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J-6III High Speed Fighter

The J-6III is still China's great fighter. The J-6III, which flew for the first time on August 5, 1969, was a high-altitude, high-mobility type, with three 30mm cannons. The air intake was the same as the J-6II. The deceleration parachute was moved to the bottom of the vertical tail. The turbojet 6-A engine was installed to increase the thrust-to-weight ratio of the whole machine to 0.988. Although the J-6III can fly at supersonic speed without afterburner, due to technical reasons at the time, the flight duration is estimated to be only 5-10 minutes.

The birth of F-6III has its special historical background, and its so-called aircraft quality problem has special political reasons. In order to increase the maximum speed of the J-6 at medium altitude the Shenyang Aircraft Factory began to develop a derivative called the J-6III. In 1967, in order to improve the performance of the J-6, the 112 factory (now Shen Fei) established an improvement team composed of 11 old workers, 5 craftsmen, and 3 designers, which was led by the factory's revolutionary committee. In 1969, in order to comprehensively improve the performance of the J-6, the improvement team made a number of changes to the original aircraft , including shortening the wingspan, increasing the flap area, and using new engines. The improved J-6 was named J-6III, and It flew for the first time in August 1969.

The J-6III variant had improvements in its maximum at intermediate altitudes and a higher service ceiling. The main modifications were: an uprated WP6A engine; a shorter wing span; increased chord length and consequently larger flaps and ailerons; addition of an adjustable shock cone in the center of the nose intake and a single hydraulic system instead dual. The first J-6 III flew on 06 August 1969. Its initial flight test showed that it was more manuverable, faster in climbing and turning and faster than the basic J-6.

At that time, the test pilots and the leaders of the air force who were observing were very satisfied with the J-6III, especially the test pilots believed that the aircraft climbed quickly, maneuvered flexibly, and turned quickly. However, the improvement team believes that this is only a "first draft", and "trial and error" of design finalization and small batch production are required. However, despite the opposition of all parties, the Air Force ordered the 112 factory to mass production in October 1969. In two years, 406 F-6IIIs were produced.

But it also had severe problems. The design had not been evaluated by sufficient ground and flight tests, and it was put into mass production before certification. Despite the improved capabilities, the quality of the aircraft was negatively affected by the Great Cultural Revolution in 1968.

The quality problem was getting worse. According to the prototype state, Shen Fei put into production 200 J-6III fighters, exceeding the target, and put into production 300 J-6III fighters in only half a year, but the results were terrible. In 1970, 299 of the 300 fighters delivered by Shenfei to the army were unqualified. The technical quality problems of this batch of J-6III fighters include: poor longitudinal stability of the aircraft, high temperature of the rear fuselage, burnt-out of the tail cover, rivets in the air inlet, unreliable hydraulic system, and deformation of the flap slide. In the end, the J-6III fighters delivered to the troops were basically grounded. By 1972, there were a total of 572 F-6 aircraft with quality problems in the factory, and the aircraft factory once again became a "chicken farm."

The alleged quality problems of the F-6III were detailed in the official repair history: The aircraft has poor longitudinal stability, high rear fuselage temperature, burned tail cover, rivets in the air inlet, unreliable hydraulic system, deformed flap slides, etc. Like its predecessor, the aircraft had to be returned for repairs. Hundreds of J-6 III s had to be returned to the factory because of oversensitivity of controls and missing rivets inside the intake. Dual hydraulic systems were restored. This took four years and heavy losses were incurred.

The lessons learned by the derivation were profound. They told that violating objective laws and scientific procedures would bring punishment.

The famous aircraft of the same or earlier generation as the F-6III is the F104 of Lockheed Martin. In other words, the Americans produced a total of 2,580 of this type of aircraft, which were distributed to NATO and other Asian allies. This world-famous "widow-making aircraft" fell 295 in West Germany and killed 116 pilots. There were 171 pilots who successfully ejected and escaped. The one who said that your number is wrong, 116 plus 171 is 287. That's right, there are 8 buddies who jumped alive twice. If the F-6III proves the absurdity of the Cultural Revolution, can it be said that F104 proves the ugliness of capitalism?

The F-6III first flew in the second half of 1969. At that time, the three headquarters and the air navy all came to the scene to cheer. The agility and maneuverability of the aircraft were good. The first flight of the J-6III coincided with the Sino-Soviet conflict on Zhenbao Island in March 1969. Later, the Soviet army ambushed the Chinese patrol in Triketi. At that time, China, from the great leader to the people of the Li people, digging deep holes to accumulate food, three defenses. No one did not think that the Sino-Soviet war is imminent. The only one J-7 regiment that the entire air force can handle is guarding Gyeonggi, and probably at most it can meet the Soviet air force. Don't mention other MiG-15s and F-5s, they are basically terrible. As the commander of the Air Force, Fatty Wu knows that the Chinese Air Force urgently needs a first-line air-control fighter that can withstand the initial consumption of the war and has significantly improved performance over the active J-6. It can at least fight him for a few rounds.

Second, the decision made by the old head Wu may also be a habit of thinking that has long been cultivated by the generals of the Communist army. What habit? Three red tasseled guns took one old sleeve, three old sleeves were exchanged for one shot, and the three were exchanged for one crooked handle. Three crooked handles made a 92 infantry gun. Understand this kind of solidified thinking mode, it is not difficult to understand Lao Wu, Lao Tzu does not believe that three F-6III can not fight you a MiG-23? As long as it can fly, the quantity is large, and there are some quality problems, it will be shot down if the problem does not occur. Is this decision by Wu Faxian correct? It’s really hard to say. If the Soviet Union really attacked, the decision would be correct. If it did not attack, it would be incorrect.

In the autumn of 1971, the 913 incident that shocked China and foreign countries occurred and Lin Biao fell to his death in Windur Khan. Air Force Commander Wu Fatzi was quarantined and examined. The Air Force was the hardest hit area of ??the Lin Biao Renegade Group, and the airfield was taken over by the Army. As a result, the J-6IIIs delivered to the troops were grounded, and the broken aircraft were returned to Shen Fei. The five or six hundred "problem" aircraft (including those produced by Guifei) all flew back to Shenfei at the same time, so that Shenyang was full of J-6s. More blocked than Beijing Second Ring Road.

It took 3 years for the 112 Factory to repair these 400 aircraft and re-deliver them to the army from 1976, and the air force used them well. But the troubleshooting lasted from 1971 to 1979, A total of 609 high-quality F-6IIIs and 201 F-6III improved aircraft, the troops greeted the plane with gongs and drums. More than 1,000 aircrafts can be repaired, built and improved in one year. These much-maligned J-6IIIs flew to the end of their lives and retired honorably in the late 1990s. These fighter jets produced by the Cultural Revolution defended the reform and opening up!

J-6IIIG High Speed Fighter

Starting in 1973, the 112 factory began to implement improvements to the J-6III. With the assistance of the Air Force and related units, the 112 factory completed the improvement of the new J-6III aircraft design plan, absorbed the experience and lessons of troubleshooting and overhaul, and increased 70 new finished products were introduced and 5 new processes were adopted. The number of the F-6IIIG is assigned to the F-6III aircraft that has been improved in accordance with this model standard. The main features of the J-6IIIG are: the length of the front fuselage is 375 mm longer than that of the J-6III; the gun configuration remains the same, but the wingtip missile pylon is added to mount the Pili-2 missile; it adopts zero altitude and low velocity rocket ejection Seat. However, only four of the aircraft were manufactured, and the superiors requested that the production of the J-7 aircraft be started. In 1978, the model of the new J-6IV fighter was simply cancelled, and the finalization was not completed.