The

Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force, retroactively known by its historical name the Chinese Air Force and unofficially referred to as the Taiwanese Air Force, is the military aviation branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces, currently based i ...

(ROCAF) was officially formed by the ''

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

'' (KMT) after the establishment of the Aviation Ministry in 1920. As tensions mounted between

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Imperial Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

in the 1930s, air units from the Chinese warlords, including those from the Guangdong Provincial Air Force, and overseas Chinese aviators, became integrated into the centralized command of the ROCAF, nominally as the ''Nationalist Air Force of China'', and coordinating with the

Second United Front The Second United Front ( zh, t=第二次國共合作 , s=第二次国共合作 , first=t ) was the alliance between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to resist the Japanese invasion of China during the Seco ...

to counter the Imperial Japanese invasion and occupation. Of all the Chinese warlord air force units to join the centralized Nationalist Chinese Air Force command, the Guangxi Clique was the last to unite, in November 1937; under the continued leadership of generals

Li Zongren Li Zongren or Li Tsung-jen (; 13 August 1890 – 30 January 1969), courtesy name Telin (Te-lin; ), was a prominent Guangxi warlord and Kuomintang (KMT) military commander during the Northern Expedition, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese C ...

and

Bai Chongxi Bai Chongxi (18 March 1893 – 2 December 1966; , , Xiao'erjing: ) was a Chinese general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China (ROC) and a prominent Chinese Nationalist leader. He was of Hui ethnicity and of the Musli ...

, now serving in the KMT, they and their airmen would earn honorable recognition at the Battle of Taierzhuang.

Operations

During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

(1937–1945), which is often regarded as the beginning of World War II, the ROCAF participated in attacks on Japanese warships on the eastern front and along the

Yangtze river The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

and

interdiction Interdiction is a military term for the act of delaying, disrupting, or destroying enemy forces or supplies en route to the battle area. A distinction is often made between strategic and tactical interdiction. The former refers to operations whose ...

and

close-air support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movem ...

during the

Battle of Shanghai The Battle of Shanghai () was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) of the Empire of Japan at the beginning of th ...

in 1937. Chinese sources estimated the Japanese could field approximately 600 aircraft (from a total of 1,530) against China's 230 combat-ready aircraft. As the

Imperial Japanese Army Air Service The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ja, 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊, Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai, lit=Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps) was the aviation force of the Im ...

and the

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The was the Naval aviation, air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired their first air ...

conducted mass-terror bombings against both civilian and military targets, the Chinese Air Force also planned raiding Japanese home island with the

Martin B-10 The Martin B-10 was the first all-metal monoplane bomber to be regularly used by the United States Army Air Corps, entering service in June 1934.Jackson 2003, p. 246. It was also the first mass-produced bomber whose performance was superior to ...

bomber that was suited for the trans-oceanic raid. The initial lineup of Chinese frontline fighter aircraft included but not limited to the Curtiss Hawk II, Hawk III, Boeing P-26C/Model 281, Fiat CR.32 among others. These engaged Japanese fighters, attack/bombers and reconnaissance aircraft in many major air battles beginning from 14 August 1937, when

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

's ''

Kisarazu Air Group was an aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific campaign of World War II. History The Kisarazu Air Group was formed at Kisarazu Air Field, in Kisarazu, Ch ...

'' raided Jianqiao Airbase with the ''

schnellbomber A ''Schnellbomber'' (German; literally "fast bomber") is a bomber that relies upon speed to avoid enemy fighters, rather than relying on defensive armament and armor. Concept The concept developed in the 1930s when it was believed that a ver ...

'' strategy, but suffering heavy losses; "814" has thus become known as "Air Force Day". Chinese Boeing P-26/281 fighters engaged Japanese

Mitsubishi A5M The Mitsubishi A5M, formal Japanese Navy designation , experimental Navy designation Mitsubishi Navy Experimental 9-''Shi'' Carrier Fighter, company designation Mitsubishi ''Ka''-14, was a Japanese carrier-based fighter aircraft. It was the worl ...

fighters in the world's first dogfight between all-metal

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

fighters. A long-distance "bombing raid" over Japan on 19 May 1938 saw two Chinese Martin B-10 bombers led by Captain Xu Huansheng fly into Japan, albeit dropping only anti-war leaflets over the Japanese cities of

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

, among others cities. It was a

war of attrition The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from ...

for the Chinese pilots, as many of their most experienced ace fighter pilots, such as Lieutenant , Colonel Kao Chih-hang,

Yue Yiqin Yue Yiqin (or Yue Yi-chin, ; November 11, 1914 – December 3, 1937) was a flying ace of the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He achieved five confirmed aerial victories until his death in combat during the Battle of Nanking ...

, among others, were lost; six months into the war, the Chinese Air Force inventory of frontline American Hawk IIs and IIIs and P-26Cs, and various others, were mostly superseded by faster and better armed

Polikarpov I-15 The Polikarpov I-15 (russian: И-15) was a Soviet biplane fighter aircraft of the 1930s. Nicknamed ''Chaika'' (''russian: Чайка'', "Seagull") because of its gulled upper wings,Gunston 1995, p. 299.Green and Swanborough 1979, p. 10. it was o ...

s and I-16s provided under the Sino-Soviet Treaty of 1937, including Soviet volunteer combat aviators. However, with the Fall of Nanking, the Fall of Wuhan, and the losses at the

Battle of South Guangxi The Battle of South Guangxi () was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In November 1939, the Japanese landed on the coast of Guangxi and captured ...

, the primary supply-line of China's "war of resistance" against the Imperial Japanese aggressions was dealt a further blow, not least of which the high-octane aviation fuel that was blocked-off from Chinese access, but still accessible to Imperial Japan. Chinese Polikarpov I-15bis

After suffering heavy losses in the

Battle of Wuhan The Battle of Wuhan (武漢之戰), popularly known to the Chinese as the Defense of Wuhan, and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan, was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Engagements took place across vast areas of Anhui ...

in October 1938, most active air force units were withdrawn hinterland for the defense of Sichuan against the most brutal terror-bombing raids ever inflicted upon civilian populations up to that time; the massive Japanese carpet-bombing campaigns, against targets in Sichuan, under the codenames ''Operation 100'' and ''101'', were also fiercely contested solely by the Chinese Air Force units and anti-aircraft artillery units, sometimes with significant Japanese losses. But as China was not an aviation-industrial power at the time, losses continued to mount, while the Japanese forces enjoyed a highly developed aviation industry that saw constantly improving cutting-edge technological advancements giving Japanese aircraft distinct performance advantages in speed, agility, altitude/climbing rate and firepower that greatly placed the increasingly underpowered and underarmed Chinese fighter aircraft hampered with low-grade fuel at tremendous disadvantage. With the introduction of Mitsubishi A6M "Zero", the most advanced fighter aircraft of the time, the Imperial Japanese gained practically complete air-supremacy by 1941, giving the Japanese military high-command full confidence in proceeding with the implementation of '' Operation Z'' (the planning and rehearsals for the attack on Pearl Harbor). With the

Japanese invasion of French Indochina The was a short undeclared military confrontation between Japan and France in northern French Indochina. Fighting lasted from 22 to 26 September 1940; the same time as the Battle of South Guangxi in the Sino-Japanese War, which was the main ...

, the United States enacted an oil and steel embargo against Japan and also the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

Act on 11 March 1941, of which China was included as beneficiary on the 15th of March; the Republic of China government placed a request 1,000 aircraft to fight-back the Japanese. Curtiss P-40E Warhawk 2 USAF

Through attrition and loss of their most experienced fighter pilots in the first half of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Republic of China Air Force suffered much irreversible losses in combat against the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, and as the US imposed and by the beginning of 1942 the ROCAF was practically annihilated by Japanese aircraft, particularly due to the introduction of the A6M ''Zero-fighter''. The ROCAF was eventually supplemented with the establishment of the

American Volunteer Group The American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The only unit to actually see combat was the 1st AVG, pop ...

(known as the "''Flying Tigers''") with fast and heavily armed and armored

Curtiss P-40 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

Warhawks, employing dissimilar hit and run tactics in defense of the primary wartime Allied supply-line into China known as "

The Hump The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and t ...

", between

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

province and British bases in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, while the remains of the Chinese Air Force modernized and rebuilt its strength each year following Imperial Japan's attack on

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, with new commitment and support from the

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

States. The ROC Air Force was reconstituted into seven Groups, one separate Squadron and four Volunteer Groups. In 1939, after the USSR concluded a non-aggression pact with Germany, the

Soviet Volunteer Group The Soviet Volunteer Group was the volunteer part of the Soviet Air Forces sent to support the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War between 1937 and 1941. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact w ...

was withdrawn. By the end of 1941, the air force had 364 operational aircraft. Up to 100 of these were P-40Bs operated by the

. U.S. replacement aircraft began to arrive in March 1942. They included A-29s, P-40s,

P-43 The Republic P-43 Lancer was a single-engine, all-metal, low-wing monoplane fighter aircraft built by Republic, first delivered to the United States Army Air Corps in 1940. A proposed development was the P-44 Rocket. While not a particularly ou ...

s, In 1944, the

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Fourteenth Air Force The Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF; Air Forces Strategic) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The command was responsible for the organizatio ...

commenced joint operations in the China theatre. By this time the Chinese Air Force was mostly equipped with current operational aircraft types and was superior in all respects to the opposing Japanese air forces which remained.

Units of the Chinese Airforce 1937–1945

*1st Group, (bombers) : Tupolev ANT 40 SB III, VI,

North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

Northrop Gamma The Northrop Gamma was a single-engine all-metal monoplane cargo aircraft used in the 1930s. Towards the end of its service life, it was developed into the A-17 light bomber. Design and development The Gamma was a further development of the su ...

2E,

Northrop A-17 The Northrop A-17, a development of the Northrop Gamma 2F model, was a two-seat, single-engine, monoplane, attack bomber built in 1935 by the Northrop Corporation for the United States Army Air Corps. When in British Commonwealth service during W ...

*2nd Group, (bombers) : Tupolev ANT 40 SB III,

2E,

, 19 Lockheed A-29, 8 Avro 627 China built domestically as scout-bombers at

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

**30th Squadron: 20

Fiat BR.3 The Fiat B.R. 1/4 was a light bomber series, developed in Italy shortly after World War I. Design and development The B.R was a development of the SIA 9 reconnaissance aircraft, incorporating major strengthening of that design. Its general ...

*6th Group, (light bombers/scout-bombers) :21 Vought O3U/V-92C,

Douglas O-2 The Douglas O-2 was a 1920s American observation aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Development The important family of Douglas observation aircraft sprang from two XO-2 prototypes, the first of which was powered by the 420 hp ...

MC *7th Group, (light bombers/scout-bombers) ::42

O2U Corsair The Vought O2U Corsair was a 1920s biplane scout and observation aircraft. Developed by Vought Corporation, the O2U was ordered by the United States Navy (USN) in 1927. Powered by a 400 hp (298 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine, it inco ...

MC *8th Group, (bombers) :2 Northrop Alpha 4 (converted locally to scout-bombers), 30 Ilyushin DB-3 (later into the Composite Group),

**10th Squadron :: 10

Savoia-Marchetti S.72 The Savoia-Marchetti S.72 was an Italian three-engine transport monoplane designed and built by Savoia-Marchetti as an enlarged and strengthened version of the earlier Savoia-Marchetti S.71, S.71. The S.72 was a three-engine, high-wing Cantilever ...

, 6

Caproni Ca.111 The Caproni Ca.111 was a long-range reconnaissance aircraft and light bomber produced in Italy during the 1930s. It was a derivative of the Ca.101. Design and development A robust and simple aircraft, it was meant to be used in harsh conditions ...

**19th Squadron :: 6

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...

, 6

Tupolev TB-3 The Tupolev TB-3 (russian: Тяжёлый Бомбардировщик, Tyazhyolyy Bombardirovshchik, Heavy Bomber, civilian designation ANT-6) was a monoplane heavy bomber deployed by the Soviet Air Force in the 1930s and used during the early ...

**30th Squadron :: 6

*12th Group, (bombers) *10th Squadron, (bombers) ::4 Vultee A-19 *3rd Group, (fighters) : Fiat CR.30, 9

Avro 626 The Avro 626 is a single-engined British biplane trainer aircraft produced by Avro during the (1918-1939) inter-war period. Design and development The Model 626 was developed by Avro from the company's Model 621 (Tutor) for export to smalle ...

, Polikarpov E.15bis, E.15ter (E.15III, E.153), and E.16,

P-51D Over twenty variants of the North American P-51 Mustang fighter were produced from 1940, when it first flew, to after World War II, some of which were employed also in the Korean War and in several other conflicts. Allison-engined Mustangs NA ...

, P-36 Hawk, 36

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

Mk-1,

P-66 Vanguard The Vultee P-66 Vanguard was a United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft. It was initially ordered by Sweden, but by the time the aircraft were ready for delivery in 1941, the United States would not allow them to be exported, designating ...

**8th Squadron (fighters :9 Fiat CR.32 **17th Squadron (fighters) :11 Boeing Type 281 **28th Squadron (fighters) :

Mk-1 **29th Squadron (fighters) :Gloster Gladiator Mk-1 **32nd Squadron (fighters) ::Gloster Gladiator Mk-1 *4th Group, (fighters) ::Curtiss ( Hawk III), Polikarpov E.15bis, E.15ter (E.15III, E.153) and E.16,

P-40 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...

, 41

P-43 Lancer The Republic P-43 Lancer was a single-engine, all-metal, low-wing monoplane fighter aircraft built by Republic, first delivered to the United States Army Air Corps in 1940. A proposed development was the P-44 Rocket. While not a particularly ou ...

**22nd Squadron (fighters) :: 9 Curtiss 68C Hawk III ( F11C-3) *5th Group, (fighters) : Polikarpov E.15bis, E.15ter (E.15III, E.153), P-40N,

**17th Squadron (fighters) ::12 Dewoitine D.510 **28th Squadron (fighters) :49 Curtiss Hawk-II ( F11C-2) *9th Group, (fighters) :120 Curtiss 68C Hawk III ( F11C-3), 20 A-12 Shrike **26th Squadron ::

Curtiss A-12 Shrike The Curtiss A-12 Shrike was the United States Army Air Corps' second monoplane ground-attack aircraft, and its main attack aircraft through most of the 1930s. It was based on the Curtiss A-8 Shrike, A-8, but had a radial engine instead of the A ...

**27th Squadron :A-12 Shrike *11th Group, (fighters) ::

N *Russian Volunteer Group, (pursuit) : Polikarpov E.15bis, E.15ter (E.15III, E.153) and E.16 *Russian Volunteer Group, (bombers) :: Ilyushin DB-3,

Polikarpov R-5 The Polikarpov R-5 (russian: Р-5) was a Soviet reconnaissance bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was the standard light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the Soviet Air Force for much of the 1930s, while also being used heavily as a civilian l ...

Scout-bombers *American Volunteer Group 'Flying Tigers', (fighters) :P-40B, P-40E *Composite Group *Temporary Organised Group-Air Cadet Flying School.(Fighter) ::Curtiss 68C Hawk III ( F11C-3) *12th Squadron (Reconnaissance) :: 9 P-38/F-5 *13th Squadron (bombers & transports) :: 3

Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 The Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 ''Pipistrello'' (Italian: bat) was the first three-engine bomber/transport aircraft serving in the Italian ''Regia Aeronautica''.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978, p. 188. When it appeared in 1935, it represented a real s ...

, 1

Spartan Executive The Spartan 7W Executive is a cabin monoplane aircraft that was produced by the Spartan Aircraft Company during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The 7W features an all-metal fuselage, as well as a retractable undercarriage. The 7W Executive was ...

Model 7W (lost on Dec 12, 1937). *14th International Volunteer Squadron (bombers): 20+ Vultee A-19, Northrop Gamma 2E,

, 3

*15th Squadron (dive bombers) :: 10

Henschel Hs 123 The Henschel Hs 123 was a single-seat biplane dive bomber and close-support attack aircraft flown by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Spanish Civil War and the early to midpoint of World War II. It proved to be robust, durable and effective e ...

*18th Squadron (Scout-bombers) ::

Caproni Ca.101 The Caproni Ca.101 was a three-engine Italian airliner which later saw military use as a transport and bomber. It was designed in 1927 and first flown in 1928. Design and development The Ca.101 was a derivative of the Caproni Ca.97, with an en ...

and

MC; originally stationed at

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, later changed to fighters with Curtiss Hawk 75M. *27th Squadron (light bombers) : 9 Bellanca 28-90B *29th Squadron (fighters) :: 6

Breda Ba.27 The Breda Ba.27 was a fighter produced in Italy in the 1930s, used by the Chinese Nationalist Air Force in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Design and development The Ba.27 was a low-wing braced monoplane with fixed tailwheel undercarriage. As or ...

*32nd Squadron (fighters) ::

Nakajima Type 91 The Nakajima Army Type 91 Fighter was a Japanese fighter of the 1930s. It was a single-engine, single-seat parasol monoplane with a fixed, tailwheel undercarriage. Development Designed in response to an Army requirement of 1927, the Type 91 w ...

fighter *34th Squadron (fighters and bombers) :: 14

Armstrong Whitworth Atlas The Armstrong Whitworth Atlas was a British single-engine biplane designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It served as an army co-operation aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the first purpose-desi ...

, 6

Westland Wapiti The Westland Wapiti was a British two-seat general-purpose military single-engined biplane of the 1920s. It was designed and built by Westland Aircraft Works to replace the Airco DH.9A in Royal Air Force service. First flying in 1927, the Wa ...

, Mitsubishi Type 92. *41st French Volunteer Squadron (fighters) :: 6 Dewoitine D.510 *20

Focke-Wulf Fw 44 The Focke-Wulf Fw 44 ''Stieglitz'' ("Goldfinch") is a 1930s German two-seat biplane. An early design by Kurt Tank, it was produced by the Focke-Wulf company as a pilot training and sports flying aircraft. It was also eventually built under lice ...

of various units *30+

de Havilland Gipsy Moth The de Havilland DH.60 Moth is a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. Development The DH.60 was developed from the larger DH.51 biplane. ...

of various units, including 13 seaplane versions of Chinese navy. (All lost by the end of 1937). *Central Aviation School (trainers) :: 16

Armstrong Whitworth A.W.16 The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.16 (or A.W.XVI) was a British single-engine biplane fighter aircraft designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. A number were sold to the Chinese ''Kwangsi'' Air Force. Development The A.W.16 was develo ...

, also used as fighters in the early stage of the

. *

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

Aviation School (trainers) ::

Breda Ba.25 The Breda Ba.25 was an Italian two-seat biplane trainer designed and built by the Breda company. It was the most widely used Italian basic trainer of the 1930s. Design and development The first flight took place near Milan in 1931. Initially de ...

, Ba.28 *

Liuzhou Liuzhou (; , IPA Pronunciation:) is a prefecture-level city in north-central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The prefecture's population was 3,758,700 in 2010, including 1,436,599 in the built-up area made of 4 urban ...

Aviation School (trainers) :: Around 20

Avro Avian The Avro Avian was a series of British light aircraft designed and built by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s. While the various versions of the Avian were sound aircraft, they were comprehensively outsold by the de Havilland Moth and its descendant ...

(616 IVM), 6

Avro Cadet The Avro Cadet is a single-engined British biplane trainer designed and built by Avro in the 1930s as a smaller development of the Avro Tutor for civil use. Design and development The Avro 631 Cadet was developed in 1931 as a smaller, more e ...

, 5

Avro Tutor The Avro Type 621 Tutor is a two-seat British radial-engined biplane from the interwar period. It was a simple but rugged basic trainer (aircraft), trainer that was used by the Royal Air Force as well as many other air arms worldwide. Design ...

, 7 Nakajima Ko-4 (Japanese license produced

Nieuport-Delage NiD 29 The Nieuport-Delage NiD.29 was a French single-seat biplane fighter (C.I category) designed and built by Nieuport-Delage for the French Air Force. Design and development The prototype NiD.29 was an equal-span biplane with ailerons on both u ...

C.1) *3rd Reserve Squadron :: 5

Loening C-2 The Loening C-2 Air Yacht was an amphibious airliner produced in the United States at the end of the 1920s, developed from the Loening OL, OL observation aircraft the firm was producing for the US military."The Loening Cabin Amphibian", 415 De ...

-H (seaplane version of

Loening OA-1 The Loening OL, also known as the Loening Amphibian, was an American two-seat amphibious biplane designed by Grover Loening and built by Loening for the United States Army Air Corps and the United States Navy. Design and development First flown ...

) *Aerial Survey Squadron :: 1 Spartan C4, 1 Messerschmitt BFW M18d,

Junkers W 33 The Junkers W 33 was a German 1920s single-engine low-wing monoplane transport aircraft that followed Junkers standard practice making extensive use of corrugated aluminium alloy over an aluminium alloy tube frame, that was developed from the s ...

Junkers W 34 The Junkers W 34 was a German-built, single-engine, passenger and transport aircraft. Developed in the 1920s, it was taken into service in 1926. The passenger version could take a pilot and five passengers. The aircraft was developed from the J ...

Chinese air force aces

Chinese-American volunteer and/or former provincial/warlord air force pilots

John Wong Pan-Yang Huang Panyang (a.k.a. Wong Pan-yang/Wong Pan-Yang or simply John Wong, ; 1910 – ?) was an American aviator who volunteered to serve in the Republic of China Air Force, Chinese Air Force in the looming war against the Second Sino-Japanese War, Im ...

(黄泮扬): 13 victories (American-born Chinese air force volunteer) * John "Buffalo" Wong (黃新瑞): 8.5 victories (Chinese-born American volunteer in the CAF) * Chen Ruitian a.k.a. Arthur Chin (陳瑞鈿): 7 victories (American-born Chinese air force volunteer) * Zhu Jiaxun (朱嘉勋 - Chu Chia-hsun) 5+ victories (former Guangxi-Bai Chongxi/Li Zongren warlord air force pilot) *

Cen Zeliu Cen Zeliu (; 1912–1941), also Shum Tsak-lau ''(Cantonese)'': was born in Enping, Guangdong, China. He trained in the Guangdong provincial aviation academy as a fighter pilot, graduating in 1934, and attached to the provincial warlord air for ...

(岑泽鎏 - Shim Tsak-lai, Sh'en Tse-liu): 5+ victories (former Guangdong-Chen Jitang warlord air force pilot) * Louie Yim-Qun (雷炎均): 3-5 victories (American-born Chinese air force volunteer) *Teng Li-Chun 2.5 victories, He flew 60 combat missions during WWII as a member of the Chinese-American Composite Wing (Provisional) in the 1st Wing of the 14th Air Force. He flew another 220 combat missions against the communist Chinese. He retired as a Colonel in the Republic of China Air Force with 18 Chinese military decorations and the Air Medal from the United States.

R.O.C. commissioned pilots

* : 11-1/3 (9 confirmed according to Republic of China records) * Wang Kuang-Fu (王光復): 8 *

Gao Youxin Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

: 8 * Yuan Baokang (袁葆康): 8 victories * : 7+ * Tsang Shi-Lan (臧錫蘭): 7 * Tan Kun (譚鯤): 5 or 6 *

(樂以琴): 5 * : 5 * : 5 * Lo Ying-Te (羅英德): 5 * Leng Pei-Su (冷培澍): 5 * Chow Ting-Fong (周廷芳): 6 * Lu Ji-Chun(呂基純): 5 * : 5

Foreign aid

Soviet Union

From 1937 to the beginning of 1941, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

served as the primary supplier to the ROCAF, and from October 1937 to January 1941, a total of 848 aircraft in 13 batches were ordered by the Chinese government and were supplied on credit, worth roughly 200 million dollars. In addition, there were 37 aircraft transferred to Chinese when Soviet force withdrew from China after the signing of Soviet–German Non-Aggression Pact. These aircraft included 563 fighters, including 252 I-152, 75

I-153 The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' (Russian ''Чайка'', "Seagull") was a late 1930s Soviet biplane fighter. Developed as an advanced version of the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mong ...

, 132 I-16 Type 5, 75 I-16 Type 10, 10 I-16 Type 17 and rest being I-15 bis, which was not part of the purchase in the 13 batches. Also included were 322 bombers, including 179 SB-2M-100A, 100 SB-2M-103 24

DB-3 The Ilyushin DB-3, where "DB" stands for ''Dalniy Bombardirovschik'' (Russian: Дальний бомбардировщик) meaning "long-range bomber", was a Soviet bomber aircraft of World War II. It was a twin-engined, low-wing monoplane that f ...

, 6

TB-3 The Tupolev TB-3 (russian: Тяжёлый Бомбардировщик, Tyazhyolyy Bombardirovshchik, Heavy Bomber, civilian designation ANT-6) was a monoplane heavy bomber deployed by the Soviet Air Force in the 1930s and used during the early ...

and 13 SB that were not part of the purchase in the 13 batches). Also included in the 13-batch purchase were 5 UT-1 trainers. However, of the 250–300 combat aircraft supplied annually, only a few dozen would survive through the end of the year.

United States

While the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

provided most of the military aircraft to

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

in the late 1930s, many early Chinese aircraft were supplied by the American

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decades ...

. In 1937 the Hawk II and Hawk III biplanes comprised the backbone of Chinese fighter aviation. These were soon followed by the Hawk 75 monoplane. The demonstration model

Hawk 75N The Curtiss P-36 Hawk, also known as the Curtiss Hawk Model 75, is an American-designed and built fighter aircraft of the 1930s and 40s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, it was one of the first of a new generatio ...

, with non-retractable landing gear was purchased in 1938 and became the personal aircraft of the American advisor to the Aviation Committee,

Claire Chennault Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958) was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the "Flying Tigers" and the Chinese Air Force in World War II. Chennault was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fighte ...

who oversaw training and lobbied for the procurement of American aircraft. The entry of the United States into the war with Japan at the end of 1941 led to the receipt of Lend-Lease equipment from the United States, including aircraft. American Lend-Lease aviation equipment had already begun to arrive in China as early as the middle of 1941, though that includes the first shipments before January 1942 which arrived under the guise of purchases. Including previously purchased American aircraft, US soon replaced USSR as the largest supplier for the Chinese Nationalist air force during the war (Including the

that actually broke out in 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria). Retraining on American aircraft occurred for the most part in India. (Karachi and other cities), where Chinese pilots were sent both as groups and as entire units. As early as the end of 1941 Chinese pilots, mainly recently graduated from flight schools, began to be sent to the US for longer training and mastery of American aircraft. The first American P-43A fighters were received by the 4th Air Group (21st – 24th Squadrons) in March 1942. They retrained in Kunming, but for the new aircraft the pilots sequentially flew in small groups to India. On 24 April the deputy commander of the 24th Squadron, Wu Zhenhua, crashed on the flight to

. On 12 May, Chen Lokun, the flight commander of the 24th Squadron was killed during a training flight, crashing into a tree during landing. In July for unclear reasons the P-43 of the 4th Air Group commander,

Zheng Shaoyu Zheng Shaoyu (; 1911–1942), also spelled Cheng Hsiao-yu (Wades-Gile), was born in Qu County of Sichuan province. In 1933–1934, he passed initial qualifications for admission into the China Central Aviation School at Jianqiao Airbase. He gr ...

, caught fire in the air and the pilot was killed. On 3 August 1942 during a training flight the deputy group commander

Chen Sheng Chen Sheng (died January 208 BC), also known as Chen She ("She" being his courtesy name), posthumously known as Prince Yin, was the leader of the Dazexiang Uprising, the first rebellion against the Qin Dynasty. It occurred during the reign of ...

crashed. A similar series of crashes accompanied the mastery by the Chinese of almost every new machine. (It is notable that in Chinese sources the family names are given only of the perished commanders of various ranks, while the losses amongst the line pilots are hardly even noted.) Concluding their conversion to the

A in early August 1942, the group returned to Chengdu. In February 1943, preparing for transition to the new American air equipment, the Chinese transferred to India the primary training groups from their flight schools. Only training for reconnaissance and photography continued to be carried out in China. In March 1945 the cadets completing primary training in India were sent to America to train further. By that time the number of cadets dispatched had reached 1224, of whom 384 managed to return to China and participate in combat. In all, from 1942 to 1945 420 training aircraft were sent from the US to China through India, including 20 AT-6, 8 AT-7, 15 AT-17, 150

PT-17 The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known ...

, 127

PT-19 The Fairchild PT-19 (company designation Fairchild M62) is an American monoplane primary trainer aircraft that served with the United States Army Air Forces, RAF and RCAF during World War II. Designed by Fairchild Aircraft, it was a contempora ...

, 70

PT-22 The Ryan PT-22 Recruit, the main military version of the Ryan ST, is a military trainer aircraft used by the United States Army Air Corps during WWII for primary pilot training. Design and development The PT-22's fuselage is a simple monocoque ...

, and 30

BT-13 The Vultee BT-13 Valiant is an American World War II-era basic (a category between primary and advanced) trainer aircraft built by Vultee Aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps, and later US Army Air Forces. A subsequent variant of the B ...

, and also 10 Beechcraft D-17 medical aircraft.

Domestic assembly of aircraft

While the modified Hawk 75M with retractable landing gear was created specially for China, it was not widely used in the war against the Japanese. Thirty aircraft, and 82 kits for assembly were delivered in the summer and autumn of 1938. It was planned to assemble the Hawk in a factory operated by the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which had been evacuated from

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers wher ...

Loiwing The Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO; ), also known as the Loiwing Factory (雷允飛機製造廠) after they moved to Yunnan, was a Chinese aircraft manufacturer established by American entrepreneur William D. Pawley in the 1930s. ...

. The latter location, not far from the Burmese border on the eastern bank of the Ruiluqiang River in

Province, at that time seemed protected from Japanese attacks, but technical difficulties plagued the actual assembly of the Hawk 75 in that location. Although the Japanese had not bombed the factory, only eight machines were assembled by October 1940. The fate of the remaining kits is unknown. Following the failure of Hawk 75 production, the CAMCO factory planned to organize assembly of the export version of the

Curtiss-Wright CW-21 The Curtiss-Wright Model 21 (also known as the Curtiss-Wright Model 21 Demonstrator, the Curtiss-Wright CW-21 Interceptor, the Curtiss-Wright CW-21 Demon) was an American fighter-interceptor developed by the St. Louis Airplane Division of Curtis ...

"Demon" interceptor. Three aircraft and 32 sets of components were ordered from the US. The factory at Loiwing worked until April 1942 when, due to Japanese attacks, it had to be evacuated to

and its American personnel set up shop in India. Japanese advances in Burma in late-1942 forced the 1st Air Force Aircraft Manufacturing Factory (1st AFAMF) to move hinterland to Guiyang, Guizhou province, where the Chinese government was attempting an innovative and ambitious indigenously designed swept-forward gull-winged fighter plane called the XP-1, in hopes to reduce reliance on foreign sources. From 1943 to 1946 the CAMCO factory, which was dispersed in the ravines neighboring Kunming, assembled an experimental series of nine fighter monoplanes, probably from Hawk 75M, 75A-5, and CW-21 components. To a degree they were similar to the American prototypes and their further fate is unknown. In western sources the first example figures under the designation

Chu XP-0 The Chu XP-0, also known as the Chu (AFAMF) XP-0, was a Chinese fighter prototype in the Second World War. Development Designed by the Chief of the Air Force Technical Bureau, Major General Chu Chia-Jen, in 1941, the XP-0 was a single-seat figh ...

Ranks

Officers

Other ranks

Notes

References

* Cheung, Raymond. ''Aces of the Republic of China Air Force''. OSPREY AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES 126 Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2015. . * Howarth, Stephen. ''THE FIGHTING SHIPS OF THE RISING SUN: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1895–1945''. Fairfield, Pennsylvania: Fairfield Graphics, 1983. . * Caidin, Martin. ''Zero Fighter: Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II Weapons Book No. 9''. New York, NY: Ballantine Books Inc, 1969. . * 徐 (Xú), 露梅 (Lùméi). ''隕落 (Fallen): 682位空军英烈的生死档案 - 抗战空军英烈档案大解密 (A Decryption of 682 Air Force Heroes of The War of Resistance-WWII and Their Martyrdom)''. 东城区, 北京，中国: 团结出版社, 2016. . * *

External links

* Porritt, Mamie

{{DEFAULTSORT:Development Of Chinese Nationalist Air Force (1937-1945) 20th century in China China–Soviet Union relations China–United States military relations National Revolutionary Army Republic of China Air Force Second Sino-Japanese War World War II Chinese aircraft