Recently Mr. Samuel Hui from Taiwan had the chance to meet a veteran of the Manchukuoan Air Force (MAF), Mr. Su Huan-chung, and was kind enough to pass some questions we had.
We hope you will find this extremely rare interview translated by Mr. Samuel Hui to your liking.
Readers of our publication "The Eagles of Manchukuo" (HERE) will be familiar with some terms and names. We would also like to apologize beforehand to our Russian friends but we hope they will understand that it would be inappropriate to "censor" some of the answers.
1. How were you chosen
to become a pilot? Were there other Chinese pilots with MAF? If yes, how many
approximately?
Answer: Originally, I
wanted to study medical science, but my family did not have enough money to
send me to Southern Manchurian Medical School. For this reason, I decided to
get into the Manchukuo Army Academy located at Hsinking (Changchun) in 1938 when
I was 17. I graduated two years later from the Army Academy and was selected to
receive pilot training at the Manchukuo Air Force School in Fengtien
(Shenyang).
2. For how long and
what did the training include? What aircraft did you train with? Any training
with gliders? Do you
remember any other types at the school that you didn't train with?
Answer: I spent about
one and half year to complete my solo flight training. At the Manchukuo Air
Force School, I remembered I flew Ki-9 "Spruce" intermediate trainer
and Ki-55 "Ida" advanced trainer. Both aircraft were designed by
Tachikawa. I do not feel Ki-9 was a very good plane, but we were all asked to
fly it before we are allowed to graduate.
3. Were the
instructors Japanese? How did they and the rest of the students treat you as a
Chinese? Was there any discrimination?
Answer: Most of the
instructors at the flight school were Japanese, but they were citizens of
Manchukuo as well. They were all very skillful pilots. There were Chinese
instructors as well. However, the Chinese instructors were not really qualified
pilots since most of them were selected from the Army Academy. I did not feel
any discrimination from the Japanese.
4. Were there pilots
from other nationalities? Korean, Mongolian?
Answer: As far as I
knew, there were only Japanese and Chinese.
5. What were the
nationalities of the ground crew? Were there many Chinese?
Answer: Most of the
ground crews were Chinese.
6. What aircraft was
your unit equipped with? Nakajima Ki-27? If yes, how often did you fly and how
was it as an airplane? Do you remember any episodes with the aircraft? Did you
see any other types? Nakajima "Hayabusa" or "Shoki"?
Answer: The only
fighter I had ever flown was the Ki-27 Nate designed by Nakajima. It was an
outdate aircraft and was never capable to compete against the American and
Russian fighters we later encountered. I know Japan had many advanced fighters
such as A6M Zero and Ki-44 Shoki, but we never flew them. The Japanese never
trusted us Chinese pilots.
Below, a
series of stills from a vintage news reel featuring a MAF pilot climbing into his Nate. Note the gun camera mount on the wing.
7.
How were the conditions in the 1st Air Unit? How were you treated as a Chinese?
Answer:
For most of time, we were treated equal with the Japanese pilots. During the
formation flight, the Japanese commander must speak with us through his radio
in Chinese instead of his own language. We were paid with same amount of money
as well. I think we were treated equally. Because Manchuria was a very
resourceful land, we had no problem to receive fuel, ammunition and other
supply. I think our condition was even better than Japan.
8.
Did you see any action? Do you remember anything about the US bomber raids
against Shenyang?
Answer:
The mission of the 1st Air Unit was to defend the air space of Hsinking, the
capital city of Manchukuo. Since Hsinking was never a target of the US B-29
bombers, I never flew action against Allied bombers. However, the 2nd Air Unit
at Fengtien did fight the B-29s. I remembered two Japanese pilots rammed down
two American bombers by launching kamikaze attack. We Chinese were ordered to
do the same, but none of us were really willing to do. None of us really wanted
to die for Japan.
9.
Some books mention that on January 1941, 100 MAF pilots near Harbin rebelled,
killed their Japanese trainers and tried to escape but they were captured and
court-martialed. Do you know anything about this? Did you ever hear of any MAF
pilot or ground crew member who rebelled, mutinied and tried to escape?
Answer:
Yeah! Most of those who defected to the Communist guerrilla sponsored by Soviet
Union were ground crews. Like them, none of we Chinese pilots really like the
Japanese, but we hated the Russian more. Two of my friends from the flight
school at Fengtien assigned to the 3rd Air Unit were killed because they were
not willing to surrender themselves to the Russians.
10.
Where were you stationed at the end of the War?
Answer:
I was still in Fengtien when the Red Army came in. Because the Russians were
too busy in removing our factories back to their homeland our raping our women,
I was able to survive from that disaster. Most of the fighters from the 1st Air
Unit were captured by the Red Army as well. They were either sent back to
Russia or turned over to the Communist Party of China.
11.
What happened after the end of the War?
Answer:
I eventually joined the Chinese Nationalist Air Force and came to Taiwan in
1949. I was one of the very few Manchukuo pilots to be accepted by the Republic
of China. Many others decided to stay in mainland China or became instructors
of the newly founded People’s Liberation Army Air Force. However, I was never
allowed to fly again since I had served with Axis Powers in World War II. I
worked as an officer in office until my retirement in 1964 as a major. When I
returned to mainland China in 1992, I was told that all 150 Manchukuo pilots
remaining in China after the civil war were killed by the Communist regime.
What kind of tragedy is it? Both Chinese governments across the Taiwan strait
considered us “traitors”.
A
MAF Tachikawa Ki-55 "Ida" ready for take-off.
More MAF Nakajima Ki-27 "Nates".
The Nate below with the katakana ヨ (yo) on the tail, was donated by the city of Fushun.
We are particularly grateful to Mr. Su Huan-chung for answering our questions and to Mr .Samuel Hui for arranging everything.
We are off to a much needed vacation. See you next week.
