What impressed Cui Erjie most was that before the Mid-Autumn Festival in September 1948 (the eighth month of the lunar calendar), the guns of the People's Liberation Army attacking the city and liberating Jinan had already started in the suburbs. When they went to school the next day, the teacher gave them a composition topic: Mid-Autumn Festival after a night of bullets. In fact, the gunfire never stopped, so it is natural that they can't go to school. After seven or eight days of fierce fighting, Jinan was liberated. Soon, the takeover team was stationed in No.1 Middle School, and the group cadres visited teachers and classmates "door to door" to mobilize everyone to return to school and resume classes.
After the liberation of Jinan, everything should be done. In order to restore the teaching order as soon as possible, the team and teachers have tried many ways to attract students back to school while stepping up the repair of school buildings. The team also distributed tickets for performances, allowing students to go to the cinema in Laojunmen Lane to watch the propaganda team perform programs such as White-haired Girl and Days in the Liberated Area. Cui Erjie recalled that after liberation, the school was full of new atmosphere. Every class has published wall newspapers one after another. Spring breeze, wildfires, trends ... are all over the campus walls. The students commented on current politics and celebrated liberation. The atmosphere is very lively. "I felt very fresh at that time, participated in many activities, and gradually learned a lot about the society after liberation."
New China was proclaimed. This year, Cui Erjie and several other students joined the Youth League, which became a new starting point for his political life. While studying hard, he also served as the learning minister of the student union and organized students to engage in activities. Cui Erjie said that it was a transitional period in his early thought. Accept many new things, and have a good understanding of the * * * production party and the new regime after liberation. "From then on, I felt that one should contribute to the society, care for the collective and serve the people, so I began to form some hazy ideas." Prior to this, Cui Erjie, who was born in a family of poets and calligraphers, had a good life ideal of studying hard, honoring his parents and being an upright person, but had no lofty ideal. In his passionate youth, Cui Erjie also took part in many political activities. 195 1, the "three evils" and "five evils" movements were launched in the society. He joined the propaganda army with his classmates and went deep into the grassroots. Later, they followed the "industrial and commercial inspection brigade" to factories and shops to check illegal activities such as tax evasion and speculation, which were tempered and tested in the struggle. It greatly influenced the formation and development of Cui Erjie's world outlook and outlook on life.
In fact, Cui Erjie, who was deeply infiltrated by traditional culture, liked literature since he was a child. That year, he ran a wall newspaper and a school magazine in No.1 Middle School, wrote poems and comments, and became famous. In his sophomore year, East China Youth Daily (Shanghai) hired him as a special correspondent, and the three volunteers of the College Entrance Examination Times were all liberal arts majors of Peking University and Foreign Affairs College. If it weren't for the infection and influence of the new atmosphere in the post-liberation era and the "War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea" at that time, Cui Erjie would have missed the field of aerospace, where he devoted a lot of energy and painstaking efforts, not to mention a series of achievements he has made in the aviation field in China since then.
In order to strengthen the national defense strength of new China, the schools of 1950 and 195 1 mobilized students to enroll in the military cadre schools twice. Cui Erjie still remembers Zhuang Zizheng's generous speech at the farewell party for the students who joined the army. He encouraged the students who stayed in school: Although we can't "win a thousand miles with swords and shadows", we should study hard, learn the skills well and serve the motherland. In the upsurge of "study hard for the motherland and the people" in the whole school, Cui Erjie strongly felt that the country needs strong power to deal with foreign aggression, and young people have the responsibility to defend the country. He resolutely gave up his interest in literature and studied engineering instead. At that time, I just heard that a new aviation college was established in Beijing. Because of his excellent performance, he and several other students were recommended by the school, and four students were admitted to Beihang University. Thus, Cui Erjie began his aviation scientific research career for more than half a century. Beihang University was founded in 1952, which is the predecessor of Beihang University today. At the beginning of the founding of New China, the state took the establishment of a new aviation industry as a major event to develop the economy and consolidate national defense, and gave it great attention and strong support. At the same time, the central government also attaches great importance to the construction of aviation higher education. 1952, in the adjustment of colleges and universities in China, a special aviation university was established according to the instructions of Premier Zhou Enlai. On the 25th of the same year 10, on the basis of the merger of Tsinghua University Aviation Department, Sichuan University and Beijing Institute of Technology (now Beijing Institute of Technology), Beijing Aviation College, the first aviation college in new China, was established. In the second year of school, Cui Erjie was admitted to the school to study aircraft design. By 1956, in order to meet the urgent needs of the motherland to develop aerospace industry, under the initiative and promotion of experts and scholars of the older generation such as Qian Xuesen, Shen Yuan and Lu Shijia, Beihang University decided to set up a new aerodynamics major, and transferred 40 students from the design and technology major of aircraft department. However, aerodynamics is a difficult knowledge, which requires students' usual learning foundation and foreign language level. In the commemorative article "Years are Protruding, Never Forgetting" written for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the aerodynamics major of Beihang University, Cui Erjie fondly recalled the fierce competition of young students of Beihang University for this new major: "At that time, we young people who were full of vigor and vitality were all eager to try. I remember that the number of people applying for registration will soon reach hundreds. "
After entering school, Cui Erjie loves his major very much and has a high enthusiasm for learning. He said that on the one hand, he was interested in science, and on the other hand, he considered the needs of the country, because the national aviation was backward at that time and needed to be revitalized and developed. In addition, inspired by the national climax of "marching into science" at that time and educated by a large number of professors with profound academic attainments, he grew rapidly academically. In addition to learning regular classes well, he also participates in extracurricular study groups, research groups and student science and technology associations with his classmates. Cui Erjie recalled: I remember several classmates and I joined a theoretical mechanics group to learn how to conduct scientific research. In this environment and atmosphere, students devote themselves to reading, scientific research and study, and teachers teach them carefully, making rapid progress. During this period, he also accepted a task assigned by the teaching and research section, led by a teacher, to help a steel plant in Beijing solve the problems encountered in production. At that time, the blast furnaces of some iron and steel plants in Beijing used four blowers to blow air into the bottom ring furnace at the same time. Because the pressure between several blowers is unbalanced, the furnace can't work normally, so I turned to Beihang for help. With their three classmates, the teacher went deep into the factory to investigate and study, listened to the opinions of the workers' masters, analyzed the problems on the spot and obtained first-hand data. Later, they really put forward a solution that can automatically adjust and keep the pressure balance between fans. This mission made him truly realize once again that the vitality of aerodynamics lies in close contact with reality. This experience has always had a great influence on his scientific research activities after he joined the work. 1958 During the Great Leap Forward, Beihang University also started large-scale steelmaking. President Guangwu and the Party Committee of the school found the problem in time, stopped the large-scale steelmaking activities of the earth blast furnace, and proposed to engage in scientific research in combination with the specialty. The school began to regularly organize aircraft model development, and "Beijing No.1", "Beijing No.2", "Beijing No.3" and "Beijing No.4" were launched one after another under such circumstances. "Beijing No.1" was built at an unprecedented speed and flew to Jinan and Shanghai during the test flight. Cui Erjie was assigned to the "Beijing No.4" research and design office, which is a task to transform the plane into a drone. He and several other teachers and students followed Mr. Zhang Guilian to carry out overall and aerodynamic design calculations, and experienced the glory and mission of participating in model development for the first time, leaving unforgettable memories.
For this reason, Cui Erjie's graduation thesis "Stability of UAV during take-off and landing" was completed under the guidance of Zhang Guilian, which is also a specific topic in the design of "Jingsi" aircraft. The purpose of this paper is to solve the problem that various aerodynamic parameters produce "aerodynamic derivatives" varying with altitude due to "ground effect" when the aircraft flies near the ground, which affects the flight stability. Later, Cui Erjie saw an article "Stability Analysis in Limited Interval" by Kamenkov, a Soviet scholar, in the magazine of Applied Mathematical Mechanics at that time, and thought it was very useful for the problems in his paper, so he reported it to Teacher Zhang. Teacher Zhang thought about it and encouraged Sister Cui to read it carefully and think about how to apply it to her current problems. Teacher Zhang's teaching made him further understand how to study in depth with practice and the principle of "applying what he has learned". "Forty years later, starting from 1995, he undertook the task of developing ground effect aircraft, which is an aircraft flying over the ocean. The key technical problem of its development is also the stability of near-earth flight. With this kind of experience in the past, it is much easier to solve the problem. 1998 the wig craft successfully tested. At the test flight ceremony, he was filled with emotion and couldn't help thinking: 40 years later,' returning to the old business', history is such a' strange circle' that will never end. " Cui Erjie said with emotion. In his decades of scientific research career, Cui Erjie has many personal experiences. It is his principle and criterion to combine theoretical research with practice, and scientific research should be oriented to engineering needs. Think and work independently, not simply follow others. During his early years in Beihang University, he participated in a number of model scientific research work, which enabled him to learn how to apply theoretical knowledge to solve practical engineering problems very early.
After graduating from college, Cui Erjie was assigned to work in Beijing Aerodynamics Research Institute of the Ministry of Space. Due to the high requirements of the aerospace department for personnel's political conditions, Cui Erjie accepted the political review for nearly half a year at that time, but his mood was relatively stable. He had been living in a guest house and learned a lot of new knowledge by himself. In his mind, he always thinks about how to study business better and enhance his ability to serve the people.
After entering the Institute of Aerodynamics, Cui Erjie was deeply moved by the excellent situation of the rapid development of China's space industry. At that time, the institute had just been formally established, and a number of the largest pneumatic test equipment in China were under construction. It has gathered technical backbones, management cadres and college students from all over the country to actively participate in various construction and scientific research work with great enthusiasm and strength. Every night after 12, the office building is still brightly lit. Although the leaders have repeatedly mobilized everyone to go back to rest, people are still unwilling to put down their work.
In retrospect, Cui Erjie lamented that he had caught up with the scientific research work at that time. From 65438 to 0956, the state formulated the first medium-and long-term scientific and technological development plan, and clearly proposed to vigorously develop China's space industry. After 1960, the situation changed greatly, and the central government proposed to March into science. Aerospace has extensively absorbed talents from all walks of life and participated in the work of the Institute of Aerodynamics, which has become a good start on Cui Erjie's scientific road. At that time, it was at the early stage of the development of aerospace models, and Qian Xuesen proposed the establishment of aeroelasticity specialty. Feng Gan, then director of the Institute of Aerodynamics, put Qian Lao in charge of the newly established aeroelasticity professional group. Aeroelastic mechanics studies the coupling of aerodynamic force and structural elasticity, which Cui Erjie has never done before. But none of this stumped Cui Erjie. During his college years, he not only studied professional knowledge, but also took the course of vibration mechanics taught by Mr. Huang Kelei and attended Mr. Gao's lecture on "Lyapunov's Motion Stability". These foundations laid in the past are of great help to his later research on aeroelasticity.
Cui Erjie is very grateful to the older generation of scientists and leaders for the opportunity. It is very important for him to get to know these older generation scientists as soon as he takes part in the work, grasp the direction and point out the direction. And he did hand over a satisfactory answer sheet. At that time, the aeroelasticity team led by him cooperated with another strength research institute for nearly a year, and solved a series of problems in professional technology and model development. During this period, due to rapid progress and outstanding performance, Cui Erjie, who was only about 25 years old at that time, was awarded three meritorious deeds. These have also become an important lesson on Cui Erjie's scientific road.
During the nearly 20 years from 1960 to 1979, everything he did was the key technical problem of the research model. The engineering team later developed and expanded, reaching more than 30 people at most. Decades of scientific research and engineering team management have made Cui Erjie deeply realize that scientific research, especially engineering and applied scientific research, involves a wide range, and it is impossible to solve the problem alone. We must learn to unite with others, give full play to the collective strength and solve problems together. After the reform and opening up, the country opened wide. 1980- 1982, Cui Erjie was recommended to be a visiting scholar in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of Princeton University, and was hired as a visiting researcher. Continue to engage in aeroelasticity research, publish many research papers abroad, and make new progress in specialty. For more than 20 years from the end of 1980s to the present, in response to the call of the country to vigorously carry out scientific research and production of military conversion to civilian, Cui Erjie not only completed the scientific research task, but also devoted a large part of his energy to the work of "military conversion to civilian". It has made remarkable achievements in the development of civil space technology.
In the "military to civilian" work, Cui Erjie actively advocated applying the research results of aerodynamics, vortex and vortex-induced vibration of blunt bodies to the wind load, wind vibration and wind-resistant design of buildings and industrial structures, and achieved good engineering results. Peer experts commented that the research "has achieved creative results and its level is in a leading position in China". During this period, Cui Erjie went to Hong Kong twice to study and solve the problem of typhoon resistance of the giant Buddha structure in Hong Kong. The design of the large-scale lighting lighthouse for the Asian Games, which he instructed the students to complete, has been tested in practice and is intact. In addition, Cui Erjie also undertook the research on fan dynamics, a key scientific and technological project of the Seventh Five-Year Plan, established the aeroelastic analysis method of blades, and completed the wind tunnel model test of the dynamic stability of fan blades for the first time in China, which put forward specific suggestions for establishing the research system of fan dynamics.
Since 1959, when Britain made the first hovercraft in the world, the hovercraft technology has attracted the attention of many countries. In the 1980s, the leaders of the Ministry of Space decided to use the advantages of space technology to develop our own hovercraft, which was included in the top ten civil products of the Ministry of Space at that time and the first batch of "Torch Plan" projects of the country. As the project leader, Cui Erjie undertook the task of developing a "full-lift hovercraft", applied mechanical theory to engineering design, solved a number of key technologies, developed a variety of models and put them into operation on domestic and transnational routes, and exported them to the international market for the first time, which had a great impact at home and abroad.
In addition to the successful development of hovercraft technology, Cui Erjie was pleased with the WIG aircraft he presided over technically. This kind of aircraft, which originated from the former Soviet Union, uses the principle of ground effect to achieve high-speed navigation close to the water surface (or the ground), which makes Cui Erjie see a bright application prospect. So, together with Academician Gu Songfen, academician of the two academies and chief designer of China J-8 aircraft, he found Sydney, the former minister of aerospace, then president of China Institute of Science and Technology Development and vice chairman of the National People's Congress Education, Culture, and Health Committee, and got his recognition and support. Under his coordination and organization, the former Institute of Aerodynamics of the Ministry of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Seaplane Research Institute of the Ministry of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Shenzhen Institute of Science and Technology Development established the WIG Aircraft Development Center, with Cui Erjie as the chief engineer of the project. The geo-effect center adopts a new management and operation mechanism, makes use of domestic stock resources, and organizes relevant domestic experts to start research and development in the case of insufficient funds and difficult conditions. Several old experts who are over 60 or even 70 years old take the lead and lead the research team. From the establishment of 1995 to the successful first flight of 1998, a leap-forward breakthrough was achieved in just three years. 1In June, 1999, TY- 1 WIG aircraft held its maiden voyage ceremony in Huzhou, Zhejiang, and officially put into commercial operation. In charge of the technical work of the project, Cui Erjie put forward the idea of establishing a "ground effect air-fluid dynamics" framework, enriched and developed its contents, and successfully solved a series of key technical problems such as aerodynamic layout with high lift-drag ratio, near-earth flight stability and dynamic surge. Up to now, the first aircraft has been operating on the surface of Taihu Lake for many years, carrying more than 30,000 passengers, which has attracted wide attention at home and abroad. The authoritative British aviation publication "International Flight Magazine" commented: "China has become one of the major developing countries of WIG aircraft with this model"; The chief designer of the Russian "Muharrier" large-scale WIG aircraft and the delegation he led thought that it was a remarkable achievement to get it out in such a short time and fly it well. In recent ten years, the praise of foreign counterparts and constant visits and exchanges have proved the advanced position and level of China WIG aircraft in the world.
Recently, Cui Erjie and his colleagues are planning to develop a large-scale WIG aircraft for high-speed maritime transportation, and strive for this technology to play a greater role in military and civil affairs. Like all new things that have just been encountered, people's understanding of it will go through a process, and technical problems need to be further overcome. Cui Erjie can't forget Xu Li 'e's dying entrustment: "It's not easy for us to get it now. I can't do it. You must insist. " The dead are gone, and the living will move on. They have made unremitting efforts to this end. Although they encountered many difficulties, "I believe it will come true one day." Cui Erjie is very confident about this. The ancients said that life is 70 years old. Cui Erjie, 74, is still very busy when he should be enjoying his old age, playing a warm and energetic role in the aerospace scientific research of the motherland. In recent years, as a member of several national expert groups on major engineering projects, he has frequently gone abroad to make suggestions for major projects and contribute his own strength.
In the 56 years since 1953 entered Beihang University, Cui Erjie has never left his beloved space research field. He recalled that he was selected as a preparatory student to study in the Soviet Union in the first year after he entered school. He studied politics and Russian for 9 months in Beijing Russian Specialized School (hereinafter referred to as Russian Specialized School), but he failed because he did not meet the political conditions for studying in Soviet aviation. At that time, it was also suggested that he change his major in macaroni in the food industry, and the Russian Academy also suggested that he stay as a teacher. Cui Erjie, who loved his major, gave up the opportunity to stay in the Soviet Union, declined the Russian offer to let him teach and returned to Beihang University. During the Cultural Revolution, he was criticized for "valuing business over politics, and guiding young people to take the road of white majors". Cui Erjie, who is committed to scientific research, is indifferent here, not greatly affected, and still actively "grasping the revolution and promoting production". Fortunately, when he was about to be criticized, when the Cultural Revolution "16" was published, his "accusation" was nothing.
Looking back on his scientific research career, Cui Erjie lamented: To engage in scientific research, we must suffer hardships, be lonely and be tempted. Although the outside world is wonderful, the significance and fun of scientific research can't be realized unless you visit it yourself. He recalled the experience of working in the Ming Tombs during the Great Leap Forward and transferring the Jiaodong Army Farm during the Cultural Revolution. He was deeply impressed by the simplicity and cuteness of the peasants and the hardships of life. "When you think about that experience, it's easy to be satisfied with life." Although the labor during that time was very tired and bitter, Sister Cui felt that life was very meaningful.
Cui Erjie, who once had a literary dream, eventually became an expert in aviation because of historical opportunities and the needs of the country. However, reading is still his habit for many years. He seldom goes to bed before 12 every night since he was a child. Cui Erjie has a wide range of books and interests. He loved reading Yue Fei's "Man Jiang Hong" since he was a child, and especially admired Yue Fei's national integrity and patriotic feelings.
This feeling of home and country has turned into one technological breakthrough and achievement after another in Cui Erjie's scientific research career for more than 50 years. Whenever and wherever, he always considers the combination of science and practical needs. If pure basic science is driven by interest and aims at solving cognition, then for Cui Erjie, his life-long focus on applied scientific research is driven by the country's task requirements and aims at solving the country's practical problems.