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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 1539.PDF
Facing page, left Assembly of cabin doors for the British Aerospace 146 at Harbin; top right the 17th Y-12 under construction; below right Y-12 cockpit equipped with Chinese avionics. This page, left a turboprop-powered Y-5 is under development; below left the Y-12 is built to FAR 23 standards; below a Harbin-built Aerospatiale SA.365 Dauphin (Z-9) is prepared for delivery to the Chinese Army factories visited by Flight, the size of the Harbin facilities dwarfs the current scale of its aircraft production like a suit that is several sizes too big. Chinese aircraft factories build not only the airframes, but also all of the systems, such as hydraulics and flight controls. Only avionics, instruments, and engines come from other factories. This self-reliance is a product of China's vast size, and of the decision to locate China's aircraft factories geographically distant from each other for strategic defence purposes. With the reduction of military aircraft production after the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s—a cutback on which civil aircraft production has yet to make any real impact—the aircraft factories turned to the manu facture of domestic goods. Harbin builds Suzuki minivans under licence, as well as producing gas cookers and gas bottles. Li admits that the minivans produced at Harbin are not up to the quality of the Japanese-produced vehicles, but the quality of aircraft manu facture at Harbin appears to equal Western standards. "Modernisation depends on funds available within the factory," says Li. Flight was shown around Harbin's new computer centre, which is equipped with IBM machines. The centre has been operational for about a year, its staff having been trained in Japan. The equipment is used for computer-aided design and manufacture, scientific and performance calculations, and factory management. Currently, the system drives about half a dozen terminals located in the same building, but there are plans to upgrade the computer and its memory so that terminals can be distributed throughout the factory, says Li. Peripheral equipment includes a large Calcomp draughting machine which will be used to produce workshop drawings, once it is properly adjusted. There is also a graphics centre with IBM software, a Tektronics graphics terminal, and a Calcomp digitising table. The Harbin Y-ll, Y-12, and Z-9 were among the products highlighted at an exhibition attended by Flight in Beijing, organised by the Ministry of Aviation Industry. The first of its kind, this exhibition was intended to present to the Chinese public the achievements of the country's civil aircraft industry. Each of the factories was represented, including those not visited by Flight. Nanchang builds the CJ-6 training aircraft, a Chinese design based on the Yakovlev Yak-18A (which was built under licence in China as the CJ-5). The aircraft is powered by the same Quzhou-built HS-6A radial engine as the Harbin Y-ll. Four models have been developed, and a six-seat utility version is proposed. Representatives of the Nanchang factory claim that the CJ-6, known locally as the Petrel, offers both low cost and impressive performance for a variety of roles. China signed an agreement in 1954 to build the Antonov An-2 utility biplane under licence as the Y-5. According to representatives of the Hua Bei Machine Plant in Shijiazhuang, more than 900 Y-5s have been built to date. Certainly every where Flight went in China examples of the Y-5—civil and military—were to be seen. A turboprop-powered version of the Y-5 is now under development. This aircraft resembles the Antonov An-3, a turboprop derivative of the An-2 which first flew around 1979, with a 1,450 s.h.p. Glushenkov TVD-20 turbine replacing the radial engine. A US aero space delegation which visited the Harbin engine factory in 1980 was told that an 1,850 s.h.p. turboprop of Chinese design was then under development, alongside a 1,700 s.h.p. turboshaft derivative for helicopters. This powerplant is a possible candidate for the re-engined Y-5, while the turboshaft engine could power China's Z-8 helicopter, which is said to resemble the Aerospatiale Super Frelon. Probably built at Nanchang, the Z-8 has been on flight-test since 1985. The Hua Bei Machine Plant employs some 4,000 people and has 60,000m2 of facilities producing, in addition to the Y-5, the W-5 and W-6 microlight aircraft. On display in model form at the Beijing exhibition was the Shennong-1 agricul tural aircraft, shown with piston or tur bine power. No details were available and, although the aircraft bears a close similarity to the US Air Tractor AT-400, it appears to be of Chinese design. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 5 July 1986 45
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