The Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company was founded by American William Pawley in 1933 with a factory in Hangzhou, China. The company assembled American aircraft from kits, including Curtiss Hawk II and III fighter-bombers, Curtiss H-75 fighters, Vultee V-11 and V-12 attack bombers, and Curtiss-Wright CW-21 interceptors. They also assembled and repaired P-40 fighters, including those of the American Volunteer Group (the “Flying Tigers”). Along the way, the company moved as the long-running Sino-Japanese war drove them from Hangzhou to Hankou to Henyang to Loiwing. In the spring of 1942, the remnants of the organization evacuated to Bangalore, India, where it was nominally merged with the Indian firm of Hindustan Aircraft Ltd.
At Bangalore, Hindustan license-built the Harlow PC-5A for Indian Air Force use and was later nationalized by the Indian government and then absorbed by the US Army Air Forces as a repair depot.
After the war, Hindustan resumed independent operations.
This is where our [fictitious] story picks up.
After the Japanese surrender in 1945, William Pawley returned to China where he re-started CAMCO, first Hankou, but soon circumstances once again required relocation. By 1947, CAMCO had settled in the city of Taipei on the island of Formosa (as it was generally known then). Drawing on his experience with the PC-5A in India, Hawley had maintained his relationship with the PC-5s designer, Max Harlow. Working together, they created CAMCO’s first original design, the CAMCO AS-1-MK Mǎfēng (Hornet). The AS-1-MK was a twin-engine attack fighter, powered by surplus US Allison V-1710 engines, and armed with twin 37mm cannon under the nose. It also had five underwing hardpoints for drop tanks, bombs, or rockets. 150 AS-1-MKs were built and went into service with the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) and participated in combat across and over the Strait of Taiwan.
The AS-1-MKs remained in service with the ROCAF until 1964, when the last were withdrawn and scrapped.
AS-1-MK by
cacree, on Flickr
AS-1-MK by
cacree, on Flickr
AS-1-MK by
cacree, on Flickr
AS-1-MK by
cacree, on Flickr
AS-1-MK by
cacree, on Flickr