In this paper, rotating bending fatigue tests have been carried out to investigate the growth behabiors of surface fatigue crack initiated from a small artificial surface defect, that might exist in real structures, on 2024-T3 and 6:4 brass. The test results are analysed in the viewpoints of both strength of materials and fracture mechanics, it can be concluded as follows. The effect of a small artificial surface defect upon the fatigue strength is very large. The sensitivity of 2024-T3 on the defect is higher than that of 6:4 brass. The growth behavior of the surface fatigue crack of 2024-T3 is different from that of 6:4 brass. The growth rate of the surface fatigue crack of 2024-T3 is considerably rapid in the early stage of the fatigue life and apt to decrease in the later stage. It was impossible to establish a unifying approach in the analysis of crack growth begabior of 2024-T3 and 6:4 brass using the maximum stress intensity factor because of their dependence on stress level. But if the elastic strain and cyclic total strain intensity factor range were applied to obtain the growth rate of surface fatigue cracks of the materials, the data were found to be nearly coincided.