Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport (), formerly romanized as Chien Chiao, also known as Hangzhou Air Base, is a

People's Liberation Army Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular armed forces of the Peo ...

Base and a former civil airport serving

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

, the capital city of

Zhejiang Province Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...

, China. It is located in the town of Jianqiao () in

Jianggan District Jianggan District was one of ten urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, East China. The district was located in the northeast of Hangzhou and on the northern (left) bank of the Qiantang Rive ...

, about 7 miles northeast of the city center. Jianqiao Airport served as Hangzhou's main airport until 29 December 2000, when all commercial flights were transferred to the newly built

Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport is the principal airport serving Hangzhou, a major city in the Yangtze River Delta region and the capital of Zhejiang Province, China.

History

Jianqiao was developed into an airfield and flight training institute in 1922 under support and directives of the Anhui clique warlord

Lu Yongxiang Lu Yongxiang may refer to: *Lu Yongxiang (warlord) Lu Yongxiang, (; October 22, 1867 – May 15, 1933), Anhui clique warlord, military governor of Zhejiang, Zhili, and Jiangsu. Lu Yongxiang was born October 22, 1867, in Jiyang, Shandong, C ...

and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veteran ace fighter pilot

Zhu Binhou Zhu Binhou (; 4 December 1885 – 1940?), also known as Etienne Tsu, was an early Chinese aviator. Born in Shanghai, Zhu was a son of the prominent banker Zhu Zhiyao ( 朱志尧, a.k.a. Nicolas Tsu). He left for France to study mechanical engin ...

, with a squadron of aircraft that included

Breguet 14 Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...

s. Jianqiao air force base was then consolidated in 1931 in wake of the

Mukden Incident The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, L ...

by the Nationalist Government of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

, and was a location of major air battles between the Chinese air force and the Imperial Japanese air forces 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 ...

(1937–45); battles scenes of Jianqiao which were re-enacted in a motion-picture patriotic war drama ''

Heroes of the Eastern Skies ''Heroes of the Eastern Skies'' (; pinyin: ''jianqiao yinglie zhuan''), is a Chinese war drama filmed in Taiwan, Taiwan, R.O.C. and based on the true story of a small group of Chinese flying aces in 1937 at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese ...

'' (or ''Heroes of Jianqiao''). In 1956 it was converted to a public airport and civil flights started on January 1, 1957. The airport was expanded in 1971 in preparation for the

official visit A state visit is a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country, at the invitation of the head of state of that foreign country, with the latter also acting as the Hospitality, official host for the duration of the state visit. Speaking ...

of President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

of the United States. In 1990 the runway was again lengthened and widened to 3,200 meters long and 50 meters wide. The airport handled 2,167,400 passengers in 1999, and served 46 routes in 2000 before all civil flights were transferred to the newly built

. When Jianqiao Airport serviced commercial flights, it housed the headquarters of Zhejiang Airlines."World Airline Directory." ''

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldes ...

''. 31 March-6 April 1999
108
"Jian Qiao Airport, 7 Yucheng Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310021, China"

References

{{authority control 1931 establishments in China 1957 establishments in China Airports established in 1931 Airports established in 1957 Airports in Zhejiang Defunct airports in China Buildings and structures in Hangzhou Chinese Air Force bases Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Zhejiang

History

See also

References