knew how awesome he was in another time and space, he would probably vomit blood in anger.

The city of Milna is still home to the Northern Rhodesian Division, a standard military city and the only army academy in southern Africa, home to the team responsible for the study of engines and aviation weapons.

Roque woke up to a train that had just passed Salisbury.

Winston hadn't slept, his bags were getting more and more obvious, his eyes were bloodshot, his ashtray was full of cigarette butts, and he was known for his cigar smoker.

"It will be fine for a while, the Institute of Aeronautics is doing research on transport aircraft, maybe we can fly to Milner next year." Roque is confident that with a four-engine bomber, it will not be too easy to modify a transport aircraft.

Transport planes do not need to be considered for combat, so there is no need to install as many machine guns as bombers, let alone bombs, you can use more space for transportation, transporting people or things, and the world's first transport aircraft in another time and space was invented by the Russian Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky in 1914.

"I don't dare to sit down." With a little thought, Winston understands the purpose of transport aircraft, but flight safety is a big issue, and many people around the world die every year due to various flight accidents, but this does not discourage flying enthusiasts.

"Take the current bomber as an example, if it is converted into a transport aircraft, it can easily send about two tons of materials thousands of miles away, you are the Minister of the Navy, you should understand the value of this." Roque knew the promise of airplanes, so he was happy to make a big investment.

Now aircraft technology is still in a relatively primitive stage, in fact, there is no real gap between countries, on the surface it seems that southern Africa is temporarily ahead, that is because Roque can give full play to the advantages of the group, mobilize more resources to overcome one by one technical difficulties, and wait until other countries also begin to pay attention to the development of aircraft, it is not difficult for them to catch up.

However, as time goes by, sooner or later, southern Africa will widen the gap with other countries in the field of aircraft, and as the development of technology becomes more and more mature, aircraft will also become an area that requires the full investment of the whole country to see results, and now those private jet manufacturers in Europe will sooner or later have to be eliminated.

In fact, it is now on the verge of elimination, the military aircraft sold in southern Africa are indeed expensive, but the civil aircraft with simple structure and low cost are cheap, those civil aircraft do not even have a closed cockpit, and the technical content is not much higher than that of gliders, and the price of civil aircraft sold in southern Africa is very low, each of which costs less than a thousand pounds.

"Can transport aircraft be used on aircraft carriers?" Winston has a high level of understanding and a very open mind, and immediately connects transport aircraft with aircraft carriers.

"Not yet, but in the future." Roque wanted to, too, but couldn't.

"We need to step up our research on this—" Winston felt a sense of urgency.

"Then why doesn't your Royal Navy do this research?" Roque reveals the old bottom.

Winston glared and didn't speak, it would be nice if the Admiralty had Roque's autonomy, Winston spends money every day like running water, but every penny needs congressional approval, it's easy to let the congressional group understand the value of transport planes for the military, but it's hard to get them to approve the budget for research.

In fact, there are many drawbacks in the civil service system implemented in the United Kingdom, and the high-ranking MPs will not care about sustainable and long-term development, but only want to save money as much as possible under the existing conditions, so the United Kingdom and the United States, including the current southern Africa, the country's contribution to the development of science and technology is really not much, and private institutions such as the Nyasaland Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which really promote the development of science and technology.

This can also explain why the enthusiasm for the arms race in Britain is still high, think about what factories those battleships were built, the arms race wastes national resources, profits are interest groups, Winston personally can not change this reality, can only go with the flow.

That's the real reason why Winston came to Southern Africa.

Rather than giving orders to British companies, it is better to give them to southern Africa, which is of course the main reason for the technological advancement of the companies, but the fundamental factor is that Winston can also profit from it.

Like aircraft carriers, the technology of the four-engine bomber is actually very primitive, but it is still all kinds of tall and tall compared to those privately built wooden shelves in Europe, Viscount Gladstone was shocked by the size of the bomber and was speechless, Winston is better than Viscount Gladstone, but it is not much better.

The final four-engine bomber is 4.5 meters high, has a wingspan of 28 meters, and uses four 120-horsepower Nyasa Lake engines produced by the Nyasaland Engine Company, with a maximum take-off weight of 5,500 kilograms and a bomb load of 1.3 tons.

In order to give Winston a more intuitive understanding, Roque asked thirty-eight fifty-kilogram standard aerial bombs to be placed next to the bomber, and Winston was immediately dumbfounded.