Chapter 223 Air Base

As a border town only 20 kilometers away from Mexico, Sono Town has a population of just over 1,100 people.

Moreover, there are only more than 400 people living in the town, and the rest are all distributed in farms and pastures with a radius of 60 kilometers.

As for why there are so few people, not even Lao Mo, it is because there is a 9-kilometer-long canyon on the border between the town and Mexico.

There is a border checkpoint more than 40 kilometers away, and 37 kilometers north of the checkpoint is a city-level city, so those who often travel to and from the United States and Mexico are generally reluctant to take a detour to the town.

But also because of the canyon, some guys who smuggle flour will use special machines to project flour packets over at night.

Because of this, when Trenches and Barney went to the deputy governor of Phoenix, they used this reason to apply for air patrol.

As for Li Changheng leaving the town, it doesn't matter who will fly the plane, but it is actually not a problem at all.

Whether it is the green berets or the seals of this year, although there are not as many training subjects as in the future.

But people like Barney have an advantage over the future seals in that Yue Nan has all weapons and equipment at this time.

After completing a mission, whether they want to fly a helicopter, a tank, or a fighter jet, as long as they are willing to learn, there will be ready-made equipment for them to use while learning.

Of course, if a jet fighter wants to learn, it is impossible for them to get on the plane directly, but the restrictions on learning a propeller plane are much smaller.

So people like Barney only need to train for a period of time to operate a propeller fighter like the P51.

Liftoff, landing, and Earth observation are certainly no problem.

When Li Changheng is not around, they can casually find someone who can take his place in the air.

As for diving down and shooting the ground with the airborne machine gun, that's another story.

Moreover, this kind of maneuver, as long as it is not a fool, no one will use it on fighter jets that have been retired for more than ten years.

In the evening, with barbecue, beer, and chatting, Li Changheng, who was a little drunk, slept comfortably for ten hours.

Early the next morning, he took his four new subordinates to the flight base one kilometer outside the town.

The P51, an ace fighter during World War II, was designed with any flat ground as the runway standard for takeoff and landing.

As long as there is no big pit, it can take off and land on muddy ground.

Moreover, the take-off distance is very short, and veterans can even lift the plane within 30 to 40 meters.

Those who are more elite are eligible to be on the aircraft carrier.

Li Changheng got on a P51, which was inspected, maintained, and even replaced with many new parts by 4 engineers recruited from the trenches. After listening to the explanation of the invited pilot, he started the fighter.

I drove the fighter jet and taxied on the runway, and when the plane was about to leave the ground, I immediately released the accelerator little by little.

After making a big circle, the plane slowly parked outside the hangar.

In fact, he flew the P51 in the aviation school in Ohio last year, but this kind of military aircraft has six air combat machine guns, and the aircraft has been stored for more than ten years. Li Changheng does not want to test whether the aircraft is all right.

Turning off the engine and jumping off the plane, Barney breathed a sigh of relief and said in an inarticulate voice, "Boss, I'd better go on patrol. I almost had a heart attack just now."

Li Changheng laughed a few times, "I won't make fun of my own life."

After finishing speaking, he asked the person in charge of the logistics team, "Mr. Edmund, how much does it cost to maintain this base every year?"

Invited by Trenches and Barney to find a relationship, former Air Force retired lieutenant colonel Edmund, who was a training supervisor at a base before retiring, is of course very familiar with this aspect.

"Boss, if it is just maintenance, it only needs 6 people to operate.

But 8 people are more secure, less work pressure and less error-prone, as for the salary?

Those of us who have joined the National Guard add up to $50,000 a year.

For fuel and aircraft maintenance, you can apply to Phoenix City, after all, we are a regular air patrol team.

Moreover, as far as I know, some of the combat readiness warehouses are not used up, and recycling is more expensive than closing the warehouse.

As for live ammunition, it's troublesome, but this is Arizona, and you can buy any ammunition if you have money. "

"alright, I got it".

Li Changheng didn't need Edmund to finish his sentence, he said, "As a member of the Air Patrol, I will use my connections to find some foundations for sponsorship.

In the future, it should not be less than 150,000 US dollars per year. In addition to leaving 50,000 US dollars for extra meals, or holding parties.

The remaining 100,000 will be doubled according to your current salary. "

Even if everyone here knows that the purpose of everyone coming to this border town, and even applying to join the National Guard after retiring, is to serve the young man in front of him.

But Li Changheng will never take out the money directly and pay everyone's salary in a foolish way.

With the skin of fund donations, whoever will investigate in the future will not be able to find any violations, or even a little bit of illegality.

As for other air patrols, even the management above also wants to get donations from the fund.

The big deal is to stuff money in private, or invite them to Las Vegas to play for a few days, and if they win at the legal gaming table, as long as they pay taxes, nothing else is a problem.

Eight people earn 150,000 US dollars a year, which is equivalent to 18,750 per capita. This salary level is more than 10,000 higher than the per capita annual income in Los Angeles.

Not to mention Arizona, which is directly equivalent to more than four times the per capita.

With this level of income, let alone raising a family, it is no problem to raise 5 children and then raise parents, father-in-law and mother-in-law.

For this group of ex-pilots and ground crews who have just retired, or have been retired for more than a year like Barney.

This salary level is twice as high as the salary offered by major airlines.

Therefore, once Li Changheng announced the fund donation, except for that one, he was only hired temporarily.

With three thousand dollars a month, except for Scott, the fighter pilot who taught Li Changheng to fly and the National Guard inspector, everyone else cheered.

For Li Changheng, the most expensive consumption of fuel and spare parts is paid by the state.

Not to mention 150,000, even if it costs 300,000 dollars a year, he is willing to support this group of people as his own private ground support and maintenance team.

He spent 300,000 pounds, or 1.2 million U.S. dollars, just to go out with Annie for a month, and he could support this group of people for many years.

After a few years of getting along, when I want to buy a private jet in the future, if this group of people can pass the training and assessment of the aircraft manufacturer, and continue to hire them as the exclusive private jet ground staff, it will not cost much.

Even, in the future, the Death Squad will definitely buy aircraft for missions, so this group of people will be even more useful to them.

Time flies is a week.

On December 4th.

Fully familiar with any parameters, functions, data, and operating rules.

Even Li Changheng, who maintained the P51 with engineering mechanics, really started to fly a fighter jet into the air for the first time.