CAAC : The Airline of Communist China.

Of all state-owned airlines, few seem as intriguing as CAAC, the one belonging to Communist China. It seems strange to find a country the size of China with nuclear technology in one hand and a near-obsolete airline in the other. The current status of civil aviation in China is adequate, but not a competitor to other airlines. CAAC handles the scheduled airline and all nonscheduled service, such as crop-dusting, fire patrols, flying ambulance, and freight flights to remote areas. Aviation was not restored to China until 1950, and then only with Soviet assistance. Since 1961, CAAC has "gone it alone," but progress has been slow, primarily because of a lack of long-range equipment. Although CAAC was taken over by the military in 1966, it seems to be operated as it was under civil control, although the author speculates that it may now be the transport arm of the military. (Prepared for presentation at the Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Anaheim, California, October 1969, and for reprint in the Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society.)