Chinese Warlord air forces

[keith A]

I have recently read that Ansaldo A.30 bombers were in use in China by the Chihli air force however I cannot find a mention of this type being made. There was an Alsaldo A.300 which resembles the Caudron C59 also in use in China, is the A.30 an earlier version of the 300?

Also I note several American and at least 12 White Russians were employed as mercenary pilots, can anyone identify individuals?

regards

Keith

[Lennart Andersson]

Six Ansaldo A 300-4 two-seat reconnaissance biplanes were purchased from Carlo Pestalozza of C:a Asiatica Importazioni ed Esportazioni by Chihli (Paoting Air Corps) in 1924. The first two were shipped in October, but the remaining four, shipped from Genoa on the SS “Pfalz” on 4 November, were seized by the British authorities at Colombo in 1 December. They were later released and shipped back to Italy on the SS “Trier” in April 1925. Those that arrived were taken over by Manchuria.

I am not aware of any Russian pilots at paoting. For further details see my book on aviation in China:
http://z-bok.se/catalog.12.html

Lennart Andersson

[keith A]

Thanks again Lennart,

Your book looks amazing, but it's a bit out of my price range at the moment. I know very little about China in this period although I did read "The Mercenaries" quite a few years ago, which is a novel about a WW1 flyer in the Warlords/KMT era.

I have put it on my Amazon wish-list