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  In 1937 the Aviation School was withdrawn to Kunming, then moved even further to Lahore, India.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.