WebDec 28, 2020 · Arriving in China in 1931, Short was given Boeing’s latest fighter demonstrator, the Model 218. This aircraft was a prototype for Boeing’s P-12 that would be adopted by both the U.S. Army...
WebSide view of a Boeing Model 218. Portrait of Robert Short standing next to a Consolidated Fleet Model 2. Robert Short in the cockpit of a plane. One of his students sits behind him. Photograph of the shrine to Robert Short. Photograph commemorating Robert Short's first solo flight, at March Field (California). 1928.
WebFeb 22, 2013 · When Robert Short arrived in Nanjing, China, on February 19, 1932, he immediately heard tales of Japanese attacks on the Chinese civilian populations. While there officially to demonstrate the little fighter biplane, a Boeing 218 P-12 prototype, to the Chinese, he nonetheless instantly recognized a moral duty to intervene.
WebOct 8, 2019 · Loading two machine guns on his custom Boeing 218 biplane, Short took off, damaging one of the three aircraft he could catch up with. After landing safely at Hongqiao Airport, he was praised by locals and journalists alike …
WebA small number of 218s were sold to Chinese warlords (sources are not clear and it may have been just a single aircraft), and it was during the delivery of one of these by an American contractor named Robert M. Short that the type claimed its first victories during the Shanghai Incident.
WebFeb 7, 2015 · The involvement of Robert Short highlights the weakness of the Chinese Air Force. In fact, there was no official ‘Chinese Air Force’, as the defence of China was in the hands of local warlords – the Chinese fighters in the skies over Shanghai were bought and purchased privately by those warlords.
WebNov 12, 2017 · Outnumbered by Japanese planes, Tacoma pilot Robert Short was shot out of the sky Feb. 22, 1932, and onto the stone monuments that go only to heroes. Short, a man who stood up for those in...
WebNov 19, 2015 · Boeing built one Model 218 to test design features for the F4B-3 and P-12E aircraft. During testing it was designated an XP-925 registered as X66W c/n 1260. The US Army and Navy did testing of the aircraft using the registration NC66W. Robert Short was the pilot hired to help sell the X66W to China.
WebJun 15, 2013 · Robert Short ~ The First Flying Tiger. On 22nd February 1932 near Suchow (now Suzhou 苏州) in China three Type 13 attack aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy from the carrier Hôshô were intercepted by a single biplane fighter purportedly wearing the insignia of the Chinese central government.
WebIn the middle of escalating tensions between China and Japan, Short received a new Boeing Model 218, which he then prepared for delivery to Nanking. He took off on February 18, 1932. Short was reported to have encountered Japanese fighters on this flight, and supposedly shot one down.