Douhet and His Critics in China: Competing Airpower Theories in Republican China, 1928-1938

This paper looks at an often-overlooked aspect of the development of the Chinese military aviation during the Nanjing Period (1928-1937), namely the foreign influences on the operational doctrine of the Chinese air force. During the Nanjing Period, the Nationalist Government established an air force that consisted of machines from multiple countries that adopted different and often conflicting operational doctrines. When trying to find a suitable operational doctrine for this air force, the Chinese intellectual officers became heavily influenced by the airpower theory of the Italian general Giulio Douhet, who emphasised strategic bombing and heavy bombers. The preference for strategic bombing and decisive action dictated the operational planning of the Chinese Air Force before the Second Sino-Japanese War. On the other hand, under the influence of the American advisors, the procurement policy of the Chinese Air Force focused on interceptors and tactical bombers before 1937. As the result, when war started in 1937, the Chinese Air Force suffered from a mismatch of operational doctrine and equipment that prevented it from becoming a force that could affect the course of the war.