Song Wencong (; 26 March 1930 – 22 March 2016) was a Chinese aerospace engineer and

aircraft designer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, who was responsible for the development of the single seat version of the

Chengdu J-10 The Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon (; NATO reporting name: Firebird), is a medium-weight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft capable of all-weather operations, configured with a delta wing and canard design, with fly-by-wire flight contr ...

. He was a member of the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...

Biography

Song was born on 26 March 1930, in

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 ...

, with his

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

Dali, Yunnan Dali City () is the county-level seat of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan. Dali City is administered through 12 township-level districts, two of which are also commonly referred to as Dali. Xiaguan () formerly ...

. He joined a youth organization of the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

by the end of 1948. He enlisted in the Yunnan-Guangxi-Guizhou border region column of PLA in July 1949 as a scout. In May 1951, he joined the

Chinese People's Volunteer Army The People's Volunteer Army (PVA) was the armed expeditionary forces deployed by the People's Republic of China during the Korean War. Although all units in the PVA were actually transferred from the People's Liberation Army under the order ...

to fight against the American-led United Nations forces in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. In August 1954, he was accepted to Harbin Institute of Military Engineering (now

Harbin Engineering University Harbin Engineering University (HEU; ) was founded in 1953 in Harbin, China. It offers more than 150-degree programs, 48 of which are conducted in English. Designated a Double First Class University and a former Project 211 university, HEU is ...

), where he majored in aircraft engine at the Air Force Engineering Department. After graduating in July 1960 he was assigned to Shenyang 601 Design District as a designer. He was a designer of Chengdu 611 Design District from 1970 to 1974, and he was elected deputy chief designer for 1977 and chief designer for 1980. At the age of 56, he was appointed chief designer of the

. In 2003, he was elected a member of the

. He was honored as one of the top ten people touching China in 2009. On 22 March 2016, Song died at

301 Military Hospital The People's Liberation Army General Hospital and Medical School (301 Hospital; ) is the central military medical institution of the People's Liberation Army and the largest comprehensive military hospital in China. The 301 Hospital located in B ...

in Beijing, aged 85.

Awards

* The second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Wencong 1930 births 2016 deaths People from Kunming Chinese aircraft designers Engineers from Yunnan Harbin Engineering University alumni Chinese military personnel of the Korean War Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Biography

Awards

See also

References