"Lingnan Literature and History" Huangpu Military Academy Guangdong Aviation School: The two schools jointly nurture aviation talents and pursue their dreams in the air for a century
2024-08-07
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Yangcheng Evening News Omnimedia Reporter Huang Zhouhui Intern Ye Enping Correspondent Ren Haihong Huang Hui
A hundred years ago, the Whampoa Military Academy was established in Guangzhou. At that time, Guangzhou also had an unusual military academy - the Guangdong Aviation Administration Military Aircraft School (hereinafter referred to as "Guangdong Aviation School").
Guangdong Aeronautical School was established in September 1924. Like the Whampoa Military Academy, it was a product of the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Both were founded by Sun Yat-sen with the help of the Communist Party of China and international progressive forces.
Guangdong Aviation School cultivated the first batch of outstanding aviation talents for the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and also made Guangzhou the starting point for the Chinese Communists to pursue their dreams of space. Liu Yun, Feng Xun (Feng Dafei), and other outstanding students who graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy took the lead in entering Guangdong Aviation School to learn flying and became aviation pioneers of the Communist Party of China.
This September marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Guangdong Aviation School. Yangcheng Evening News reporters interviewed experts, scholars and descendants of aviation pioneers to review the school's 12-year history and the heroic deeds of the Chinese Communist Party's aviation pioneers who came out of the Whampoa Military Academy and Guangdong Aviation School.
Practice "Saving the Nation through Aviation"
At No. 113, Shuiyin Road, Guangzhou, in the southwest corner of the cemetery for the fallen soldiers of the 19th Route Army in Songhu during the Anti-Japanese War, the "Guangdong Provincial Aviation Memorial" is solemn and majestic. In order to commemorate the pioneers of my country's aviation industry and the air force soldiers who died in the Eastern Expedition and the Northern Expedition and the Anti-Japanese War, the Guangzhou Municipal Government built this monument in 1988. The front of the monument is engraved with the four characters "Aviation Saves the Country" written by Mr. Sun Yat-sen, and the back is engraved with the name of the monument "Guangdong Provincial Aviation Memorial" written by Marshal Xu Xiangqian. Many of the fallen air force soldiers commemorated here are teachers and students from Guangdong Aviation School.
Guangdong Aviation School was founded in 1924. The "Compilation of Guangzhou Cultural Relics Survey·Yuexiu District Volume" (Guangzhou Publishing House) published in 2008 records: In the spring of 1924, Soviet flight experts and several German pilots came to Guangzhou to help train flight personnel and set up a flight training class. At the end of the year, the training class was changed to an aviation school, and the school was located in Dashatou (Note: In September 1924, a military aircraft school was first established in the Dongshan Leather Factory in Xinhepu, Guangzhou, and then the school moved to the vicinity of the Dashatou Aviation Bureau Aircraft Manufacturing Plant). This is the first aviation school in China and one of the achievements of the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. During the First Civil Revolutionary War, the Aviation School held two sessions. The first and second students formed a flight team to participate in two Eastern Expeditions, quelling the rebellions of the Yunnan-Guangxi warlords Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan, and later participated in the Northern Expedition and made military achievements.
"No. 421, Yanjiang East Road, Dashatou, Guangzhou, was an important base for implementing Mr. Sun Yat-sen's ideal of 'saving the country through aviation' at that time." Mei Weimin, director of the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics and executive vice president of the Guangdong Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics, introduced that in 1923, the first aviation bureau in Chinese history, the Guangdong Aviation Bureau (i.e. the Aviation Bureau of the Grand Marshal's Office), was established here, and then China's first aircraft manufacturing plant was established here. The factory built China's first military aircraft "Leshiwen" and successfully tested it, marking the beginning of China's aviation industry. In September 1924, the Military Aircraft School of the Guangdong Aviation Bureau was established, which cultivated the first batch of outstanding aviation talents for the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
Chinese and foreign countries work together to cultivate talents
Mr. Sun Yat-sen once pointed out that since the participation of aircraft in combat, the limitations of warships and tanks have been broken and the ability to control the battlefield has been expanded. Therefore, modern national defense must expand the air force. He guided the curriculum setting of the Whampoa Military Academy and listed emerging technologies such as "aviation" and "radio" as military specialized subjects.
"The Whampoa Military Academy had insufficient conditions for running a school, but its military teaching included cutting-edge subjects such as 'aviation'. This point should not be ignored when studying the history of Chinese military academies and the military," said Zeng Qingliu, a well-known party history expert and cultural and historical research specialist of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, in his new work "History of the Whampoa Military Academy (1924-1927)."
Regarding the relationship between Huangpu Military Academy and Guangdong Aviation School, the Huangpu Military Academy Memorial Hall has set up a special chapter "Huangpu Military Academy and Chinese Air Force" in the new school history exhibition, which is specially introduced. Ouyang Danni, director of the Xinhai Revolution Memorial Hall (Huangpu Military Academy Memorial Hall), introduced that after the establishment of Guangdong Aviation School, with the support of the Communists, a group of politically conscious and educated Communist Party members and progressive youth were selected to Guangdong Aviation School.
Among the 10 students of the first class of Guangdong Aviation School, 7 were graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy, including Liu Yun, a Communist Party member. Liu Yun had worked and studied in France. In the "Student Detailed Survey Form", he filled in "Aeronautics" in the "Specialized Skills or Specialties" column, and wrote "Graduated from the French Aviation School" in the "Resume" column.
At the Guangdong Aviation School, students further learned flight and aviation technology. Tang Wajia, the son of Tang Duo, the first student of the Guangdong Aviation School, introduced in the article "China's Early Cradle of Flight and the First Batch of Air Prodigies" that the school's first principal was Mr. Yartai, who was hired from Germany. He presided over daily teaching work and also taught subjects such as navigation, reconnaissance, and tactics. The school also hired two German instructors from Germany: flight instructor von Greim and mechanical instructor Walter (Hess). The school offered subjects such as military science, mechanics, air tactics, observation, climatology, and Russian.
During his studies, Feng Xun (also known as Feng Dafei), who was also a student of the first class of Guangdong Aviation School, wrote in a letter to his family: "Recently, my homework has increased (aeronautics, mechanics, aerial reconnaissance and mapping, aerial combat, photography, Russian, English, politics). I have nine hours of lectures every day, and an hour of shorthand at night. There is really no free time..."
Foresight and Dream Building
In the turbulent era of the Great Revolution, the Chinese Communists were far-sighted and seized the favorable opportunity of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to cultivate and develop military talents for the Chinese Communist Party at the Whampoa Military Academy and to cultivate aviation military talents through the Guangdong Aviation School.
Comrade Zhou Enlai, who had just returned from Europe and was appointed director of the Political Department of the Whampoa Military Academy, was deeply impressed by the important role played by aviation military technology in the First World War. He established party representatives in the Whampoa Military Academy and its subordinate aircraft teams, armored teams and other institutions. After the first batch of students of the Whampoa Military Academy graduated in November 1924, he seized the opportunity to select Communist Party members and progressive youth with high political awareness, good physical fitness and excellent academic performance to study in the first batch of Guangdong Aviation School, including Liu Yun, Feng Xun (Feng Dafei), Wang Xun (later changed his name to Wang Shuming), Wang Ao, Wan Peng (also known as Wan Shaoding), Yuan Zheng, Guo Yiyu and others.
It is said that shortly after the Guangdong Aviation School opened, Liu Yun, a Communist, was recommended by Liao Zhongkai and the Guangdong District Committee of the Communist Party of China to serve as the party representative of the school and the flight cadet team.
In early 1926, Guangdong Aviation School continued to recruit 20 students for the second term, most of whom were selected from the second and third term students of the Whampoa Military Academy. Chang Qiankun, Xu Jiefan, Li Qianyuan, Long Wenguang and others also entered the school at that time. Soon, the two classes merged and all learned to fly. In addition, the school selected 20 students from the fourth term of the Whampoa Military Academy to open a reconnaissance class, which continued to promote the emergence of a large number of aviation technical talents in the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
In August 1925, Guangdong Aviation School sent two Communist Party members, Liu Yun and Feng Xun, and four other progressive young people, Wang Ao, Tang Duo, Wang Xun, and Pu Taixia (from North Korea), to the Second Flight School of the Soviet Union to continue their flight studies. In June 1926, the Communist Party of China continued to select 12 people from the first batch of graduates of the Aviation School and the second batch of flight students to study flight in the Soviet Union. Among them, Chang Qiankun, Xu Jiefan, Li Qianyuan, Liu Tiexian, Li Hongfeng (from Vietnam), and Jin Zhenyi (from North Korea) were Communist Party members.
Under the leadership of Zhou Enlai and others as well as the Guangdong District Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Party members and progressive youth among the first and second batches of students grew up. The Chinese Communist Party’s aerospace dream started here, and Guangzhou became the “cradle” of the Chinese Communist Party’s aviation career.
Demonstrated power in actual combat
The students who graduated from the Huangpu Military Academy and Guangdong Aviation School had high ideological awareness and made outstanding achievements in aviation flight technology. Some of them participated in the Eastern Expedition and the Northern Expedition, testing their strength and showing their power.
Liu Yun's flight performance was extremely good. He insisted on flying for two hours every day and repeatedly studied until he understood it. During his study at the aviation school, in order to support the National Revolutionary Army's Eastern Expedition, Liu Yun, Feng Xun, Tang Duo and other aviation school students, under the leadership of instructors, also flew aircraft to carry out reconnaissance, air strikes, and leaflet dropping tasks in the Eastern Expedition against Chen Jiongming and the suppression of the Liu (Zhenhuan) and Yang (Ximin) rebellions.
During his further studies in the Soviet Union, Feng Xun changed his name to Feng Dafei. According to his guard Tan Enzhong's recollections, in 1932, when Feng Dafei was the president of the Fourth Branch of the Red Army University, he was ordered to repair a Kuomintang plane captured by the Red Army during the attack on Zhangzhou. The plane was later named "Marx" (this was the second plane of the Red Army). The plane was then loaded with mortar shells and leaflets, and was flown by Feng Dafei to Ganzhou to bomb the enemy group. After completing the mission, it flew back to the Central Soviet Area. This was a miracle created by a Red Army general flying a plane without navigation, leaving a legendary page in the history of our army's flight.
The Shanghai World Morning Post reported in 1932 that the Red Army already had an air force with five or six planes, all pilots were young men in their 20s, and the captain was Feng Dafei, a Cantonese who had graduated from the Soviet Aviation School and led military reconnaissance. According to a declassified telegram from the Confidential Office of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government: In June 1932, this air force flew several times through Pingxiang, Jiangxi to drop bombs on Rucheng and Liuyang in Hunan.
Comrade Zhou Enlai praised Feng Dafei as the "aviation expert" of the Communist Party of China. In 1933, the Red Army needed to build an airport, and Feng Dafei was appointed as the director of the airport engineering and construction department. He personally designed the airport and completed the construction project together with Ouyang Yi and others. After the "Xi'an Incident" in 1936, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated to establish the Anti-Japanese National United Front. In May 1937, Feng Dafei went to Nanjing for negotiations as one of the four representatives of the Communist Party. The newspapers at that time took a keen notice of him and described his experience from the Huangpu Military Academy to the Guangdong Aviation School, and then to the Soviet Union and Europe for further studies. The Chinese Communist Party already had such aviation talents, which attracted attention from all walks of life.
Long Wenguang, the second graduate of Guangdong Aviation School, first joined the KMT Air Force, and later surrendered to the Red Army under the influence of the Red Army leader Xu Xiangqian. In May 1931, the Aviation Bureau of the Military Commission of the Workers' and Peasants' Democratic Government of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Special Zone was formally established, with Long Wenguang as the first director. On December 22 of the same year, Long Wenguang piloted the "Lenin" aircraft (the first aircraft of the Red Army) to participate in the battle of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army to attack Huang'an County (now Hong'an County, Hubei Province), shocking the enemy. The enemy abandoned the city and fled south, and the Red Army took advantage of the victory to pursue and wipe out the fleeing enemy. This was the first air combat in the history of the Chinese Communist Red Army, a glorious victory.
Feng Dafei and Long Wenguang flew planes to participate in the Red Army battles in the Central Soviet Area and the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area respectively, initially demonstrating the power of aviation vehicles in the Second Revolutionary Civil War, striking a blow to the enemy's arrogance in "encircling and suppressing" the base areas, and improving the Red Army's combat effectiveness.
Continuous exploration of space
After eight terms, the Guangdong Aviation School was closed in 1936. The school trained more than 500 pilots and made great contributions to the Chinese Air Force.
Zeng Qingliu pointed out: "Guangzhou Aviation School (i.e. Guangdong Aviation School) produced a group of early Chinese pilots. This is inseparable from the history of the birth of the Kuomintang and Communist Party air forces." Mei Weimin believes that Guangdong Aviation School is the starting point for the Chinese Communists to pursue their dreams of aerospace, and Guangzhou is where the Chinese Communists' dreams of aerospace began. The school's outstanding Chinese Communist aviation talents have made significant contributions to the century-long development of the People's Air Force.
In addition to selecting Communist Party members to study in the National Revolutionary Army Aviation School during the Great Revolution, the Chinese Communist Party also selected some Communist Party members and Communist Youth League members to study aviation technology in the Soviet Union during the Agrarian Revolution.
Chang Qiankun, a student of the second term of Guangdong Aviation School, went to the Soviet Union in 1926 and systematically studied flying for 12 years. During this period, he was admitted to the Zhukovsky Aviation Academy, the highest aviation institution in the Soviet Union, for further studies in 1932. After returning to China, in 1938, the CPC Central Committee decided that Chang Qiankun would go to Dihua (now Urumqi) to engage in aviation education. The party organization sent many comrades from Yan'an to learn aviation technology here. Chang Qiankun was responsible for compiling a variety of aviation theory textbooks, including "Principles of Flight", "Aerial Shooting", "Aerial Navigation", etc. These textbooks later played an important role in the teaching of the Northeast Aviation School and were also the main textbooks of various air force aviation schools after the founding of New China.
After graduating from the first class of Guangdong Aviation School, Tang Duo went to the Soviet Union in October 1925 to continue his flight studies. He then worked and fought in the Soviet Air Force for 28 years and participated in the Soviet Patriotic War. In 1953, he returned to China under the personal care of Premier Zhou Enlai. After returning to China, Tang Duo served as the Party Secretary and Dean of the Air Force Engineering Department of the Chinese Communist Party Military Engineering College, and worked diligently to train military talents for the Air Force.
During the War of Liberation, the Communist Party of China founded the first aviation school of the People's Army in Northeast China, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Aviation School, which specialized in training aviation technical personnel and made sufficient preparations for the establishment of the People's Air Force. On November 11, 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force was officially established. Thus, the dream of the Chinese Communists for an air force entered the road of realistic development.
Interviews
Call for the construction of the Guangdong Aviation School Memorial Hall
Qiao Guohua (Senior Engineer of Guangzhou Metro Group, Deputy Head of the Propaganda Group of Guangzhou New Fourth Army Research Association, and descendant of Feng Dafei, a pioneer of aviation in the People's Army)
Yangcheng Evening News: This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Guangdong Aviation School. How do you view the historical and current significance of this school?
Qiao Guohua: Although the Guangdong Aviation School only lasted for 12 years, it has very important historical and practical significance. The Chinese Communists began to pursue their dream of aviation in 1924, starting in Guangzhou (Guangdong Aviation School). We cannot forget this history.
Like the Whampoa Military Academy, the Guangdong Aviation School has cultivated the first batch of outstanding aviation talents for the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and has made outstanding contributions to the establishment, development and growth of the Chinese Air Force, especially the People's Air Force. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Guangdong Aviation School, like commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy, can unite relevant people at home and abroad, arouse everyone's common emotions, and widely gather people's hearts, which is conducive to consolidating and strengthening the power of unifying the motherland.
A hundred years ago, China's first military aircraft was successfully developed at the Guangdong Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, which is located at the same site as the Guangdong Aviation School. This has become a milestone in China's industrial development. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Guangdong Aviation School, we can also make good use of these historical and cultural elements and symbols with Lingnan characteristics to help Guangdong develop its aviation industry and low-altitude economy.
Yangcheng Evening News: But unlike the Whampoa Military Academy, the remains of the Guangdong Aviation School are hard to find. What suggestions do you have for this?
Qiao Guohua: It is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy and the Guangdong Aviation School. The aviation pioneers of the Communist Party of China who came out of these two schools and their heroic deeds are very worthy of our remembrance and praise. No. 421, Yanjiang East Road, Dashatou, Guangzhou, was the location of the Guangdong Aerospace Bureau, the aircraft manufacturing plant, and the Guangdong Aviation School. However, there are no historical traces at present, which is very regrettable. We, the descendants, want to remember the history and carry forward the spirit of the martyrs, but we can't find a place to stay. Therefore, I call for the construction of the Guangdong Aviation School Memorial Hall near the site, or the re-erection of the Guangdong Aviation School Monument, so that everyone can understand and remember this history.
Yangcheng Evening News: As a descendant of Feng Dafei, the aviation pioneer of the People's Army, how do you inherit and promote his spirit?
Qiao Guohua: After graduating from Guangdong Aviation School, Feng Dafei was determined to work for the aviation cause of the Communist Party of China. He devoted his life to military education and trained a large number of military and political cadres. People called him the "flight instructor." Later, he was captured during the "Southern Anhui Incident" and remained steadfast. In June 1942, he was killed by the enemy in the Shangrao concentration camp. In June 2019, a Xinhua News Agency report praised Feng Dafei as the "pioneer of the People's Army Aviation."
In recent years, I have been working with people with lofty ideals to collect and excavate Feng Dafei's historical materials and deeds, and to sort out his contributions to the Chinese revolution, especially to the development of the People's Army aviation. From him and other pioneers of the People's Army aviation, we deeply feel the spirit of "pursuing truth, unswerving determination, and fearless sacrifice" for the country and the nation, which is still meaningful and timeless in today's national rejuvenation. As a descendant of Feng Dafei, I have been invited to various schools to participate in lectures many times, hoping to review some extraordinary chapters in the modern history of Lingnan and provide some spiritual strength for young people.
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China's first military aircraft manufactured in Guangzhou
In order to develop the aviation industry, Sun Yat-sen appointed Yang Xianyi, director of the Aviation Bureau of the Grand Marshal's Office, as director of the aircraft manufacturing factory in 1923. The aircraft manufacturing factory was located in a leather factory abandoned in the late Qing Dynasty in Xinhepu, Dongshan, Guangzhou, so it was called Dongshan Aircraft Manufacturing Factory. In order to facilitate future aircraft test flights, a building located on the east side of the gate of No. 421 Yanjiang East Road was selected as the factory building.
Under the direct leadership of Yang Xianyi, the factory employees worked hard and designed and manufactured the first truly Chinese-made military aircraft in just three months.
On the afternoon of August 10, 1923, Sun Yat-sen and his wife Soong Ching-ling attended the test flight ceremony of the aircraft. To express their respect, Yang Xianyi and others asked Sun Yat-sen on the spot to name the aircraft after the Chinese transliteration of Soong Ching-ling's English name ROSAMONDE, "Roseman". Thus, "Roseman No. 1" was born. Afterwards, Sun Yat-sen and Soong Ching-ling took a group photo in front of the aircraft, and Sun Yat-sen personally wrote the four characters "Saving the Nation through Aviation" as encouragement.
After the successful test flight, the "Leshiwen No. 1" was handed over to the aviation team for use and participated in the battle against Chen Jiongming's troops in Huizhou. Later, Chen Jiongming sent people to sneak into the Dashatou aircraft hangar late at night to set fire, and the "Leshiwen No. 1" and some aircraft equipment were burned.
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