Feng Ru (; 1883–1912), also known as Fung Joe Guey (), was a pioneering Chinese aviator and aircraft designer.

Life and career

Born in

Enping Enping, alternately romanized as Yanping, is a county-level city in Guangdong province, China, administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Jiangmen. Enping administers an area of and had an estimated population of 483,907 in 2020 ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, Feng moved to the United States at the age of twelve, living and working in various parts of California before trying to settle in San Francisco in 1906, the year that the

San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensit ...

struck. The earthquake spoiled his plan and sent him fleeing to

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

. Fung was fascinated by the

Wright Brothers The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...

' plane and because he was always interested in machinery, one of the first things he did after arriving in Oakland was to organize Guangdong Air Vehicle Company, an airplane manufacturing company, only a few years after the Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk flight (1903). Within two years of founding the company in 1908, Fung constructed his first airplane, a

sesquiplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

with an upper span of and lower of , powered by a engine of Fung's own construction. On September 22, 1909 (several newspapers report the date as Tuesday, September 21, 1909) Fung was the first Chinese man known to fly in America (and first aviator of any nationality to fly in California and the West Coast of the United States). He had constructed his own

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, improving on the Wrights' blueprints. Fung flew in a wide circle, despite the harsh winds; after twenty minutes, however, the bolt holding the propeller to the shaft snapped off, and he was brought to a stop, suffering only minor bruising. The flight was reported in several papers, including '' The San Francisco Call'' and the ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, and a predecessor of the '' East Bay Times''. It was published by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' ...

''.

Return to China, military role and fatal crash

Feng returned to China on March 21, 1911, upon the request of Chinese revolutionary

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...

, who wanted to use Feng's planes to aid the rebellion against the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

; it is likely that he became the first-ever aviator to embark on a military mission. He was accompanied by six Oakland residents and another biplane of his own design. However, on August 26, 1912, he was killed when his plane crashed during an aerial exhibition in front of 1,000 spectators at the ,

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

which was permanently shut down after the tragedy. Sun Yat-sen insisted that he be buried at the Mausoleum of the 72 Huanghuagang Martyrs, and that his tomb be inscribed with the words "Pioneer of Chinese Aviation".

Legacy

On September 21, 2009, a bronze bust of Feng, the "Father of Chinese Aviation", was unveiled in a ceremony at

Laney College Laney College is a public community college in Oakland, California. Laney is the largest of the four colleges of the Peralta Community College District which serves northern Alameda County. Laney College is named after Joseph Clarence Laney. ...

in Oakland. One of Fung's workshops, where he designed and built parts of his biplane, was on a site that is now part of the Laney campus, near the heart of commercial Chinatown. The event was organized by Steve Lavoie of the Oakland Public Library and Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Glenn of Amelia Earhart Senior Squadron 188,

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered, federally supported Nonprofit corporation, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliaries, auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CA ...

. The book '' Dragonwings'' is partially inspired by Fung Joe Guey.

Life and career

Return to China, military role and fatal crash

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading