I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France

The squadron was so rudimentary that they did not even have a combat conference room, and meetings could only be held in Major Verscher's office.

The office is not big, and a dozen pilots fill the space. Eric was one of them. His presence filled the entire office with the unpleasant stench of alcohol and sweat, causing many pilots to frown.

Ironically, Ciel was almost undetectable between them, but he was their commander.

Charles sat on the "throne" that originally belonged to Major Fisher. He traced dots on the map and said easily: "'Big Bertha' is at this location, eleven kilometers east of Wavre Fortress. We The goal is to destroy it!"

This caused a commotion in the office like a bomb, and soon some pilots expressed their objections:

"No, Lieutenant! We need orders from General Guise!"

"Yes, this is a war, not a joke!"

"We will die because of this, and the person commanding us is..."

…

Although the words were not finished, everyone knew what it meant. They did not trust Charles, and even Major Fisher chose to remain silent.

Eric didn't speak. He just looked at Ciel quietly. He knew that Ciel's plan would not be that simple.

Ciel understood what was going on.

If it is just an ordinary reconnaissance mission, or a mission with a level of risk that is within their acceptable range, then they will recognize Charles's command authority, just as Major Verscher said: "We obey your command."

But now the mission given by Charles is to blow up the "Big Bertha". In their view, this is a mission with no return. Why should so many people's lives be handed over to a child for such a big thing?

This is ridiculous!

Ciel ignored them and continued to draw his plan on the map:

"We will definitely encounter German interception, and they will try to crash your plane!"

"Avoid them, attract their attention, lead them here..."

Ciel drew a circle in another position with a pencil, as if circling a key point in an exercise book.

"There is an enemy observation balloon here. Blow it up. Its fire will attract everyone's attention, and then..."

Major Verscher couldn't help but interrupt Charles: "Wait, sir, how can we blow up the enemy's observation balloon?"

During this period, it was almost impossible to blow up observation balloons, especially airplanes. Although the target of observation balloons was large, no weapons could deal with it.

Immediately, someone quietly turned on the taunting mode:

"He thought he could pop it just like an ordinary balloon by aiming his rifle at the balloon and pulling the trigger!"

"We might even hear the balloon pop, 'pop!'"

The others laughed softly. Although they did not dare to be too presumptuous in front of Ciel, the "chief", their words and laughter were full of disdain for Ciel.

Eric rolled his eyes and crossed his legs. These fools, they thought it would be so simple to invent the tank and the savior of Paris who could defeat the Germans in three rounds? Ciel will give them a hard slap and teach them what wisdom is!

Verscher looked at the Kingdom Crown Medal on Charles's chest. He thought that he could not treat a person who had made special contributions to Belgium in this way, so he patiently explained:

"Sir, balloons are not that easy to deal with!"

"It has many compartments in the middle, just like the watertight compartments of a ship. Rifle bullets and even machine gun bullets cannot pose a threat to them!"

Someone added:

"The bullet just punches a hole in the balloon, causing it to partially deflate. It can even come down to fill the hole after it completes its mission, that's all!"

"Yes, it will be repaired and back in the air within a few hours!"

Charles didn't even raise his eyes. He continued to stare at the map and asked softly: "So, where is the Congreve Rocket?"

The room fell silent instantly, and everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to answer.

Eric laughed loudly, and he cursed unceremoniously at the Belgian officers and soldiers: "You fools, you only think about bullets and artillery shells, and forget about the Congreve rocket. You even just received it." I didn’t even expect the rocket!”

Verscher looked embarrassed. Eric was talking about him. He had just received a batch of rockets and put them in the warehouse. At that time, he thought, what can these primitive weapons be used for? They should have been eliminated fifty years ago!

However, he just didn't connect it to the attack balloon!

After thinking for a while, Fisher nodded:

"This might work, I mean, it has a good chance of success!"

"We all know that balloons are filled with hydrogen. Once they encounter a rocket..."

"God, it's going to turn into a ball of fire!"

The more Fischer talked about it, the more he felt that this was a genius idea and it would definitely succeed!

But someone else raised questions:

"How can we get a rocket onto a plane and launch it?"

"The rocket may not be able to penetrate the flexible outer layer of the balloon, and it may even be deflected and fly in other directions!"

…

Charles gave the answers one by one:

“It’s easy to do by bringing it onto the plane, we just need to attach it to the vertical struts between the wings!”

"It's not difficult to penetrate the outer layer of the balloon, you just need to attach a blade to the tip of the rocket so that it cuts through the outer layer of the balloon instead of being deflected!"

Eric laughed triumphantly again. He raised his head and swept the whole audience with disdainful eyes, and cursed without hesitation: "A bunch of idiots, let you see the wisdom of France!"

Although the Belgian pilot was ashamed of being scolded, his eyes were still full of excitement. After all, this was a war for Belgium, and no one would refuse victory.

Moreover, this was the first time in human history that a balloon was blown up by flying a plane... This battle may even be recorded in history, and they will undoubtedly become heroes and go down in history!

Thinking of this, the pilots looked at Charles with different eyes in an instant, full of surprise and admiration. They couldn't believe that the child in front of them could come up with such a good idea, and used those equipment that were forgotten in the warehouse and were about to be completely eliminated.

Charles still sat at his desk calmly, and he didn't think there was anything to brag about.

This was not his idea. Two years later, a French Air Force lieutenant Leprier came up with this idea, using the same method: adding sharp blades to the tip of the rocket, fixing the rocket on the vertical struts between the two wings of the biplane, and then... Between 1916 and 1918, hundreds of reconnaissance balloons were destroyed.

Until the emergence of machine gun incendiary bombs, the primitive combat method of Leprier rockets was eliminated again.

(Leprier rocket, the tip of the rocket was added with sharp blades, which could cut the outer layer of the balloon)

(British seaplane with eight rockets)