Y-10 civil passenger jet

Politics was heavily involved in the Y-10 project, which was reportedly spearheaded by Wang Hongwen [Wang Hung-wen], one of the Gang of Four. It is claimed that as he, and the Mao era, fell out of favor in October 1976, so did enthusiasm for the Y-10, which was increasingly seen as a throwback to the days of isolationism. Afterwards, Shanghai in many respects was kept on a tighter leash by Beijing than many other parts of China, because the power base of the Gang of Four and the whole Maoist clique that attempted to usurp power was Shanghai. Zhang Chunqiao was one of the Four, and Wang Hongwen, and all three were from Shanghai, and Jiang Qing herself had been an actress in Shanghai. So Shanghai for a long, long time was viewed with a certain distrust, and there were a lot of hangovers and holdovers from the earlier period.

The successful development of the Y-10 enabled China to possess the complex technology to design and manufacture large aircraft on its own. This not only filled the gap in China's civil aviation industry's previous inability to manufacture large aircraft, but also made China the fifth country after the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France to master the manufacture of 100-ton jet aircraft.

Moreover, during the 10 years of Y-10 development, the 915 engine with the same performance as the JT3D-7 was successfully developed and successfully installed on the 707 for flight tests. The most valuable thing was that it trained a team, laying the foundation for the further development of China's civil aircraft industry. This is a valuable asset for China's aviation industry. At that time, domestic media praised it as "a good combination of self-reliance and introduction of foreign technology."

Wu Xingshi, later the chief designer of AVIC Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd., participated in the development of the "Yun-10" since 1972. He summarized the three major innovations of the Y-10 that cannot be ignored: "First, in terms of the solution, it meets the needs and is forward-looking. The direction chosen combines needs and possibilities, and it is still the mainstream solution for large jet airliners. Second, it successfully broke through the former Soviet Union's technical system and began to transform to the international advanced technical system for civil aircraft. Third, the Y-10 was the first to adopt a series of advanced technologies such as computer-aided engineering and computer-aided design on a large scale, achieving a number of 'zero' breakthroughs and leaps, laying an important foundation for the subsequent technological progress of China's aviation industry."

"Yun-10 is not just an aircraft product, but a large passenger aircraft development platform built with the efforts of the whole country." He said in an interview with reporters: "If it weren't for the success of Yun-10, I would be talking about another story today. But it is precisely because of this foundation that I dare to say that China had this ability 20 years ago. The shortcomings of the product should not be the reason to abandon it."

"From the perspective of long-term strategic needs, it is not too early to start large aircraft now. The preliminary research is a long-term preparation process," Wu Xingshi believes, "When market needs and technology may intersect, China can carry out research and development in a timely manner." With large investments, high risks and long payback cycles, a project that fails will suffer a catastrophe. Why do we still insist on developing our own large aircraft? "The defects of the economic structure will inevitably lead to economic independence, and economic independence will inevitably lead to political independence." Wu Xingshi hit the nail on the head.

He emphasized that the development of the "Yun-10" is an innovative process that is inclusive and tolerant. "The development of the 'Yun-10' has gotten rid of the passive path of following foreign countries and achieved a number of overall technological leaps. During the development process, we fully utilized the resources of the entire industry, formed a research and production team combining core enterprises and industry, academia and research, emphasized that everything must be tested in practice, and implemented the management method of large-scale system engineering. In terms of its technical difficulty and the scale of the test, many of them still maintain the first record."

The Y-10 program was halted in 1985. Although the Yun-10 aircraft project was not put into civil use for various reasons, the spirit of "independent, vigorous collaboration, selfless dedication, and continuous innovation" was passed down from generation to generation of large aircraft. Two Y-10 prototypes had been built although the development program was terminated because the reasons of market and cost. China�s attempt to build its own indigenous large passenger aircraft ultimately failed. China�s domestic airlines refused to buy the plane. Precious experience was obtained, which became the technical basis for the later co�production program of the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 airliner between China and the USA. One Y-10 is now in an air force museum, and it was suggested that the Chinese would move it to the aviation museum in Beijing. Next to the lawn where the Yun-10 aircraft is docked, there is a sculpture with the words "Never give up" engraved on it. This is a solemn commitment made by the big plane people from the heart, and it is also the top of the hundreds of millions of people's early civil use of large domestic aircraft. look forward to.

After the conclusion of the Y-10 program in 1985, the Ministry of Aviation devised a �three-step take-off plan�, from the MD-90 assembly MD-90 to jointly design and manufacturing the AE-100 with Airbus to the ultimate goal of self-design and building a 180-seater plane by 2010. One by one each of these objectives fell by the wayside. The termination of the MD-90 programme and the AE-100 program were perceived outside China to �deal a severe blow to China�s nascent aviation industry� and �throw into doubt its plans to become a substantial aircraft manufacturer�. Many people in the Chinese aircraft industry felt that it had been let down not only by Boeing and Airbus, but also by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), which had refused to order either the MD-90 or the planned AE-100.

To this day, many people still feel regretful that the Y-10, the "real big plane" that was much bigger than the C919 and as big as the Boeing 707 in the United States, was not successfully developed. The reason why the Y-10 failed to succeed was mostly due to its "bigness".