At the Nyasaland Institute of Aeronautical Research, Viscount Gladstone finally saw the budding Albatross torpedo bomber.

At first glance, the "Albatross" torpedo bomber looks like an enlarged version of the "Gale" fighter.

Unlike the "Gale" fighter, which only has a propeller engine in the nose position, the "Albatross" torpedo bomber is equipped with a propeller engine on the left and right wings to increase thrust, so the fuselage of the "Albatross" is larger than that of the "Gale", with a wingspan of an astonishing 22 meters.

"The Institute of Aeronautics is studying how to install more engines on the aircraft, and the current plan is to add one engine at the nose position, or two engines on the left and right wings, so that the aircraft will have a larger range, can carry more bombs, and play a greater role." In order to make the British government pay willingly, Roque took out the good things at the bottom of the box.

At this stage, the development speed of the aircraft is still very fast, into the twentieth century, the aircraft has just appeared, another time and space in 1913, the Russian Ig Sikorsky designed the world's first four-engine aircraft, which is the later Sikorsky IM aircraft.

Now this time node must be greatly advanced, the Nyasaland Aviation Research Institute has the best aircraft engine in the world, the most complete research and development team, so the advantage in research is even greater.

"How many bombs can you fit in the planes you're working on now?" Viscount Gladstone wanted more information.

"A ton or so." Roque understated, but the data made Viscount Gladstone's heart tremble.

The main guns of the dreadnoughts being built in Britain are only 305 mm in caliber, and the weight of each warhead is less than 300 kg.

Nyasaland's bombers are already capable of carrying about a ton of bombs, which on the surface is slightly equal to three shells for the main guns of a dreadnought, but how much does a dreadnought cost, and how much does a bomber cost?

And the bomber can fly farther and make sorties more conveniently, so there is no comparison between the two at all.

What's more, with Viscount Gladstone's understanding of Roque, Roque's data is mostly an ambush, that is to say, the actual bomb load of the bomber being studied by the Nyasaland Aeronautical Research Institute must have exceeded one ton, as for how much, before the Ministry of War and the Nyasaland Aeronautical Research Institute officially cooperated, Roque would definitely not tell the truth.

In a hangar at the Institute of Aeronautics, Viscount Gladstone also saw what Roque called a four-engine bomber.

Unlike the propeller engines of the Gale fighters, the engine of the bomber uses a pusher engine, that is, the blades of the propeller are behind the engine shell, which provides the pilot with a better visibility.

"Take our commonly used 50-kilogram aerial bomb as an example, this kind of aircraft can be loaded with 20 at a time, if it is an incendiary bomb, think of the scene where 20 incendiary bombs are thrown together, and the damage caused is definitely more than a salvo of the main guns of a dreadnought." Roque spared no effort, and compared with the new weapon of the aircraft, the dreadnoughts that Britain was desperately building have also reached a dead end, and there is no future at all.

Viscount Gladstone didn't speak, looking at the air giant in front of him with an ugly expression.

With a wingspan of more than 25 meters and a height of more than four meters, more than a dozen staff members are surrounding the installation of various equipment, this kind of scene is indeed not as grand as the construction scene of the dreadnought, but objectively it also proves that the cost is indeed low, if there is really the kind of performance introduced by Roque, Viscount Gladstone's belief in the dreadnought is crumbling.

"We are still working on more powerful engines, and if the engine research is successful, then we can reduce the four engines to two, or continue to install four engines, but in that case, the performance of the bomber will be further improved, and when the bomber can have a bomb load of two tons, or three tons, the dreadnought will not be invincible." If this still can't make the War Department tempted, then Roque really can't help it.

"The problem is, we can't prove it to the War Department right now." Viscount Gladstone was already tempted, the cost of building a dreadnought was enough to build a hundred such bombers, and the effect of a hundred bombers would definitely be far greater than that of a dreadnought.

"In fact, it can be proved that the Medan Air Force is preparing to bomb Batavia, and then the War Department will be able to see the effects of the bombing." Roque didn't mind training with the East Indias, and Southern Africa needed experienced pilots.

"Queen Wilhelmina is seeking the king's mediation in London." Viscount Gladstone provides the latest news.

"Didn't the queen already order the national mobilization, so what else is there to mediate?" Roque doesn't care, the current East Indies are no longer a direct attack by the Umbrella Company on the East Indian colonial government, but a spontaneous rebellion against the colonial government by the East Indians, even if Roque stops, the East Indians will not stop.

"Hehe, even if it is a national mobilization, how many people can the Netherlands mobilize-" Viscount Gladstone didn't care much, after the formation of the two major military blocs in Europe, Britain always wanted to pull the Netherlands into its camp, but the Netherlands made a strict neutrality and refused to be wooed by the British government.

Under the avalanche, no snowflake is innocent.

Therefore, this "strict neutrality" is not so easy to be neutral, especially since the Netherlands also has a colony as large as the East Indies, and it is basically impossible to be neutral.

The country that is now recognized as neutral in Europe is Switzerland, which is a country where all the people are soldiers, has no ambitions for foreign affairs, and honestly stays in their own one-third of an acre of land to engage in finance, the banking industry is unparalleled in the world, the territory is mountainous and the terrain is complex, and there are no important mineral deposits, no matter which country it is, it will have to pay a great price to attack Switzerland, and the gains outweigh the losses.

Relatively speaking, the geographical location of the Netherlands is even more important, it happens to be located between Britain and Germany, and all kinds of materials in the East Indies are important to Britain and Germany, so both Britain and Germany want to pull the Netherlands into their camp, in this case, the Netherlands wants to be neutral, and the difficulty can be imagined.

"Locke, the factory is at full capacity, how many such bombers can be produced per year?" Viscount Gladstone wants to determine the capacity of Nyasaland, and if only a few dozen aircraft can be produced per year, it will not make much sense for London.

"If it is a simple bomber, then at least two hundred, but not this, but a relatively mature design of the albatross, this four-engine bomber will continue to improve, now the main bottleneck is the engine production, the output of the engine is insufficient, the production of the aircraft can not come up, and now we have to develop a better engine, it will probably take a year or two, maybe only a few months, it depends on how determined London is." Roque's answer is still more satisfactory to Viscount Gladstone, southern Africa is now an aircraft factory, two produce "strong winds", one produces "albatross", the largest factory has not yet been built, and after completion, the aircraft production in southern Africa will be further increased.

"Locke, to go all out, we must win the war, and the fate of all of us is at stake." Viscount Gladstone's expression was serious, whether it was for Germany or for Britain, the imminent outbreak of the Great War was a matter of national fortune.

"I've been doing my best, Italy and the Ottoman Empire have added a third batch of orders, the 'Strong Wind' has performed very well in actual combat, Italy and the Ottoman Empire are increasingly interested in aircraft, it is said that Italy is trying to build its own fighters and bombers, London is still a little sluggish in this regard." Roque has one thing to say, Britain is indeed strong, but at the government level, Britain's huge bureaucracy does not perform well.

Since defeating Spain and the Netherlands in succession, Britain has become the most powerful country in the world, ruling the world for more than a hundred years.

During this 100-year period, Britain has amassed enormous wealth and a strong sense of self-confidence.

Sometimes too much self-confidence can turn into conceit, and the generals of the British War Department are like this, they are stubborn, stubborn, refuse to accept anything new, stubbornly immersed in the cannons of giant ships, although the "strong wind" has proven its value in North Africa, and Nyasaland has received more and more orders, but the British government has not acted, which makes Roque indeed regretful.

After the "strong winds" flew over the English Channel, Roark asked Winston and Neville to help lobby the British government to procure the aircraft.

Winston and Neville did help a lot, but not much progress was made, and the generals of the War Department did not believe in the prospects of aircraft at all, even though more and more airships were equipped in Germany, the generals of the War Department still did not pay attention.

The airship equipped by Germany is the famous "Zeppelin".

In 1900, Count Zepbling of Germany built the first rigid airship, which uses a complete keel to maintain the shape of the airbag, and uses a piston engine as power, so it has good flight performance and large loading capacity, and the airship manufactured by the Zepbling company is not only used for commercial but also for military use, and in the first ten years of its establishment, this company has built 113 military airships.

These military airships formed a powerful German airship force, which could be used not only for reconnaissance, but also for ground bombing, all of which the British War Department turned a blind eye to and did not prepare the corresponding means of response at all.

Unlike the arrogant Ministry of War, Roque is ready, the "Strong Wind" fighter is the best weapon to deal with the "Zeppelin", for the hydrogen used by the "Zeppelin", the Nyasaland Arsenal has developed high-explosive bombs and incendiary bombs, if the war breaks out, Germany will also send the "Zeppelin" over the English Channel like another time and space to bomb London, then Roque will invite the citizens of London to watch the fireworks.