On August 25, 1912, Chinese flew an airplane of his own making to an air show on the outskirts of Guangzhou. At that time, many people had not yet seen the plane, and the airport was surrounded by people who came to watch the performance. After the aircraft's aerial skill show, the pilots are ready to land. Suddenly, he saw two children frolicking on the far runway, and something unfortunate was about to happen.
At this critical moment, the pilot jerked the lever and stepped on the accelerator, and the plane slammed into the sky like a mad eagle. A sudden disaster occurred, due to excessive force, the aircraft lost its balance; also because the aircraft was not used regularly, so that some parts rusted, in the shaking, the parts were damaged, and the aircraft suddenly fell on the grass. The pilot suffered serious injuries to his head, chest, abdomen, etc., and died after being sent to the hospital, when he was only 29 years old.
The pilot, named Feng Ru, is known as "China's Wright" and is the first person to design and manufacture Chinese aircraft.
Sculpture of Feng Ru
Feng Ru was born in Xingpu Village, Niujiang Town, Enping City, Guangdong Province. His father was a simple and humble farmer who supported his family by tilling a small piece of land. When Feng Ru was 12 years old, his uncle, who was doing a small business in San Francisco, returned home to save his relatives, saw that Feng Ru's family was living in difficulty, and wanted to take Feng Ru to the United States to earn a living. Feng Ru said: "The ancients said that 'the big husband is home from all over the world', and I am willing to go out to learn a craft and honor my parents in the future." ”
At his repeated requests, his parents agreed to his request to go to the United States. In 1894, Feng Ru embarked on a voyage to the United States and began a new life. Six years later, Feng Ru moved to New York to work as a worker in a factory. In the factory, he fell in love with various machines, and learned many principles from repairing and manufacturing machines.
Feng Ru is determined to pursue a major in machine manufacturing. He studied very hard, often late into the night to explore a problem. Despite his poor life, in order to learn more about the development of Western science and technology, he often bought newspapers and books from the cost of food and accommodation he saved.
A few years have passed, and Feng Ruoran has a broad knowledge of mechanical manufacturing. He is proficient in 36 kinds of machines, and also made some pumps and piling machines, and he designed and built radio transceivers, which are popular with users due to their good performance. Feng Ru had become a well-known machine builder at that time.
Feng Ru designed the "Feng Ru II" model
In 1903, Feng Ru saw the news of the success of the Wright brothers' construction of the aircraft from the newspaper and was immediately attracted. Airplanes, what a tempting invention! Feng Ru thought that the Americans can build airplanes, and Chinese will be able to do so. How much our motherland needs airplanes! Feng Ru returned to San Francisco in 1906. With the enthusiastic support of the overseas Chinese, Feng Ru and his assistants, the patriotic overseas Chinese Zhu Zhuquan, Zhu Zhaohuai, and Situ Biru, rented a factory building in the Wulun area and began the research and development work.
At that time, the Wright brothers' plane had just taken off, and in order to maintain a monopoly, they blocked all the information. Feng Ru they can only rely on their own aerodynamic knowledge, starting from scratch and designing drawings. In order to understand the development of aircraft in various countries at that time and to learn from the strengths of others, he bought all the money he saved in his life into newspapers and magazines. They got up early and worked day and night, overcoming one technical difficulty after another. He consulted a large number of works on the principles of aircraft, and then designed and began to prototype models, gaining experience before officially trial production of aircraft.
An airplane made by Feng Ru
Following the ancient adage that "failure is the mother of success", Feng Ru finally made an airplane in 1909 with the help of overseas Chinese. However, the plane had an accident during the test flight and broke down. Feng Ru learned from the accident and continued to improve the design, and in 1910 he again made an airplane. Finally, he flew Chinese airplane of his own design and manufacture and took to the skies.
In the first international flying competition held in France, Feng Ru won the excellent prize. Chinese aviation technology has made its debut in the West, and Feng Ru has become a world-recognized aircraft designer, manufacturer and aviator.
■ Text/Adapted from "The Tireless Bird of Knowledge" (Author: Shen Fen, Published by Hebei Education Publishing House)
■ Editor / Wang Xiao
■ All rights reserved, may not be reproduced without permission