Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

Since the wind tunnel itself took some time to build, and was only completed a month into the next semester, near the beginning of the new year. We really don't have the available resources to build more of them to speed testing up. As such, we're operating it on an around-the-clock schedule to ensure all the necessary testing gets done, save for downtime for maintenance as needed. Some tests are short, and then require additional tuning before another test can be run, but others encompass a series of tests at different speeds for a single component, alongside data collection at those speeds, followed by replacement with the next component.

This was the case for a whole bunch of tests related to propellers. We ran initial stationary tests to establish the amount of force different propellers could generate, but that's actually only a fraction of the story. Since aircraft will be travelling through the air, it's also important to test how the propellers operate at higher speeds, since there is a noticeable difference in behavior. It's actually more important that the propellers have high thrust at high air speeds, rather than low air speeds, since that is where they'll be fighting the most drag forces.

We've got all sorts of measurements that are collected in the tunnel, drag force, lift, center of lift, even impact testing, just incase something flying hits the aircraft. There has been quite a lot of testing along the drag and impact testing side of things, which has yielded some good results. Basically, the metal paneling that will compose the aircraft has a lot of design that has to go into it. You want it to be in a sweet spot of weight, durability, aerodynamic performance, and ease of assembly.

I've also remembered something important, and have already picked out ten naval personnel to become our first pilots. These are low level, low prestige goblins, which I've specifically picked for that reason, they're not even out of academy yet. I want them to remain goblins as long as possible, and only a handful fit my criteria. The first thing that is required is that they have Heightened Strength as a trait. They're being focused towards developing specifically Improved Dexterity and Improved Endurance. From there, I'm having a camp built at the summit so that they can gain High Altitude Adaptation as another trait. They'll be fast tracked through their levels to ensure they're ready when the aircraft are ready.

I'll need to start their training on how to control aircraft at a certain point, but without a functional aircraft already, that training will be sub-optimal. Since I at least know what the controls should look like, that'll give us a head start. They'll be operating using cable controls, which is why having high strength, dexterity, and endurance will be important. In the future, I'd obviously like to remove the need for muscle power to control the aircraft, but that would drastically delay the beginning of operations.

Preliminary results on the amount of lift and drag have surprised me slightly, but it makes sense thinking back on my initial gas yields from cryogenic separations. I think the atmosphere on this planet is slightly thicker than earth's atmosphere. By how much, I'm not entirely sure, but it's enough that it should actually make heavier-than-air flight easier, but also means we'll have to take extra care to ensure that our aircraft are aerodynamic. This might also help explain how such gigantic eagles are able to fly. I'm aware that they likely use some magic to help in their flight, but every little edge makes a difference in feasibility.

We're going to have clear a large area for a runway, and we'll need reinforced hangars for our aircraft to be stored in. This is going to take quite a bit of space to accomplish, and a lot of precision will need to go into the actual construction of the runway to ensure it is stable and flat. We want it to be about 2 miles long, which basically means we're going to have to build up an area significantly to make it possible on Kembora. The last island in our chain, the one that used to be Kao's, is actually perfect for a runway and staging location, except we'd have to transport our aircraft there, meaning that we still need a place to launch them from on Kembora. In theory, we could always shuttle them via ships, but we'll likely want the ability to land aircraft on Kembora anyway for civilian uses, so we may as well build that out now. Later we could turn the last island into a military aircraft base if we decide it is valuable enough.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The only two places that could fit a runway feasibly on Kembora are in the wide valleys where our two cities are located. There are spaces where it could fit in either, and there are shallow enough slopes in some places where we could hypothetically build up enough terrain for a runway. We have plenty of stockpiled rock blocks from all the excavation that has gone on, they'll just have to be fused with stoneshaping to build up enough stable support to actually be used. It's going to take a lot of stone and time though.

My rough estimates are that it's going to take nearly 200 million cubic feet of stone to actually build up a runway to be flat on the island, if it was entirely solid. The end of the runway will end up standing 200 feet above the nearby terrain with a slope down to said terrain, and the end of it will be flat with it's surroundings. We can cut the amount of stone significantly if we are smart about it's construction, however. Rather than make this 100 foot wide, 2 mile long runway sit on an entirely solid rock foundation, we can build arched tunnels into the space.

By essentially having tunnels running through it perpendicular, we can turn a large amount of that space into storage space shielded from weather. I think we can probably use about half as much stone, at 100 million cubic feet to complete the runway plus storage area. This is still a significant amount of work to create, but the reason its important to get it down to at least 100 million cubic feet is because that's approximately how much stone we've excavated from under the mountain in all of the dwarven tunnels that we've dug. Now, a decent amount of that stone has been used in other projects already, but more than half is still sitting around in stockpiles.

Meaning we can start construction immediately, and if we're smart about how we do things, it shouldn't end up being a problem. We can either excavate more from the mountain, or we can cut into the valley edges to make more terraces, but in either case, we should be able to source the stone before we actually need it for construction, if we prioritize gathering it at least.

I've also made some progress on two way radio communications for aircraft. Ships are easier, due to their size, since they can reasonably fit large antennas and pump significant power into them, while also being able to keep plenty of equipment and personnel on board. Aircraft, by comparison are fairly constrained in the amount of power and size of antennas able to be put on them. What I've found, however, is that if I install an antenna along the length of the aircraft, I can tune the frequency to said antenna, and essentially operate it in the reverse of the smaller listening radios I built. As long as the receiving station is a fairly large antenna, it can listen in from far away. Other aircraft at the same frequency can also hear them as long as they're within a mile or so distance. They'll also use one antenna for both listening to broadcasting with a toggle switch, saving on the amount of equipment necessary inside the plane to save weight.

We'll also need to have directional antennas so that our aircraft can find our island while at sea. That's something I'm currently working on, and having some success with circular shaped antennas. If we broadcast a constant repeating signal on a frequency matching that antenna, then they'll be able to hear the sound as long as they're pointed towards our island for a decent distance. That should get them close enough to fly by sight afterwards. Having such a tall island gives us quite a bit of benefit, since we'll be able to build all these antennas at a very high altitude, extending their range significantly, especially when coordinating with aircraft even higher up. Most of the personnel won't even have to be up that high, since we should be able to use cables and amplifiers to remotely use the necessary antennas.