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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0211.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 8, 1984 AIRCRAFT CONSTRUCTION IN THE? By HARRISON FORMAN UNTIL quite recent yearsChina has been analmost totally non-manufacturing country. It is only in the lastdecade or so that she has be- gun to enter the self-produc-tive field. This activity has been stimulated by theawakening of national con- sciousness since the Revolu-tion in 1911. Without a back- ground of accumulative yearsof experimental and research work in the evaluation anduse of home products, China, of necessity, had to contentherself at first with simple establishments for theassembly of the segregated foreign-made parts into thefinished whole. Though pro- gress is necessarily slow owingto protracted unsettled condi- tions in the country, the timeis fast approaching when China will become quite self-reliant in the production of the manufactured article from thewealth of diversified raw material at her command. The construction of aircraftwas more or less in the experi- mental and novelty stages upto the outbreak of the World War in 1914. The war gavethe aeroplane a chance to prove its potential practicality.treme necessity greater development in the flying machine took place in the few short years of the war than in thescore of years or so preceding. It was not until the final year of the war that Chinatook an active interest in the construction of aircraft. The executive staff of the Naval Air Establishmentat Lungwha, Shanghai. Left to right: Capt. Tseng Yee-king, B.Sc. (present Director-General) ;Capt. Barr Yu-tsao, M.Sc; and Capt. Wong Tsoo, M.Sc, A.F.R.Ae.S. Under pressure of ex- L'nder the supervision of theChinese Navy the Naval Air Establishment was created inthe spring of 1918, with head- quarters at Foochow, in theprovince of Fukien. Four well-trained men wereplaced in charge of the administration of the estab-lishment, and the design and construction of aircraft. Thesemen were Lieutenants (now Captains) Y. T. Barr (BarrYu-tsao), Y. K. Tseng (Tseng Yee-king), T. Wong (WongTsoo), and S. F. Wong. Lt. S. F. Wong resigned in 1921.All of these men, besides an early training at home, hadobtained extensive technical and aeronautical experienceabroad—especially in England and America. In order to save time andthe initial cost for the erection of a new plant and the instal-lation of new equipment suit- able for the work contem-plated, a part of the Navy- owned Government Dock andEngineering Works, commonly known as the " FoochowDock," was allotted to the N.A.E. for its start. This in-cluded offices and workshops with some general metal-working and woodworking machinery. General office staff, draughtsmen and work-men were at first selected from the personnel of the Govern- ment Dock and Engineering Works ; these were later re-placed by men specially trained at the N.A.E. Machinery, machine tools and factory buildings special to the con-struction of aircraft were added from time to time as \ THE " CHAR " : A two-seater open cockpit primary training seaplane. water-cooled V engine. ""•-•"•--:••••••••• •• v:. ;.;.;•.. 2ii It is fitted with a 100-h.p. Curtiss
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