As early as 1934, Tsinghua University established three groups in department of mechanical engineering, Institute of Technology: prime mover engineering group, machinery manufacturing engineering group and aviation engineering group. Aviation Engineering Group is the earliest aviation engineering specialty established in China, which "pays attention to aircraft manufacturing, engine loading and unloading, test comparison, and gives training to all staff". At that time, the school received external funding for the first time and built a wind tunnel laboratory and an engine laboratory; And select outstanding students who are interested in studying aviation engineering from the fourth grade students. 1935 winter, aerodynamic master Feng? Professor Carmen recommended and hired Dr. F.L.Wattendorf, an American professor, as an aviation lecture. At the same time, he is going to promote aviation research and start teaching and research.
From 1934 to 1935, Professor Wang Shichuo designed and built the first aviation wind tunnel in China. The diameter of the wind tunnel in the test section is at least 5 feet, the maximum is about 10 feet, and the length is more than 50 feet. 1936 designed a large-scale aviation wind tunnel with a diameter of 15 feet (it can be expanded to 20 feet if necessary), which was presided over by professors such as Hua Tengduo and Wang Shichuo, and was attended by more than ten teaching assistants and students who graduated for the first time. The design of the wind tunnel was praised by the European and American aviation circles at that time, and published in the first-class British aircraft engineering magazine and the International Report on Applied Mechanics. 1936, the school specially built an aviation museum on the east side of the old electrical engineering museum; At the end of the same year, the National Tsinghua University Aviation Research Institute was established, with its director and deputy director Zhuang Ren. During this period, Feng He set about designing and manufacturing China's first glider, Yin Wenyou and designing a monoplane trainer.
After the establishment of Tsinghua University Institute of Aeronautics, its first task was to send personnel to Nanchang, Jiangxi Province to build a wind tunnel with a diameter of 15 feet. At that time, the National Aviation Commission successively subsidized equipment funds of 230,000 yuan. The so-called largest wind tunnel in the Far East was started in early 1937, and American professors Dr. Hua Tengduo and Mr. Zhang were entrusted to stay in Nanchang to supervise the construction. In the meantime, Feng? Professor Carmen was invited to give two public lectures in Tsinghua University, and also flew to Jiangxi to personally inspect the wind tunnel construction. The reinforced concrete thin shell structure of the wind tunnel is contracted by Nanchang Fuxing Construction Company, and the steel structure project is contracted by Shanghai Zhong Xing Company. The wind tunnel motor is a 500-horsepower motor manufactured by Thomson Motor Factory in Britain, which was ordered from Wan Tai Company, and the test balance was customized from the United States. 1937 65438+At the beginning of February, all civil works were basically completed and the motor had arrived in Hong Kong. However, due to the full-scale outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Nanchang was frequently attacked by air, and the installation of motors could not be carried out, so we had to give up the results.
After the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Tsinghua University Institute of Aeronautics moved to Chengdu in April 1938, that is, borrowed some houses of Sichuan University to carry out research work. A glider was built and presented to the Ministry of Education, and a small wind tunnel was planned to be rebuilt, but it was abandoned because of the relocation. 1938, Tsinghua University established the Department of Aeronautical Engineering in the National Southwest Associated University. 1939, in the spring, Tsinghua University Aeronautical Institute was moved to Kunming on the orders of the Ministry of Education. The first dean was Zhuang, and Feng and Wang Derong succeeded him. In the war environment, teachers and students carry out teaching and research with high enthusiasm, although they frequently move around, facing difficult conditions such as insufficient research funds, poor equipment, lack of reference materials and poor living conditions.
Before and after the establishment of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, a group of outstanding talents were trained, many of whom played an important role in the field of aerospace science and education at home and abroad. Before the establishment of the department, there were 30 graduates in the aviation engineering group. After the establishment of the department, there were 8 graduates from 1939 to 1946 * * 126. At that time, the curriculum was compiled with reference to the Department of Aeronautical Engineering of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There were 2 1 courses, which were divided into two groups (majors): aircraft engineering and engine engineering. Teachers are strict in teaching and have compiled more than ten kinds of foreign advanced aerodynamic textbooks and other books. There are only engines, wind tunnels and airplane model laboratories in the teaching laboratory. There are 1 DC wooden wind tunnel with a diameter of 3 feet in the test section (unfortunately, it was not installed and used well), 1 German two-seat monoplane and biplane, and 1 glider designed and manufactured by ourselves. In the meantime, in 1940, at the suggestion of General Chennault, the then general consultant of the Air Force Academy and the former 14 Air Force, a training course for test pilots was also undertaken, which lasted 1 year. "Students must have superb flight skills and be familiar with aviation engineering knowledge in order to qualify for flight test." The first phase enrolled eight students, all of whom were high flyers from the Aviation School, including General Fei who shot down the first Japanese plane in Kunming. In the second issue of the following year, "Kunming was frequently attacked by air because of the enemy's invasion, so it was not continued."
Tsinghua University of Aeronautics and Astronautics is an important teaching base of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering. 1939 After the Hangyuan moved to Kunming, the construction of a steel backflow wind tunnel with a diameter of 5 feet was started in the experimental section, which was completed in the summer of 1940; We also cooperate with Tsinghua Radio Research Institute to develop test instruments. At that time, it was the only wind tunnel available for experimental research in China. He has undertaken the teaching experiment of aerodynamics in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering and a number of special research tasks urgently needed in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. From 1939 to 1945, with the joint efforts of teachers and students, a large number of excellent research results have been achieved: 108 papers have been published in the experimental and theoretical research of aerodynamics, most of which have been published in the first-class aviation engineering magazines in Britain and America and the international journal of applied mechanics; 1939, the high-altitude meteorological station was established, and a large number of measured data and theoretical research results were obtained in the high-altitude meteorological research, and various meteorological instruments were developed for local meteorological stations; Two primary gliders were developed, one intermediate glider 1 glider, and 1943 co-organized the Kunming Air Gliding Exhibition, with more than 654.38+million visitors. Shortly after the successful test flight of 1940 in the United States, Tsinghua Institute of Aeronautics carried out the research and design of this helicopter for the first time in China. In addition, the research work of aircraft structural materials has been carried out.
During this period, we should especially mention Professor Zhou Peiyuan's world-famous work in turbulence research. Professor Zhou Peiyuan 1939- 1952 (including the period of National Southwest Associated University) taught in Tsinghua University, during which he used his vacation to do research work in California Institute of Technology. He published two papers in the Journal of Chinese Physics, Volume 4 1 No.940 1 and the Quarterly Journal of Applied Mathematics,No.11,which laid a strict theoretical foundation for the modern high-order turbulence calculation model. After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's victory, Tsinghua University moved back to Beijing on 1946, and the wind tunnel and its ancillary buildings built by the former aviation engineering department in Kunming were taken over by Yunnan University. After the Department of Aeronautical Engineering was rebuilt in Beijing, Professor Wang Derong was appointed as the head of the Department, and Qian Xuesen, Gu Peimu, Ning Sapporo, Shen Yuan, Tu Shoukai, Ding and Wang Hongji were hired as full-time professors (Professor Qian Xuesen failed to apply abroad). Courses offered include Aerodynamics, Engine Dynamics, and Aircraft Design. There are a fluid mechanics laboratory, a newly-built smoke wind tunnel and a wind tunnel with a wind speed of 200 mph, and eight aero engines made in the United States, Germany and Japan.
After the founding of New China, in May of 195 1, Xiamen University, Northwest Institute of Technology and Beiyang University merged to form Tsinghua University Institute of Aeronautical Technology, with Shen Yuan as the president. At the same time, the school has built a new aviation museum. Later, according to the central government's decision on speeding up the construction of aviation industry and Premier Zhou Enlai's instruction on running professional aviation colleges well, during the second national faculty adjustment in 1952, the central government decided to transfer Tsinghua University Institute of Aeronautical Technology, merge with Sichuan University and Beijing University of Technology, and newly establish Beijing Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (now Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics).
Since then, many departments in Tsinghua University have continued to carry out a lot of aerospace research. According to the scientific and technological development plan 12 formulated in 1956, at the beginning of 1957, at the initiative of the older generation of scientists such as Qian Xuesen, Qian Weichang and Guo Yonghuai, the engineering mechanics research class jointly organized by China Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University was established, with Professor Qian Weichang as the first class teacher and Professor Guo Yonghuai and Professor Du Qinghua as the deputy directors. From 1957 to 1962, three engineering mechanics research classes were held, including two-year graduate students majoring in fluid mechanics 105, which trained a large number of mechanical backbone talents for the country. 1958, Department of Engineering Mechanics and Mathematics of Tsinghua University was established. Department of Electronics, Department of Precision Instruments, Department of Automation, Department of Computer and other departments, as well as Tsinghua University Aerospace Research Center established by 1998, have made fruitful achievements in aerospace research for many years.