The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 909: Chapter 677: DC-2 Twin-Engine Transport Plane

“I can offer you a 2 million Australian dollar loan, even an interest-free one,” Arthur said, with a steady gaze toward the younger Bayer. Without waiting for a reply, he continued, “But I have two conditions.

First, to acquire 30% of your parent company’s shares at market price, and at least 40% of the new subsidiary’s shares.

Second, the subsidiary will operate independently in Australia, and without the permission of the Australasian Government, no business shall be moved out of Australasia.”

For such an important chemical group, Arthur naturally did not want to see the Bayer Group’s subsidiary leave Australasia in the future.

The best way is to ensure that the subsidiary operates as an independent enterprise from the start, and that Australasia holds a certain degree of influence within it.

“This…” the younger Bayer swallowed, and with some trepidation said, “Aren’t these conditions a bit too harsh? The Bayer Group wants to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary, we can allow the Australasian side to buy shares, but we also want to have complete control.”

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“That is completely out of the question, Mr. Bayer,” Arthur replied meaningfully. “The chemical industry is very important, and we do not wish to see the enterprises we’ve worked hard to build eventually drift away from us.

Of course, you can rest assured that Australasia will normally not interfere with the operation of enterprises, and will provide support in policy as you mentioned, for the upcoming construction of the subsidiary.

At least on the matter of building the new company, our interests align. This is also the bottom line for Australasia. I hope Mr. Bayer considers it carefully.”

It’s true that the lack of chemical enterprises is a current issue for Australasia, but Arthur understood the principle of choosing quality over quantity.

If he could not control a certain level of the new company’s discourse and ensure that the new company remains in Australasia thoroughly, Arthur had little desire to assist the Bayer Family.

After all, the Royal financial group’s money doesn’t come from nowhere, so how could they help a stranger for no reason?

The younger Bayer lapsed into silence.

He understood the implications in Arthur’s words very clearly; as things stood, if the Bayer Group wanted to enter Australasia, they had no choice but to agree to Arthur’s conditions.

After all, in the current situation, what Arthur said goes, and if Arthur banned the Bayer Family from trading in Australasia, the Bayer Family would indeed have no alternatives.

So the question arose, should he agree to Arthur’s conditions and establish a joint venture subsidiary in Australasia, or abandon Australasia and look for other countries?

After a brief internal struggle, the younger Bayer still chose to agree to Arthur’s terms.

After all, there were not many countries currently unaffected by the economic crisis, and even fewer shared a similar economic and cultural background with Europe.

More importantly, these countries could assure safety from the threat of war. Apart from Australasia, the most suitable choice, other options had too many issues, and might not be better than Bayer Group’s headquarters in Germany.

Seeing that the younger Bayer agreed to his terms, Arthur nodded with satisfaction and a smile, saying, “You can discuss all the remaining matters with the Australasian Government, including the location and supplies needed for the subsidiary.

The 2 million Australian dollar interest-free loan will soon be approved, and Butler Kent will contact you when it is time.

Regarding the acquisition of shares in the German headquarters, you can also contact Butler Kent. As long as it is in line with market value, the Royal financial group is not short of funds.”

The Bayer Group developed into a world chemical industry giant in later generations, which is enough to show the younger Bayer’s competence as the helmsman of the group.

Arthur’s acquisition of 20% of the Bayer Family’s parent company shares was not only to influence the Bayer Family, but also because he genuinely believed in the Bayer Group’s upcoming development and the profits it would create.

Putting aside other considerations, once the economic crisis ended, Arthur’s 20% share would yield dividends of at least millions of Australian dollars annually. This dividend would increase as the scale of the Bayer Group expanded.

Hearing Arthur’s words, the younger Bayer quickly excused himself to inspect the locations suitable for the subsidiary and to inform his home country, Germany, of the successful partnership.

On Arthur’s side, a new way to cooperate with those enterprises was also discovered.

It wasn’t necessarily about acquiring those enterprises entirely; establishing joint ventures would allow those firms to build subsidiaries or branches in Australasia, improving the local chemical and industrial sector.

Furthermore, with dual ownership in the parent and subsidiary factories, along with control over the subsidiaries, there was no need to worry about these Australasia-based enterprises relocating in the future.

He believed that Australasia’s stable economy and relatively peaceful environment would attract a considerable number of European enterprises to come to Australasia for joint ventures.

Although these joint factories were not as reassuring as wholly-owned ones, they were at least much better than having nothing at all.

Therefore, this matter fell into the hands of David, who oversaw the European royal family’s affairs. There were still many struggling enterprises in Europe, and if Australasia could provide financial assistance, it was believed that many companies would be willing to establish subsidiaries in Australasia and even give up a large share of those subsidiaries.

While Arthur was looking forward to more European enterprises coming to build branches in Australasia, there was also good news from the Douglas Company.

Though the Douglas Company had just relocated to Australasia, there wasn’t much impact on its airplane design and research department.

After all, the design and research department required an abundance of data and professional talent, and nearly all of the experts from the Douglas airplane design department had moved to Australasia, so the original research and development plans naturally remained unaffected.

So, what sort of airplane was Douglas Company developing?

Of course, it was the famous predecessor to the DC-3 transport plane that initiated the renowned series, the DC-1.

In fact, Douglas Company had already been researching twin-engine transport planes while in the United States.

But the problem was that, given the size of Douglas Company, its research in engine technology was somewhat backward.

Yet, the weight of cargo a transport plane can carry heavily relies on the engine’s power; if the engine performance is weak, the aircraft inevitably can carry less cargo.

Upon Arthur’s suggestion, Douglas and Boeing subsequently visited the Australasian Royal Aircraft Manufacturing Factory and reached a collaboration with the Diesel Engine Research Lab.

The Diesel Engine Research Lab should currently be the most powerful engine research lab in the world. Even not considering the advanced jet engine technology, Diesel remains a rare talent in the field of conventional engines.

After careful selection, Douglas chose the improved DE-2 engine from Diesel.

This engine was a second-generation aviation engine. Although it didn’t match up to the jet engine, it was still considered excellent in the engine domain of various countries.

For external talents like Douglas and Boeing, even though they had joined Australasia, they definitely wouldn’t have access to jet engine technology in a short period of time.

This was also for security reasons; after all, not just anybody could be allowed access to Australasia’s most advanced technologies upon arrival.

Of course, if Douglas and Boeing passed the test, they would naturally get access to the most advanced jet engines and develop more advanced airplanes powered by them.

Because there had been adequate ideas about twin-engine transport planes early on and with the help of Diesel’s engines, the development plan for Douglas’s twin-engine transport planes was quite successful.

In the preceding period, with the help of the Royal Aircraft Manufacturing Factory, Douglas constructed a simplified model, installed with two DE-2 engines for power. The final performance data largely met expectations and were successfully reported to Arthur.

Douglas named this transport plane the DC-1, a monoplane made entirely out of metal and the twin-engine aircraft Douglas had long envisioned.

Looking at the basic performance data provided for the DC-1 transport plane, Arthur was quite pleased. @@novelbin@@

The DC-1 featured a two-person cockpit, could carry at least 12 passengers, and had a maximum speed of over 335 kilometers per hour. Its theoretical cruising speed was not lower than 255 kilometers per hour, with a climb rate of up to 398 meters per minute and a practical ceiling not less than 3,548 meters.

Such data, compared to Australasia’s Fat Belly No. 2 SF-2 passenger aircraft, represented a substantial improvement and proved that Douglas Company indeed had remarkable capability in transport aircraft.

Moreover, because it was a twin-engine transport plane, the design expectations for the DC-1 included the ability to take off and land safely and under controlled conditions from a standardized airport after losing one engine while fully loaded.

This instantly made the DC-1 surpass the SF-2, making it the most advanced transport plane in Australasia in theory.

Of course, all of this was just theoretical data; whether it could be achieved would have to wait until the actual prototype was built.

However, Arthur still saw many innovations in the transport plane that differed from Australasian designs, which was enough to prove that the United States was still ahead in certain aspects of airplane research and development.

It could only be said that although Australasia led the world in the field of airplanes, it did not necessarily maintain the lead in every aspect of design and innovation.

Being ahead could never lead to complacency, as many countries were strenuously trying to catch up. This made Arthur quite relieved that he had acquired Douglas Company, for otherwise, after overcoming the economic crisis, Douglas would definitely have become a significant asset to the United States Air Force.

Douglas Company employed an extremely innovative technology in the DC-1, which was the integral central engine nacelle and wing section.

The benefit of this structure was not only in strength enhancement for the wing but also in the wing maintenance, which was greatly simplified by bolting the outer wings to the central wing section.

This clever design was indeed something that airplanes in Australasia had not yet featured, and bringing in two major aviation manufacturers like Boeing and Douglas could truly elevate Australasian airplane design to a new level.