World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseLiu Cuigang (Wade-Giles: Liu Tsui-kang) was born into a wealthy-family in Jinjia Village, Changtu County, Liaoning Province, China in Feb 1913. Upon completing elementary school education in his home town, he passed the entrance examinations for Liaoning Province's technical high school and then Northeastern University in Mukden (now Shenyang) in the same province. On 19 Sep 1931, Japanese troops occupied Mukden, forcing him to flee the city for his home county. Two days later, Japanese troops arrived at Jinjia Village. He decided to leave his family to go to China Proper to join the Nationalist military. In 1932, he entered the Army Academy in Nanjing, China. Shortly after, he was transferred to the Central Aviation Academy at Jianqiao Airfield near Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. In 1933, while flying a newly arrived Italian-built aircraft, an accidental fire broke out in the fuselage; rather than abandoning the aircraft, he shut off the fuel supply and skillfully glided the aircraft to a safe landing, earning him a commendation. In Dec 1934, he graduated with the second class of the Central Aviation Academy; he was made a warrant officer with the 1st Pursuit Group. Shortly after, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He married Xu Xilin in 1935; they would have no children. After some time as a flight leader, he was made the commanding officer of the 24th Pursuit Squadron of the 5th Pursuit Group flying Hawk III fighters stationed in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China. On 14 Aug 1937, he claimed the first of his many victories; although post-war studies of Japanese records showed that many of his claims would be false, his proclaimed victories nevertheless bolstered Chinese morale when it was needed most. The greatest of his victories came in the afternoon of 12 Oct 1937, when he, flying a Hawk III fighter, engaged in a fierce dogfight with a Japanese A5M fighter over a busy district of Nanjing, China. After several tight turns, he successfully allowed the A5M fighter to over-fly him and then shot it down, causing it to crash into a city street; civilians cheered as they gathered to inspect the downed Japanese fighter. On 26 Oct 1937, after refueling at Luoyang, Henan Provine, China, he led a group of four Hawk III fighters for an airfield near Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China to reinforce Communist guerrilla forces engaged in combat with Japanese troops. As the sun began to set and in poor weather, he failed to locate the airstrip and overflew into Japanese lines, not realizing his mistake until Japanese anti-aircraft guns opened up on the group. He led the group around, again failing to locate his destination, thus chose to return to Luoyang. En route, one of the fighters ran out of fuel, and its pilot bailed out. Liu swooped low to drop a flare to light the way for his descending comrade, but, misjudging his altitude, he crashed into the 20-meter tall pagoda Kuixinglou southeast of Gaoping, Shanxi Province, China. He was buried at the Air Force Martyrs Cemetery on Purple Mountain in Nanjing, China in Nov 1937. Chinese leader Chiang Kaishek awarded Liu's widow 10,000 silver pieces and posthumously promoted Liu to the rank of major. Having claimed 11 victories, he was often cited as the top scoring ace of the Chinese Air Force, but post-war research discredited some of the scores. After the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan in 1949, Liu's widow Xu served as the principal of Cuigang Elementary School for children of military servicemen.

Liu Cuigang Timeline