When reporting on the lives and experiences of people, literary articles closely track the hottest social events and popular figures of the times that these people lived within. Probably some people think of literary reporting as dependent on the“fashions of the time”，but I think it is critically dependent on“social trends”.
Without interviews, there would be no literary reports. Cultural writers use a certain“pace”whilst writing.Therefore, cultural writing is considered the most painful to create, the most difficult, least satisfying and riskiest type of writing.
During my writing on Luo Yang, I had to brush up on the history of China's aviation industry, reading the entire works of China Aviation Industry History Series, China Aviation Industry Academicians Series and China Aviation Industry Events. This reading list of at least three to four million characters led me into a new field, and I enjoyed reading the spirit of this new work.However I was not fully prepared for the task ahead, and stepping into the field of China's aviation unprepared was still easier to say than to do！
After the reading came the process of excessive interviews, at Chinese Aviation Industry Group Company（referred to as China Aviation Industry），the Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute, Shenyang Aircraft Industry Group Co.，Ltd.（Shenyang Aircraft Corporation），Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics（BUAA）and so on. My footprints tracked wherever Luo Yang and his colleagues went, interviewing Luo Yang's co-workers, his teachers, students, relatives and friends.As the hero himself was now“absent”，a lot of the first-hand material could not be obtained directly, and instead I had to rely on material supplemented from the later stage interviews, undoubtedly making things several times more difficult.
Due to confidentiality, it was very hard to understand much on the past of the aviation industry, composed of a quiet yet dedicated group, never publicized, this group like“A-bomb, H-bomb and a satellite”rose up for the nation, and through fighting and struggle they worked to contribute towards a prosperous nation.
If it were not for Luo Yang, they would still be operating in silence.
Luo Yang's tragic death allowed us the chance to discover the team behind him, those that supported him, and fought with resilience through him.
Now, let us focus on Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute in Tawan, a western suburb of Shenyang. This prestigious institute is known as“the cradle of aviation excellence”.During half a century, five alumni from the institute have been elected academicians：Gu Songfen, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering；Guan De of the Chinese Academy of Engineering；Li Ming of the Chinese Academy of Engineering；Li Tian of the Chinese Academy of Science and Yang Fengtian Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Since its founding, the institute has won more than 400 achievement awards from the national and provincial level；the Model Ⅲ aircraft had been awarded National Science and Technology Progress Award, and the National Defense Science and Technology Progress Award Grand Prize in defense industry technology, winning Gold and Silver.The Model I aircraft was awarded the National Science and Technology Award and the National Defense Science and Technology Progress Award Grand Prize.It successfully developed more than 30 types of fighter jets, covering amongst other areas air superiority, fleet air defense, counter attack, reconnaissance and training, amongst other areas.
Walking into the exhibition hall at the institute, high spirited song Tell the World, Tell the Future could often be heard：
There is a dream，
To suffer whilst holding to your belief；
The calling sound，
Will be carried up into the blue sky.
Aviation serves the country，
A strong army brings prosperity to the people，
Generations of patriot's search，
For the Chinese iron and copper wall.
There is a miracle，
That comes from a straight backbone whilst fighting；
There is a morale
Flying in the high spirits of the clouds.
Aviation serves the country，
A strong army brings prosperity to the people，
Generations of children, one after another，
For Shenzhou, to write a beautiful chapter.
Oh！Tell the world，
Tell the future，
The new century belongs to China，
Aviation industry moves forward with brilliant prospect！
The J-8Ⅰ，J-8 Ⅱ，J-8 Ⅲ series, J-Ⅹ series and J-15……stand proudly together on their platforms, and those fighter models like great swords of light, they flew through the rains, wind and storms, living on in the memory and songs of China.
Standing in front of the portrait of the deceased Chinese aircraft design great master Xu Shunshou, I didn't want to leave. This portrait was taken at the beginning of the new China, and Xu Shunshou was standing together with some Soviet experts；he wore a leisure suit typical of the fashion at that time, with deep persistence in his eyes.It took me back to that far distant era.
Xu Shunhou was born 1917 in Shanghai. His father Xu Yibing followed with Sun Yat-sen to join the Chinese United League, and after returning from Japan he established China's first sports school—China Gymnastics School.Xu Shunhou's elder brother, Xu Chi was a famous writer, known as the“First Master of Literary Reporting”.His Goldbach Conjecture and Light of Geology tied science and literature together, and influenced a generation of Chinese people.Xu Shunshou graduated from Tsinghua University's Department of Aircraft Manufacturing at age 20，coinciding with the break out of the Resistance Against Japanese Aggression War；a time when it was regarded that aviation was the best hope to save the nation.During this time, he was admitted to Central University to conduct further research.Later, in Xinjiang's Yining Aviation Centre, he taught a training course on the principles of flight, in order to train the aviation personnel on anti-invasion combat tactics.In 1940，he created a fast algorithm for aircraft performance, and in 1944 Xu Shunshou travelled to America as an airforce intern.Initially at the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation he participated in flight designs of the FD-1 and FD-2.Later pursuing advanced studies as a researcher at Washington University, he specialized in mechanics.
Xu Shunshou had the option to travel to the United Kingdom for further studies, or to stay in America, find an easy job and live a comfortable life. However, he was unable to remove his nation from his heart.In August of 1946，with his blood flowing hot and red, Xu Shunshou returned to Shanghai at last.He was not to know that he was returning to a country still broken by war.The rumbling sounds of gunfire could be heard by the Yangtze River, and the Kuomintang were provoking for a large scale war.In order to ensure that his work would not be interrupted, Xu Shunshou chose a job that would position him as far from the civil war's gunfire as possible, and begun work in the Second Aircraft Factory on creating the design for the air-freighter.
In order to avoid bombing by the Japanese, the factory was built then in a large cave, and during the nights they plunged into a world of darkness. During the many dark nights of those two years, Xu Shunshou would stare at the stars in the cold sky from that cave, contemplating his own future and the fate of his nation.
After the Huaihai Campaign, the disintegrating Kuomnigtang government sent a telegram to move the Second Aircraft Factory to Taiwan. Xu Shunshou returned to his ancestral home in Nanxun, using the excuse that he had to send his wife back.His elder brother Xu Chi was the educational section headmaster of Nanxun Middle School.When they had began discussing his future, Xu Chi said，“Head to the Northeast, to turn to our third sister's husband！”On the 1st of May 1949，Xu Shunshou found his third sister's husband in Shenyang—Wu Xiuquan, the current Deputy Director of the Military Control Commission.Xu Shunshou's defection from Taiwan to join the revolutionary earned him much praise, with Wu Xiuquan saying，“After the founding of PRC, we will require a lot of talent like you！”Not long after, Xu Shunshou was assigned to the Northeast Office Depot Aviation School to become a member of the People's Liberation Army.
In 1951，when PRC's Aviation Industry Agency was established, Xu Shunshou was admitted as the Aircraft Director. His mission during this time was the repair and production offaircraft parts during the Korean War.Whilst undertaking this, he published the translation of two books：Aircraft Design and Aircraft Strength Components, both of which became reference works for aviation technicians.What Xun Shoushun wanted most, however, was for China to design and build its own aircraft.
In the wave oftentire nation rushing towards science and technology, PRC's first aircraft design unit—Factory 112's Aircraft Design Studio was founded in August 1956，and Xu Shunshou was appointed the Chief Designer, with Ye Zhengda and Huang Zhiqian as Deputy Chief Designers. With an average age within the team of only 22 years old, they represented the highest level of Chinese aircraft design.Just like Eagles, they were eager to spread their wings and fly into the sky.
Arriving to Shenyang from Beijing, they lived in a small guest house by Factory 112. As living conditions at that time were tough, Huang Zhiqian bought a hot water kettle and Gu Songfen bought a small wood axe, and together they collected firewood to boil water, solving the problem of having no access to hot water.
Xu Shunshou led the young designers to exploring the task of designing PRC's first jet-propelled training aircraft—the JJ-1. It was a path fraught with risk and difficulty.When putting down the guiding principles offaircraft design, Xu Shunshou asked for a thorough understanding of the existing advanced aircrafts, they wanted to utilize them for a new design.There were many applicable aircrafts to draw standards from at that time, and many of them were merited and conveniently useful, however, to better understand these aircraft, the strengths of their design should be learnt from and not simply copied.
For example, Xu and the designers adapted the dual air intakes on the nose of the MiG to install a radar system and incorporate a larger cockpit viewing range. Through rigorous inspection and testing, the structure of the JJ-1 was finally developed, including the entire metal framework，1+1 pilot seating position, swept back trapezoid wings, tri-part landing gear, dual air intakes and bomb and gun racking.With a 11.43-meter wingspan，10.56 meter length, standing 3.94 meter tall, an 840 kilometer per hour top speed at 8 kilometer cruising altitude, a maximun range of 1，328 kilometers, altitude ceiling of 14.5 kilometers and maximum take-off weight of 4.6 tons, the JJ-1 was an aircraft ready for combat training.
On the 26th of July 1958，the JJ-1 took off into the skies, charting the course away from copy design and towards independent development, opening an unprecedented chapter in the history of Chinese aviation.
Unfortunately, the Chinese aviation industry was unable to escape the influence of the Great Leap Forwards, adopting the exaggerated rhetoric of“surpass Britain in three years, catch America in five years”and“sophisticated products will conquer America.”In August of 1958，China did not have the equipment to develop supersonic aircraft, however in accordance with military requests, the aviation industry decided to hastily construct the supersonic“East Wind 107”. At this time, the Harbin Military Engineering Institute of the PLA was developing the“East Wind 113”in order to surpass the American F-104 and F-105.The specifications of these high-performance aircraft were not even available in the United States or the Soviet Union at that time.
Xu Shunshou argued against these decisions, saying，“We designers have not yet grasped the fundamental theories behind supersonic flight, and the nation has not yet even build a supersonic wind tunnel for testing. From the point of structural design, we are still not able to analyze finite stresses on the structure, and from the point of aero elasticity, we do not know how to undertake compression modifications.As for materials, we do not yet have access to high strength materials and titanium alloys, and from the perspective of production, we cannot build a‘honeycombed wall'design, nor atmospheric pumps capable of 130 bar and much more.Therefore, new machine specification should not be so high.”Nevertheless, in an era captured by such slogans as“the productions oflour nation are limited only by our ambitions”，Xu's opinions were not just disregarded as unimportant, he was even labelled a“bourgeois sympathizer”.Authorities above him decided to undertake rapid production of the supersonic aircraft, striving to complete the development by August 1959 as a national gift for the tenth anniversary of Chinese National Day.
According to a Chinese-Soviet agreement, in February of 1959，The Aviation Industry Bureau sent a model“East Wind 107”for inspection and technological advice. It was determined that the variable-swept wings were unstable, as the estimated resistance was too small, and the model would absolutely fail to reach the predetermined requirements.In May of 1959，The Aviation Bureau had no choice but to stop development.The Harbin Military Engineering Institute of the PLA also experienced many difficulties whilst developing the East Wind 113，and despite the backing of the military, was forced in June 1961 to announce that the development was being suspended.
Finally, as both the East Wind 107 and the East Wind 113 programmes were halted, Xu Shunshou poignantly noted that“even when racing forwards there must be a realistic foundation. Scientific analysis will break superstition, and even bold visions and courage must be realistic.Even when the strategy of war can out maneuver an obstacle, we must pay attention to the technology involved.If we separate from reality, a hurried approach to completing objectives will only result in malfunctions, and ultimately slow us down even further！”
In June of 1960，the Soviet Union government reneged on their contractual assistance, pulled all of their experts and aircraft design information out of China and simultaneously stopped the supply of equipment and spare parts. As far as the Chinese Aviation Industry was concerned, this was a major loss and a failure, piling one disaster on top of another.
The lessons endured brought about the central decision for the“independent development of China's Aviation Industry”by the Nation Defense Council, National Defense Science and Technology Commission and other relevant departments of the Air Force, to establish the Number 6 Research Academy of National Defense Ministry to focus on the design of existing technology research, in order to accelerate the development of the aviation industry.
In August 1961，the Number 6 Research Academy's First Research Institute（formerly 601）was born in Shenyang. Gathering the limited talents for domestic airplane design, the institute was established employing workers from the Number 112 Plant（Shenyang Aircraft Factory's predecessor）Aircraft Design Studio（234 staff），aircraft design teachers and students participating in the Harbin Military Engineering Institute of the PLA's“East Wind 113”（39 staff）and Air Force Number One Institute（711 staff）.Liu Hongzhi was appointed director of the First Research Institute by the State Council（he later served as Director of Number 6 Research Institute），and Zhai Zengping was appointed the political commissar.Ministry of Defense appointed Xu Shunshou and Ye Zhengda as Deputy Directors, and Huang Zhiqian as Chief Designer.
On the black earth of Tawan, Xu Shunshou set out again with his designers, searching once more along the path walked by China's aviation personnel for the new model aircraft. They begun this journey just as China was experiencing“three years of successive natural disasters”；the Republic was undergoing a massive food shortage, and the entire nation was starving.Although they belonged to a military establishment, the monthly quota for food was only 27 jin, mainly as sorghums, course grain and maize.As for oil and non-staple foods, there was almost none to be found anywhere.Many people suffered from edema, and when they rolled up their trouser pants their legs looked pocked with dents.At that time, they would lie by the blackboard drawing designs with so little energy that they could hardly keep focus and sometimes even faint.
Director Liu Hongzhi was anxious about this, and hurried about in every direction, requesting the allocation of truckloads of soybeans from the Shenyang Military Region to meet the urgent needs of the designers. Liu organized support staff to establish a farm in Sujiatun for growing grain and vegetables in order to sustain the diet of the scientists and ensure them not to starve.
One year prior, the Soviet Union had reneged on their contract, and pulled all experts out. However, in February of 1961，Kruschev unexpectedly wrote once again to Mao Zedong, allowing them the authority to develop MiG-21's.During this abnormally tense period between the Soviet Union and China, Kruschev had suddenly made a friendly and seemingly puzzling move.
At that time, the MiG-21's were the world's most advanced and newest fighter jets in operation, and if the Soviet government was actually sincerely providing the manufacturing rights to China, it would be a pivotal moment in the turning point of China's aviation industry history；not only solving the critical problem of what aircraft would become the Chinese air force fighter successor, but also ushering in an era offaircraft design by using the various properties of the MiG-21 to undertake a large scale training of the manufacturing sector, based on the design and manufacturing specifications of the fighter jet.
After the new agreement was signed, the Commander of the Chinese Airforce, Liu Yalou said，“If the Sino-Soviet relationship deteriorates again, signing this agreement would only be as valuable as the paper it is written on！”
Xu Shunshou indeed doubted the agreement. Later events proved that all of the technological supporting information provided would come at a price, and in addition, when the Soviets delivered the technical information of the MiG-21's to Shenyang Aircraft Factory, important information was deliberately withheld.
The State Council made a quick decision with the agreement that aircraft designers, manufacturers and other departments working on the MiG-21 would conduct a comprehensive technical audit to find out whether or not the new aircraft could be fully prepared. Xu Shunshou requested his designers to research the MiG-21 design by copying a full set of drawings and technical data of the aircraft, in effect developing a MiG-21“anti-design”.Designers worked to combine the technical problems encountered in the design of a supersonic aircraft, and through the necessary calculations, analysis and testing they were able to solve the“what, why and how to”issues faced.Solving these three critical problems would allow the team to master the various systems of the MiG-21 aircraft structure and to then design ideas and methods, the basis of which would allow the foundations for the team to design their own new fighter jet.
In those days, Xu Shunshou worked as though racing against time. He moved into the office with bedding and stayed there day and night, calculating his way through thousands of equations and bundles of data using a handheld calculator, only drinking cups of beer to quench his thirst and eating apples to overcome hunger.Some reported this to the institute's leaders, saying that eating apples and drinking beer were to live a bourgeois life style.Liu Hongzhi confidently told those“informers”，“If Deputy Director Xu is drinking beer and eating apples then it is not a problem.Think of it this way：our aircraft will be made from the energy of apples and beer！”
Many days passed, and the seasons came and went. The investigative work on the MiG-21“anti-design”took three entire years to arrive at its intended purpose, resulting in Xu Shunshou and his team accumulating an abundant understanding in the technical aspects of the design of supersonic aircraft.However, the higher authorities made it clear：the design and development of the aircraft was not to be rushed, and should be undertaken one step at a time.Xu Shunshou would often look up to the sky, his thoughts flying among the clouds.He was known to say that“I am literally crazy about designing！”
In May of 1965，Xu Shunshou received a transfer order by mail, relocating him to Shaanxi's Institute 10 of the Number 6 Research Academy（also known as the Large Aircraft Institute）and appointing him as Vice Director and Chief Designer. Although the transfer was sudden and unexpected, Xu thought that he would happily be transferred anywhere as long as he was building aircraft.He was known to remark，“As our nation is so large, once our civil aviation industry has developed, we simply cannot have airplanes, especially larger ones.”
However, just as he was fully positioned to begin working on the domestic cargo transporting Y-7 aircraft, the Cultural Revolution began, and Xu's life fell into endless rounds of criticism and abuse. Ultimately, the Republic failed to protect the life of one of its most loyal sons.
On the 6th of January 1968，only aged 51，Xu Shunshou was driven to his own death.
Luo Yang also died aged 51.
Whilst serving as Party Committee Secretary of the Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute's inaugural conference, Luo Yang said，“Today on this occasion, I think of Xu Shunshou, of Huang Zhiqian, and of Lu Xiaopeng, whom in the early years, and during the most difficult times oflour nation decided to return home from overseas. Our old Director Xu Shunshou was known to say to his friends after returning，‘An aircraft designed in the US is not ours.The design of an aircraft in China makes it our own.'Out of overgrown fields and from broken factories, he began the arduous pursuit of pioneering new ventures, and unreservedly dedicated all of his youth, wisdom and painstaking efforts to the PRC aviation industry！”To build such vital machines for the nation was to commit one's life entirely to such a cause.For anyone else, being a patriot was just an empty political slogan；rather the intellectuals like him and his colleagues, day after day, year after year, worked with all of their livelihood towards this dream of a strong nation.
Many times throughout his lifetime, Luo Yang would walk into the exhibition hall that displayed images cherishing the memory of the great achievements of his predecessors, and would spend time drawing in from their inexhaustible spiritual nourishment.
Now a banner hangs in that hall, with words printed out“Embodying Luo Yang's last wish, we will carry forward the spirit of aviation to serve the nation.”Luo Yang's 51-year journey through life was one of sublime character, and he has joined the league of his spiritual predecessors.
On a sunny morning in August 1982，Luo Yang arrived to the Number 601 Institute of China Aviation Industry Corporation in Tawan, the western suburbs of Shenyang. The institute was later named Institute 601，the predecessor of Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute.
Nowadays, many of the old workers from the institute are still able to recall the image of Luo Yang on his arrival：a tall and skinny man that wore glasses and, though shy in manner, his demeanor would glow like sunshine.
Coincidentally, Luo Yang was born 1961，the same year as the establishment of Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute, and his birthday, the 29th of June fell on the same date as the founding of Shenyang Aircraft Corporation in 1951. Because of this, after his death people were known to say that Luo Yang entered this world especially for Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute and Shenyang Aircraft Corporation.
Entering the aviation team marked the beginning of Luo Yan's“pilgrimage”. During that time, China was working on the domestic development and production of its own second-generation fighter, the J-8 Ⅱ，a research aircraft still in the design phase.In parallel, the Su-27，F-16 and other third generation fighters had been in service for many years in the Soviet Union, the United States and other countries.
It was a time oftendless conceptual testing. A time oftendless design and testing.
Of many trials, then re-conceptualization and re-design. More tests.More trials, more re-designs.
Just as one model of fighter would bring with it a generation of youth, a generation oftenergy and struggle, so would each model capture a young generation of workers as it was developed.
Once, Luo Yang and his colleague Huang Baochen travelled together southward, from Shenyang to Guangzhou by train. Unable to purchase sleeper coach tickets, they instead sat together and read books to pass the time during the long journey.
This trip to Guangzhou was to learn about UV-radiation exposure from the Guangzhou Ministry of Chemical Industry's Institute of Synthetic Material Aging. The subject that they would join was named the“J-8 Ⅱ glass canopy accelerated aging process”and they were attending to test the life of the J-8 Ⅱ's glass shield cockpit.By taking this assignment, they were tasked to find which main factors, such as temperature and humidity, would most affect the aging of Plexiglas；whether or not UV would interact with the material, how to determine the accelerated artificial aging process, differences between accelerated artificial aging and natural aging, and ultimately to determine what was the key to artificial aging in these materials.
Luo Yang and Huang Baochen arrived to Guangzhou and each carried with two UV lamp rods on their backs, and as they could not afford to take a taxi, they instead had to carry them as they asked and looked for the location of the institute, eventually arriving at the correct address, the Institute of Aging, in the suburb of Yuangang. At that time, the testing process was very archaic and it was not known what protective measures should be taken.Both men stood under direct exposure of the UV light, each operating a lamp and checking the UV intensity of both the sunlight UV and each of the four UV lamps every half an hour with instrument.
October in Guangzhou was known for its fierce sun, and as Luo Yang stood outside under the sun, his shirt quickly became drenched with sweat. Washing his face after the first day, Huang Baochen asked，“Luo Yang, does it hurt when you wash your face?”
Luo Yang said，“Yes！My face is burning！”
Huang Baochen，“The sun down here in the south is dangerous.”
The next morning the two men woke up and when they looked at one another they couldn't help but to let out a laugh in surprise. The two northerners looked as if their faces had been painted！The fierce sunlight of the previous day had caused the skin on their faces to peel, and with a gentle pinch they could pull off strips of peeling skin.
Although they were being burnt by the UV radiation, they decided to carry on, and still check the readings once every half an hour.
On the third day, Huang Baochen asked Luo Yang，“Do you think we should start using some protective gear?”
Luo Yang thought for a minute, then replied，“If only the team had the kinds of military masks to protect from harmful gases and hats to wear for our heads, all oflour problems would be solved.”
“Where would we go to find gas masks though?”Huang Baochen asked whilst scratching his head.
Luo Yang looked to the brown paper lampshade covering his bedside light, and said，“I know what we can do！We can make our own gas masks！”On saying this, they took a sheet of the brown paper, measured it to shape, cut out two holes for their eyes and attached two nylon cords around the edges, finishing off their own simple“gas masks”.
Huang Baochen and Luo Yang thus donned their self-made“gas masks”and continued their UV experiments.
After a week of hard work, they had a large amount of data, and could select the appropriate material for the cockpit shielding of the J-8 Ⅱ based on a scientific analysis.
Returning back from Guangzhou, people in the office looked at them in shock, asking，“How on earth did you both get these severe burns?”
As research such as this kind must be conducted despite obstacles, the struggles of research continues to be forged under the guidance of Luo Yang and his generation of aviation experts. They must not fear that the road is fraught with struggle, they must only fear when the road is devoid of anything.
Luo Yang had entered the institute just as Chinese military enterprises were experiencing a very difficult period. Embodied by the slogan“the army must be patient”，patience was required as the national defense had reduced the number of missions it operated, and the quality of equipment would often halt development.“Patient”meant that there were no new models, a large number of research projects had been cancelled and research funding had dropped sharply.In order to survive and hold out, many military systems and a number of research institutes and factories had to“fend for themselves”and produce civilian industry products, being requested to find their own means to operate and run.
Just as an old Chinese saying goes, when faced with the same difficulty, each shows his prowess like the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea. Each of the laboratories turned to rely on their own fields of expertise, searching for profitability on the open market place.Luo Yang's Number 9 Laboratory first developed a launching apparatus for clay pigeon throwing, and despite the device working very well, very few people needed clay pigeon throwers, and there were no product sales.After this, personnel from Shenyang Plastic Factory Number 4 brought photos of a production line of foreign latex gloves and hoped to set up a production line of their own.As Luo Yang's laboratory design complex aircrafts, it took very little effort for them to designed a production line, and within three months the Number 9 Laboratory gave out plans for the“latex glove production line”.They were paid 900，000 RMB, and excluding costs they profited 300，000 RMB.Nationally, a dozen or so of these production lines were set up, and of course con-artists and cheaters were involved.For example, a company in Shaanxi required them to design a car booster production plant, and after building the production line the other party to the agreement walked away from the deal, at a waste of hundreds of thousands of RMB.
Slogans such as“everybody can be a businessman”swept the nation, and on all levels of society there was the rhetoric of“an atomic scientist leads a worse life than a tea egg vender”or“a scientist is more worse off than a hairdresser”.
During that time, students and researchers such as Luo Yang collected salaries ofiless than 80 to 90 RMB month, with no research assistance grants or awards, and not even much opportunity to find a partner in marriage. Some people saw no future there, and many travelled abroad.Others still headed southeast to Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Guangzhou.In those days, every day one could see people with transfer papers, hurrying around to find the institute's director.
Luo Yang's life also descended into difficulty. One day Luo Yang caught up with Zhao Bo, designer from the aerodynamics department.Zhao Bo asked him with a smile，“So, have you thought about it yet?”
Luo Yang replied with confusion，“Thought about what?”
“Will you leave?”
“Do you mean on a transfer?”
Zhao Bo said with a mysterious look，“Let me tell you, over the past few days I tried out myself！”
Luo Yang was still confused，“What did you try out?”
Zhao Bo said，“Haven't you noticed that all of the newspapers are full of recruiting advertisements?I decided to have a shot to see how much I was worth, so I contacted a Hong Kong company in Shenzhen. They asked me to send them my CV, and a week after doing so they got back to me saying they were prepared to recruit me.I asked about the wages, and they said that a basic salary is 1，000 RMB per month, not including an annual bonus.”
Luo Yang replied，“Wow, that's a lot, a salary about ten times more than ours. Do you plan to go?”
Zhao Bo replied confidently，“If it was only for the money, then indeed I would choose to leave. But didn't we sign up for the job for more than the money！If it was just for the cash, I could have plunged into the commercial sea long ago, why wait until now to do it?”
Luo Yang furrowed his brow, saying，“My concern is that, as there are so few missions and projects, after a while the professional knowledge will be wasted.”
Zhao Bo said thoughtfully，“It has been on my mind recently, that as such a great country, if we do not develop the aviation industry, who would we rely on to protect our blue skies?Where could we start national defense?So I think that these concerns will only be temporary.”
Luo Yang replied，“Yes, I believe so. I remember deciding to myself when entering the institute that joining the military was not for money.If we were to pick up and leave today in the face of these difficulties, then we would not be men at all！No！I won't leave today.”
At that time Fang Yufeng was also faced with a difficult decision. One day he received a letter from his brother in Canada, then telling Luo Yang about it，“The school in Canada has replied to my contact, and my brother helps me apply for a scholarship.How about it?”
“Sounds great, why wait on this opportunity, it couldn't get much better than that.”
Fang Yufeng replied，“Do you really think I would go, or are you joking！Why are you feeling so assured?”
Luo Yang said，“If I was the institutional leader, I probably wouldn't let you go.”
“Why?”
“Think about it, loosing such a youthful and energized young man, and who would replace him after he left?”
Fang Yufeng didn't respond, so Luo Yang went on，“When encountering an opportunity like this, it's only natural for us to feel an inner struggle. The key here is that you have to make a decision.You can leave or you can stay, your legs are yours to guide you.However, Fang Yufeng, I believe that you will not go.”
Fang Yufeng stared him，“How can you be so assured?”
Luo Yang confidently replied，“You must remember the old school days at BUAA—remember the night that we watched the reference film of the American astronauts on the moon?What was that phrase that you said again?”
Fang Yufeng replied full of praise，“Oh Luo Yang, you really know me too well. I admire you！”
Returning home from work, Luo Yang told his parents about the discussion with Fang Yufeng. His mother asked，“If you had the same choice to make as Little Fang, what choice would you make?”Luo Yang replied，“As a lifelong teacher you still take every chance to test your son！”His father interjected with“This is the question that both confronts you and one that you must have an answer for.”Luo Yang had already thought his answer through，“Over the past 6 months I have been continually struggling with this, but now I no longer hesitate.I would choose not to leave.”His mother replied，“That's right.The nation has fostered you, now you should do things in return for your country.”
The choice to be steadfast is also a choice to be responsible！
Several days later, the Number 9 Research Laboratory Director asked Luo Yang to go to the Chief Engineer's office to send over some material. On hearing that the material was to be delivered to Chief Architect Gu Songfen, Luo Yang grew very excited.Within the institute, Gu Songfen was a much respected man, and to Luo Yang he was an idol.Although he had read the reports of the Chief Architect, he had never been in contact with him before.
If Xu Shunshou, Wu Daguan, Huang Zhiqian, Lu Xiaopeng and Ye Zhengda are the first generation of Chinese aviation personnel, then Gu Songfen, Guan De, Li Ming, Li Tian and Yang Fengtian would be the second.
In 1951，the 21-year old Gu Songfen graduated from Shanghai's Jiaotong University, then joined Xu Shunshou, Ye Zhengda and Huang Zhiqian's PRC Aircraft Design team. In 1956，PRC established its first aircraft design laboratory in Factory 112，and Gu Songfen was appointed as the head of pneumatics, where he participated in the design of the JJ-1 jet propelled trainer successfully taking off for the first time one year and nine months later.
Starting in 1964，Gu Songfen joined in with the R＆D process of the J-8 jet, and on August 1969，the J-8 undertook its maiden take-off. In 1978，Gu Songfen was appointed as the Deputy Director and Chief Designer of Institute 601，with overall responsibility for the technology of the institute.In May of 1981，The Defense Industry Office of the State Council appointed Gu Songfen as the Chief Architect of the J-8 Ⅱ model aircraft.The J-8 Ⅱ was the improved version of the J-8，with upgraded dual air intakes and the capability to intercept and attack in any type of weather.In June 1984，the J-8 Ⅱ successfully took off.During the 1990's, Gu Songfen seized many opportunities, by setting up and carefully organizing collaborations with Russian aerodynamics and aircraft design experts, and also launching the vision and planning required for the design of new aircraft, which providing over 250 Chinese aircraft designers with the training required to reach that vision.
On the way to his office, Luo Yang thought to himself：through his experiences, Chief Gu must have a mind like an encyclopedia. I bet it would be worth a careful read！
Taking the material, Gu Songfen asked politely，“Young man, it seems we haven't met before. What is your name?”
“My name is Luo Yang.”
“And which school are you from?”
“I graduated from BUAA in 1982.”
“Okay！A BUAA talent are you then！We are collaborating with many professors from BUAA. Enjoying your job?The aviation industry needs young men such as yourself！”
Luo Yang hesitated for a moment, then asked，“Chief Gu, I have read a report that in 1978 the J-8 fighter models were experiencing‘transonic buffeting'issues, and in order to find the source of the problem, I heard that you had taken three supersonic flights in the jets yourself to observe the issue. Is that true?”
Gu Songfen laughed，“Yes it is true, but that's one of the old stories！”
“Why did you decide to observe the affect with your own eyes?”Luo Yang asked.
Gu Songfen said，“At the time, the institute's J-8 was experiencing a buffeting affect during flight testing, and the team was quite concerned. We were concerned about it as well.We initially determined that the source of the buffeting was occurring by the rear passenger seat, and testing in the wind tunnel showed that there was good flow by the tail area of the jet, but at that time the size of the wind tunnel was simply too small, and we were ill equipped.Further, the institute did not have other means of analyzing the problem, not even a camera equipped with a telescopic lens.I proposed to use the most primitive way of analysis, that is to sit in the rear seat of the training jet and analyze the airflow around the rear passenger seat area mid flight.
I applied for takeoff, and the request was approved by the Number 6 Research Academy, but the testing group did not agree, saying that if the Chief Architect was to conduct the flight, and on the chance that accidents happened, how would they manage?In addition, they said that I had never taken formal flight training before, and was not known how your body would cope. I responded to them that‘you aren't afraid of flying every day, why in my case would it be different on the off chance?'
On seeing that I was firmly determined, they ultimately agreed. At that time the regulations were fairly lax, not like today's standards.Then I went to the the institute's clinic for a body check up, with the result that I had no serious issues, just that my nutrition was fairly average and that I should go on the‘aviators diet'for one month.As my wife is a doctor, I was afraid that she would worry, and didn't have the courage to tell her that I would fly, so in the mornings and noons I would go to the flight testing group to eat an aviator meal, though still returning home at night for dinner.”
Luo Yang asked，“On your first flight, did you feel nervous?Are us civilians able to endure it?”
“Nervous?How could one not feel nervous！”Gu Songfen said，“This was no commercial aircraft. Despite being a training flight, it was quite an ordeal.Whenever the plane would accelerate or turn, one's head became light and dizzy, and sweat would break out across your entire body.In order to analyze the flow of the J-8，we flew as close to 10 meters away from a training jet, and tested different altitudes, speeds and positions.During that first flight I was sick and a total mess, without any hope of undertaking investigations whilst in the sky.This continued throughout the second and third flights……”
“As it was so dangerous, why did you still decide to fly?”Luo Yang asked.
A look of awe came over Gu Songfen as he said，“The J-8 was the first high altitude, high speed fighter jet designed by our own institute, and indeed the first in China. After its maiden voyage in 1969，the J-8 had already been flying for over 10 years, and with no upgrade yet finalized, there was a real concern amongst everyone.The military was most worried about this jet.Without a new jet, what would they rely on if there were a war?When something went wrong with the plane, its designers were those who had to figure it out.So no matter how danger it was, the designers had to go forward and try it！”
“So did you finally solve the buffeting problem?”
“Through in-flight investigation, we discovered that the rear fuselage tail cover and acute angled trailing edge of the horizontal tail fins was causing a severe bypass offair. After the cause of the problem was determined, we rectified it with some alterations, and in doing so solved the buffeting problem.On the last day of 1979，and after many years, the J-8 fighter model was finally completed.The completion meeting finished at 22：00，and at that time there was no post-meeting reception, everybody just heading to the canteen of Factory 112 and eating a supper together.Of course, we drank as well！The Chief Test Pilot Yin Yuhuan was particularly excited, and drinking directly from a big bowl, he grew very drunk.When it was time to return home, the administrative deputy director Zhao did a headcount, and realized that I was not in the room.They found me later in the bathroom, still being sick.Indeed it was a fun night, and I sure did drink enough！”
Luo Yang was very excited.
Gu Songfen spoke again，“Your asking about this today has made me think back to the past. An aircraft designer will forever have the feeling of urgency, and always feel under pressure.”
The saying that“aviation serves the country”is not merely empty words. Generations of aviation personnel cast away the urge for fame and fortune, and with much patience do they strive and struggle in solitude.
Despite the fact that one third of the university students and postgraduates that worked with Luo Yang after entering the institute moved away during those first years, Luo Yang chose to endure, like a warrior standing tall on the battlefield. His endurance was steadfast, like the undying and unconditional love between a mother and her child.
During his 10 year position as a designer, Luo Yang produced remarkable results：
—the aerodynamics was adapted for the analysis of the optimized aircraft seating position in China for the first time；
—the first Chinese research into accelerated aging studies in transparent material was conducted, filling a gap in this field；
—the proposition of a new computer simulation method was used to effectively solve the reliability of data execution and confidence intervals；
—the successful implementation of the J-8 series aircraft crew escape system was presided over as a major technological advance.
……
Sun Cong also remembers that point in history as unforgettable. He says，“We remained on the frontline of aviation through the tide of reform, and resisted the external temptations presented to us.We depended only on our steadfastness, our responsibility and our duty.During that time, the aviation industry was very poor！The entire institution of over 2，000 people were working on only one small model upgrade.Our salaries were about 80 to 90 RMB per month.There were 60 to 70 graduating students in my year, and over half of them left.We would use to joke to each other with the saying that‘those that stayed behind had no skill, those with skill left to make a fortune！'”
Luo Yang's good friend Zhao Bo, now appointed as the Dean of the China Aviation Industry Pneumatic Academy said to me that“This was the first test put forth before Luo Yang on his journey：to stay or to leave?In essence, this was a test of ideals and of belief. Luo Yang worked for an enterprise.To‘work'and to‘work for an enterprise'is very different.Simply working usually brings about success, but when the work in question becomes connected to an enterprise, and connected with an industry that is able to influence society, it means that you are just a very small piece in an operation, but an operation of real significance.Luo Yang and I always liked this, the feeling of having significance.”
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