A Research On Bureau Of Aeronautical Research During The Anti–Japanese War

In the first half of the 20 th century, there were mainly two undertakers of aviation science and technology research in China. They were Bureau of Aeronautical Research of Aviation Committee(BAR) and Aeronautical Research Institute of Tsinghua University.BAR owns a unique and significant status in Chinese aviation history, Chinesehistory of science and technology and history of anti-Japanese war. However, there has not been much academic research on BAR.This paper presents the development process and main contributions of BAR. During the anti-Japanese war, aviation enterprises were forced to move to the west part of China, which caused great losses. The equipments, goods and materials needed by the Chinese air force were mainly imported from foreign countries. As the coastal cities and ports were captured by the Japanese army one after another, the conditions for Chinese air force became even worse. Under this background, Bureau of Aeronautical Research was founded in July, 1939. It was affiliated with Aviation Committee. Since the foundation of BAR, producing aviation equipments domesticallybecame its top priority. In the year of 1941, BAR was expanded. The bureau studied the physical and mechanical properties of several kinds of wood from the Southwest part of China. In addition, it made innovative researches on several kinds of bamboo from the Southwest part of China and succeeded in developing aircraft plywood, plybamboo and other aviation materials. The bureau also designed as well as improved lots of aviation eqipments, instruments and weapons. BAR designed three types of training aircraft and one type of giant glider. All these aircraft applied the plywood and bamboo layer made by itself. Apart from technology research and development, the bureau also performed research programs in the field of aerodynamics, mechanics of materials, etc.This paper discusses the historical contributions of BAR and points out that although the bureau has not gained world-leading scientific achievements, it definitely is the main contributor of China’s aviation science and technology research and China’s localization of aviation industry. The scientific research conducted by the bureau effectively supports the long-lasting air force battle and aids the training of aviation talents. The bureau has made ground-breaking contributions to the development of Sichuan’s aviation industry and provided precious experiences for China’s aviation industry. All of these were achieved under extremely challenging conditions.Along with the scientific research of the bureau, this paper also studies the relationship between the distinguished Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen and BAR. An anecdote of Qian was found and this paper will use this anecdote to conduct preliminary research on Qian’s early academic style and his understanding of mechanics.The performance of the bureau prospered during the anti-Japanese war while declined after the victory of the war. In fact, the peried of the Anti-Japan War was only “golden age” of the China’s history of aviation science and technology. This paper analyses the declining reasons of BAR. The reasons not only lie in the differences of the situations, but also lie in that the bureau itself has not kept pace with the development of the world’s aviation science and technology. The government and the military have not put much faith in aviation scientific research and have not provided adequate support, which also caused the decline.BAR is an important case in the China’s history of aviation science and technology. This essay performs a comparative study between the war-time BAR and Aeronautical Research Institute of Tsinghua University. This sort of comparison is helpful to deepen the understanding about China’s history of aviation science and technology,and provide valuable references for the development of China’s aviation science and technology.