21June 1910 – 17 November 1985

Chow Ting-Fong (second name Futing) was born on 21June 1910 in a rich farmer family in Magu cun (village), Tungzhuang xiang , Neihuang County, Henan Province.

In 1929, after the graduation from Kaifeng first middle school (owned by the Henan province), he was admitted by the Henan medical college.

On 6 March 1931, he was admitted by the Huangpu military academy with the second best result.

On 1 September 1932, he changed over to the Hangchou Schien-Chiao Central Chinese Aviation Academy’s second batch with the second best result.

In the beginning of February 1934, he was kept as a teacher in the pursuit group after his graduation because of his outstanding skills,

Before the Sino-Japanese War broke out, the air force reorganized in order to prepare for the war. The students and the primary trainers of the Central Chinese Aviation Academy withdrew towards Hankou, only the aviation instructors and the senior group of cadets stayed as a temporary group for temporary arrangements, among them the pursuit planes were organized as 34th Provisional PS, led by Captain Chow Ting-Fong. This unit was at the time equipped with Curtiss Hawk IIs and Hawk IIIs.

At 15.30 on 14 August 1937, the 34th Provisional PS received the task to bomb Shanghai Dagong Cotton Factory (occupied by Japanese) with six Hawks. Squadron Leader Captain Chow Ting-Fong flew a Hawk III loaded with two 50kg and five 18kg bombs while the other five aircraft in the formation were Hawk IIs loaded with six 18kg bombs. Since he was worried that the speed difference between the Hawks might affect the formation, Chow didn’t raise the landing gear on his Hawk III in order to reduce the speed and the let the Hawk IIs with fixed landing gear more easily keep the formation.
When Chow arrived over Shanghai, a Japanese seaplane suddenly broke through the cloud layer and headed towards the 34th PS group. Chow had no enough time to respond, and also he had more important duties, so he decided not to engage this enemy plane and instead continued towards the target with his companions. When arriving over the target, Chow found that there were very many targets to attack. The six Hawks attacked separately targets independently. After accomplish their task and was on their way home, Chow and Wang Zhikai found a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. Chow opened fire on it, but have to give up the chase when it ran away into the protective area of Japanese air defence.
During the return flight, Lieutenant Ha Huwen was forced to make an emergency landing at Jiashan airfield because of lacking oil. The other five fighters landed at Jianqiao airport at 17:10.

On the same day, the IJNAF Kanoya Kokutai despatched nine Mitsubishi G3M2 Model 21 long-range bombers under the command of Lieutenant Commander Nitta to attack the Schien-Chiao Airfield near Hangchou and nine under the command of Lieutenant Commander Asano to attack the Kwangteh Airfield. The Japanese planes took off from Matsuyama Airfield in Taipei at 14:50 (local Japanese time), each carrying two 250kg bombs.
The raid was soon spotted by the Chinese and the Chinese intelligence reported that a number of Japanese bombers had taken-off from an airfield Taiwan, crossed the Formosa Strait and were heading north over Chekiang in the direction of Hangchou. At this time Hangchou was only defended by a handful of Hawk IIIs flown by instructors from the Central Chinese Aviation Academy since reinforcements from Chou Chia-Kou hadn't been able to fly in due to bad weather. Colonel Kao Chi-Hang had previously flown from Nanchang to Schien-Chiao to await the 4th PG's Hawk III's which were flying in from Chou Chia-Kou in the Honan Province and which was under his command. The three squadrons of the 4th PG encountered heavy weather en route, with heavy rain and low visibility.
However barely had the warning been received when a number of Hawk IIIs from the 21st and 23rd Squadrons of the 4th PG landed. The newly arrived fighters were hurriedly re-fuelled but this was far from complete when the air alarm started due to the arrival of Lieutenant Commander Nitta's bombers. Colonel Kao rushed to his aircraft No. IV-1, which had just been landed by Captain Mao Ying-Chu. Ordering Mao to go get another aircraft, Kao jumped into IV-1 and, without waiting to be refuelled, took off immediately. He joined up with Lieutenant Tan Won who had just spotted Nitta's flight (No.1 Shotai) of 3 G3M's.
The Japanese came in at the low "attack" altitude of 500m, which made it easier for the Chinese to intercept them right after the take-off. The Japanese dropped their bombs on the airfield doing little damage. Tan opened fire on the No.3 G3M in Nitta's Shotai. However, the much more experienced Kao noted that Tan had opened fire from out of effective range. Kao then bore in himself and closed in also on the No.3 Japanese aircraft. He first silenced the two Japanese gunners and then closed in to 20m(!) firing steadily at the left engine. The wing tanks on the left wing caught fire and the G3M crashed burning near the town of Banshan near the airfield.
Kao then spotted the No. 3 Shotai and attacked the No. 2 aircraft. Again, Kao bore in to close range riddling the G3M with 70 hits and crippling the left engine. Kao then ran out of fuel and had to make a dead stick landing at Schien-Chiao. The Japanese G3M managed to limp back to Matsuyama on one engine. But as it touched down, the left landing gear collapsed and the aircraft suffered "moderate damage". The Japanese later took this plane out of service to be displayed in Japan and, to all intents and purposes, it was written off.
While Kao was attacking the No.2 plane in No. 3 Shotai, 21st PS Squadron Leader Captain Lee Kuei-Tan and his wingmen Lieutenant Wang Wen-Hua and Lieutenant Liu Chi-Sheng caught up with the No. 3 plane of the Shotai. Shooting at the hapless G3M repeatedly, the three brought it down near Banshan.
The two flights led by Lieutenant Commander Asano ran into a single Hawk III flown by Captain Chow Ting-Fong (Squadron Leader of the 34th Provisional Pursuit Squadron made up of cadets flying Hawk II's). Chou was a flight instructor from the Air Force Academy and his guns were empty from an earlier action over Shanghai. He, nevertheless, dived into the attack, putting the Japanese off their aim as they dropped their bombs on Kwangteh.
When the 22nd PS reached Schien-Chiao, the Japanese bombers had already dropped their bombs. They took off trying to catch the Japanese bombers that were flying east. They flew to the mouth of the Chien Tang Chiang (river) amid low cloud and bad weather where they lost sight of the Japanese aircraft and returned to base. Pilots included in this chase were flight leader Lieutenant Le Yi-Chin and 2nd Lieutenant Chang Kuang-Ming. However, Lieutenant Cheng Hsiao-Yu of the 22nd PS managed to intercepted them. Cheng had taken off too late to intercept Nitta's flights and flew on to Chien Tang Chiang on a hunch. Spotting the G3M's, Cheng gave chase and caught up with No. 2 aircraft of the No. 2 Shotai over Chao-Er. Cheng shot up the right engine and the wing tanks of this G3M and sent him away streaming fuel. This G3M eventually ran out of fuel just short of the Taiwan coast and ditched just off the lighthouse at the mouth of Keelung Harbour.
The Chinese lost one Hawk III which ran out of fuel when it tried to take off as Nitta's G3M's arrived overhead. This unfortunate Hawk No. 2105 crashed into a tree, mortally injuring its pilot Lieutenant Liu Shu-Fan. Another pilot from the same flight, Lieutenant Chin An-Yi, was slightly injured when his Hawk No. 2106 also ran out of fuel and ended up force landing next to an AA gun position.
So, the final tally for the day was 3 G3M's destroyed and one written off on landing. Actually, Chinese pilots made only 3 claims but AA gun crews also made 3 additional claims. As a result, 6 claims were submitted in total (and publicised for propaganda purposes).

At 13:30 on 15 August 1937 Nanking Air Defence Command received a report that 16 Japanese aircraft had flown past Soochow towards Nanking. The alarm was sounded, and Chinese Air Force fighters took off to meet them. The Japanese aircraft were 20 G3Ms from the Kisarazu Ku. The Japanese aircraft had flown in directly from Ohmura in Japan and landed back at Cheju-do.
From Chu Yung, squadrons of the 3rd PG scrambled their aircraft. Wong Pan-Yang led eight Boeing 281s from the 17th PS. Chen Yau-Wei, Commander of the 8th PS, led five Fiat CR.32 fighters. Scrambled were also seven Hawk IIs from the 28th PS, 5th PG, and one Hawk III and five Hawk II from the 34th Provisional PS.
In the ensuing melee, four G3Ms were shot down and six damaged. Claims were confused but it is generally acknowledged that Captain Wong Sun-Shui (in #1703) downed the first G3M to fall in the Battle of Nanking when the eight Boeings from the 17th PS attacked a flight of six Mitsubishi G3M bombers over Nanking and claimed to have shot them all down without losses. This was the No.4 aircraft in a Shotai that bombed the Ta Hsiao-Chang Airfield, most likely the No. 5 Shotai led by Lieutenant Yoshida. 17th PS’ Wong Pan-Yang and Su Ying-Hsien shared one victory at Chu-Yung while Chun Chia-Chu claimed another which crashed south-east of Nanking. Chin Shui-Tin also took part in this interception but didn't claim any aircraft.
The Japanese aircraft fled and the 8th PS went after them. Chen Yau-Wei and Huang Chu-Ku shared a victory near Chu-Yung while Shen Tse-Liu and Liu Chi-Wei together shot down an enemy plane west of Lui Shui.
Captain Chow Ting-Fong led six Hawks from Chia Hsiang and followed eight Japanese aircraft to Nanking. Captain Chow attacked one of these and shot it down over Fang Shan.
4th PG’s Captain Lee Kuei-Tan led three Hawk IIIs of the 21st PS and Captain Huang Kuang-Han, C.O. of the 22nd PS, led eight Hawk IIIs from Hangchow to Nanking to help in this interception and they also attacked the bombers. Lee Kuei-Tan claimed a shared bomber together with three other pilots. Tan Won and Yuan Chin-Han shared a victory. Cheng Hsiao-Yu, Pa Ching-Cheng and Wu Ting-Chun each claimed one shot down. Wu Ting-Chun’s aircraft was damaged in this combat and he was forced to make an emergency landing. Liang Tian-Cheng claimed two victories. Huang Kuang-Han claimed a Japanese G3M halfway between Nanking and Lui Shui.
Because of low clouds, each group fought on it’s own with little co-ordination. A total of 14 Japanese aircraft were claimed shot down. Five Chinese aircraft were damaged.

Chow Ting-Fong served as commander of the 25th PS of the 3rd PG from November 1937 until April 1938.

Chow Ting-Fong ended the war with at least 1 biplane victory and a total of 6.

Chow Ting-Fong is sometimes spelled Zhou Tingfang.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1937
?	15/08/37	1	G3M (a)	Destroyed	Hawk		Fang Shan	34th PS

Biplane victories: at least 1 destroyed.
TOTAL: 6 destroyed.
(a) Probably claimed in combat with the Kisarazu Ku.

Sources:
Soviet Fighters in the sky of China, Part III - Anatolii Demin, 2000 Aviatsiia Kosmonavtika 11 (translated by George M. Mellinger)
Additional information kindly provided by Raymond Cheung, Tom Chan, Zhou Yali and Erich Wang.
Translation kindly provided by Liya Sang.