Chapter 121 The First Flying Squadron

The "machine gun fire coordinator" was invented by a French pilot named Garros in 1915.

It was originally called the "machine gun deflection system". At first, it was simply reinforced with an inverted triangle steel sheet on the propeller, and then combined with a device linked to the engine shaft to make the bullet hit the propeller as little as possible.

If the bullet hits the propeller, it will be bounced off by the inverted triangle deflection piece, which is almost a hard block of the bullet.

Later, the plane he was driving was captured by the German army. The German army improved the system and changed the "engine shaft linkage" to "propeller linkage" to make it more accurate. Air combat officially entered the First World War.

From the perspective of Charles, a capitalist, he should perhaps invent the original "machine gun deflection system" instead of directly bringing the "machine gun fire coordinator" to this world.

However, when the bullet hits the deflection piece, it often bounces back and damages the engine or even kills the pilot.

This was difficult to accept in an era when pilots were so scarce, so Charles chose the safer latter.

Back at the headquarters, Charles sat down next to Lieutenant Colonel Fernand to sort out intelligence as usual, which was one of his regular tasks.

But before he could even sit there, he heard Gallieni order: "Fernand, your team will help Charles to set up an independent command!"

"Yes, General..." Fernand responded as usual, but the next two words gradually turned into a slow sound.

"Assist Charles"? Did he hear it right!

Charles was also stunned. He and Fernand looked at Gallieni at the same time, their eyes full of confusion.

"Didn't you hear it clearly?" Gallieni emphasized again with a blank expression: "Charles needs an independent command!"

"General..." Charles asked puzzledly: "Who do I command?"

"Flying Club!" Gallieni answered without thinking: "If I remember correctly, they are the pilots you signed, and you know them best!"

"But I'm just a lieutenant..." Charles replied.

"I only look at ability, not rank!" Gallieni interrupted Charles, without even raising his eyelids, and kept looking at the documents in his hand.

"I, I have no command experience, General!" Charles answered.

Gallieni then looked up at Charles, with a hint of teasing in his eyes: "You have no experience? Aren't you the only one in the world who has successfully commanded an aircraft in combat? Am I remembering it wrong?"

Charles then remembered that he did command the Belgian flying squadron to shoot down the airship and blow up the "Big Bertha" when he was in Antwerp, and this could be said to be the only air battle of this era.

But how can this be considered an air battle?

Gallieni ignored Charles, he glanced at the combat meeting room and said: "If anyone has any objections to this, now is the time to raise them!"

The staff answered one after another:

"No, no objection, General!"

"Charles is capable of commanding!"

"We obey his dispatch!"

...

Galieni raised his eyebrows at Charles: "The war did not give us time to prepare, Lieutenant, the first flying squadron was established, they will rush to Ypres to participate in the war this afternoon, and you are their commander!"

Charles was stunned for a long time without reacting.

In the First Paris Air Squadron, he, a lieutenant, commanded a group of second lieutenant pilots who had never been on the battlefield.

His staff consisted of a lieutenant colonel, a major, three captains, two lieutenants, a dedicated radio station and three signalmen.

This made Charles feel very stressed, especially since his subordinates included Lieutenant Colonel Fernand, who had given him orders. He couldn't adjust his mentality for a while.

"Relax, Lieutenant!" Lieutenant Colonel Fernand seemed to feel Charles's distress. He stepped forward and whispered to comfort him, "This is very common in the army. I have been ready for this day!"

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand's words were half true and half false.

It was true that he was mentally prepared for this. After all, Charles was so outstanding. Lieutenant Colonel Fernand believed that he could not teach Charles anything, but he had been learning from Charles. He believed that Charles would become his superior sooner or later, and he would be honored for this!

The fake part was "already"... Lieutenant Colonel Fernand did not expect that this day would come so soon.

"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel!" Charles replied, but he still couldn't get into the state.

At the side, a pair of strong hands were placed on Charles' shoulders and pushed him to the map spread out on the table.

It was Gallieni, who said to Charles in a low voice:

"Forget the rank, the staff, the pilots, everything, none of that is important."

"You only need to think about one thing: you are on the battlefield, with those planes in your hands, how can you defeat the enemy."

Charles suddenly realized that the battlefield was always important. He was not facing Lieutenant Colonel Fernand or five or six staff officers with higher ranks than him, but the enemy.

Charles nodded, sorted out his thoughts, and calmly began to give orders: "I need a place, about 30 kilometers away from Ypres in a straight line, with flat terrain and convenient transportation!"

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand immediately assigned the task: "Gerard, find this place!"

"Yes, sir!" Gerard looked around the map, and in less than two minutes he looked up and answered: "The town of Rodanse, 35 kilometers from Ypres and two kilometers from the train station!"

"The town of Rodanse!" Lieutenant Colonel Fernand repeated the place name.

"Send out an engineering corps!" Charles then ordered, "Find a piece of land nearby to build a temporary airport, and mark the location on the map!"

Lieutenant Colonel Fernan called his name: "Michael, you are responsible for contacting the engineers!"

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand was very familiar with these staff officers and knew what they were good at.

"I need a batch of Vickers machine guns and ammunition!" Charles continued: "At least 100, and each machine gun has 2,000 rounds of ammunition!"

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand pointed at a staff officer domineeringly and shouted: "Contact the British and act quickly!"

"There are also 'Congreve' rockets and gasoline!" Charles looked away from the map and paced in the open space of the office: "Enough fuel for 30 aircraft to use for 3 days, 200 rockets and electric detonators, all delivered to …”

Charles's memory is not very good. To be precise, he has not adapted to remembering the names of foreign places.

"The town of Rodanthe!" Lieutenant Colonel Fernand added the place name and passed on the order: "Our temporary airport!"

"Yes!" Charles emphasized: "Confidential transportation, cannot be discovered by the enemy!"

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand repeated the order and wrote down on his notepad: "Confidential transportation!"

Gallieni looked at all this with satisfaction, he knew that this little guy was a born commander!

At this time, a communications soldier standing in front of the phone reported to Gallieni: "General, the House of Representatives requires you to accept an urgent question this afternoon!"

Gallieni frowned and murmured: "These guys, do they think France has won? They are actually asking questions at this time!"