Jurong Airfield (Chinese: 句容飞机场; pinyin: Jùróng fēijīchǎng), may also be romanized as Chuyung (Cantonese), was an air force base serving in defense of former capital city of Nanjing during the Republic of China era on the mainland.
[1][2] On 13 August 1937, in what is known as the first battle of World War II in Asia, the Chinese Air Force had dispatched the following units to Jurong airbase in support of the Battle of Shanghai and defense of Nanjing: the 17th Pursuit Squadron, 3rd Pursuit Group composed of Boeing P-26/281 fighters, which included pilots Liu Lanqing, Qin Jiazhu, along with members of the original Chinese-American volunteer group of fighter pilots John "Buffalo" Huang and John Wong Pan-Yang, plus pilots and crew of the 28th PS, 5th PG flying the Curtiss Hawk II fighters that included Capt.
John Huang Xinrui (flying the P-26/281 #1703) is credited with the first enemy aircraft of the first raid of the Battle of Nanjing to be shot down, identified as the 4th or 5th bomber of the Kisarazu Kokutai Shotai led by Lt. Yoshida.
Chen and Lt. Huang of the 8th PS and/or several other shared kills made by pilots of the 4th PG that flew in from Hangzhou Jianqiao Airbase to help defend the capital city, but erroneously credited to others while omitting Capt.
As the battle for Shanghai raged on through the end of August and into September, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) was harassing Chinese strongholds in the north of the Yellow River, specifically with the eruption of fighting at the Battle of Taiyuan, and at the southern front, in Guangdong Province by carrier aircraft of the IJNAF; the limited Chinese Air Force combat aircraft numbers now had to be further stretched thin over the massive warfront as the 28th PS, 5th PG stationed at Jurong Airbase had to be split into two smaller squadrons and detached to the Battle of Taiyuan in the north, commanded by Capt.