Flying through the longitude and latitude of history, soaring into the clouds of dreams
——The story of the aviation industry's struggle to fly into the blue sky
Looking up at the sky, this is a "look at each other" across time and space-
When the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea started, China only had more than 100 fighter planes. The Americans said arrogantly: "China has no air force at all."
In 2021, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, 71 "national" fighters such as the J-20 flew into the sky and made a sound.
Among the 71 fighters, most of the fighters are produced by the Aviation Industry Chengdu Aircraft Industry (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Aviation Industry Chengfei).
The representative of the aviation industry Chengfei craftsmen who watched the ceremony on the spot said with emotion: "At this moment, it is enough to comfort the martyrs. This prosperous world is as you wish."
In a flash of time, China's aviation industry has accelerated, and the Chinese Air Force is striving to take off.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, from the strategic height of realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, President Xi has issued a great call to "accelerate the construction of a powerful people's air force that integrates air and space, and has both offensive and defensive capabilities", and made a series of issues related to the people's air force. A strategic plan for construction and long-term development.
In 2018, at the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Expo, the Chinese Air Force announced a "three-step" roadmap for building a strong and modern air force.
At the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Expo last year, the J-20, Yun-20 and Zhi-20 appeared on the same stage to show the world the "20s era" belonging to the Chinese Air Force.
Looking back and staring, on the road to the take-off of China's aviation industry, the aviation industry has left a series of footprints - from J-5A, J-7E, J-10, to "Xiaolong", J-20, cumulative production Thousands of fighter jets of various types have broken through a large number of key technologies related to the country's core competitiveness and the combat effectiveness of the troops, helping the Chinese Air Force to achieve cross-generational upgrading of equipment.
Netizens said that the strong scientific and technological strength of national defense is sometimes reflected in a confident statement: "I am the Chinese Air Force, you are about to enter China's airspace, leave immediately! Leave immediately!" This time, the Chinese Air Force declared its determination to safeguard national sovereignty.
This is the mission of the People's Air Force.
This is also the mission of the aviation industry Chengfei.
The motherland will eventually choose those who are loyal to the motherland, and the motherland will eventually remember those who dedicate to the motherland
Inside the aviation industry Chengfei, there is a sculpture called "One Flying to the Sky": 8 "1" metal bars are staggered, pointing directly to the sky.
This peculiarly shaped sculpture commemorates the historic moment on January 11, 2011 at 1:11 pm.
At that moment, Air Force test pilot Li Gang successfully flew my country's new-generation stealth fighter J-20 for the first time, ushering in the "20 era" of the Chinese Air Force.
Yang Wei, the chief designer of the J-20, recalled that this was a coincidence and an indication that there were too many "firsts" on the J-20.
"This take-off is closely related to our efforts." After decades of struggling to catch up, my country finally has a fighter jet that is comparable to the world's advanced level. Yang Wei feels "proud."
The blue sky has always been a stage for great power competition.
"Independent design, independent research and development, independent production", this is a strong symbol of the national aviation industry.
However, for a long time, most of the fighter jets of the Chinese Air Force are imitations, and there are very few fighter jets independently developed and with completely independent intellectual property rights.
To develop a "Made in China" fighter jet in the full sense means that Chinese aviation personnel must cross a huge gap - from the previous ones who have not tried it to the world who have not experienced it.
The aviation people who shoulder the task of developing new models understand: "The times have chosen us, and we can't live up to the times!"
"Those who take their lives and do their jobs are heroes." Yang Baoshu, general manager of the aviation industry Chengfei, fell ill after overwork, and after the successful first flight of the J-10, he and his beloved fighter will always watch the blue sky of the motherland; the chief designer of the J-10 Before Song Wencong died, he said slowly, "People's lifespan is too short. If I can live to 100 or 200 years old, then I can develop a few more planes for the country."
What is old is youth, what is eternal is mission.
Yang Wei said: "We have to continue this career. This is a mission and a responsibility."
On the wall of the Aviation Industry Chengfei History Museum, their spiritual coordinates are engraved: "The motherland will eventually choose those who are loyal to the motherland, and the motherland will eventually remember those who dedicate to the motherland."
During the development of the J-10, after the canard wing entered the autoclave to solidify and form, the vacuum bag leaked.
At this point, researchers must immediately find the leak site for remediation.
At the scene, someone proposed to manually enter the autoclave to find the leak point.
"I'm coming!" At a critical juncture, worker Zhang Guohua stood up.
When the door of the autoclave slowly opened, he resolutely walked in wearing a heavy protective suit.
As time passed by, Zhang Guohua entered the high-temperature autoclave twice to work, and finally found the leaking part and repaired it.
The problem was resolved smoothly, and many people shed tears of excitement on the spot.
The seeds of dreams will eventually grow into towering trees.
No one would have imagined that a wasteland in the southwest of the motherland would now become the "Dream Factory" of China Aviation, witnessing the historic moments of China Aviation——
In August 1993, the J-7E developed and modified by the aviation industry Chengfei was installed in the Air Force and became the main fighter of the Chinese Air Force in the 1990s;
On July 1, 2009, the first "Fierce Dragon" fighter jet co-produced in Pakistan started construction, marking a new breakthrough in my country's aviation industry from technology introduction to complete aircraft technology export;
On February 9, 2018, the J-20, a new generation of stealth fighters independently developed by the aviation industry, began to be installed in the Air Force, taking on the solemn mission of defending the air and space of the motherland...
The heavy weapon of the country is forged by fate.
Generations of scientific research talents and great country craftsmen who love the aviation industry have written infinite loyalty with their blood and life.
The flying road of fighters is also the road of innovation and practice of scientific research teams
"Such an advanced product, but there is no drawing on site." In the aviation industry Chengfei scientific research building, the staff introduced a fully digital aircraft research and development system to reporters.
This technological innovation has made the aircraft design completely paperless, completely changed the fighter research and development model, process and system, and effectively shortened the trial production cycle of the fighter.
There are many such innovations on the J-20 fighter.
Usually, the development of a new type of fighter requires the adoption of many new technologies, some almost starting from a concept.
Cockpit layout is very important to a fighter aircraft.
The cockpit design of the J-20 was called "the best office" by test pilot Li Gang. The key to its success lies in the deep participation of the flight test team led by Yang Wei.
"Yang Wei sent us a lot of blank cockpit pictures, and gave us a lot of small pictures of electric door switches, let us experience it ourselves, and paste the corresponding switches on the positions we think are reasonable." Li Gang said, if everyone posted In one position, it is stated that there is a consensus; if there is disagreement, a meeting is held to discuss.
In Li Gang's impression, such discussions have gone through at least 5 rounds.
From the drawings drawn by the flight test team, to the wooden cockpit, and then to the metal cockpit... The designer and the test pilot docked over and over again, and they kept improving on the subtleties, and finally created the best fighter cockpit in China.
Every breakthrough in the aviation industry is based on the technological breakthrough of scientific researchers——
Li Lingyu, chief operating technician of aircraft cables, summed up and extracted advanced operation methods such as Li Lingyu solder ring processing method and Li Lingyu shielded wire stripping method, which not only ensured the quality of the wire harness, but also reduced the processing cycle of shielded wires;
Liu Shiyong, an expert in aircraft riveting fitter skills, has successively developed more than 20 aircraft assembly technological innovations, such as the rear fuselage tail cover space conversion method, Liu's riveting method, and aircraft quick-release cover installation tools, which has significantly improved the aircraft assembly efficiency and efficiency. product quality;
Zhang Chuan, a national technical expert, pioneered various techniques such as parameter setting method in China, and created the miracle of digital manufacturing of aviation equipment in the development of national key projects...
The flying road of fighters is also the road of innovation and practice of the scientific research team.
In the 1990s, in order to meet the development needs of my country's aviation industry, the aviation industry Chengfei used five-axis linkage CNC machine tools to process parts.
Machine tool processing technology continues to improve, but the acceptance standards were formulated more than 20 years ago, which can no longer meet the testing needs of high-end machine tools.
Many countries have tried to formulate new machine tool acceptance standards, but due to the difficulty of precision detection of five-axis CNC machine tools, they have been in the exploratory stage.
The formulation of a new precision acceptance standard for five-axis CNC machine tools became a worldwide problem at that time.
When everyone was at a loss, someone proposed that an S-shaped third-order spline curve can be established by taking 50 reference points on the upper and lower two parallel reference planes.
In this way, the machine tool can realize multiple opening and closing angle conversions during the machining process.
The tireless pursuit of innovation enables researchers to quickly find new technologies and new methods.
Soon after, they successfully developed S-shaped specimen samples.
After testing, this test piece is really effective in improving the machining accuracy of the machine tool.
In 2019, the International Organization for Standardization Machine Tool Technical Committee unanimously approved the final draft of the international standard for the S-shaped test piece, and officially agreed to list the S-shaped test piece as an international standard.
From J-7E, J-10, "Xiaolong" to J-20 fighter jets, from white paper slide rules, pencil drawings to digital design, virtual simulation... Chinese aviation people forge ahead, pursue excellence, and draw closer China aviation time and time again The distance between industry and the world's advanced level.
Young aviation industry is flying, young Chinese aviation people
On October 28, 2021, the aviation industry took off. This "cradle" of China's aviation manufacturing industry located in the southwest corner of the motherland has once again attracted the attention of countless media at this moment——
On this day, the Aviation Industry Chengfei Aviation-themed Education Base was officially opened to the public.
This is a garden-style fighter aircraft museum. The J-10, J-20 and other fighter aircraft on display are all manufactured by Chengfei in the aviation industry. Standing on the Jianjing Platform overlooking the Longteng Square in the base, you will find that the square is composed of a huge five-pointed star pattern. , 7 fighters are displayed on the extension line of the five-pointed star, symbolizing that the war eagle will always guard the motherland.
As a new window into China's aviation industry, it has its own traffic and has become a "Internet celebrity check-in place" for young people.
There is no doubt that the real "Internet celebrity" of this "Internet celebrity check-in place" is a Chinese aviation person and a booming aviation industry in China.
"Through these fighter planes in front of us, it is easier to understand the history and today of China's aviation industry." Photographer Xu Yanjun is the "photographer" of Chengfei in the aviation industry.
After working for more than 40 years, he has performed shooting missions for various aircrafts, recording the take-off process of the Warhawk with the lens, and also recording the development trajectory of the aviation industry.
In Xu Yanjun's view, among the many aircraft manufacturing companies in the world, the aviation industry Chengfei is still "young".
"China's aviation industry started late and has a weak foundation. Compared with the world powers, there is still a gap. We still have a long way to go to catch up with the world powers." Xu Yanjun knows that a great dream requires a group of people to work together. struggle.
The time to "catch up" is bought with the youth of generations of aviation people.
At the beginning of the establishment of the aviation industry Chengfei, young people from all over the world gathered here. They trekked on the barren land and dug the first shovel soil for the construction of the factory.
It was a difficult time, but also a time to accumulate energy. The accelerated growth of batches of young people boosted the rapid development of the company.
Yang Wei, an aircraft designer born in the 1960s, is here.
The top student who graduated from a prestigious school has dedicated more than 30 years to the aviation industry.
Seeing that China Airlines has entered the "20s era", he proudly said: "This job is actually very cool, but it is difficult for ordinary people to understand."
Chen Linhong, a post-70s senior technician, came.
When selecting the technical backbone, Chen Linhong mobilized like this: "There are 1.4 billion people in the country, but this mission chose us. The motherland needs us, and we must do it no matter how difficult it is!"
Liu Yuting, a post-80s quality manager, came here.
Her mother and grandfather are both flight workers in the aviation industry, and her grandfather often taught her: "We must inherit the spirit of serving the country by aviation of the older generation of aviation people and contribute our strength to the aviation industry."
Zhang Taijun, a post-90s worker, came.
This young party member is already a "national technical expert", he shook the riveting gun in his hand, and said confidently: "This is the 'weapon' in our hands, and I will use it to assemble millions of parts into a war eagle. ."
According to statistics, the average age of the members of the J-20 development team is only 33.2 years old.
More and more people born in the 1980s and 1990s are becoming an important force in the fields of fighter design, manufacturing, test flight, and support.
"One generation has the mission of one generation. We must inherit the craftsmanship of the older generation of aviation people and create more advanced fighter jets." When he took the oath, the new employee Chen Zihao was full of pride.
The new war eagle flew out of the new track, and the new mission gave birth to new combat power.
The J-10 participates in the normalization training on the plateau, and the J-20 conducts training in subjects such as over-the-horizon air combat... From the cloudy sky in the north to the territory of the South China Sea, from the coast of the East China Sea to the snowy plateau, the sky of the motherland has left wonderful moments of domestic fighters again and again.
Standing on the coordinate system of the times, let's look at the two development trajectories of the aviation industry and the Chinese Air Force: one is the leap trajectory of the aviation industry's leap-forward development, and the other is the trajectory of the development and growth of the Chinese Air Force. With the column mounted continuously extending upwards.
Walk with the times, walk with the mission, walk with the ideal.
Chinese aviation and the Chinese Air Force are on the road together, moving forward and moving towards the future.
Our special correspondent Xing Zhe correspondent Chang Qingxing