Wings for the Dragon

Air Classics, Sep 1999 by Barton, Charles

HOW CHINA DEVELOPED ITS AIR FORCE DURING THE 1930s AND THE AMERICAN WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE

China in the 1930s was torn by the struggles of feudal warlords, by revolution, civil war and invasion by Japan. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek needed an air force built from scratch with a few miracles thrown in. One of the miracle workers was Allen "Pat" Patterson.

Canadian-born in 1900, Patterson's early life read like a film script. Tall, ashblond, blue-eyed and slender, Patterson had been a World War One aviator, barnstormer, operator of Dycer Airfield in Gardena, California, and flyer in Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels. He also introduced that eccentric movie maker to another talented blonde - Jean Harlow. Afterward, he became vice president and sales manager of General Airplane Company of Buffalo, New York, before the stock market crash of 1929.

In the early days of the Depression, Patterson accepted an offer from Carl Knamacher, Hudson car dealer in Shanghai, to join him in selling American airplanes to the Chinese Air Force.

"I had no difficulty getting the rights to represent the air companies in China," Patterson recalls. uE Everyone thought I was crazy. I got all the big representations including United Aircraft, Sikorsky, Boeing, Lockheed and Douglas."

Patterson and Knamacher's new office for their China Airmotive was in Shanghai's International Settlement, just down the hall from that of William D. Pawley, head of Intercontinent Corporation, local representative for Curtiss Wright. Just three years older than Patterson, Pawley was socially charming, handsome, and ruthless. When he barged into Patterson's office he wasted no time on pleasantries.

"You don't think you're going to sell any airplanes here do you?"

Patterson looked him up and down and asked, "Why not?"

"Because I have an exclusive. Go ask H.H. Kung or General Mao," said Pawley.

Kung was Nationalist Minister of Finance, Mao Chief of the Air Force. Without another word Pawley turned and walked out. Patterson came to realize that Pawley used cash and favors freely to smooth his way, and both of these officials had been well greased.

When Patterson had made his arrangements to come to China, he had bought a Bird primary trainer to use as a demonstrator in China, but when the Bird Company went broke and the deal fell through, Reuben Fleet heard about it and shipped a Fleet biplane trainer to Shanghai at his own expense.

When it arrived in 1931, Patterson had it assembled at Shanghai's Hung Jao Airfield and demonstrated it to a select group of Chinese. The first aircraft sold by China Airmotive were 20 of these Fleet Trainers.

By 8 July 1932, when Major John H. Jouett, US Army Air Corps, retired, head of a special American training mission to China, and his handpicked group of first-class instructors and mechanics arrived in Shanghai aboard the President Hoover with 15 Fleet Trainers, China Airmotive had sold some 120 Fleets to the Chinese. Final sales totaled over 200, a big boost for Reuben Fleet's new Consolidated Aircraft Company.

Despite Pawley's machinations, China Airmotive was thus well afloat by 1932 and being drawn inexorably into the chaos of Chinese politics. In addition to his dealings with Chiang Kai-shek, Patterson sold airplanes to a rival Chinese air force based in Canton.

At that time the National Government of China at Nanking was "national" in name only. One of the most important groups who had not joined with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang-dominated government was headquartered at Canton. Their air force, aided by a German air mission, was bigger and better than the air force belonging to the Nationalists. During an early trip to Canton looking for business, Patterson wandered in and out of hangars on the airfield. Suddenly, the senior German advisor accosted him. wI can tell you right now there is no possibility of doing any business here. Save your time and go home." The manner was Prussian. The accent heavily German. Patterson left.

About two months later, Patterson was back in Canton walking through a hallway in the administration building when a voice boomed through an open doorway.

"Hey, Pat!

"Who the hell knows me here?" he thought. Inside was a Chinese officer in full uniform with stars on his shoulders.

"You don't remember me, do you?"

"No, sir, I don't."

"I am General Wong Kwong-yue, the Chief of this Air Force. To you, I'm Freddy Wong. You taught me how to fly at Dycer Field in California. Remember?"

"Well, I'll be damned -- Freddy Wong!"

This lucky meeting helped Patterson to trump some of Bill Pawley's aces. Later, when the Nationalist government was still in Nanking and the Japanese had not yet chased China Airmotive out of Shanghai, Wong handed Patterson a sealed envelope and said, "Guard this with your life, Pat, Give it to Madame Chiang and no one else."

Madame Chiang headed the Aeronautical Commission that controlled the Nationalist Air Force. The sealed envelope contained an offer she couldn't refuse. Shortly, the entire Cantonese Air Force flew to Nanking, Freddy Wong to a place on the Aeronautical Commission and all his pilots to promotions as officers of the Republic of China Air Force. Without air power, the Cantonese military could only climb aboard the bandwagon, enabling Chiang Kai-shek to make real progress toward unifying China under one government.