In the history of modern Chinese aviation, there is a person who has made outstanding contributions, he founded China's first regular aircraft factory, set up the China Aviation Research Institute, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression he manufactured more than 200 fighters to fight against the Japanese, which was the first time that the Chinese Air Force flew its own fighter jets to the blue sky to defend its homeland.
In the nineteenth year of Guangxu (1893), Wang Zhu was born in Beijing. In the 26th year of Guangxu, the "Gengzi Rebellion" broke out, and hundreds of thousands of Boxers, who claimed to be "invincible", entered Beijing and besieged the embassies of various countries. Soon, the Eight-Nation Alliance captured Beijing, and Empress Dowager Cixi fled west with Guangxu Cang. In order to escape the war, the young Wang Zhu moved back to pujiqiao village in Nangong County, Hebei Province, with his family, and entered the Nangong County Second Class Primary School.
WangSuke
In the thirty-first year of Guangxu (1905), the 12-year-old Wang Zhu was admitted to the Yantai Naval Naval Division School. Four years later, Wang Zhu graduated from the Yantai Naval Naval Naval Division School. In this year, in order to save the crisis, the Qing government specially sent five ministers, namely Zhenguo Gong Zaize, Hubu Waiter Dai Hongci, Bingbu Waiter Xu Shichang, Hunan Inspector Duan Fang, and Shangbu Right Cheng Shaoying, to europe, America, Japan, and other eastern and western countries to investigate constitutional government. Wang Zhu was fortunate to be sent to the country to investigate and be sent to the United Kingdom for further study.
The following year, Wang was admitted to armstrong naval university in the United Kingdom, and later entered drumming university to study mechanical engineering.
In 1912, the Qing Dynasty died, but Wang's study abroad career in England did not end. One day, Wang Zhu and his friends gathered two pounds to go to the Windermere Lake District, known as "the most beautiful scenery in central Britain", and followed the aviator Potter soaring in the blue sky for a week, and since then they have formed an indissoluble relationship with airplanes.
In 1915, Wang Zhu graduated from the University of Drum, England, and then went to the United States for further study at the Beiyang government, and entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Massachusetts to study aeronautical engineering.
Mit
The following year, Wang graduated from MIT's Department of Aeronautical Engineering, becoming the first Chinese to earn a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. At the same time, Wang Was Elected a Fellow of the American Society of Automata Engineering.
As a scarce talent in the aviation profession, Wang Zhu was snatched away by the Pacific Aircraft Company of the United States as soon as he graduated. At that time, the Us Pacific Aircraft Company was in turmoil and risked bankruptcy at any time. The one-year-old aircraft manufacturing company was co-founded by two young young people who were born with calves who were not afraid of tigers, William Edward Boeing and George Westerveld. At the beginning of the business, William and George built a simple wooden shed by Union Lake in Seattle and began to build an airplane plan. After some tossing and turning, a single-engine biplane named "B&W" was born.
William Edward Boeing
These two young people were not generally bold, so they took such a fuselage made of wood, supported by steel wire, and then covered with linen to negotiate cooperation with the US Navy, hoping that the US Navy could purchase a batch of "B&W" aircraft. The U.S. Navy politely rejected the two "lunatics" on the grounds that "technology is flawed."
It wasn't long before George Westward was drafted into service by the Navy and could no longer fight alongside William Edward Boeing, and the Pacific Aircraft Corporation was in a huge predicament.
It was in this context that Wang Zhu was invited into the company. In 1917, the Pacific Aircraft Company of the United States changed its name to Boeing, and Wang Zhu was also hired as Boeing's first aeronautical engineer.
After Wang Su took over the "B&W" aircraft, he made major improvements to it. At that time, the U.S. Navy's biggest concern about the aircraft was not the rough appearance and wooden structure, but the problem of its uneven take-off and landing phase. This is a fatal safety hazard for aircraft. Using wind tunnel data from his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and combined with the research results of Gustav Eiffel, Wang Zhu creatively proposed a plan to hang two floating barrel-like devices under the "B&W" aircraft, making the aircraft more stable and safe during take-off and landing.
B&W-C seaplane
The aircraft, modified by Wang Su, was designated the B&W-C seaplane. When William Edward Boeing returned to the U.S. Navy with a B&W-C seaplane, he finally received a huge order worth $575,000.
It can be said that this huge order saved the faltering Boeing company at that time. After Receiving this order, William Edward Boeing immediately renovated the old factory building and increased research and development funds, so that Boeing entered the fast lane of rapid development and gradually became the world's largest manufacturer of civilian and military aircraft. (On August 10, 2020, Boeing ranked 121st on the 2020 Fortune Global 500 list.) ）
Wang Zhu, who made great contributions to Boeing, became famous for a while, and was even praised by some media as the "father of Boeing".
However, at this moment, Wang Zhu made a surprising move: submitted his resignation to Boeing and resolutely returned to the motherland that was poor and weak and war-torn at that time.
After Wang's departure, Boeing deliberately downplayed the Chinese that had contributed greatly to it. So much so that to this day, people only know boeing in the United States, but they do not know the Chinese Wangsuke who saved its fate.
Wang Help saved Boeing
At the end of 1917, Wang Zhu returned to China and in February of the following year was appointed deputy director of the Naval Aircraft Engineering Division of the Mawei Shipping Bureau. This is the first regular aircraft factory in China, and Wang Zhu participated in its creation and development throughout the process.
Wang Zhu had only one belief in his heart, that is, to build an airplane Chinese him. At that time, the conditions were extremely difficult, there was nothing to ask for, such as funds, manpower, materials, etc., and the factory was struggling.
But none of this was difficult for Wang To help. The warlord-fighting government could not count on it, so he found his own funds. When the aircraft-building workers couldn't get hired, he lowered his standards and recruited people from the local shipyards. Unable to afford walnut wood for foreign aircraft, he used local materials in Fujian and used local fir and pear wood instead. In order to save money, Wang Zhu even used tung oil and raw lacquer instead of the paint commonly used on the fuselage.
In this way, after more than 500 days of hard work and overcoming countless difficulties, Wang Zhu and his colleagues finally built China's first seaplane, the "Type A 1" primary trainer aircraft.
In 1922, Wang Zhu cooperated with Ba Yuzao to design and manufacture the world's first floating hangar for seaplanes, the floating dock. The rear wheel of the aircraft designed by Wang Zhu is internationally known as "Wang Helper Wheel".
China's aviation industry is bravely moving forward under the leadership of Wang Zhu
In 1929, Hangzhou held a seaplane exposition, and all the participating aircraft were soaked in water. Two months later, the foreign exhibitors were mottled with paint and serious water leakage, and only the Chinese-built aircraft were still smooth and dry, and foreign tourists could not help but marvel at it.
In 1934, Tsinghua University organized the Seventh Gengzi Compensation Publicly Funded Study Abroad Examination, and 23-year-old Qian Xuesen signed up to participate. Qian Xuesen applied for the aviation rack subject, and Wang Zhu was the chief examiner, question writer and examiner of this subject.
History should not forget this man
After the test results came out, Qian Xuesen's score was not ideal, and he even failed in mathematics. According to the comprehensive results, Qian Xuesen is destined to be brushed off. However, Wang Zhu noticed that Qian Xuesen's "Aeronautical Engineering" subject had a high score (87 points) and could not bear to interrupt his path of study, so he persuaded Ye Qisun, dean of the School of Science of Tsinghua University, to admit Qian Xuesen out of the box, and Qian Xuesen was thus qualified to study abroad at public expense.
According to the regulations, Qian Xuesen must intern in relevant domestic enterprises for one year before studying abroad. At that time, Tsinghua University arranged three internship instructors for Qian Xuesen, and Wang Zhu was one of them.
Since Qian Xuesen's family was in Hangzhou, he chose to intern at the Central Hangzhou Jianqiao Aircraft Factory. It happened that Wang Zhu was the supervisor of the Hangzhou Aircraft Manufacturing Company at that time. Soon, Qian Xuesen officially visited Wang Zhu and became a student of Wang Zhu.
Qian Xuesen and Wang Su
At Wang's side, Qian Xuesen benefited a lot. Wang Zhu regards Qian Xuesen as his most proud student, and Qian Xuesen regards Wang Zhu as one of his most admired mentors.
In 1935, thanks to Wang Zhu's recommendation, Qian Xuesen entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for further study. Later, also thanks to Wang Zhu's needle threading, Qian Xuesen was able to learn from the "father of mechanics" Theodore von Carmen.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, more than 200 fighters, bombers and reconnaissance planes designed and built by Wang Zhu and his colleagues were all put into the battlefield. In 1939, Wang Zhu led his colleagues to develop domestic laminates, cloth, butter gum, paint, paint, etc., creating bamboo skin and bamboo auxiliary fuel tanks with bamboo as raw materials, and developing aircraft with wooden structures instead of steel structures to solve the urgent needs of the Air Force. At the same time, Wang Zhu used domestic materials to develop a large number of urgently needed aviation equipment and spare parts, and also developed a number of unique aircraft.
In 1949, when the old Chiang Kai-shek was defeated and retired to Baodao, he ordered the withdrawal of a number of "national treasure-level" figures, and Wang Zhu, as one of the main founders of China's modern aviation industry, was taken to Tainan.
Wang Su at work
Because Wang Zhu was born in the Beiyang naval system, coupled with his integrity and disdain for sneaking and patting horses, he was not used by the old Chiang Kai-shek. In this regard, Wang Zhu was very indifferent, and in his later years he simply came to a university to teach and concentrate on cultivating aviation talents.
On March 4, 1965, Wang Zhu died of illness in Tainan.
Write at the end
Under the difficult conditions of old China, Wang Zhu made outstanding contributions to the salvation and survival of the people and the development of national aviation. His name should have been thunderous, and his story should have been so colorful, but for historical reasons, it has been covered up twice.