Aces of the Republic of China Air Force

The ace pilots of the Republic of China Air Force have long been shrouded in mystery and obscurity, as their retreat to Taiwan in 1949 and a blanket martial law made records of the RoCAF all but impossible to access. Now, for the first time, the colorful story of these aces can finally be told. Using the latest research based on released archival information and full-color illustrations, this book charts the history of the top scoring pilots of the RoCAF from the beginning of the gruelling, eight-year Sino-Japanese War to the conclusion of the Civil War against the Chinese Communists. Beginning as a ragged and very disparate group of planes and pilots drawn from various provincial air forces, the RoCAF gradually became standardised and was brought under American tutelage. Altogether it produced 17 aces who scored kills while flying a startling variety of aircraft, from biplanes to F-86 Sabres.

Raymond Cheung served as a correspondent for a number of well-known defence journals in the United Kingdom, writing mainly on naval matters. However, his 'first love' is research in the history of the Chinese air Force during the Sino-Japanese War 1937-45. In pursuit of this research, he has visited the archives of the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF) and the Japanese Defence Department on numerous occasions. Some of this research has been published in Chinese publications. This is his first work on the subject in English.