CJ-6A Nanchang

Back in 1958, the Chinese Government sent a request to have the Nanchang Aircraft Factory design and build the first ever 100% Chinese airplane. The need was to have a tri-cycle landing gear airplane (with a nose-wheel as opposed to a tail-wheel) to better train pilots who were going to fly the new fighter jets. 

 

The mandate was assigned to a 25-year-old engineer, Bushi Cheng, who sat in front of a blank piece of paper and set out to design this incredible airplane.

 

Mr Cheng and his team went through the entire design and fabrication process in less than 3 months, and the first flight of a CJ6 Nanchang occurred on August 27th, 1958, only 72 days after Bushi first put pen to paper.

 

This achievement is renowned in Chinese Aviation History as the “Miracle of 72 Days”.

 

This is truly a remarkable achievement in a world of slide rules and paper design. And to think that over 10,000 airplanes were produced with minimal design changes over 60 years. Simply remarkable.

 

In its lifespan, the CJ6 served with China’s People Liberation Army Air Force, the North Korean Air Force (where it saw combat in the Korean conflict), and it also served with the air forces of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Zambia.

 

Too often, the CJ6 is considered a Chinese copy of the Russian Yak-52. While there are a lot of resemblances in the airplanes and their systems, they are completely different airplane. Plus, it would have been difficult for Chinese engineers in 1958 to copy an airplane which was designed almost 20 years in the future (the Yak-52 was first flown in 1975)

 

Currently, Dan's CJ-6A is one of 21 CJ6 Nanchangs registered in Canada.