Nanchang Laoyingfang Airport () was a military air base and the first airport in

Nanchang Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...

, the capital of

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

Province, China. Constructed in 1929, it was one of the four major air bases of 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 ...

in the 1930s. Laoyingfang was closed after 1949 and its site has been redeveloped for use by the Jiangxi Provincial Government and

Jiangxi Normal University Jiangxi Normal University (JXNU; ), situated in Nanchang, capital city of Jiangxi Province China, is co-sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the Jiangxi Provincial Government. It is listed in the Midwest University Fundamental Capacity Buil ...

History

Laoyingfang Airport was opened in November 1929, the first airport in Nanchang, the capital of China's

Province. It was very small at first, and was expanded a year later. During

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 ...

Encirclement Campaigns Encirclement campaigns (), officially called in Chinese Communist historiography as the Agrarian Revolutionary War were the campaigns launched by forces of the Chinese Nationalist Government against forces of the Chinese Communist Party during the ...

against the

Chinese Soviet Republic The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was an East Asian proto-state in China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese communist leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the CSR ...

, the rebel communist base in southern Jiangxi, the airport was greatly expanded in 1933 and served as the base for more than 200

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 ...

war planes. It became one of the four major air bases of the

, together with Hangzhou Jianqiao, Nanjing Dajiaochang, and Luoyang Beijiao. As Laoyingfang's proximity to the city centre impeded frequent military operations,

ordered the construction of the even larger Sanjiadian Airport (later known as

Qingyunpu Airport Nanchang Qingyunpu Airport (), also known as Sanjiadian Airport (), is an airport in Qingyunpu District of Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. Originally constructed for use by the Republic of China Air Force, it was the largest airport in China when opened ...

) in Qingyunpu, then in the far outskirts of Nanchang. The new air base was opened in the spring of 1935. In 1933, Chiang Kai-shek signed an agreement with Italian Prime Minister

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

to establish a joint venture in China to manufacture airplanes. The company, called Sino-Italian National Aircraft Works (SINAW), was established in 1934 in Nanchang, with factories located at both Laoyingfang and Sanjiadian airports. It became the predecessor of

Hongdu Hongdu Aviation Industry Group Ltd. (HAIG) (), formerly China Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation or CNAMC, is a Chinese aircraft manufacturer and supplier to the People's Liberation Army, Chinese military. It is based in Nanchang, Jiangx ...

Aviation, one of China's major aircraft manufacturers. After the outbreak of 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 ...

in 1937, SINAW factories were severely damaged by Japanese aerial bombing. Nanchang was later occupied by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

, which used Laoyingfang as an air base. It was likely from Laoyingfang that the

Unit 731 , short for Manshu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and Ishii Unit, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentatio ...

launched

germ warfare Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. Bio ...

against the city of

Changde Changde ( ) is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Hunan province, People's Republic of China. In addition to the urban districts, Changde also administers the county-level city of Jinshi City, Jinshi and six counties. Changde is adjacent ...

in nearby

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

province. In September 1945, after the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

at the end of World War II,

China Airlines China Airlines (CAL; ) is the state-owned flag carrier of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of its two major airlines along with EVA Air. It is headquartered in Taoyuan International Airport and operates over 1,400 flights weekly (inclu ...

started to operate scheduled

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

–

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

–Nanchang–

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 ...

flights from Laoyingfang Airport. It became a dedicated civil airport in May 1948. After the Communist Party won the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

and established the

People's Republic of 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 ...

in 1949, Laoyingfang Airport fell into disuse and Xiangtang Airport was built as Nanchang's main airport for both military and civil flights. The site for Laoyingfang was redeveloped, part of which is occupied by the Jiangxi Provincial Government, and its former runway is now a street on the campus of

References

{{authority control Airports in Jiangxi Transport in Nanchang Airports established in 1929 1929 establishments in China Defunct airports in China Chinese Air Force bases Chinese Civil War Second Sino-Japanese War Republic of China Air Force