Chapter 673 Douglas's Request

When the news of Scott's acquisition of Douglas Aircraft Company came back to Australasia, Arthur was immediately surprised, even a little excited and fortunate.

This economic crisis came a few years earlier than in history, and Arthur didn't know much about some famous American companies.

Except for companies like Boeing, which he was familiar with and could recall immediately, Arthur let the intelligence personnel buy other small companies at will.

This also led to Arthur forgetting Douglas Aircraft Company, an aircraft manufacturer that would rise more than ten years later, and he almost let Douglas go in the big bargain hunting operation.

The reason why Arthur reacted in this way was that the transport aircraft built by Douglas Aircraft Company in the 1930s was too famous.

How exaggerated is it? A principal once said that if he was given 50 DC-3 transport aircraft, he would not even care if a very important transport road was occupied.

From this famous saying, we can see the importance of DC-3 transport aircraft, which was launched by Douglas in 1936.

What Australasia lacks in the current aircraft field is exactly the transport aircraft that Douglas is good at.

Coupled with Boeing's aircraft series, Australasia can even form three major aircraft manufacturers: Royal Aircraft Factory, Douglas Aircraft Company and Boeing.

The aircraft fields involved by these three giants include all military and civilian aircraft, which can also make Australasia's aircraft design and construction capabilities take a big step forward.

In order to avoid more trouble, Arthur immediately ordered all intelligence personnel through Director Batty to do their best to help Boeing and Douglas move their headquarters to Australasia.

Other companies and industries can stay in the United States, but the production lines of these two aircraft companies must be moved to Australasia.

Without the help of these two major aircraft manufacturers, the progress of the United States in aircraft will be delayed for several years.

If it continues to fall into an economic crisis, for example, it will rise rapidly in the aircraft industry as in history, and it will be good to be able to maintain its current position.

With the help of many intelligence personnel, the relocation of Boeing and Douglas Aircraft Company also went very smoothly.

The US government had no intention of caring about the relocation of a small aircraft company at this time, after all, such things happened almost every day.

On April 2, 1927, William Edward Boeing and Donald Welsh Douglas arrived in Australasia together. They would spend a week investigating the company's location and then decide in which city their company's headquarters would be located.

Although most of the company's shares were acquired, this also meant that the two companies had enough funds to relocate.

Finally, after many days of investigation, Boeing decided to go to Melbourne, and Douglas Aircraft Company chose to be stationed in Fort St. Arthur.

Such a choice is actually very normal. Compared with other cities, Sydney, Melbourne and the capital Fort St. Arthur have better infrastructure, more population, and relatively developed economy, which is more suitable for the development of the company.

When aircraft companies like Boeing and Douglas have more orders, the number of employees in the company will also surge.

This also means that the company's location must choose a city with a large population, with a population of at least hundreds of thousands, otherwise it will not be able to support the development of the company.

It is worth mentioning that after the two aircraft companies chose their locations, Sydney, Melbourne and Fort St. Arthur formed a three-way competition among aircraft manufacturers.

Not long after Boeing and Douglas chose their locations, their company equipment and some employees willing to come to Australasia also arrived.

Australasia was quite generous to these Americans who were willing to come. Not only did they promise that their wages would be at the same level as in the United States, but they also guaranteed that they would enjoy citizenship treatment in Australasia and ensure their jobs, provided that they were willing to join the Australasia nationality.

The good news is that there are many idle factories in the suburbs of Melbourne and Fort St. Arthur, which are completely fine for Boeing and Douglas to use as their locations.

This also accelerated the pace of the two companies entering formal work. The smaller Douglas company even completed the relocation of its headquarters in just two weeks.

On April 25, 1927, three weeks after Boeing and Douglas came to Australasia.

After the two companies officially settled in Australasia, Arthur finally had time to receive these two very capable aircraft designers.

Boeing and Douglas were able to leave a considerable reputation in history, and the ability of the founders of these two companies was very important.

In order to give the technicians enough topics, Arthur also called Theodore, the technical director of the Royal Aircraft Factory, to let several aircraft experts have a good chat.

In the banquet hall of the palace, Arthur finally met the two experts.

Unlike their reputation in history, they were still very nervous to meet Arthur at this time.

After all, they were just the helmsmen of a small company, and now most of the company's shares were acquired by Arthur.

Arthur, as a monarch of a powerful country, held the power of the entire country in his hands, and had already formed a huge gap with them in status.

"Don't be shy, two experts." Arthur smiled and gestured for them to sit down, looking at the slightly nervous two people. Then he told Theodore to sit next to them.

"This is Theodore, the chief aircraft designer of the Royal Aircraft Factory of Australasia. I believe you technical experts will have common topics." Arthur introduced Boeing and Douglas with a smile.

After the three of them got to know each other, Arthur continued, "Well, meeting here proves that you are all experts I trust enough.

Whether it is the Royal Aircraft Factory or Boeing and Douglas, you will become explorers and pioneers in the aircraft industry in Australasia, and develop more, more advanced and more powerful aircraft for Australasia.

Whether it is military aircraft or civilian aircraft, they are very important to the country and are also your main exploration goals in the field of aircraft.

Now, you can talk about some problems in the development of the company and formulate the company's next major research and development goals."

Looking at Boeing and Douglas who didn't know how to start, Theodore took the lead and said, "Your Majesty, the development of our civil aircraft Big Belly No. 3 is very smooth, and it is expected to be officially put into commercial use within three years.

The new aircraft reduces the probability of accidents, with only 1 probability of an accident in every 100,000 flights.

In addition, we have improved the flight speed and the number of passengers that can be carried by civil aircraft. This will become the fastest means of transportation in the world and speed up the connection between our regions."

Arthur nodded.

Arthur was still clear about the progress of the civil aircraft of the Royal Aircraft Factory. It has been more than 20 years since the first aircraft appeared, and it has undergone many generations and improvements.

At present, the progress of military aircraft in various countries is not bad, and the aircraft has officially acquired combat capabilities, and is equipped in large quantities by various countries, and air force units have been formally established.

However, in the field of civil aircraft, the research of various countries is not so in-depth.

Compared with the combat effectiveness pursued by military aircraft, the pursuit of civil aircraft is nothing more than safety.

No matter how fast an aircraft is, if it cannot guarantee safe takeoff and landing, no one will take it.

This is different from military aircraft. Soldiers are burdened with the mission of defending the country. What they care about is whether they can win the war, not whether they can come back alive on the plane.

This also leads to the generally slow progress of civil aircraft research and development in various countries. Under the premise of not guaranteeing safety, the design and ideas of any aircraft are in vain.

After Theodore finished his report, Douglas looked at Arthur and then stood up and said, "Your Majesty, we are studying a transport aircraft with two engines, which is expected to greatly increase the weight of cargo carried by the transport aircraft and improve the stability and speed of the aircraft.

But you know, due to the economic crisis in the United States, the progress of this twin-engine transport aircraft has almost been terminated, and it will take some time to restart."

The twin-engine transport aircraft Douglas mentioned is actually the predecessor of the famous DC-3 transport aircraft, the DC-2 transport aircraft.

In fact, no matter what type of transport aircraft, Australasia has not yet made much progress.

This is also the reason why Arthur is very much looking forward to recruiting Douglas, because Douglas can make up for Australasia's shortcomings in aircraft.

"Using a twin-engine transport aircraft?" Arthur nodded, looked at Douglas, who was a little nervous, and said with a smile: "It's a good idea. What help does Douglas Aircraft Company need now?"

"Enough, capable staff, and enough research and development funds, Your Majesty." Douglas said boldly.

This aircraft expert, born in 1892, is only 35 years old now.

When he developed the DC-3 transport aircraft, he was actually only 43 years old. Being so capable and young, talents like Douglas are very important to Australasia.

If used well, the aircraft developed by Douglas will help Australasia stay ahead in the next few decades, and far ahead.

Arthur nodded and directly agreed to Douglas' request: "You can recruit staff yourself. There are still many excellent staff in Fort St. Arthur. As for the funding, I will temporarily approve your research and development funds of 2 million Australian dollars. The remaining additional funds will depend on your research and development results of transport aircraft."

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