Chapter 372: Chapter 317: All Sides Come for the Airship

Subsequent scenes in London and Rome were no different from what had previously been seen in Los Angeles, USA. Scores of media, curious onlookers, investors with ulterior motives, solemn military forces, and countless other forces and groups composed the tens of thousands of spectators observing the Dawn Airship.

Every time the Dawn Airship arrived at a location, it immediately became the focal and hot point of the locale, sometimes even of the entire country, and was widely reported on by local media.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this global tour plan brought in plenty of profits for many European and American media outlets and rejuvenated numerous small newspapers on the verge of bankruptcy.

According to estimates, more than seven hundred thousand people worldwide have made the trip to see the airship, and over five million people have followed the global voyage.

The Australasian Airship became the world’s most famous technological product in an instant, with everyone striving to board the airship for a world tour as their lifetime goal.

On May 21, 1912, after a month and ten days, the Dawn Airship returned over the skies of Sydney City, receiving a warm welcome from a multitude of Australasians.

This was the first time that Australasia led the world in global flight history. It was the people of Australasia, and the flying device developed by Australasia, that took on the mission of global flight for the first time.

At this moment, the outskirts of Sydney had become an ocean of people, and the foreign media who came from all over the world virtually engulfed the area.

Everyone knew that if this global voyage plan succeeds, Sydney would momentarily become the most dazzling pearl in the world.

To gain the first news of the airship’s global voyage, as well as subsequent developments, these foreign media had no choice but to travel to Sydney.

For Arthur, this was good news because the spending level in Sydney had risen significantly in the last month with foreign media and tourists creating a considerable contribution to Sydney’s GDP.

As the Dawn Airship landed amidst gusts and dust in the open space on the outskirts, the prepared band immediately played a joyful tune to celebrate this significant moment.

A short while later, the door of the Dawn Airship gradually opened with attendants stepping out first, followed by the passengers, and lastly, the pilot and Director Theodore.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, you have collectively accomplished a great moment. On behalf of the Australasian Royal Family and the Government, I congratulate you and encourage you, and present you with commemorative badges,” Arthur said, smiling on the erected high platform.

The commemorative honor for this global voyage was a gold-plated silver badge. The front of the badge depicted the Dawn Airship, and the back bore a clear statement: This badge commemorates the AU-3 Airship, codenamed Dawn, for its global voyage program that began on April 10, 1912. This program lasted for one month and eleven days, successfully ended on May 21, 1912, and is commemorated with this badge.

The total weight of the badge was around 100 grams, with the gold content exceeding 30%, amounting to about 30 grams.

According to the current values of gold and silver, the production cost of this badge was over ten pounds, which equates to several months’ wages for an ordinary person in Australasia.

Of course, the commemorative significance of such an item far surpasses its actual value. If you take into account its commemorative significance for Australasia and certain personages, perhaps its worth may multiply several times or even tens of times.

For Australasians, such a badge had an extraordinary commemorative meaning. Besides commemorating this global voyage, the badge was personally awarded by Arthur, adding much intangible value to the badge.

Although for passengers who had paid thousands of pounds for a ticket, a badge worth less than ten pounds didn’t mean much.

But after all, the badge was exquisitely made and had a special commemorative value, so the passengers who received it were fairly satisfied.

Australasia, of course, also extended invitations to all the passengers on the airship to attend the celebratory banquet held tonight.

The passengers naturally accepted, after all, one had no reason not to attend a grand and free banquet.

For the capitalists who were already eyeing the airship, the most important job at present was to inquire about the status of the Australasian Airship Company, making this banquet a necessity.

After everyone had temporarily left, Arthur looked at Director Theodore and said with a smile, “You’ve worked hard, Director Theodore. You’ve accomplished a feat that will go down in Australasian history, you’re a hero of the entire of Australasia!”

Although the performance of the airships produced by the Aerospace Laboratory was already very dependable, this was still the first time for a long-distance global flight to be conducted. It was impossible to claim that it was risk-free.

As the director of the Aerospace Laboratory, Director Theodore who personally took charge of this global voyage, braved the risk of a potential airship crash. He accomplished an action that allowed Australasia to hog all the limelight, and could be said to be a significant contributor.

“Being able to contribute to Your Majesty and the nation, is what I should be doing. Besides, we can trust the performance of the Dawn Airship, this voyage of ours was more like a fully funded tour.” Director Theodore respectfully responded.

“Alright, you should rest for a few days after today’s celebration banquet. I’ll grant you and all operators three days off. After three days, I fear that the Aerospace Laboratory will have to take on even tougher tasks. The demand for the airships this time may not be small.” Arthur patted Director Theodore’s shoulder and told him.

Arthur was definitely aware of the movements of the capitalists from Europe and America. He naturally knew why they had come to Sydney.

Truth be told, this was a good thing for both Arthur and Australasia. The more airships were sold, the more profits Arthur could make, and the more he would be able to lead the major countries of Europe and America into a deep pit.

Just think, a few years later when the airships of various designs developed by different countries are flying in the sky, getting ready to bombard enemy countries, Australasian airplanes appear in the skies above, instantly crushing and massacring these airships from all sides. How fascinating would the expressions of the European and American countries be then?

One should know that, for the currently most advanced AU-3 Airship, if it were to be sold, Arthur would be making a profit of at least twenty thousand pounds for each airship sold.

This profit would be just enough for Australasia to manufacture an airplane, or scrape together the profit for several dozen airships, and it would still be enough to build a super dreadnought.

The celebration banquet that night was magnificent, including the high echelons of the Australasian government, the royal family, domestic and international business capitalists in Australasia, globally influential and famous media companies, all passengers, operators and attendants from the airplane were invited to the banquet.

Arthur also briefly attended the banquet, but did not steal the limelight, instead, after encouraging everyone, he handed the banquet over to Director Theodore and the Aerospace Laboratory.

After Arthur and the high-ranking government officials had left, the initially somewhat solemn banquet turned much more relaxed. Everyone started to chat and laugh, as if there was no longer a distinction of rank.

“Director Theodore, would your lab be willing to sell airships like the Dawn to the outside world, to promote the development of the world’s aviation industry?” When the banquet reached its climax, someone took advantage of Director Theodore’s good mood to ask a question.

“Hmm, that is an issue,” Director Theodore pretended to contemplate for a moment and seeing everyone’s eyes focused on him, waiting for his answer, he then said, “Actually, everyone should be able to tell that our AU-3 Airship truly has the ability to travel around the world. Even if there are no docking points set up, it can fly for at least half a month, or in other words, at least a distance of fifteen thousand kilometers, on the basis of carrying fewer than forty people. Without exaggeration, this airship could reach any place in Europe or America in about half a month.”

“This also signifies that such an airship possesses extremely high strategic value and theoretically, the related technology should be kept strictly confidential.”

Although it was decided from the start that there was completely no need to keep this type of airship confidential, in the face of these capitalists, Director Theodore obviously would not foolishly reveal all his cards.

Under Arthur’s guidance, they were to make these capitalists beg Australasia to sell the airships, rather than Australasia pleading them to buy airships. Only then could the maximization of profit be achieved and these greedy capitalists be kept in check.

Seeing the disappointed expression on many faces, Director Theodore casually said, “However, things are not without hope.”

“Director Theodore, what do you mean?” Someone boldly asked.

“Aside from the extremely important strategic value that this airship represents in the military field, the value it represents in the aviation industry, and its importance to human development and human life, are also extremely significant. Taking these factors into consideration, His Majesty specifically told me that as long as it can be ensured that the purpose of purchasing the airship is for non-military fields, we can currently sell AU-3 model airships to the outside world.” After a teaser, Director Theodore finally started answering.

Upon hearing Director Theodore’s response, many people at the scene heaved a sigh of relief. Among them, few had come specifically for military purposes, who would be foolish enough to openly buy Australasian airships for military purposes, except for some countries that have an exceptionally good relationship with Australasia.

At this time, the US military had made up two plans, encouraging some domestic capitalists to go to Australasia to buy airships, and then see if they could get one or two airships from these capitalists for research.

At the same time, the US was also preparing to vigorously launch airship research domestically. The US military didn’t believe that with the entirety of the United States’ effort, they would be unable to catch up with Australasia’s development in airships in five years’ time.