Huang Zhiqian: New China's first chief aircraft designer
July 5 this year marks the 51st anniversary of the successful first flight of the second-generation fighter jet designed and manufactured by my country, the J-8. On this day 51 years ago, the J-8 took off and soared into the blue sky. The fighter plane announced to the world with a roar: China has an independently developed high-altitude and high-speed fighter plane.
This flight gave the republic a seed fighter with strong vitality-the J-8 fighter jet derived from multiple models, guarding the sky of the motherland with a huge family.
We cast the lens behind the weight of the country, and the chief designer of the J-8 Huang Zhiqian walked into people's vision. In his short life of 51 years, Huang Zhiqian did a lot of pioneering work in the field of aviation in China: participated in the formation of the first aircraft design room in New China, trained the first generation aircraft design team, and led the design of the first independent fighter fighter -1...Before the J-8, the head of the domestic fighter design did not have the title of chief designer. Huang Zhiqian was hailed as the first chief designer of the aircraft in New China.
"They attach importance to the creation of the aviation industry, not personal problems. Looking back at that year, they reported to the state of mind, without self-interest..." Huang Zhiqian's lover's evaluation is the lifelong pursuit of the aviation master. He opened the precedent for China's independent design of aircraft, and took on the responsibility of developing fighters such as J-1, J-6, Qiang-5, and J-8; he devoted his whole life to training talents and exploring the formation of aircraft design concepts , Which laid the foundation for China's aircraft design.
The technical difficulty of JJ-1 was unprecedented in the history of aviation industry in my country at that time
Huang Zhiqian was born in Huaiyin Town on the Yangtze River. He is named "Zhi Qian", as the name implies, "Zhi Qian". As a teenager, Huang Zhiqian, by virtue of extraordinary diligence, self-taught into the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Shanghai Jiaotong University.
Huang Zhiqian, a student, was different from ordinary people. His university classmate and aerospace expert Wang Ziren recalled: "Zhi Qian's introverted personality and indifference, because of his dense beard and fierce appearance, his classmates affectionately call him'Yellow Tiger'."
Behind the reticence is his unique focus and meticulousness on his career. Mechanical design drawings that others have to revise repeatedly, he can often make them in one go.
While studying in the UK, Huang Zhiqian took the rare opportunity to study aviation design technology. At that time, the British side prohibited Chinese personnel from entering the design department and also blocked the core technical information. But the excellent Huang Zhiqian was selected by the British side as an exception and was responsible for the design of the rear structure of the fuselage.
In 1947, on the outskirts of London, England, a "Meteor" jet fighter dexterously shuttled among the clouds, with a maximum flight speed of 975 km/h, setting a world record for aircraft flight speed. Looking at the successful test flight of the aircraft he participated in designing, Huang Zhiqian had new hope in his heart: One day China can also make jet aircraft.
After the founding of New China, Huang Zhiqian returned to his motherland and served as the head of the aircraft design team of the Aviation Industry Bureau.
Soon, he offered to leave Beijing to the northeast to design and manufacture my country's first jet fighter-Jiao-1.
At that time, the aircraft design and manufacturing industry in New China was almost blank. Few designers have seen a handful of people who have seen jets. In the absence of technical information, technical personnel borrow foreign materials from scientific research institutes and learn while translating; in the absence of experimental equipment, they do it themselves and perform welding processing.
"Drawings are the foundation of the project, we must strictly abide by the drafting regulations and practice basic skills..." Feng Zhongyue, an aircraft structural strength expert, recalled that Huang Zhiqian was extremely rigorous in his work and trained young people to be patient and meticulous. Everyone demonstrates.
At that time, there were tens of thousands of design drawings for JJ-1. In order to ensure the coordination of the drawings designed by hundreds of people, Huang Zhiqian checked and checked all night long. In order to allow young people to practice basic skills as soon as possible, Huang Zhiqian will make detailed revisions and comments on the drawings, so that designers can find drawing problems in a timely manner and improve the ability of design drawings.
During the aircraft design process, designers found that new models often have chatter problems. At that time, it was winter in the northeast, and the wind was harder than steel and colder than steel. However, the team's will to overcome difficulties is rock-solid. When most people in the Northeast chose "Cat Winter", Huang Zhiqian led the designer to drag the wooden fighter model and ran to the outskirts of the city to carry out a wind tunnel test.
"Every test, he was present, like watching his own children, observing the fighter's every move." Academician Gu Chanfen recalled that as long as 2 months, Huang Zhiqian led the designer to sort out the test phenomenon data together to ensure that both sides of the fighter Reliability of intake design.
After many hardships, he finally waited until the birth of the new fighter. On this day, Huang Zhiqian was very excited--
On July 26, 1958, at Beiling Airport, when the signal flare broke through the sky, JJ-1 whistled toward the runway and flew lightly into the blue sky, successfully making multiple difficult movements.
After the plane landed, Huang Zhiqian and the designers present cheered happily. They have enough reasons to be proud because "the technical difficulty is unprecedented in the history of my country's aviation industry at the time."
Nowadays, people can't imagine the great determination and courage that the developers had at the time to complete this "flying sky".
He was born for the sky, and fell in the sky again
In the 1960s, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft of the US military often invaded our national airspace, and our military radar could "see" it, but the fighter aircraft could not reach it. The task of developing a "competitive aircraft" with fast speed, long range, strong fighting power, and comparable to the world's fighters of the same type fell on the shoulders of Huang Zhiqian and his colleagues.
At that time, my country only had the ability to imitate the first generation of supersonic fighters, and it directly crossed to the level of independently designing double-sonic fighters. The difficulty can be imagined.
From the principle of the system to the accessories of the finished product, to the test method, every tough research has been imprinted with the collective mark of that generation who has experienced hardships and unremitting efforts.
When certain progress was made in the research and development of the J-8, the problem of "heart disease" of fighter planes became a "blocker" for them to move forward.
At a meeting, everyone debated: whether to install a newly developed domestic engine, or install two improved J-7 engines? Everyone expressed their own opinions, and there was much debate.
"A certain type of aircraft cannot be stereotyped because it does not have a mature engine. We must learn this lesson. We can no longer repeat the mistakes of the engine towing the aircraft!" Huang Zhiqian weighed the domestic technical conditions at that time and calmly proposed that the more mature "double Development plan". Practice has proved that this choice has greatly shortened the development time of fighters and effectively avoided technical risks.
In order to make the fighter aircraft more in line with the needs of the army, Huang Zhiqian led the joint investigation team to travel through the air force units, academies and institutions to collect more than 300 opinions on the overall plan of the J-8 aircraft.
Affected by the trend of missile supremacy at that time, the F-8 aircraft was originally designed without a cannon. After in-depth communication with the first-line pilots, Huang Zhiqian concluded that the machine gun is still a necessary and important weapon. It is necessary to add a machine gun to the original J-8 missile program.
"We made mistakes technically. Comrade Zhi Qian is not to blame, but often encourages us to eliminate the mistakes." A yellowed booklet of "F-8 Strength Calculation Principle" has been placed on Academician Guan De Desk. Although he has come into contact with many advanced aircraft manufacturing theories over the years, Academician Guan De has kept this booklet so far.
On one occasion, Huang Zhiqian discovered that young Guan De did not understand a technical problem. He took Guan De to compare a set of data, and also explained to him the advanced foreign design concepts. Seeing that he was still very satisfied, he gave Guan De the booklet "Principles for Strength Calculation of the F-8" prepared by him.
With the encouragement of Huang Zhiqian, Guan De successfully completed the aeroelastic design of the J-8 aircraft, established a set of flutter calculation programs, and laid the foundation for my country's aeroelastic profession.
He was born for the sky and fell in the sky again. On May 20, 1965, when Huang Zhiqian led his team to Europe for investigation, the flight he took was in trouble and he was unfortunately killed.
At this time, it was only 3 days from the approval of the development plan of the J-8 fighter.
"The sky hasn't left me, and I have flown." The aviation man said goodbye to his beloved aircraft design career in a tragic way. His students inherited his legacy and successfully sent the J-8 fighter plane to the blue sky of the motherland.
In more than 30 years of service, the J-8 fighter has been soaring in the blue sky of the motherland, defending the sea and air security of the motherland with outstanding performance.
Aviation industry is the assembly line of "production" hero
People who work with Huang Zhiqian have heard of his "miaozi, acupuncture theory": "We must pay attention to discovering and cultivating technically sophisticated acupunctures and those with a lesser acuity, but also with good potential. The acacia produces a acupuncture, and the acupuncture takes the acacia. , Miaozi leads the whole, promotes each other, and invigorates the talent team."
In Huang Zhiqian's eyes, Gu Songfen is undoubtedly the representative of the "top-notch"-as early as the early development of JJ-1, he was only 26 years old when he was commissioned by Huang Zhiqian to design the aerodynamic layout of the aircraft.
Today, Academician Gu Chanfen, who is over 90 years old, still remembers the teaching of his teacher: "Comrade Zhiqian is very concerned about our juniors, and requires us to have strict work qualities and cultivate our good design habits. He often said,'These Young people will be the treasures of China's aircraft design in the future, and they must practice their basic skills well and solidly.'"
In November 1985, J-8 won the special prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award. In the list of winners, Gu Chanfen's name was impressively listed. At this time, 20 years have passed since the death of teacher Huang Zhiqian.
"There will always be mistakes in new things. If you know the mistakes, don't think about your personal gains and losses." Gu Chenfen after winning the award, what flashed in his mind was not the celebration scene of the fighter's first successful flight, but the teacher's simple and warm words.
In the early 1960s, Gu Songfen served as deputy chief designer of the aerodynamic layout design of the J-8, and performed a large amount of data calculations for an improved design on the fighter. Many people expressed confusion about his behavior. After understanding the situation, Huang Zhiqian encouraged Gu Songfen to insist on bold innovation until he made the best design.
In the eyes of Academician Chen Yijian, the chief designer of the "Flying Leopard" fighter, Huang Zhiqian is an almost harsh teacher.
Once, Huang Zhiqian asked him a technical data, and he answered casually with his memory. Huang Zhiqian took him to look up the data together, and said with a long heart: "Designers must have strict technical literacy and carefully check the data. There will be mistakes in the memory. In case of mistakes, the consequences will be very serious."
In the eyes of aviation industry expert Li Zaitian, Huang Zhiqian is an approachable elder. Before coming to the State-owned 112 Factory (the predecessor of the aviation industry Shenyang Aircraft Industry Group Company), Li Zaitian had heard of Huang Zhiqian's great reputation. Originally thinking that this famous designer was unattainable, but after a period of contact, he smiled and said: "Mr. Huang is humble, no details, no questions, no boredom, no arrogance..."
Zhang Zhongqiu, who has worked with Huang Zhiqian for a long time and is the director of a certain design institute, commented that Huang Zhiqian is "practicing and seeking practical results, but not showing off; full of economy, but not easy to expose; Push forward, unpretentious..."
When these fragmented memories are integrated, it is the best memory of the outstanding aviation master. Huang Zhiqian influenced not only one generation but several generations of aviation people.
A star fell, but the sky was still brilliant. Under the leadership of Huang Zhiqian, Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute became a veritable "cradle of aircraft designers". Many of the former young seedlings have grown into experts, academicians, and leaders in aircraft design units, and have become pioneers and leaders in the field of aviation.
Some people say that the aviation industry is a pipeline of "production" heroes. Shen Fei's four heroes Huang Zhiqian, Xu Shunshou, Gao Fangqi, and Luo Yang set their final lives at the age of 51. Behind them, generations of aviation people have inherited the lofty ideals of their predecessors to "serve the country by aviation", and worked hard to develop advanced fighters, so that China's aviation industry has achieved a historical leap from overall follow-up, main body and run to lead.
Yunchuan