A bit more on the XP-1. The use of bamboo is interesting.
http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/George_Mellinger/soviet_fighters_in_thesky_of_vi.htm
"At the beginning of the 1940s, under [American KL Zakharchenko's] leadership there began a project for a fighter monoplane project (XP-1). Its fundamental originality was a reversed-gull wing, and automatic slats. In June 1943 Zakharchenko returned to the USA, and the Chinese continued the projects and production themselves. They completed the first example at the beginning of fall. It was of mixed construction, the fuselage and outer wing panels of wood and the nose section of the fuselage and the wing center section of metal. The motor was a Wright Cyclone giving a projected speed of 588 km/h. But the machine was overweight, and in practice was capable only of 547 km/h. During one of its flights the aircraft suffered a catastrophic failure over Guiyan, in the opinion of the Chinese due to aerodynamic instability, and the pilot was killed. When the design of the aircraft was extensively examined at the aviation faculty at Chongqing, they uncovered this instability and wondered why it had not been uncovered earlier. They attributed it to "obsequiousness toward foreigners" but a second prototype was not constructed."