Munitions Empire

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As the final few seconds ticked away, the previously tiny flight deck that loomed below had rushed up towards him, almost obscuring the entire ocean.

Caught off guard, Sun Rui felt his two main landing gears strike something, sending vibrations that made him grip his control stick tightly, his hair standing on end.

Despite his countless ground-based training drills, where he had grown accustomed to landing with the guidance of deck indicator lights and to taking off and landing on the small designated runway,

he had only thought his experimental project had something to do with some damned "short takeoff and landing experiment" and hadn't imagined that he would be taking off and landing on a ship equipped with a runway...

Those damned secrecy departments had only informed him a few days ago that, as one of the most outstanding pilots, he would participate in and complete the most confidential "aircraft carrier" plane takeoff and landing experiment.

Now, as his landing gear hit the aircraft carrier's deck for the first time, he was still trembling with tension.

This was an entirely different affair compared to the takeoff he had just completed, where all he needed to do was go full throttle and pull up at the end of the flight deck.

With headwind navigation, the plane had ample lift, carried no ammunition, and had even halved its fuel load, so the takeoff trial presented no risk at all.

But landing was different; even with the certain knowledge that bungee jumping was not dangerous, the rush towards the ground still provoked an instinctive fear.

He gripped his control stick tightly, and when the landing gear bounced and settled back onto the deck, he nearly performed a climbing pull-up maneuver.

Just as he was about to forcefully pull up his plane, it felt as though a giant had suddenly grabbed hold of him from behind.

The tremendous inertia pitched him forward, his weight pressing onto his safety harness, and he could feel a massive force straining his neck, causing his head to feel twice as heavy in an instant.

Yet his heart relaxed at that moment, because a deeply ingrained habit told him everything matched his past experience.

His tailhook had caught the arresting wire; he knew it without needing to check. His plane had been snagged, securely stationed on the deck of the aircraft carrier.

The waiting personnel inside the island structure had already rushed out; they dashed to the Stuka whose propeller hasn't completely stopped spinning, and the ground crew clambered onto the wing, impatiently prying open the cockpit canopy.

Sun Rui still felt a bit unreal, not yet freed from the surprise of his first aircraft carrier landing.

Months of training, all for today's single landing. He had flown thousands of hours, with almost all his time devoted to takeoff and landing drills.

While others soared the blue skies, he could only aim the nose of his plane at the runway over and over again; he hadn't even taken a proper look at the scenery next to the airfield, because during each landing, his eyes were fixed on the glowing indicator lights.

Now, his efforts had finally paid off; he had succeeded! He had landed on a movable... runway!

Yes, that's right! He now possessed a movable airfield, a breakthrough of immense significance for the entire Navy.

From now on, the Navy need not fear enemy airports built along the coast, nor worry about having fewer battleships than the enemy.

The measure of a Navy fleet's strength would no longer be the caliber of its cannons, nor the thickness of its armor. It would be the quantity of radars, the performance of its airplanes, and the number of aircraft carriers!

"You've succeeded!" The first words spoken as the canopy was pried open came with a laugh from a ground crew member, his face framed by a thick beard, as he shouted to Sun Rui.

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Sun Rui tore off his raised visor and revealed a smile, "Hmm! I made it! Or should I say, we made it!"

"Ha! You're right! We made it!" The old man continued to laugh heartily, as if he had completed the carrier landing himself.

"How does it feel?" Another officer, who had climbed up on the wing of the plane, shouted to Sun Rui, who was struggling to climb out of the cockpit.

He was the commander of their flight squadron and Sun Rui's former superior. Sun Rui gave a thumbs-up, "I feel pretty good, what's for lunch? I'm planning to eat a bit more to celebrate."

"Don't worry, there's beer from the Linshui factory, and plenty of it! The kitchen has prepared a double-layered cream cake for you!" The commander was excited, they had completed the maiden flight experiment that even His Majesty cared greatly about, it was almost as if they had moved the airplane to the sea.

With an aircraft carrier, coupled with the planes' ultra-long range, the Great Tang Kingdom's navy could switch from defense to offense in a few months' time, and really show those fools what the iron fist of justice looks like.

The navy's food provisions were already of a higher standard, and as naval aviators, their treatment was even better without saying. Apart from submariners, no one in the military had better provisions than they did.

Besides, this was a flight test project, and having a cake to celebrate was only natural: if the infantry boys from the army saw it, they'd probably be stimulated to tears.

It really confirmed that saying: "The Air Force are the young masters' troops, the Infantry are the beggars' troops"... While the frontline infantry puzzled over how to eat compressed biscuits without getting them stuck in their teeth, the Navy had pretty much phased out compressed biscuits already.

Everyone on the runway was celebrating, many tossed their hats into the air. Seeing the plane land smoothly on the deck, they felt as if they had already won the war.

On the accompanying Linshui-class battleship crammed with sailors, they too witnessed the astonishing sight.

The Army's pride and joy, the airplane, had just landed on a warship, and it seemed that from today onward, the Navy had its own "Air Force" too.

They even cheered along, waving their hats and arms towards the distant Tongcheng No. 1 Aircraft Carrier.

At this moment, they even felt a bit proud since besides them, not too many people knew that a new type of warship had been born into this world.

It wasn't equipped with large-caliber guns nor thick armor, but this odd-looking warship was the "secret weapon" that their King cared so much about.

At this time, none of them realized yet what this moment truly meant for battleships. In the eyes of these sailors, Linshui No. 1 Battleship was still the mightiest surface vessel of the Great Tang Kingdom.

This Tang Country's "Bismarck" class battleship remained powerful, yet somehow, it seemed tinged with the flavor of a hero in twilight.

Although the battleships of Tang Country might appear wistfully heroic at the end of their days, others' battleships were under a very real threat from the Tang Army's aircraft carriers, and that's not a hero's twilight, but a poignant march towards death…

Despite the fact that few people had yet grasped the enormity of the threat that carrier-borne aircraft posed to battleships, and despite most still focusing on the submarines currently in the limelight, soon... everyone would understand the crucial role an aircraft carrier played in the history of naval warfare.

"I love cake!" Sun Rui was excited at the mention of the cake; he had a sweet tooth, and cream cake became one of his favorite foods after King had invented it.

"Let's go! Take a break, this afternoon you'll fly twice, you once, Zhang Hu once." The commander patted his shoulder and simultaneously arranged the following tasks.

Soon, the ten pilots who came along this time would all complete carrier landing missions. Then, they would take their experience back with them, and the next time... they would set sail with fifty pilots, to quickly verify the formation combat capability of the carrier-borne aircraft.