A History of CHINESE AVIATION – Encyclopedia of Aircraft and Aviation in China until 1949

CHINESE AVIATION is a detailed study of aviation in China. More than 400 different types of aircraft from many of the world's aircraft manufacturing countries were used in China during the period before 1949! In addition a number of types were developed and produced inside China. Chinese aviation was in fact much more extensive and diversified than has previously been generally understood. 

The main scope of the book is aircraft and aviation in China during the period prior to 1937. Chinese Air Force operations, especially during the war with Japan, have been treated elsewhere and are normally not detailed here. For the 1937-1949 period the focus is mainly on aircraft acquisition, organisation and the general development of aviation in China. 

All the provincial air forces, the air force of the Central Government and the naval aviation service, the airline companies and aircraft factories are described in detail, as are all the aircraft that flew in China, from the Aeromarine 39B and Aichi AB-3 to the White PT-7 and the Yakovlev UT-2. There are more than 350 photos, numerous maps, aircraft inventory lists and tables, and several pages of colour profiles. A special chapter deals with aircraft markings and national insignia and there are tables with aircraft registrations. 

The book is based mainly on original American, British, French, German and Russian archive documents, as well as long forgotten contemporary newspapers, magazines and other sources.

CHINESE AVIATION is the result of many years of research and contains a wealth of previously unknown information about aviation in China.