Published : 2025-07-26

On July 26, 1954, the first batch of aircraft made in China held a test flight ceremony.

On that day, with the rising of three green signal flares at the test flight station, three CJ-5 aircraft immediately took to the sky.

The first batch of aircraft were all basic trainer aircraft, developed based on the Soviet Yak-18.

From the moment they received the task of trial-producing China's first aircraft, the entire staff of the state-owned Hongdu Machinery Factory (Factory 320) was urgently mobilised, and they succeeded in just 133 days.

Rigorous test flight evaluations proved that the CJ-5 had good performance and fully met the standards.

The CJ-5 was simple in structure, easy to operate, and light in weight, capable of taking off and landing on soil runways.

The success of the CJ-5 ended the history of China being unable to manufacture airplanes.

It opened up the historical process of China's aviation industry from repairs to copying, and then to independent research and development, turning a new page in the history of China's aviation development.