Gu Songfen, one of China”s leading aircraft designers and a pioneer in the nation’s aviation industry, died of illness on Sunday. He was 96.
Born in February 1930 in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, Gu came from a well-educated family as the second child of two intellectual parents.
At age seven, he witnessed Japanese bombers flying over his home to attack nearby Chinese military barracks. He saw flames and smoke billowing after the raid, and the windows of his home were shattered by blast waves.
“After witnessing those scenes, I formed a wish: to learn to design aircraft when I grow up to help defend my motherland’s skies,” Gu said in an article he wrote and published in People’s Daily in November.
He further wrote that his interest in aviation deepened after his older brother, then a middle school student, brought home a cardboard glider. Gu later began making paper planes with him. At age 10, his uncle gave him a model aircraft as a birthday gift, further strengthening his enthusiasm for aviation.
In 1947, after graduating from middle school, Gu was accepted by Tsinghua University in Beijing, Zhejiang University in Hangzhou and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, all of which he had applied to for studying aeronautical engineering. He chose Shanghai Jiao Tong University due to his brother’s death in 1939, which made his mother reluctant to see her only son leave Shanghai.
After graduating in 1951, he was assigned to the central government’s aviation industry bureau in Shenyang, Liaoning province, beginning his career in aviation.
Initially, he worked on repairing combat jets damaged during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53), and participated in the reverse engineering and licensed production of Soviet aircraft.
In August 1956, China’s first aircraft design organization, the Shenyang Aircraft Design Office, was established. Gu was appointed head of the aerodynamics team, responsible for aerodynamic design of the JJ-1 trainer jet, China’s first domestically developed aircraft.
“Before the JJ-1, all Chinese-made aircraft were copies of Soviet models produced under Soviet experts’ guidance using original Soviet blueprints with no room for design revisions. Along with veteran aviation experts, I believed that mere replication meant full reliance on foreign technology and the loss of independent initiative. We had to develop China’s own aircraft,” Gu said in the November article.
However, his university training had focused on propeller aircraft, leaving him with little knowledge of jet design. He had to search for reference materials and teach himself, despite the scarcity of technical publications at the time. Through persistent study, he overcame these challenges and completed his work successfully.
Beginning in 1964, Gu joined the development of the J-8 fighter jet as deputy chief designer and became its chief designer in 1972.
Although the aircraft completed its maiden flight in July 1969, it was plagued by multiple technical problems and was not ready for certification or delivery. One major issue was severe vibration during transonic test flights, posing serious safety risks.
When ground tests and simulations failed to identify the cause, Gu flew in the rear cockpit of a chase aircraft, using binoculars and a camera to observe and photograph the J-8 prototype in flight. After three flights, he identified the source of the vibration and proposed targeted fixes. The J-8 was officially approved for production in late 1979.
In 1986, Gu stepped down as chief designer of the J-8II fighter and director of the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute after being transferred to Beijing by the then Ministry of Aviation Industry. He became deputy head of its science and technology commission.
His work shifted toward strategic research in aviation technology development. He contributed to planning for future advanced aircraft, participated in decision-making for major national projects, and served as a technical consultant or chief expert on multiple programs.
In this role, he led conceptual research on advanced stealth fighters, large passenger aircraft and strategic transport aircraft, helping lay the groundwork for the rapid development of China’s aviation industry in the 21st century.
In recognition of his contributions, Gu was elected an academician of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in the 1990s. In 2021, he received the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, China’s highest honor for scientists and engineers.
zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn