Huang Zhiqian (; 24 January 1914 – 20 May 1965) was a Chinese aircraft designer. He served as Chief Designer of the

Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute (; or 601 Institute) is a Chinese aircraft design institute of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, specializing in the design of military aircraft.Shenyang J-8 The Shenyang J-8 (Simplified Chinese characters, Chinese: 歼-8; NATO reporting name: Finback) is an interceptor aircraft developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute, 601 Institute (Shenyang) in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It ...

, China's first high-speed, high-altitude

interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Vehicles * Interceptor aircraft (or simply "interceptor"), a type of point defense fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft * Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a police car * ...

fighter jet Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

. Before the project was completed, he died in the Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crash in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Egypt, in 1965.

Early life

Huang was born Huang Yongxun () on 24 January 1914 in Huaiyin County,

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

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 ...

. He studied at Yuanjiang Middle School, but had to drop out because of family poverty. He continued to self-study, and was accepted into the Department of Mechanics of National Chiao Tung University, Shanghai in 1934. He graduated in 1937.

Career

Republic of China

Soon after Huang graduated from university, 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 ...

broke out, and he enlisted in 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 ...

to join the resistance war. He received training at the air force's mechanics school until April 1938, and served at the

Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company 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. ...

in Leiyun (or Loiwing),

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 ...

Bhamo Bhamo ( my, ဗန်းမော်မြို့ ''ban: mau mrui.'', also spelt Banmaw; shn, မၢၼ်ႈမူဝ်ႇ; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥨᥝᥱ; zh, 新街, Hsinkai) is a city in Kachin State in northern Myanmar, south of the ...

(Burma), and Xinjin (Sichuan). His main duties were servicing warplanes including the American-made Hawk III and the Soviet-made

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 ...

and

I-16 I16 may refer to: * Interstate 16, an interstate highway in the U.S. state of Georgia * Polikarpov I-16, a Soviet fighter aircraft introduced in the 1930s * Halland Regiment * , a Japanese Type C submarine * i16, a name for the 16-bit signed integ ...

, and maintaining the airports. In October 1944, Huang was hired by

Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it ...

to work in the United States, where he participated in the manufacture and testing of the

B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

bomber. 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 ...

and the end of World War II in 1945, Huang entered the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

to study

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

. Less than a year later, 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 ...

government of the Republic of China signed a deal with Britain's

Gloster Aircraft Company The Gloster Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1917 to 1963. Founded as the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited during the First World War, with the aircraft construction activities of H H Martyn & Co Ltd of Chelte ...

to jointly manufacture

fighter jets Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

, and sent Huang to England in September 1946. He studied the

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

fighter and participated in the design of the Gloster E.1/44.

People's Republic of China

Huang returned to China in June 1949, near the end of 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 ...

. As the Kuomintang lost the war and retreated to Taiwan, Huang stayed on the mainland and worked for the victorious

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. In 1949, Huang oversaw the reconstruction of the military Jian'ou Airport in

Jian'ou Jian'ou is a county-level city in Nanping in northern Fujian province, China. Under the name Jianning (Kienning), it was formerly the seat of its own prefecture and was the namesake of its province. Jian'ou is within a major bamboo and rice- ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

Province. In July 1951, he was transferred to the

Shenyang Aircraft Corporation Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) or Shenyang Aerospace Corporation is a Chinese civilian and military aircraft manufacturer located in Shenyang, Liaoning, a subsidiary of the state-owned aircraft manufacturer AVIC. Founded in 1951 as the cl ...

and put in charge of repairing the

PLA 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 ...

MiG-9 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-9, USAF/DoD designation: Type 1, NATO reporting name: Fargo) was the first turbojet fighter developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich in the years immediately after World War II. ...

and

MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...

fighters then being deployed 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 1956, the Aviation Industry Bureau established the PRC's first airplane design office in

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a major China, Chinese sub-provincial city and the List of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Lia ...

, with

Xu Shunshou Xu Shunshou (; 21 August 1917 – 6 January 1968) was a Chinese aircraft designer and a founder of the aircraft manufacturing industry in the People's Republic of China. He was the founding director of the PRC's first aircraft design organizatio ...

as director and Huang Zhiqian and

Ye Zhengda Ye Zhengda (; 22 August 1927 – 14 December 2017) was a Chinese aircraft designer and lieutenant general of the People's Liberation Army Air Force. He was also an adjunct professor and senior engineer at Northwestern Polytechnical University. He ...

as deputy directors. They led the design of the jet trainer,

Shenyang JJ-1 The Shenyang JJ-1, also known as the Hong Zhuan-503 or ''Red Special'', was a jet trainer developed in the People's Republic of China (PRC) during the 1950s. It was the first jet aircraft designed in China, with Xu Shunshou as the chief designer ...

. The plane took its first flight on 26 July 1958, which marked a new era of China's aviation industry. He then participated in the design of the

Nanchang CJ-6 The Nanchang CJ-6 () is a Chinese basic trainer aircraft designed and built by the Nanchang Aircraft Factory (now Hongdu Aviation) for use by the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Development The CJ-6 (Chu Jiao 初教 = Chuji Jiaoli ...

and the

Nanchang Q-5 The Nanchang Q-5 (; NATO reporting name: Fantan), also known as the A-5 in its export versions, is a Chinese-built single-seat, twin jet engine ground-attack aircraft based on the Shenyang J-6. The aircraft is primarily used for close air suppo ...

aircraft. In August 1961, China established its first research institute for aircraft design, the

Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute (; or 601 Institute) is a Chinese aircraft design institute of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, specializing in the design of military aircraft. In October 1964, the Chinese government decided to design and build its first high-speed, high-altitude

, later named the

Shenyang J-8 The Shenyang J-8 (Simplified Chinese characters, Chinese: 歼-8; NATO reporting name: Finback) is an interceptor aircraft developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute, 601 Institute (Shenyang) in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It ...

. Huang was appointed its chief designer, with

Gu Songfen Gu Songfen (; born 4 February 1930) is a Chinese aircraft designer. He participated in the design of the Shenyang JJ-1, China's first jet trainer, and was the chief designer of the Shenyang J-8 and J-8II, China's first high-speed, high-altitude ...

serving as his deputy.

Death

On 20 May 1965, Huang took the Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 for a business trip to Western Europe. He died when the plane crashed in

, Egypt, aged 51. He was later recognized by the Central Military Commission as a "martyr". After his death, Gu Songfen took charge of the J-8 project, and the jet took its maiden flight on 5 July 1969.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Zhiqian 1914 births 1965 deaths Chinese aircraft designers People from Huai'an Engineers from Jiangsu Shanghai Jiao Tong University alumni University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni Republic of China Air Force personnel Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Egypt Chinese expatriates in the United States Chinese expatriates in the United Kingdom