Chinese Military Aviation 1912-1937 Volume 2

This second volume of Chinese Military Aviation 1912–1937 continues Lennart Andersson's comprehensive study of the development of military aviation in early Republican China, focusing on the Guangdong (Canton) Air Force between 1927 and 1936. Drawing upon an extensive range of archival documents, contemporary publications and previously overlooked sources, it reconstructs the remarkable history of an air arm that developed from a small collection of obsolete aircraft into the second largest military aviation force in China.

Following the Nationalist Government's relocation to Nanjing in 1927, Guangdong maintained a considerable degree of political and military independence, including its own army, navy and air force. This volume traces the rebuilding and expansion of the Guangdong Air Force, examining its organisation, personnel, training establishments, aircraft procurement and operational employment against the background of China's turbulent political and military landscape. Particular attention is devoted to the influence of foreign aviation companies and instructors, the acquisition of British, American, French and German aircraft, and the increasingly ambitious efforts to establish an indigenous aircraft manufacturing industry.

The operational history encompasses the Guangdong–Guangxi conflicts of 1929–1930, during which aircraft were employed extensively for reconnaissance, bombing and army cooperation; the Shanghai Incident of 1932, when Guangdong aviators confronted Japanese aircraft; and the remarkable campaign against rebellious naval forces around Hainan Island. The book also examines the prolonged operations against the Chinese Red Army, including the encirclement campaigns in Jiangxi and Fujian and the pursuit of Communist forces during the opening stages of the Long March.

Andersson charts the transformation of the air force through the introduction of more capable aircraft, including the Curtiss Hawk, Vought Corsair, Douglas O-2MC and Boeing 281, alongside locally manufactured Yangcheng aircraft and the pioneering Fuxing design. The narrative culminates in the extraordinary events of July 1936, when much of the Guangdong Air Force defected to Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government, bringing an abrupt end to nearly a decade of independent development. Its personnel, aircraft and facilities were subsequently absorbed into China's unified air arm on the eve of the war with Japan.

Based upon meticulous research in international archives and contemporary Chinese aviation journals and newspapers, Chinese Military Aviation 1912–1937 Volume 2 provides a richly detailed account of a previously neglected chapter of aviation history. Extensively illustrated with rare contemporary photographs, detailed maps and specially-commissioned colour artwork depicting the extraordinary variety of aircraft operated by the Guangdong Air Force, including their distinctive colours, markings and insignia, this volume is an important reference for historians of Chinese military history, interwar aviation, aircraft development and the emergence of modern air power in Asia.