\”Historic Site\” Nanyuan Airport, where China Airlines takes off

Beijing Daxing International Airport was officially opened to traffic today. Subsequently, Beijing Nanyuan Airport, which has a history of hundreds of years, will be closed. Nanyuan Airport plays an important role in the history of Chinese aviation. As early as 1904, two aircraft from France performed a flight demonstration in Nanyuan. This was the first time that aircraft took off and landed in China. In 1910, a piece of land at the Nanyuan Training Ground was rolled into an airstrip and named \”Nanyuan Airport\”. On April 6, 1911, Qin Guoyong, a pilot studying in France, flew a Gaudelon single-seat trainer aircraft to perform a flight demonstration at the Nanyuan Campus Parade Ground. This was the first time a Chinese flew an aircraft on his own soil. Qin Guoyong\’s second son Qin Guozhu was also an Air Force pilot. He shot down a Japanese plane on August 16, 1937. He was unfortunately shot down when he was ordered to attack a Japanese ship on August 18. He was only 26 years old when he died. What is less known is that China’s first aviation school was also established at Nanyuan Airport. In August 1913, Nanyuan Aviation School was established, and Nanyuan Airport became the origin of China\’s aviation industry and the earliest aviation base built and longest in use in China.

Nanyuan Aviation School Headquarters Qin Guoyong, the principal, was also the first Chinese to fly in Nanyuan

The old royal hunting place

Nanyuan was a royal garden in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Because the Yongding River passed through the garden, it formed a large lake and swamp with lush vegetation, where animals and elk gathered, and was used for hunting. A good place, hence the name Nanyuan. Later, the place name \”Nanhaizi\” replaced \”Nanyuan\”, and the area centered on Nanyuan Town became the northwest part of the \”Nanhaizi\” region. In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court moved northward and expanded the hunting area of ​​Nanyuan 500 times. Some scholars estimate that the area could reach 210 square kilometers. During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, the buildings were repaired, and some facilities for eating, living, and playing were added, and further expanded into the Royal Garden.confinement. When Huang Taiji attacked Beijing and was resisted by Yuan Chonghuan, he went to Nanhaizi to put down his troops and deliberately let go the eunuch guarding Nanhaizi, so that the eunuch could go into the city and falsely accuse Yuan Chonghuan of having an affair with Huang Taiji and treason. After the Qing army entered the customs, the Qing Dynasty once again built the Nanyuan hunting ground, which gradually became a royal garden and military training ground.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the national power was gradually declining, and Nanyuan\’s role as a royal garden gradually withdrew from the stage of history. Due to its proximity to the capital, Nanyuan developed into a military center of the capital. As the garrison increased, local business and humanities developed, and they gathered together to form Nanyuan Town, which was the first town in southern Beijing at the time. After the invasion of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, Nanyuan was looted, burned and flooded. Its former glory was beyond recognition and even turned into a wilderness. On June 23, 1902, the Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the establishment of the Nanyuan Reclamation Bureau in the Tuanhe Palace. The Qing government auctioned off large tracts of land in Nanyuan, reclaimed wasteland, identified seeds, and distributed them to four townships. Nanyuan gradually formed a farm for landlords and eunuchs. , they hired farmers to farm and pay rent, and gradually formed villages, such as Guangde Village and Fuyuan Village of the great eunuch Li Lianying, Zhenya Village of the Beiyang warlord Duan Qirui, etc. Until the Republic of China, this place became a place where warlords fought. Behind the smoke of war, a new pattern of land use was born.

In 1904, when Yuan Shikai was the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang, the Sixth Town of the Beiyang Army stationed in the northwest of Nanhaizi set aside an area south of today\’s Nanyuan Town to build garrison camps. There were multiple houses, which were the residences of the Qing army, called \”Wanzidi\”. Multiple independent barracks were set up. The stationed Qing Dynasty banner troops were first to defend the capital city and secondly to escort the emperor during his summer vacation. The place name \”Nanyuan\” gradually separated from part of \”Nanhaizi\”, and there are still place names such as Dayingmen, Sanyingmen Street, Liuyingmen and so on. The seventh barracks is within the current Nanyuan Airport and is the location of the Army Review Delegation.

China’s first airport

The Republic of China was founded in 1912 At that time, the Nanjing Provisional Government established a flying battalion in the traffic regiment of the Third Army Division, with two pigeon monoplanes. In 1913, the flying battalion and its aircraft were transferred to Beijing and incorporated into the Army\’s Third Division stationed in Nanyuan. A flying training class and aircraft maintenance factory were set up to accompany the battalion. At this time, experts who studied aviation theory abroad returned to China one after another, and China already had the conditions to start an aviation industry. Qin Guoyong, then the Chief Counselor of the Ministry of War, had studied in France and Belgium. He was deeply worried that the country could not compete with the great powers without an air force, so he persuaded Morrison, the adviser to the Presidential Office, and with his help, he submitted a homemade aircraft model to Yuan Shikai, requesting the establishment of an aviation company. The school cultivates talents for the construction of the Air Force. At the same time, the adviser to the Presidential Palace and the military attache of the French Embassy in China, Bailisot, also suggested the establishment of an aviation school to train pilots. The government of the Republic of China decided toNanyuan opened an aviation school, borrowed 300,000 silver dollars from European powers, and used 270,000 of it to purchase 12 Gaudelon G-4 bi-wing trainer aircraft, as well as maintenance equipment and equipment from the French Gaudelon Aircraft Company. At the same time, another 60,000 silver dollars were allocated to build an aviation school south of the old barracks in Nanyuan and west of the parade ground, including more than 100 rooms, a hangar factory and an aircraft maintenance shop, and to build the Nanyuan parade ground. Officially expanded into an airport, this is China\’s first airport.

Nanyuan Aviation School was founded Most of the school’s instructors studied in Europe. Flight instructor Li Ruyan studied in the United Kingdom (second from right) and is one of the earliest pilots in China’s aviation history.

The first principal of Nanyuan Aviation School was Qin Guoyong. Li Ruyan and Pan Shizhong, who learned to fly airplanes in 1911 (both of whom went to Britain and France to learn flying), served as flight instructors; Jiang Bingran, Yue Ganchen and others served as ground subject instructors, and hired two French flight instructors Constantine, Ober and two technicians. Pan Shizhong also served as the director of the aircraft maintenance plant.

While at Nanyuan Aviation School, from March 10 to 11, 1914, Li Ruyan, the chief flight instructor of Nanyuan Aviation School, the principal Qin Guoyong, and student Zhang Bin Each flew a plane and completed the flight between Beijing and Baoding. This was the earliest long-distance flight in China. By the end of that year, 41 trainees had completed training and obtained diplomas. This can be said to be the first batch of pilots trained by our country. Nanyuan Aviation School not only engages in teaching, but its aircraft maintenance factory also attempts to develop aircraft. Under the auspices of the factory director Pan Shizhong, in 1914, based on comprehensive reference to the technical data of Gaudelon and Farman aircraft, a biplane was designed and manufactured by itself. The aircraft adopted a propeller scheme and was powered by a replica of the Hanyang Arsenal. The French \”Gram\” 80-horsepower engine is equipped with a machine gun manufactured by Hanyang Arsenal.The fuselage is marked with the number \”1\” and is called a \”gun truck\”. This is the earliest known Chinese homemade military aircraft. In addition, Li Ruyan also designed and manufactured China\’s first seaplane. Compared with developed industrial countries, this achievement is particularly rare for China, which has an extremely weak industrial base.

Due to the turmoil caused by warlord wars for many years, the development of the aviation school was deeply affected, and normal teaching and training work were often interrupted. By the time the fourth class of students graduated in 1925, the aviation school had reached an unsustainable point and was unable to continue recruiting students. In May 1928, with the demise of the Beiyang government, Nanyuan Aviation School was finally abolished. In the 15 years since the school was founded, a total of 159 students have graduated from four phases of enrollment. In addition to 8 students who were hired in advance before graduation, a total of 167 flight talents have been trained. These students will become the future members of China Airlines. The backbone of the aviation industry, and some of them have become pioneers in the aviation industry of New China.

The principal flew a plane to \”bomb\” the Forbidden City to scare away the Restoration Party

From the day Nanyuan Airport was built, its main function was military use. Although Nanyuan Aviation School has a weak financial background, it has sent teachers and students to participate in military operations many times. In the winter of 1913, a rebellion broke out in Inner Mongolia. The aviation school dispatched aircraft to perform reconnaissance missions, provide military intelligence to the counter-rebellion forces, and fly over the rebels to psychologically shock them. This was the first time China used aircraft in military operations. Later, the aviation school also participated in the military operation to pursue Bai Lang. Pan Shizhong, Qin Guoyong, and Li Ruyan each flew a plane to participate in the war, going deep into Henan, Shaanxi, and Gansu to perform reconnaissance and bombing missions. On July 1, 1917, Zhang Xun supported the restoration of his successor Puyi. On the 5th, Qin Guoyong immediately called Duan Qirui, commander-in-chief of the rebel army, claiming to \”lead the pilots to act in concert with the various departments of the rebel army.\” On July 7, he personally flew a plane over Tiananmen Square to distribute leaflets \”Hit Zhang Xun, oppose restoration\” and dropped three small bombs in the Forbidden City as a warning, frightening the restoration of the small imperial court.

In 1936, the Japanese invaders invaded North China, causing frequent troubles and arrogance. At the end of the year, the 29th Army of the National Revolutionary Army decided to set up a military training group in the courtyard of the \”Army Review Office\”, with Army Commander Song Zheyuan as the group leader and Tong Linge as the deputy group leader. Recruiting 1,500 young students and young people from society as trainees. The educational slogan is \”Swear to avenge the country\’s humiliation and repay the country\’s hatred\” to train junior military officers to replenish the army and prepare to fight the Japanese army. From recruitment to the start of training, it only took a few months for the war to break out.

In the early morning of July 28, 1937, after the Japanese army was fully prepared, more than 10,000 Japanese troops attacked the city under the cover of 40 aircraft, hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles.Attacking Nanyuan, all the officers and men of the 29th Army stationed in Nanyuan fought bravely to kill the enemy. However, due to the disparity in strength and leaks by traitors, more than 5,000 officers and soldiers were killed or injured. Generals Zhao Dengyu and Tong Linge died for their country, and the important military area of ​​Nanyuan was lost.

After the Japanese invaders occupied Nanyuan, they drove a large number of workers to expand the airport into a military airport, improved the aviation command facilities, and renamed it Nanyuan Barracks for suppression. Chinese anti-Japanese military and civilians. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the Kuomintang took over Nanyuan Airport. After renovation, it was built as an air base for the transportation of military supplies by the US and Chiang Kai-shek troops. Hundreds of planes took off and landed every day, and large quantities of military supplies were flown to Beijing to arm the Kuomintang troops to fight the civil war.

July 28, 1937 On Japan, the Japanese army bombed the Nanyuan garrison barracks

Attending the Founding Ceremony to Nanyuan Planes taking off from the airport

On December 17, 1948, the Chinese People\’s Liberation Army captured Nanyuan Airport and became a military base of the People\’s Liberation Army Air Force in Beijing.Use the airport. In August 1949, the first flying squadron of the Chinese People\’s Liberation Army was established at Nanyuan Airport and carried out the flight mission for the founding ceremony of the People\’s Republic of China. On October 1, 1949, nine P-51 aircraft of the squadron participated in the military parade at the founding ceremony of the People\’s Republic of China. What\’s interesting is that all the aircraft are from the former Kuomintang Air Force, and the pilots are all trained by the Kuomintang Air Force and trained in the United States. Since then, in the National Day military parades over the years, Nanyuan Airport has always been a training base for air and ground troops, responsible for the task of ensuring the training of air and ground troops. Aircraft formations taking off from here have almost become A tradition. Historically, important special planes such as the visiting delegation of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and the first visit of US Secretary of State Kissinger to China all landed at Nanyuan Airport. In 1986, after the establishment of China United Airlines Co., Ltd., Nanyuan Airport was transformed into a dual-use airport for military and civilian purposes. Subsequently, the number of takeoffs and landings of civilian aircraft gradually increased, sharing the pressure of air passenger and cargo transportation at the Capital Airport.

The Army Review Office at Nanyuan Airport

Nanyuan There is a century-old courtyard in the airport – the Army Review Office. This courtyard is different from the traditional courtyard in Beijing. The courtyard is mainly designed for the military camp command organization. It is surrounded by peripheral walls. The east, west and north sides of the wall are connected. There are five floors in the middle. A courtyard within a courtyard.

In Nanyuan Airport The Army Review Mission was once the headquarters of the famous 29th Army of the National Revolutionary Army.

The main gate of the Army Review Mission faces south and retains the architectural style of the original Republic of China period. The four blue brick main gates are divided into one large and two small courtyard gates. The opening and closing door adopts the most fashionable Western-style wrought iron door at that time. The double wrought iron gate in the middle is made of welded vertical steel bars. The top of the steel bar has a pointed head and a cast iron petal in the middle. The arc iron frame on the top of the door is equipped with the words \”Army Review Office\” and symmetrical small signs on both sides.Iron gate. This courtyard is related to Feng Yuxiang. This courtyard was once the headquarters of Shenji Camp in the Qing Dynasty. There were six camps from the west camp to the east. Most of the old camps are gone now. The existing courtyard is the seventh camp. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, this place was the headquarters of the Sixth Town of the Beiyang Army Standing Army. The warlord war broke out in April 1922. The Zhili clique warlords drove the Feng clique warlords back to Shanhaiguan. In June, President Xu Shichang resigned and Li Yuanhong became president of the Republic of China. In October, Li Yuanhong ordered the appointment of Feng Yuxiang as Army Review Envoy. This position was established during the Zhijiang-Anhui War in 1920. It was nominally responsible for conducting military exercises, reviewing troops, and coordinating the actions of various armies on behalf of the Army Ministry. In fact, it had no authority and could only conduct inspections. own troops. The first army review envoy was Jiang Guiti. After his death in January 1922, this position became vacant until Feng Yuxiang took over. On November 3, 1922, Feng Yuxiang led his troops to Nanyuan, and successively built Republic of China-style office buildings, gardens, barracks, gates, walls and other buildings on the site of the Seventh Barracks, which is the \”Army Review Office\” courtyard.

Although the Army Review Envoy has no real power, Feng Yuxiang has his own army, so he still did several major things in this nominally high-level position. . In 1924, the coup in Beijing ended the Zhili-Fengtian War. Feng Yuxiang, in the name of the army review envoy, issued a notice to calm the people: \”All urban businessmen and citizens should be safe and don\’t be alarmed. The lives and property of outsiders should be protected. If there are rumors and trouble, He will be severely punished for this. The announcement is hereby issued, and I welcome the merchants and the people to listen…\” After the Beijing coup, Feng Yuxiang once wrote: \”The state has established officials, and they are worthy of their names. The post of review is a false one. Please cut the review envoy and let him take on all the duties. …\” At the beginning of 1925, the post of army review envoy was officially abolished.

The existing gate of the Army Review Mission faces south, and there is a brick Chinese-style screen wall outside the gate. The main screen wall retains handwriting written a hundred years ago. On the screen wall facing south is the word \”Struggle\” in black on a white background, and on the screen wall facing north is the word \”Progress\”. The Army Review Envoy compound has absorbed some decorative designs from Western architecture. The first courtyard of the five courtyards of the Army Review Office is the \”Yuxiang\” courtyard. In the middle, there is an oval brick arched door with a stone plaque of \”Division Headquarters\” inlaid on top, indicating that this was the division of the 29th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. The headquarters is located.

Source: Beijing Evening News·Wusetu

Author: Liang Xinli

Producer: Wu Yong

Editor: Wu Yong

Process Editor: Wu Yue