Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
entrepreneur William D. Pawley
William D. Pawley
William D. Pawley was a U.S. ambassador, a noted businessman and associated with the Flying Tigers American Volunteer Group during World War II.-Early life:...
, the Curtiss-Wright
Curtiss-Wright
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States at the end of World War II, but has evolved to largely become a component manufacturer, specializing in actuators, aircraft controls, valves, and metalworking....
sales representative in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
during the 1930s.
History
Starting in 1933, CAMCO assembled (probably from factory-supplied kits) about 100 Hawk IICurtiss P-6
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Bowers, Peter M. "The Great Fighter Fly-Offs: Curtiss vs. Boeing". Wings, Volume 31, Number 1, February 2001....
and Hawk III
BF2C Goshawk
-External links:*** Popular Science, July 1934...
fighter-bombers at a factory in Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
. The planes had originally been designed as scout bombers for the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. They served as the backbone of the Chinese Air Force
Development of Chinese Nationalist air force (1937-1945)
The Republic of China Air Force was formed by the Kuomintang after the establishment of the Aviation Ministry in 1920. As tensions mounted between the China and Imperial Japan in the 1930s, a number of smaller Chinese warlord airforce men and equipment became integrated into the ROCAF in a...
during the first year of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
As Nationalist Chinese forces were driven back from the coast in the winter of 1937-38, CAMCO retreated with them. Pawley's factory was reconstituted in Hankou, where it repaired airplanes damaged in combat or by bombing, and may also have assembled some later-model Curtiss H-75 fighters, an export version of the U.S. Army's P-36 monoplane fighter. When Hankou fell in October 1938, CAMCO moved to Hengyang
Hengyang
Hengyang is the second largest city of China's Hunan Province. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km south of Changsha.-History:Its former name was Hengzhou . This was the capital of a prefecture in the Tang Dynasty's Jiangnan and West Jiangnan circuits...
and added Vultee V-11
Vultee A-19
The Vultee V-11 and V-12 were American attack aircraft of the 1930s. Developments of the Vultee V-1 single-engined airliner, the V-11 and V-12 were purchased by several nation's armed forces, including China, who used them in combat against Japanese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War...
light bombers to its product line. At the same time, work was started at a new factory far in the hinterland, at Loiwing on the China-Burma frontier. Opened in the spring of 1939, it was supplied by the mountainous "Burma Road
Burma Road
The Burma Road is a road linking Burma with the southwest of China. Its terminals are Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. When it was built, Burma was a British colony.The road is long and runs through rough mountain country...
" from Rangoon (now Yangon
Yangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
, capital of Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
). The factory was financed by the Chinese Nationalist
Chinese nationalist
Chinese nationalist can refer to:* Chinese nationalism* Kuomintang - Chinese Nationalist Party in Taiwan....
government in Chongqing
Free China (Second Sino-Japanese War)
The term Free China, in the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War, refers to those areas of China not under the control of the Imperial Japanese Army or any of its puppet governments, such as Manchukuo, the Mengjiang government in Suiyuan and Chahar, or the Provisional Government of the Republic...
. An undetermined number of Hawk 75 (P-36 type) and Curtiss-Wright CW-21 fighters were assembled there.
In the winter of 1940-1941, Pawley became involved in the recruitment and supplying of the 1st American Volunteer Group
American Volunteer Group
The American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War...
(AVG), later known as the Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
. AVG pilots were released from U.S. military service to serve as "instructors" or "Metal Workers" for the Chinese; their employer of record was CAMCO, which also set up a facility at Mingaladon airport outside Rangoon to assemble the 100 Curtiss P-40 fighters sold to China to equip the AVG. From offices in Rangoon and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, CAMCO also provided housekeeping and record-keeping services for the AVG until its disbandment in July 1942.
The CAMCO factory at Loiwing was used to repair AVG P-40s, and its airfield was briefly used by the AVG to mount raids into Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Burma. Following the Allied retreat from Burma in the spring of 1942, the CAMCO plant was lost to the Japanese, and Pawley moved his operation to Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, where he evidently joined forces with an Indian firm, Hindustan Aircraft Ltd. Here he assembled Harlow trainers for the Indian Air Force
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
and arguably launched Bangalore on its 20th century path as the high-tech centre on the subcontinent.