Hainan Island Incident

Right after China received its first Israel-modified IL-76MD advanced airborne warning and control aircraft, the Israeli Aircraft Industries canceled the A-50I AEW&C configuration retrofit under the pressure of the US.  Surprisingly, soon People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) received an even better gift from the sky in 2001.  The incident was a key reason China’s military modernization — especially of its air force and navy — was accelerated.

The Hainan Island incident occurred on April 1, when a USN EP-3E ARIES II signals intelligence aircraft and a PLAN J-8II interceptor collided in mid-air, resulting in the EP-3 made an emergency landing on Hainan.  In the next two months, Chinese boarded the crown jewel of the recon force and thoroughly stripped and examined its equipment, including a large signals processing computer, the brain of the systems-the tuners and signals processors, as well various cryptographic voice/data devices.  From the layout of so many mutual-interfering electronics and their state-of-art solid-state circuits, Chinese experts understand they had been misled for so long.  Ever since their sharpened R/D help the later AEW&C.

Moreover, Chinese became determined to upgrade navy aircraft after the incident, eventually replacing all J-8s with fourth-generation J-10 and J-11 fighters and JH-7 bombers.  the PLAN has set up a comprehensive air patrol system in the South and East China seas, while the advanced air strength now play the key role in dealing with all kinds of air confrontation with invaders.

Who is the loser?

During the NATO's 78 days air attack in the Yugoslavia Civil War, only one sortie was requested and orchestrated by the CIA. The official target of May 7, 1999, was the Yugoslav Federal Directory for Supply and Procurement.  But the actual target: the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, 350m away.  Justified as Humanitarian Bombing - a hypocritical term invented by then Czech president Havel, the Western air raids were opposed by China.  China supported the sovereignty of Yugoslavia.  Moreover, it managed to acquire the invaluable wreckage of the F-117 stealth aircraft shot down on Mar 27.  This top secret was hidden in the basement of embassy, but soon the CIA accidentally discovered the secret.  The spy agency determined to destroy the advanced-tech trophy, at all diplomatic cost.

Mar 27, an air defense brigade of the rump state was ready to ambush the annoying Nighthawk by using a 30 years old Czech-made P-18 radar, which VHF band could evade the NATO anti-radiation surveillance.  Under the direction of a Chinese electronic counter measure advisor, the obsolete radar with a poor detection range was unable to pin point the standoff target, but was able to detect the stealth aircraft when 15 miles out.  Then their “shot gun blast bird” tactics worked, one of the four invading F-117s was blasted by one of the dozens S-125 SAM salvo.  Soon the distorted invisible painted skin, navigation system, and engine exhaust nozzle, etc. all ended up to the PROC embassy.  Though the 117 failed to self-detonated, the Chinese were unaware of its hidden locating transmitter.  When they finally manage to cut off the battery, it was too late.

May 8, a B-2A stealth bomber took off from the Whiteman AFB on the opposite hemisphere, after a 15 hrs long flight with air-refueling, it pressed on Belgrade.  For deep penetration into the embassy basement under five floors, all its Joint Direct Attack Munitions had a delay fuse.  However, unexpectedly interfered by the roof antenna signal, the guidance sensors made four of the five JDAMs exploded prematurely at the 1F, and the only bomb to hit the basement was a dud.  Three Chinese were killed, and more than 20 injured in this “accident”, so called by the NATO and president Clinton (he was believed innocent).  Later in his address to the embassy staff, the ambassador Pan (潘佔林) stated “the staff risked their lives to rescue four batches of Priceless Material under the ruins”.  In 2011, the Chinese J-20 stealth fighter prototype took into the air, much earlier than the Western expected.  Two year earlier William Bennett, the CIA’s ex-contractor who reprogramed that lethal 350m in the JDAM coordinate, and his wife Cynthia were suspiciously attacked near their home in Loudoun, VA.

Cradle of Airmen

Eight decades ago, Chinese government chose Jianqao to set up the Central Aviation School and the related Chinese Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company.  Long before these state important facilities were founded, this multiple-bridges town enjoyed a dynamic trade.  Literally, Jiano Qao stands for bamboo-piping and bridge, respectively, Bamboo-piping and Cocoon are homographs in Chinese.  Historically, Jianqao was famous for its silk/cocoon production; as over time, Cocoon Bridge became Bamboo-piping Bridge, i.e. Jianqao.  Before the full scale Japanese invasion in 1937, this railway and air hub, distant from Japanese in the north, was decided to host the top gun school and the first China-US joint venture plant CAMCO.

At the dawn of Chinese aviation, the Centre’s sky pace was far behind the provincial initiatives, e.g. that of Beijing (1910) and Canton (1924).  Instead of a separate domain with the Centre Army Academy, the Aviation School brought the Army’s 5^th and 6^th classes into the 1^st aviation class in Jan 1929.  In Dec 1931, the 1^st‘s 97 cadets moved to the new site in Jianqao, while 2^nd class’s 48 cadets came from the 1932 nation-wide entrance examination.  Many of their names would later be engraved on the Airmen Martyrs Monument of the Sino-Japanese War at Purple Mountain, Nanking.

Before the Sino-Japanese War erupted, the Canton Provincial Air Arm was amalgamated into the Chinese Air Force in 1936, thus beefing up the CAF’s size by more than double.  Began with joining the 7^th and 8^th class of the centre aviation school and front line squadrons, more than 700 Cantonese airmen formed the CAF mainstay.  During the eight year war, in total 4,321 CAF men were killed, with 1,468 aircraft lost.  The casualty included over 260 Cantonese pilots, 39 overseas Chinese pilots, and numerous the Lend-Lease trained staff.  In 1937 the Aviation School was withdrawn to Kunming, then moved even further to Lahore, India.  In Kunming and Lahore, multiple classes headed for the US for advanced training.  The USAAF program extended to 1947, though the Aviation School reclaimed Jianqao in 1945.  At least 60 trainees in the US never returned to Jianqao; the Fort Bliss National Cemetery, Texas, is the final resting place for 55 CAF training casualty.

For Your Tomorrow We Give Our Today

In the heat of Sino-Japanese War, Lee Chia-Ho (李嘉禾 西南聯大物理系二年級) was one of numerous students who volunteered for the armed forces.  In 1943 Chia-Ho was accepted by the the Chinese Air Force Academy, his 16^th class received their basic training at Lahore air field, India, followed by the advanced training in the US.  Months before his TB-25D bomber (s/n 41-29867) crashed on Oct 1, 1944, he survived in an AT-6C trainer (s/n 42-43998) class 3 accident at Luke airbase on Feb 25.  Sadly, eight out of the nine crewmen were killed in the B-25 after the bomber took off at 22:46 Sep 30 from Atlanta to Will Rogers, Oklahoma, for a cross field training.  In the fatal accident during a storming night, besides the five USAAF staff, all three CAF sub lieutenant co-pilots also perished, including Chia-Ho.  Except for a simple Death Notification in the end of 1944, the Lee family in Kunming, Yunnan, learned no details about their missing son in the States, until 2012.

In addition to be the interment location for American servicemen, in 1944 the Chinese government chose Fort Bliss National Cemetery, Texas,  as the final resting place for 55 Republic of China Air Force crewmen who died while training at the different USAAF air fields.  From 1942 to 1945, a total of 3,553 CAF trainees, including 866 pilots, had been assigned to Luke, Williams, and Thunderbird fields in Arizona for air training.  After the trainees received their wings, the fighter pilots were assigned to Luke, while the bomber crew were transferred to La Junta field, Colorado, for tactical upgrade.  Once their education was completed, all qualified crewmen would get their baptism of fire under the 1^st BG, 3^rd FG, and 5^th FG of the Chinese-American Composite Wing.

Among thousands of the training accidents (1,192 in the month of October 1944 alone), at least 60 CAF officers were killed in fatal crashes, 55 of these casualties were buried in Ft. Bliss during the period of 1942-47, without proper notice to their families in China until seven decades later.  The 12^th class were the early trainees in the States, it had five warrant officers killed when flying P-39D/F Airacobra in Apr-Jun 1942.  After a lengthy archeology-like archive study, eventually the Lees found Chia-Ho at his commemorated site in Jan 2012.  Followed by this collective effort, some descendants of the fell eagles got together in a traditional Chinese ceremony at the Ft. Bliss resting place in Oct 2018.  Up to this blog time, a descendants search is still a on going effort.

The Sino-German Cooperation

A veteran ordnance mechanic told me that during the war times, they always admired how their young engineers could communicate with German consultants in fluent Deutsch; I know why, since my dad was one of these engineers.  In 1926 the Chinese centre government starts a Sino-German military and industrial cooperation initiative aimed at resisting Japanese encroachment.  At the time, China was fraught with factional warlordism and western incursions, while Germany under the hostile Treaty of Versailles needed the injection of funds and tungsten, antimony from China.  In 1927-38 totally four inactive German generals and 135 consultants arrived China for modernizing its armed forces and defense production.      The intense cooperation lasted only until the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.  Besides the forerunner Max Bauer, Gen. Hans Von Seeckt and Alexander Von Falkenhausen were important figures. Von Seeckt proposed (陸軍改革建議書) 60 divisions reformed as the German Eliteheer, and Von Falkenhaisen made it partially materialized.

When the war erupted, only 20 Reformed Divisions (調整師) were quasi-combat-ready, instead of 60 planned.  China could not afford making them fully German equipped, the elite 88^th, 87^th, 67^th, 57^th, 36^th, 25^th, 14^th, 11^th etc. RDs were basically provided with Chinese made Mausser 98K (Type-25) riffles, ZB-26 (Type-26) light machine guns, and Germany made MP-18 submachineguns.  The German advisers engaged in the army reorganization and laid a concrete foundation for the doctrine, training, equipment, and tactics of the Chinese army.  And this cooperation nevertheless had a profound effect on the modernization of China and its ability to resist the Japanese during the war.

Lacking firepower, the Chinese soldiers emphasized suicidal hand to hand combat.  Their Type-25 riffle, which was shorter than the Arisaka Type-38, was equipped with elongated bayonet for this purpose.  As per the Imperial Japanese Army 6^th Reg/3^rd Div’s history, the RD’s men showed high morale, well equipped, familiar with light weapons, hand grenades, and always determined to attack in offensive.  When in the defensive, they skillfully utilized rice paddies, buildings, or cemetery to form strongholds with effective crossfire and flank coverage.  They were ferocious night fighters, launched attacks at 300-400 meters away, tossed hand grenades from 50 meters, and pressed on until the last men.  Under pressure of its new Axis ally Japan, in 1938-41 Germany ended its support for China.

Eurasia Aviation Corporation (歐亞航空公司)

In 1937 the German ambassador to China requested the Reichslufthahrtministerium to assigned a latest Ju-52/3m transport to the Eurasia Fluggesellschaft, as an answer to the upcoming Ford Tri-motor ordered by its competitor, Chinese National Air Corporation.  Eurasia was a subsidiary of the Lufthansa, it was founded in 1935 under the agreement with the Chinese government.  In September an ex-Lufthansa Ju-52 tri-motor, s/n D-ABAN, was ferried to Shanghai via Guangzhou.  Instead of being transferred to the Eurasia, it became the VIP transport for the Generalissimo, bearing the Chinese Air Force insignia.  Totally 10 Iron Annies had flown with the struggling Eurasia until 1945.

During 1935-37, the Eurasia received the first 7 Ju-52 Iron Annies, nicknamed Big Junkers by Chinese.  Subsequently series numbers 15, 17, 19, 20, and 22 were all destroyed by the advancing Japanese.  The 17 first felt victim by Japanese bombs at Nanking in Aug 1937.  Though restored by Eurasia, but eventually it was blasted out at Hanzhong in May 1939.  In Jan 1938 the 20 was badly bombed in Henan, it took a whole year to be fully repaired.  In May s/n 15 narrowly evaded the fire of three Japanese fighters off coast of Hong Kong, it was attacked again over home base Kunming in Apr 1939.  In the same month the 19 forced landed en route to Kunming from Vietnam, when 3 enemy bombers turned up to it with machine gun fire.  After an urgent repair by the Eurasia ground crews, it perilously took off on a hillside temporary run way.  Amid the advancing enemy offensive, s/n 25 was shot down and three more crashed.  At the time, one of the German speaking, busy aeromechanic was Mr. Shao (紹高典), a graduate from Tongji, the sole German founded university in China, and a future buddy of my dad in the Taiwan Aluminum Corporation.

In February 1938 Hitler began to unilaterally terminate all the China assistance to please Japan.  Though the shortage of both aircraft and supplies had been a series blow to Eurasia, still on April 2, 1940, the 17 ‘Langzhou’ started flying between Chongqing and Hami (Kamul) as well the China-Russia civil line.  On 28 April, Göring officially called a halt to German export shipments through to China.  Yet again, additional 3 ex-Lufthansa Ju-52s re-enforced the Eurasia in August 1940.  But right before they entered service, the 25 was shot down by Jap fighters.  In December the 20 was once more an air raid wreckage in Chengdu, soon the 15 was also blasted in Gueiling.  With its fleet was about worn out and operations ceased in 1943, the hard-pressed Eurasia claimed bankrupts.  Its tiny flight of 1 Junkers W-34 and 1 Ju-52 were incorporated in to CNAC.  But the latter, the 19, was scrapped in 1945.

 

Mechanical Themes Woven Into Stories (各出所學 各盡所知)

Before the US Military Assistance Advisory Group withdrawal from Taiwan in December of 1978, my father Wei-Liang Lee (李惟梁), with his multicultural and technical expertise, was one of the few industry leaders the US advisers could rely on for assistance and allyship.  As the general manager of Taiwan Aluminum Corporation, W.L. was not only the top-flight mechanical-metallurgical engineer in Taiwan, but also a known indigenous sustainability advocate.  Although he had the idea for local production of the M-113 armored personnel carrier, he needed the specifications for its aluminum armor plate.  To ensure its own dominance in the region, the US discouraged Taiwan from making its own heavy equipment.  However, amateur diplomat W.L. managed to acquire the M-113 manual with the magnesium aluminum alloy spec through the proper channels.  Worded as a subtle technical transfer under the benign eye of a American friend, W.L. jumped at his M-113 APC project. 

Applying his knowledge, W.L. successfully developed the highest strength aluminum, and the new aircraft-quality alloy was fitted into his Talco strategy of added-value products.  As per the 113 spec, its armor is made from the 5083 super alloy.  My dad still needed a tactical hardness test from the US Army to compare the Talco product and 5083, while the US was reluctant to test this Taiwanese material.  Delayed by the US apprehension, fortunately the chief of the ROC purchase contingent to Washington lent a hand, since Gen. Wen Ha-Xong (溫哈雄) also regarded charismatic W.L. as a decent friend.  In the two years long effort, Gen. Wen made the US Army release its test result.

According to the 113 requirements, its armor should resist certain projectiles from various impact angles.  Though the Talco product fulfilled 97% of the requirement, it qualified for the standard on the reasonable merit.  This achievement provided a solid foundation for the Combined Logistics Command’s “Ten Thousand Chariots Program (萬乘計劃)”, for domestic M-113 production.  W.L. lost no time on 5083 mass production right after Talco received DOD’s 113 armor orders.  All the first batch of 60 then 250 more vehicle materials passed the Army’s inspection before 1985.  Based on its maintenance experience on steel chassis, the Armoured Vehicle Development Center did not have an argon welder for aluminum alloy.  Soon after the argon welding training by Talco instructors, the AVDC began churning out hundreds of 113s.