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Kweilin Incident
The ''Kweilin'' Incident occurred on August 24, 1938 when a Douglas DC-2 airliner (the ''Kweilin'') carrying 18 passengers and crew was destroyed by Japanese aircraft in China. There were fourteen fatalities. It was the first civilian airliner in history to be shot down by hostile aircraft.〔Crouch, p. (158 ). Quote: "No civilian airliner in history had ever been shot down by hostile air action."〕 The pilot was American and the crew and passengers Chinese. As it was unprecedented for a civilian aircraft to be attacked, there was international diplomatic outrage over the incident. In the United States, it helped solidify the popular view that Japan was morally wrong in their war against China,〔Crouch, p. (168 ). Quote: "Fifteen months of blatant aggression had evaporated whatever goodwill most Americans felt toward Japan. It had become obvious which side held the moral high ground, and why, and although the overwhelming majority of Americans had absolutely no interest in fighting for China, if a few of their compatriots were willing, the average citizen was quite prepared to allow them to do so."〕 but the incident was not enough to spur the US into action against Japan despite Chinese entreaties.〔Crouch, p. (167 ). Quote: "in relating the shoot-down and Madame Sun's address, an editorial in Hong Kong's ''South China Morning Post'' noted that:
:one of these days, the Great Democracies may find out that there is something, after all, for which no price can be fixed, they may learn that the only proper and wise way to deal with the aggressors is to demand an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In short, there will be a time when the peace-loving nations will be compelled to meet force by force. Until then, nothing can check Japan from her career of truculent destruction."〕 The ''Kweilin'' was re-built and destroyed by the Japanese a second time two years later.
==''Kweilin'' Incident==
DC-2 number 32 ''Kweilin'' was owned by China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), one of the first commercial airlines in China. It was operated under contract by Pan American pilots and management who were mostly American in 1938. The plane was on a routine civilian passenger flight from the British colony of Hong Kong to Wuchow, the first stop en route to Chungking and Chengtu in Szechwan province. From Hong Kong, Chengtu was over to the northwest. The flight had fourteen passengers, plus a steward,〔Crouch, p. (156 )〕 radio operator Joe Loh, copilot Lieu Chung-chuan, and American pilot Hugh Leslie Woods.〔Crouch, p. (155 )〕
The ''Kweilin'' left Hong Kong at 8:04am.〔 At 8:30am, soon after entering Chinese airspace, Woods spotted eight Japanese pontoon-fitted planes in what he believed to be an attacking formation. Woods took evasive maneuvers by circling into a cloud bank and was fired upon by the Japanese planes, their intentions made clear. As the DC-2 was unarmed, Woods put it into a fast dive to find a place to make an emergency landing, but the fields were rice paddies crisscrossed with dikes. Woods saw a river and made a perfect water landing with no injuries or damage; the plane was designed to float. However, Woods soon discovered he was the only person aboard who knew how to swim and the swift current bore the plane into full view of the circling Japanese planes.〔Crouch, p. (157 ). 〕 They began to strafe it with machine gun fire. Woods saw an unused boat on shore and swam to retrieve it. During the swim he was repeatedly strafed with machine gun fire but was not hit.〔Crouch, p. (157 )〕 On reaching shore, he saw the plane had drifted far down river and was so riddled with bullets it was sinking with only the tail and wing still visible. After about an hour of continuous attacks the Japanese planes left.〔 The survivors were Woods, the radio operator Joe Loh and a wounded passenger, Lou Zhaonian. The dead included two women, a five-year-old boy and a baby. One victim had been hit thirteen times.〔Crouch, p. (165 )〕
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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