The Rise of Australasia

When Douglas heard about the 2 million Australian dollars in R&D funds, he widened his eyes in surprise and was speechless.

For a technical specialist who was only 35 years old, the equivalent of 5 million US dollars in R&D funding was an unimaginable fortune that he had never even dreamt of in his 35 years of life.

Let alone 5 million dollars, in the six years since the company was established, the annual R&D budget had never exceeded 50,000 dollars, and he was always worried about the company’s profitability, which prevented Douglas’s research from succeeding.

Now, this funding, equivalent to 5 million US dollars, was more than enough for Douglas to conduct research for several years without worrying about any financial issues.

This would not only greatly speed up Douglas’s research progress but also allow him to concentrate on the research of twin-engine transport planes without having to worry about the company’s tedious affairs.

William Edward Boeing, on the other hand, appeared much calmer. After all, Boeing’s market value had also reached over a million dollars, and even before coming to Australasia, Arthur had already injected 2 million dollars into Boeing as R&D funding.

Douglas, feeling an unparalleled trust, was also full of gratitude to Arthur. He lifted his head firmly, looked at Arthur with a smile, and said very formally and seriously, "Thank you for Your Majesty’s trust, please rest assured, within three years, the twin-engine transport plane will yield results."

Arthur nodded and said with a smile, "Of course, I trust your abilities, Mr. Douglas. Including Mr. Boeing, I have great confidence in your abilities and believe that you can develop your own achievements in the aircraft industry."

However, I think it’s necessary for you to meet Mr. Disel before you continue your research. He is the father of Australasian engines, and he should be able to help with the engines used in your aircraft."

In Arthur’s view, the Royal Aircraft Manufacturing Factory, Douglas Company, and Boeing Company should not only have a competitive relationship but also maintain good cooperation.

After all, Arthur was the largest shareholder in all three companies; in plain terms, these were all Arthur’s industries.

How to find the perfect balance between competition and cooperation, using competition as a motivation to improve, and cooperation to compensate for deficiencies, was something for Douglas, Boeing, and Theodore to consider.

As for Disel’s Engine Laboratory, it was more like a neutral role. After all, Disel was responsible for the research of aircraft engines, and the various types of engines he developed were also widely used in cars, tanks, tractors, and other machinery.

By introducing Douglas and Boeing to Disel, Arthur essentially wanted them to understand the research on jet engines in Australasia.

No matter how powerful airplanes using propellers are, they can’t ultimately compete with the enhancement in power and performance that jet engines bring to airplanes.

For Arthur, getting Boeing and Douglas Company to use jet engines as soon as possible would not only improve the performance of the airplanes they manufacture but would also advance their research in engine technology.

Current aircraft companies also include engine research laboratories, so if Boeing and Douglas could develop their own jet engines or make some improvements to current jet engines, it would naturally be the best outcome.

After all, people think differently, and no one can guarantee that the opinions of others won’t be of help to themselves.

"Yes, Your Majesty," both Boeing and Douglas responded in unison.

"Does Boeing have any current issues?" Arthur turned his attention to William Edward Boeing, who was the original target of the aircraft plant acquisition in Australasia.

"Thanks to Your Majesty’s help, most of Boeing’s airplane blueprints were safely transported to Australasia, with only a few non-essential ones burned on the spot, which allowed the headquarters’ migration to proceed smoothly," said William Edward Boeing with a smile, speaking to Arthur with great respect.

Long before deciding to come to Australasia, William Edward Boeing had prepared himself to serve Arthur.

After all, with America already in chaos, Australasia’s development potential might not be less than America’s, and with a wise monarch like Arthur and good relations with Germany, it was clearly a better choice.

Arthur nodded with satisfaction and replied with a smile, "That’s good. Various designs and documentation of the aircraft are quite important; I was also worried that some designs and documents might be lost during the migration of your headquarters, so I mobilized some manpower to expedite the process."

For these aircraft manufacturers, what’s truly important are not the production lines and employees, but those airplane design experts and the extensive design blueprints and data.

After all, production lines are built according to blueprints; with blueprints, production lines can be reconstructed.

And those workers only need simple training to be able to work; assembly line production has already greatly diminished the skill requirements for workers. Your next read awaits at

Only the design experts for airplanes and the extensive blueprints and data involved in airplane design are more important to an aircraft company.

There’s no need to say much about blueprints and data; if some documents were lost during the headquarters’ migration, it might take a long time to compensate, and could even cause problems in airplane design, then a long time trying and erring.

The same is true for experts. Aviation experts are basically the target of competition among nations, and losing any expert is a huge blow to any company.

Even the Boeing Company, which is still reasonably sized, currently has less than twenty design team members who are experts in airplanes, besides Boeing himself.

Yet it’s this team of fewer than twenty people that sustains the entire airplane design for the Boeing Company, making it one of the well-known airplane manufacturers in the United States.

As for the smaller Douglas Aircraft Company, aside from Douglas, there are only a few experts in airplanes—a number so small they couldn’t even gather enough people for two tables of mahjong.

But this is actually quite normal, since the salary of any expert in airplane design tends to be quite high.

Small companies like Douglas Aircraft Company can’t afford the wages of many experts, which is a constant issue faced by most small companies. Limited by the funds they can use, they can’t hire overly exceptional experts, which leads to their airplane designs being inferior to those of larger companies, and thus they don’t earn the military’s trust or make money, creating a cycle.

"Your Majesty, there’s still one issue," William Edward Boeing looked at Arthur and voiced his concerns, "After my inquiries over the past few days, I’ve found that there aren’t many talents in aviation and dynamics in Australasia, and most of them work at the Aerospace Laboratory, Royal Aircraft Manufacturing Factory, and similar enterprises.

Although we could also obtain a certain percentage, to support three large aircraft manufacturers, we must expand the scale of aviation and dynamics talent.

I believe now is the chance to dig out aviation talents from the United States. According to my understanding of the States, there are numerous talents in aviation and dynamics who are at home without work, either because their companies went bankrupt, or they are burdened with tremendous debt.

If Your Majesty is willing, you can acquire a wealth of aviation talents and even excellent aircraft designers with just a small investment of funds.

Just in Virginia alone, there are at least a thousand talents in aviation and dynamics without work, and looking across the entire United States, there are only more.

Without jobs, their willingness to adopt Australasian nationality will greatly increase.

Moreover, extracting a large amount of talent from the United States will also weaken its strength. If you draw a significant number of talents from the United States, their capabilities in aircraft design will decrease significantly, making them no match for you in the aircraft industry."

The suggestion to extract talent from the United States was something Boeing had pondered over for a long time, and it also signified that Boeing had officially broken ties with the United States, intent on developing his company and research wholeheartedly in Australasia.

Arthur nodded. He was naturally aware of the problem raised by William Edward Boeing.

If there had not been the Douglas Company and the Boeing Company, the pool of aviation and dynamics talents in Australasia would have certainly been adequate.

After all, those trained by the University are sufficient to meet the needs of the Aerospace Laboratory and the Royal Airfield.

Yet suddenly, with the addition of the Douglas and Boeing companies, the supply of talents in aviation and dynamics in Australasia seemed somewhat insufficient.

Since most of the talent had already been recruited by the Aerospace Laboratory and the Royal Aircraft Manufacturing Factory, it wouldn’t be right to ask them to concede some of their experts, would it?

After all, both the Aerospace Laboratory and the Royal Aircraft Manufacturing Factory have their own research and manufacturing needs.

To simply take away some of their technical personnel, not to mention whether this would cause their displeasure, just the impact of the talent drain on the work of the Aerospace Laboratory and the Royal Airfield seemed a bit counterproductive.

Therefore, if we could recruit some additional talent, it would not only properly resolve the talent shortage in Australasia but also would not affect the work of the Aerospace Laboratory and the Royal Aircraft Manufacturing Factory.

Arthur had originally planned to attract a large amount of talent from Europe and the United States himself, and it seemed that William Edward Boeing was willing to take the initiative to help Arthur entice talent from the United States.

"Well said, currently in the field of aviation, we are only lacking in talent," Arthur nodded and turned his gaze to Boeing and Douglas, "Apart from recruiting employees within Australasia, you can certainly attract talent from the United States as well.

As before, on the condition of adopting Australasian nationality, they can secure a high salary job and will be protected under Australasian labor laws.

The stable economic environment in Australasia is a guarantee for the stability of their work, and I believe many Americans would be willing to come to Australasia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Immigration Bureau will assist you, seeking out more American aviation and dynamics talent wherever possible, giving priority to joining Douglas and Boeing Companies.

You can also seek help from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Immigration Bureau regarding this matter anytime, to get your companies up and running officially and quickly dive into research."

Having given his instructions, Arthur left the space for the three experts to have a good chat among themselves.

After all, if Arthur were present, it would inevitably make them somewhat inhibited, and starting a conversation would be near impossible.

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