Lu Xiaopeng

Lu was born on 19 August 1920 in Shanghai, Republic of China, with his ancestral home in Changzhou, Jiangsu.

[2] In December 1944, he was sent to the United States to work at the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, where he participated in the design of shipborne jet fighters.

[2] Besides Xu Shushou and deputy director Huang Zhiqian, Lu was the only person in the development team who had had aircraft design experience.

The development cycle was less than half that of similar planes designed in Japan and Czechoslovakia and the performance was superior.

[2] However, because of economic difficulties during the Great Leap Forward, the Chinese government decided to cancel the project in August 1961.

Lu petitioned the government to save the project, and was allowed to continue his research, but his staff was reduced from more than 100 members to just 14.

This achievement caught the attention of Minister Sun Zhiyuan (孙志远) of the Third Ministry of Machine Building and Cao Lihuai (曹里怀), Deputy Commander of the PLA Air Force.

[2] In the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and Arab countries, the Soviet-made aircraft performed poorly, and the PLA Air Force wanted a new lightweight fighter to replace its Shenyang J-6, which was the Chinese-made version of the Soviet MiG 19.

[2][8] However, its light weight also proved to be a weakness, as the limited space for missiles and fuel and the lack of a radar meant it had poor range and combat capabilities.