CHINA: New Route, New Factory

There are only two airlines in the world which cancel flights when the weather is too good. They are both in China—Eurasia Aviation Corp. (partly German-owned) and China National Aviation Corp. (partly owned by Pan American Airways)—and the reason for their idiosyncrasy is that their courses lie over Japanese-held territory, and Japanese aviators like to shoot down any Chinese plane in sight, civil or military. Each line has had one plane shot down, several wrecked on the ground, many chased by the Japanese. Fourteen passengers have been killed.

Despite the fact that these lines fly mostly at night, usually in...