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…
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Source www.chinadaily.com.cn
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