Chinese Air force during WW2 Request

[alexWong]

Thanks SjChan. Your earlier post on the war journal of Chinese Air Force from 1937 -1940 is so informative.
I once knew an Air Force veteran of Kwangtung Air Force : Capt TAM So king who made a living in Hong Kong as a herbalist until he emmigrated to Vancouver in 1975.

[Peter H]

Shot down,and foreign pilot tracked,captured.Looks Russian.

[Peter H]

Wrecks

[alexWong]

Paintings and meseum pieces of Chinese Air Force WW2 planes

[alexWong]

Chinese Air Force Tupolev SB-2 fell into the hand of Nanking Puppet Government

[christophermschmitt]

Chinese Air Force info. is very well detailed by Japanese Aces. In particular the introduction of the Zero off carriers as early as 1937! The fact the Chinese Air forces aircraft were predominantly Biplanes with sturdy frames led to enormous bullet hit counts. One Chinese flight leader had 48 bullet holes in his Is-15 fighter in a defense of Nanking. The Japanese should have gotten the hint to get 13.7mm earlier in the Zero. These Chinese pilots were able to survive to fight again. When the frontally armoured P-40's came they were able to take enormous abuse. But we all know about the Flying Tigers. You need to know about the Chinese Air Forces. The Japanese fighter pilots kept meticulous data regarding kills, damaged and escaped aircraft. Also to their credit they revealed their losses. Many Chinese pilots knowing they were hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed turned to ramming and suicide attacks. These tactics were very demoralizing for Japanese forces as they knew China was a huge elephant to eat and if resistance was spirited they could never defeat the Chinese in thier entirety. Chinese ground forces were motivated and appreciated the sacrifices of their airborn comrades. In one bombing raid on Nanking Japanese bombers were harassed and 5 A2N fighters (not zeroes) were downed by the Chinese. Thoses A2N's actually ran out of gas in the melee with the very tough and maneuverable Chinese bi-planes. Chinese losses were reported as 11 lost. Those pilots however were usually back flying that same day or the next. When they lacked aircraft they joined infantry until new aircraft came. When a Chinese pilots aircraft was severely damaged or he was severely wounded they, when fortuitous, became a human dive bomber. Any local Japanese column or ground concentration became a useful target. Aerial ramming was also a last ditch effort. Chinese bases were of course fixed targets and the Japanese Aircraft carriers were always protected and mobile. A nice advantage for refueling and rearming. Certainly in 1949 the Communists destroyed the heroics of these Nationalist pilots. The Chinese had Avro fighters, I16's and SB bombers which they got every penny's worth in constant and spirited warfare. See the diaries of Japanese aces at http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/sino-japanese.htm also Chineses Aces and bio of Chinese Air Forces http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/China.htm

[Takao]

christophermschmitt,

Your thinking of the A5M "Claude" being flown in 1937. The construction of the prototype A6M "Zero" was completed until March, 1939, and the A6M was first operational in July, 1940.

With the A6M Zero, the main weapon was its 20mm cannon, and it only took a few hits to ruin an opponent's day. The 7.7s were simply back up. Although the difference in trajectories made hitting with both weapons quite a task. Not to mention the fact that the armor plate of the US planes was capable of defeating the 12.7mm-13mm round.

The early heroics of the CAF are mostly forgotten, because of the relatively pitiful performance from 1940-45. Think of the Brewster Buffalo, the Finns got great performance out of their F2A-1s, but this is completely overshadowed by the atrocious performance of the heavier later versions of the aircraft used by the Allies. Thus, the Brewster Buffalo is remembered by everyone, except the Finns, as a complete failure.

[christophermschmitt]

Upon further review it appears the Russians were over half of the Chinese Air Force. With 400-500 pilots in China at any given time and 5000 maintenance and training personnel they were the backbone of Chinese airpower. The Chinese had dozens of aircraft types from France, Russia, Italy, Nazi Germany, England and the US. Must have been very confusing reading maintenance and using metric and English tools and telling yours from theirs in the sky. The Chinese pilots knew they had tough, durable planes and had homefield advantage. I read the p-26 Hawk also carried 2500 rounds of ammo for its 4 .30 cal machine guns. The Claude (thanks Takao) carried only 1000 rounds and had to fly inland from carriers. The Chinese had no were to go, so loads of loiter time and dogfighting time. The Russian pilots were there helping China way ahead of the Flying Tigers. Stalin liked Chiang Kai-Shek probably since they were both absolutely ruthless. He had him trained in Moscow in their war college. He had Russian aircraft delivered before they were paid for by China. Perhaps that is why Mao never trusted the Russians. It seems the Russian pilots must have flown against their communist comrades in the many rebellions and the civil unrest in China. Very sad and ironic twist. It seems like everyone wanted the arms deals to China. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy selling to China while allied with Japan. US selling to Japan and China at the same time. The Boeing Peashooter and the Claude look really similar, coincidence?

[Peter H]

Soviet aces from China?

From: http://www.airaces.narod.ru/mongol/stepan.htm

[Peter H]

I think his name is Valentin Dodonov

[Josef_xia]

Mr.Chen ying-ming, an old respectable scholar, I think his book is the most authoritative for air warfare at that time.

[alexWong]

A 1946 Pictorials of the Chinese Air Force in the Resistance War of 1937-45

[alexWong]

This book is now an antique items

[fer-de-lance]

There is a copy of the "Air Combat Illustrated" in the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Prof. Liang, You-ming interviewed a number of the Cantonese pilots who participated in the battles depicted in his paintings.

Chen, Ying-ming's work may be the most authoritiative in the PRC but researchers in Taiwan and the U.S. like Liu, Wen-Hsiao and Dr. Ho, Bang-li had access to the archival materials and the ROCAF veterans.

[fer-de-lance]

I think his name is Valentin Dodonov

Valentin Dodonov was a fighter pilot and I don't think he was ever captured by the Japanese. The only cases of Soviet "volunteers" being captured by the Japanese were bomber pilots shot down while flying over Japanese held territory on bombing missions. Soviet fighter units flew mainly air defense missions. Dodonov was shot down by Nango, Mochifumi during a battle over Nanchang in July 1938. Nango's plane collided with Dodonov's and he survived by parachuting from his plane.

Here is a photo of Valentin Dodonov (taken in Nanchang in 1938) that I know has not been published. It was sent to me (many years ago) by a former Soviet volunteer pilot in response to a query about the Nango collision.

Valentin Dodonov_1938 Nanchang.jpg (36.33 KiB) Viewed 1354 times