World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseYuan Baokang (Wade-Giles: Yuan Pao-Kang) was born in Shanghai, China in 1915. In 1933, he dropped out of St. John's University of Shanghai and enrolled in the Central Aviation Academy. In Aug 1937, Lieutenant Yuan was assigned to the 24th Pursuit Squadron of the 5th Pursuit Group. On 16 Aug 1937, flying a Hawk III fighter, he claimed his first victory during a bombing run on Japanese positions in Shanghai; he claimed to have seen the E8N floatplane smoking and descending as if crashing, but Japanese records showed no such loss on this date. Five days later, during a planned Japanese raid on Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, 5th Pursuit Group Hawk III fighters intercepted the Japanese prototype G3M bombers; Yuan shot down the bomber flown by Hikosaburo Sato over the coastal town of Hai'an. On 23 Aug 1937, he scored hits on an A4N biplane fighter from carrier Ryujo over Liuhe near Shanghai; the fighter was last observed flying toward the coast with trailing smoke. On 21 Sep 1937, he claimed a victory over Nanjing, China, as well as his flight leader Captain Liu Cuigang; Japanese records showed that only one fighter was lost during this time over Nanjing. On 12 Oct 1937, flying a stripped-down Hawk III fighter, he scored a victory on Lieutenant Nambu's E8N floatplane over Shanghai when the two aircraft collided with each other during the dogfight; the Japanese floatplane crashed and exploded, but Yuan was able to crash land near Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, China, suffering a bruised eye during the landing. Shortly after, he was promoted to become the deputy commanding officer of the 26th Pursuit Squadron. In early 1938, he flew ground support missions in Shanxi Province (Postal Map: Shansi), China. In Dec 1938, flying an I-15 fighter, he claimed his final victory. In 1939, he was taken off the flight list due to problems with his lungs.

Yuan Baokang Timeline