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Kweilin incident
 A DC-2 passenger airliner similar to the Kweilin | |
| Incident | |
|---|---|
| Date | August 24, 1938 |
| Summary | Strafing on the ground |
| Site | Zhongshan, Guangdong, China[1] 22°31′01″N 113°23′35″E / 22.517°N 113.393°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-2 |
| Aircraft name | Kweilin |
| Operator | China National Aviation Corporation |
| Registration | 32 |
| Flight origin | Hong Kong |
| 1st stopover | Wuzhou |
| 2nd stopover | Chongqing |
| Destination | Chengdu |
| Passengers | 14 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 14 |
| Injuries | 1 |
| Survivors | 3 |
| Kweilin incident | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 桂林號事件 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 桂林号事件 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
The Kweilin incident occurred on August 24, 1938 when a Douglas DC-2 airliner named Kweilin carrying 18 passengers and crew was shot down by Japanese aircraft in China. There were fourteen fatalities. It was the first civilian airliner in history to be shot down by hostile aircraft.[2] 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 view that Japan was morally wrong in its war against China,[3] however the incident was not enough to spur the United States into action against Japan despite Chinese entreaties.[4] The Kweilin was rebuilt, renamed as the Chungking and destroyed by the Japanese army in a second attack two years later.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
sinawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Crouch, p. 158. Quote: "No civilian airliner in history had ever been shot down by hostile air action."
- ^ 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."
- ^ 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."
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