Author: Elegant Beard (Wu Yonggang-Max)
The photo was taken in Jiangnan Stadium, Jilin City
In the hands of Li Zhong, a retired employee of the Orient Commercial Building in Jilin City, a black-and-white photograph is treasured. There are 6 plainly dressed people in the photo, looking at a model of a warship with great interest. The black and white tones of the photographs, the banner of the "Jilin Provincial Navigation Model Training Class" in the background, and the images of Chairman Mao and Chairman Hua posted under the banners suddenly pull back decades of time. In 1978, in the Jiangnan Stadium in Jilin City, a group of nautical model enthusiasts from the province overcame many difficulties and successfully completed a batch of "shipbuilding" work, creating 35 exquisite simulated warships and submarine models for the relevant departments.
Photo of the Long Beach-class cruiser, taken from the Internet
In 1977, after ten years of turmoil, the land of Shenzhou was in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt, and national defense and military education also rode on the east wind and broke the waves. In the training of naval military personnel, the relevant departments urgently needed a batch of simulated ship teaching aids, and in that era, China's manufacturing industry was far less developed than it is now, and the vast country could not find a suitable factory to complete the production of this batch of teaching aids. At the moment of anxiety, the relevant departments suddenly thought of the military sports projects that the State Sports Commission had had navigation models before the Cultural Revolution, and there were a group of skilled craftsmen with certain professional knowledge and professional qualities in the national sports system, and it was most appropriate for them to complete the production of teaching aids.
So the relevant departments found the State Sports Commission and handed over the task of making teaching aids to the State Sports Commission. After careful planning by both sides, in 1977, in the form of a red-headed document (National Sports Commission, *****[1977] No. 061 document, "Jilin City Sports Chronicle"), according to the type of vessel, the task of making teaching aids was issued to the sports committees of various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, and the provincial sports committees at the local level took the lead in completing the assigned production tasks. At that time, there were more than 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions that accepted the task, and the teaching aids that needed to be produced included a variety of advanced active ships in the United States, Britain, France and other countries. Among them, the task of making 15 models of American Long Beach-class cruisers and 20 models of Soviet N-class submarines was entrusted to the Jilin Provincial Sports Committee.
The "Jilin City Sports Chronicle" records: "In 1978, the Provincial Sports Commission based on ... [1977] In the spirit of Document No. 061, the Jilin Municipal Sports Commission undertook the Jilin Provincial Haimo Backbone Training Class, training 40 Haimo backbone forces from Changchun, Yanbian, Siping, Jilin City and other places, the leaders of the training class Wang Qingbin, Lü Diandou, and the coach Liu Shoujia." The reason why this task was entrusted to Jilin City is because after the founding of New China, the Jilin Provincial Aviation Model Sports Team was located in Changchun (where the Air Force Flight Academy is located), and the Jilin Provincial Navigation Model Sports Team was located in Jilin City (with the water conditions of the Songhua River).
Jilin Provincial Navigation Sports Team was established in 1958, the sports team involved in the navigation of many sports including nautical sports, motorboats, nautical models and other projects, belongs to the military (national defense) sports category, then known as national defense sports. Among them, the Jilin Provincial Navigation Model Team (hereinafter referred to as the Sea Model Team) was established in October 1958. At that time, the athletes were all students from various middle schools in Jilin City, and most of them had participated in the sea model activities held in the city, and some of them had also participated in the national sea model competition held in August of that year. In 1960, after several turns, the Haimo team moved to the Navigation Club outside the Wharf of Toudao In Jilin City, and in this new base, the Haimo team staggered all the way forward, continuing the historical afterglow of Jilin Shipyard in a special way. Unfortunately, in 1966, haimo activities were interrupted.
Model drawing envelope saved by Mr. Li Zhong
Part of the model drawing of the N-class nuclear submarine saved by Mr. Li Zhong
Part of the model drawing of the Long Beach-class cruiser saved by Mr. Li Zhong
After 1976, military sports were revived and sea model activities were resumed. When the Jilin Municipal Sports Committee received the notice of the Provincial Sports Committee to make a model of teaching aids, it paid special attention to it, sent special personnel to Beijing to conduct relevant training organized by the relevant state departments, and brought back relevant design drawings. As soon as the Spring Festival of 1978 passed, the selection of model makers was intensively organized. Since the State Sports Commission allocated 40,000 yuan to this project, it was calculated that the task was more than enough. At the end of the seventies, when the country was not rich, it was extremely exciting that sports, a money-burning industry, could have a surplus. The leaders of Jilin Province and the Municipal Sports Committee felt that it was possible to borrow surpluses, carry out personnel training and equipment purchases, so the emphasis on this work was even close to table tennis and volleyball.
On February 28, 1978, more than 40 people who were selected began to report to Jiangnan Stadium one after another. Jilin Jiangnan Stadium is located in today's Jiaye Jingyuan Community in Fengman District, and was built and put into use in 1958. In addition to the athletics field, there is also a Guest House of the Jilin Municipal Sports Committee, and the Municipal Sports Committee Team and the Ice and Snow Athletes' Dormitory are also among them. Since more than 40 people were overwhelmingly incumbents drawn, the registration lasted more than 10 days. Subsequently, the Jilin Provincial Navigation Model Training Class was officially opened, and the people who participated in the training in Beijing in the early stage explained the production knowledge and production requirements to the new trainees.
Mr. Li Zhong's long beach model propeller hub preserved
Mr. Li Zhong kept the anchor of the model of the Long Beach
Mr. Li Zhong saved the 13-layer "aviation laminate" sample material used on the model deck of the Long Beach
After more than a month, the training ended and everyone began to make models in groups. Because all the trainees were originally sea model enthusiasts, in the face of the opportunity to make the world's most advanced ships at that time, the enthusiasm was unprecedentedly high, and the whole work process was always full of surging passion, but it also lost the rigorous and serious, excellence and work attitude.
The Long Beach-class cruisers and N-class nuclear submarines were the most advanced military ships in the world at that time, and the production model was scaled up according to the actual parameters of the ship. Not only should the overall appearance be highly consistent with the real ship, but no internal details should be a little perfunctory and sloppy. For example, the doors and windows of ships must have independent shafts and hinges, which can be moved according to the real opening and closing angles. Fortunately, these trainees have strong hands-on ability, coupled with abundant funds, under strict quality control, the production of related parts has been carried out relatively smoothly.
Take, for example, the Long Beach-class cruiser. It was the world's first nuclear-powered surface combat ship, the first new cruiser built by the United States after World War II, the world's first warship equipped with regional air defense missiles, and the world's first warship to shoot down enemy aircraft with regional air defense missiles. The cruiser model was made under the designation Long Beach CGN9 and was scaled down to 1:400 from the actual. The physical hull is equipped with radars, lifeboats, aircraft, missiles, etc. The model hull is frP (fiber reinforced plastic, Changchun Youth Palace teacher Wang Xiangdang led the team members, first made of pine wood to make a body, and then by the entity to turn out the model of the frP hull) material, the deck for the density and hardness of the aviation laminate (a kind of plywood, before the liberation of military aircraft, civil aviation aircraft propellers, mostly made of aviation laminate), the rest of the parts are tinplate, in addition to some small parts, for copper, lead and other metal sand casting after polishing and polishing. After confirming the quality of the components of each group, the unified assembly of the finished model was also carried out smoothly. Finally, the training class customized the glass cover, wooden pallet, and flannel for the display, and put the model into it. In addition, a batch of acrylic explanatory plaques were uniformly produced, and the explanatory plaques were hand-engraved with the performance, indicators and parameters of the cruiser.
When the fifteen cruisers were assembled, they were neatly arranged in the work room, like an eight-sided fleet. Each model goes beyond the general sense of the model, and becomes a living work of art because it is created by hand.
Some haimo training course students took a group photo of visiting jilin beishan during the break
After the 35 models were made, the Jilin Provincial Municipal Sports Committee customized a special wooden box, installed the model, and sent it to all parts of the country according to the special address given by the relevant departments. As the models faded away, it was time for the training class to disband and separate. Looking back on the days when everyone ate and lived in the jiangnan stadium workshop for more than three months, the members of the training class could not help but have mixed feelings in their hearts, including excitement, emotion, and of course, not without regrets. One regret is that due to spraying technology, the external color of the Long Beach Cruiser model is slightly different from the standard; the second regret is that there is no handrail wire that meets the scale scaling requirements in China, and finally the Long Beach Cruiser model has to be replaced by a slightly thicker steel wire. Fortunately, the quality of the model was finally positively affirmed by the relevant departments, and the production task assigned to Jilin Province was successfully completed.
In that year, the production of sea molds in Jilin Province did not end with the delivery of the models. From the very beginning of undertaking the production of models, the Jilin Provincial and Municipal Sports Committees have left a "selfish heart": they plan to use this opportunity to make high-quality models for the Jilin Provincial Haimo Team to participate in national competitions in the future. So, in addition to the 15 CGN9s, there was the 16th (in fact, there was another model brought back from Beijing), the Long Beach. In addition, some of the sea model rookies in the training class, such as Li Zhong, Han Lifu, Xu Hongfu and others, were tested in actual combat and later added to the newly formed Jilin Province Sea Model Sports Team. It was the 16th model ship long beach that won the hard-won honor for Jilin Province at the Fourth National Games in May 1979.
However, just when it was recognized by the leaders of the provincial and municipal sports committees, according to the unified arrangement of the state, the sports professional team of Jilin Province began to adjust, and the haimo team was cut from the professional team. Many of the new and old members of the Haimo team have left the sports system and gone to new jobs. In the years that followed, the once-noisy sea model movement gradually faded from people's vision, and then jilin city, which guarded the Songhua River, had the name of a shipyard.
In August 2021, Mr. Li Zhong was volunteering to guide young radio enthusiasts to understand the performance of electrical appliances
Thanks to Mr. Li Zhong's careful preservation, many precious drawings, photographs, parts and materials from the production of the 35 model ships have survived to this day. More than 40 years later, Mr. Li Zhong recounted the past of that year, such as several family treasures, and can still accurately tell the situation of everyone in the photo: from left to right, zhou Xiaokuan (primary school teacher), Jiang Jie (warehouse manager of the Material Bureau), Du Xiaomei (staff of the Urban Management Bureau), Li Zhong (a fresh graduate), Zhu Donghao (staff of the Ship Camp Education Bureau), Yin Xishuang (counselor of the Changyi Children's Palace), 6 of whom participated in the construction of 35 models in different ways and divisions of labor - they were witnesses of a special shipbuilding activity in the ancient Saiwai Shipyard The black-and-white photo at the beginning became a special historical record of that mission, and it was also a historical witness to the opening of the last short-lived glory of the Jilin Provincial Haimo Team.
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Special thanks to Mr. Li Zhong for his support and encouragement to write this article!
The photos in this article are authorized by Mr. Li Zhong, and he is strictly forbidden to use them!