Seaplanes - SH - Shuishang Hongzhaji (Maritime Bomber)

On 25 May 2012, Wang Hongzhang, the first director of AVIC Special Flight and the chief designer of Shuihong 5, died in Jingmen, Hubei Province, at the age of 83. Wang Hongzhang is the pioneer of China's special aircraft industry, especially the design and development of the water bomber 5, which filled the domestic gap and laid a solid foundation for the development of the �Jilong� 600 large-scale amphibious aircraft design and other special aircraft research.

Wang Hongzhang was the main founder of the research and development of the new Chinese seaplane. He was born in Luohe County, Jilin Province on October 10, 1930. He participated in the revolution as early as 1945. He served in the Army, Air Force, and Navy, and studied in the Air Force Second Aviation School in the short term. In 1960, Wang Hongzhang participated in the formation of the Navy Special Aircraft Research Institute. In 1964, he participated in the formation of the Large Aircraft Research Institute (the predecessor of the First Flight Academy). In 1968, he was responsible for the establishment of the Large Marine Aircraft Research Institute (the predecessor of the Special Flight), and successively served as the China Special Aircraft Research Institute.

The first director, director of the Science and Technology Commission, etc., presided over the design of China's first large-scale water anti-submarine patrol aircraft SH-5, the first water-borne forest fire fighting aircraft and other major national defense technology models. He has won the Liberation Medal and the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and was awarded the title of �Experts with Outstanding Contributions to the New China Aviation Industry� and �Special Contribution Experts of the State Council�. Hard work laid the foundation for the development of special aircraft

Wang Hongzhang was a self-taught technical cadre. He had read only a few years of primary school before joining the army. After graduating from the 1951 aviation school, he was assigned to a certain department of the Air Force to perform the locomotive work. After many years of self-study, he explored a set of self-study methods, which not only helped him in the ten-year locomotive work of the brigade, regiment, and division chief, but also laid the foundation for his later entry into the research unit.

From 1960 to 1962, Wang Hongzhang, as the deputy director of the design office, was responsible for the design of the "Seagull" 601 water bomber program. The Machine Research Institute created the conditions. On November 13, 1962, the Naval Special Aircraft Research Institute was formally established, and Wang Hongzhang was appointed as the deputy chief engineer of the institute.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Navy Special Aircraft Research Institute, there was no office space for research for a long time, no research funding, and it was in the three consecutive years of disasters, and scientific research and production was very difficult. In such an extraordinary period, Wang Hongzhang led the scientific research personnel to be self-reliant, following the principle of transition from imitation to self-development, insisting on cultivating training technical teams, actively creating scientific research and experimental conditions, practicing technology, practicing ideas and practicing style in scientific research practice. Practice synergy and gradually organize all kinds of technical personnel from the naval aviation.

Starting from reviewing the "Seagull" 601 design plan, Wang Hongzhang carried out the design of the 601A light water bomber, and conducted a test flight, surveying and design analysis on the Soviet-made imported water bomber-6 to achieve a knowledge of the design of the seaplane design. The development of the modification, the development of the An-24 aircraft surveying and mapping and the development of the B-6 aircraft and the development of the SH-5 aircraft laid the foundation. From 1964 to 1967, Wang Hongzhang successively organized and led the reform and development of the 5F 61F engine, the design of the air test platform pod of the H-6, the development of the An-24 aircraft surveying, and the safety demonstration and test of the H-6 aircraft.

In January 1968, the central government decided to rebuild the special flight, and Wang Hongzhang was appointed as the first director and chief engineer and the chief designer of the SH-5 aircraft. During this period, he led the development of the -6 variant, which consolidated the seaplane force, led the research and design of the SH-5 aircraft, and successfully delivered four aircraft, strengthening the combat effectiveness of the naval seaplane forces.

In completing the task of preparing for the construction of the special flight, Wang Hongzhang determined the policy of �grasping the opportunity, hard work, building while building, learning by doing, and fighting for the development of special aircraft for the navy�. In less than one year, five tasks were implemented, meeting the planning requirements of the Navy to develop water bombers and other special aircraft, and opening up a new cause for the development of seaplanes in China's aviation industry.

When the state approved the development of the SH-5 aircraft, China's aviation industry is still in the era of imitation, and there are no norms, regulations and development guidelines for the development of aircraft in China. Under extremely difficult conditions, Wang Hongzhang dared to break the routine and took out a new road to develop a seaplane.

In July 1969, the state set up a water bombing 5 aircraft site three combined leadership group, Wang Hongzhang was appointed as the deputy team leader, the division of labor is responsible for leading the SH-5 aircraft research and design, testing, trial production of all technical work. He drafted the general plan and development plan for the development of the SH-5 aircraft, proposed a parallel cross-working method for aircraft design, mold line design and process equipment design, and formed a number of three combined groups to absorb the air ground personnel, factory workers and technicians. Participating in the design, the designers also participated in the mold line design and process equipment design, achieving mutual exchange and complementary advantages. Wang Hongzhang led the research staff to complete the overall design of the SH-5 aircraft in only 5 months, and completed the product design, mold line design and process equipment design of the SH-5 aircraft in 8 months. The workload, which is normally required to be completed in 4 years, is completed in more than a year, greatly shortening the development cycle of the water bombing 5 aircraft.

Wang Hongzhang always stood on the forefront of the development work to grasp the pre-research, grasp the key, grasp coordination, grasp the exposure, and solve the problem in time. He has been fighting at the development site of the SH-5 aircraft, and extended the parallel cross-operation method to the whole process of design, test and flight test of the SH-5 aircraft. He requires all key technologies to have an argumentation report, focusing on quality control of design and test work during the development process. In order to delve into technical reading technical data, he often works late into the night, often only two or three hours of sleep per day. He took the lead in researching techniques, and was meticulously demanding in his work. He focused on cultivating cadres and training teams in practice.

In April 1976, after the successful completion of the first flight of the H+5 aircraft, he boldly and promptly proposed to adjust the design based on the technical state of the test flight No. 02, and immediately put into operation four aircraft for use by the seaplane forces. The urgent needs of the navy. At the same time, Wang Hongzhang also proposed a water and bomb 5 amphibious dual-use development program, submitted to the National Defense Science and Technology Commission to organize expert review, laid the foundation for the development of large-scale amphibious aircraft in China.

In April 1984, Wang Hongzhang left the main leadership position. Although he withdrew from the front line work, he still cares about the development of the seaplane business and organized the completion of the review of the water and sewage 5 amphibious dual-use scheme by the National Defense Science and Technology Commission. On the occasion of the fire in the forests of Xing'an Mountains in Northeast China in 1987, Wang Hongzhang actively participated in and organized the work of changing the water bombing 5 aircraft into fire fighting aircraft, filling the blank of the successful forest fire extinguishing machine for large seaplane modification in China.

In his later years, in order to continuously promote the development of China's seaplane and surface aircraft business, Wang Hongzhang actively wrote and proposed the demonstration report on the development of seaplanes and watercraft in China, and planned the development plan for small and medium-sized multi-purpose amphibious aircraft, and proposed the development of surface effect aircraft.