In June 1949, Xing Shuhua was born in a peasant family in Yanshan County, Cangzhou, Hebei Province. In November of the same year, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force Command was established in Beijing, and more than a year later, the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission decided to train the first batch of female pilots for New China.
The flight cap witnessed 51 years of flying career
On February 28, 2017, Xing Shuhua donated the "Type 56 Flying Helmet" that she had treasured for 51 years to the Revolutionary Military Museum of the People's Liberation Army of Chinese. From the first time on the plane in the aviation school, to the subsequent many changes in clothing, transfers and moves, this hat has always accompanied Xing Shuhua's flying career, although she is reluctant to give up, she is more willing to turn "family treasure" into "national treasure".
Xing Shuhua said embarrassedly: "It seems that one of my old comrades-in-arms still cried a nose, I am really embarrassed." Feelings are not the same. ”
Xing Shuhua donated a flying cap to the Military Museum
On Women's Day in 1952, the first batch of female pilots in New China flew six Li-2 transport planes in formation over Tiananmen Square and successfully completed the ceremony. Since then, New China has not only had its first female tractor driver, its first female train driver, but also its first female aviators.
On that day, the first batch of female pilots in New China took off on parade
Xing Shuhua said: "The heavens of female pilots not only indicate how proud we are to be pilots, but also herald the whole liberation of female comrades. ”
Born in the vast world of saline beach, since childhood like birds like eagles, Xing Shuhua dreams of soaring like an eagle in the sky. One day in 1965, Xing Shuhua, who was in the third year of junior high school at beijing's No. 13 Girls' High School, met Huang Biyun, the first female pilot in New China.
Xing Shuhua recalled: "She told us about the development history of female pilots, and she experienced some very meaningful training and tasks. After listening to the report, the whole school boiled over, and my heart was full of excitement. ”
Discuss flying skills with colleagues (First from right, Xing Shuhua)
The training conditions of the first batch of female pilots in our country were very difficult, and when they studied aviation theory, they used apples instead of apples; when they learned to fly airplanes, they could only piece together a complete aircraft to ensure training; there was no communication equipment on the aircraft, and they hung a red cloth strip on the tail of the aircraft to remind other aircraft and ground commanders...
In order to become a "people's pilot", Xing Shuhua, who was motion sickness and afraid of the smell of gasoline, became the only specially recruited aircraft pilot in the school with a stubborn and clever spirit.
Xing Shuhua still remembers the situation at that time: "Check the swivel chair to see how dizzy you are, after sitting like drunk, I did not wait for the doctor to say where to go, I went obliquely to the place pointed by the doctor, and then the doctor laughed straight, saying that this girl has not yet learned to fly will repair the deflection." ”
The enlistment notice was unexpectedly placed in front of his father. Before the founding of New China, Xing Shuhua's father was an underground member of the Communist Party of China, and he knew that to work for the party and the country, what was needed was a spirit of dedication without distractions. But can the 17-year-old daughter withstand the suffering of the pilot?
After carrying fifty cents and carrying a small satchel to join the army and train for more than a year, Xing Shuhua became the first cadet in the third batch of female pilots to fly alone.
The third batch of female pilots in New China, the first on the right is Xing Shuhua
In order to adapt to the environment on the plane, Xing Shuhua also spelled: "I took a small medicine bottle, filled it with gasoline, sprinkled it on the side of my pillow when I slept, and smoked myself with the smell every day, so that I could adapt to the smell of the plane as soon as possible." ”
To resist US aggression and aid Korea, he flew over the Yalu River to participate in the war in the DPRK; the first atomic bomb test was successful, and he participated in the nuclear test; the Tangshan earthquake and the flood of the Songhua River... Wherever needed, female pilots rushed there.
Xing Shuhua and Deng Yingchao's intimate group photo
On October 1, 1984, Beijing held a grand military parade marking the 35th anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China. It would take sunny weather for the plane to pass over Tiananmen Square, but since late September, the clouds over Beijing have been thick, and Xing Shuhua and four other female pilots participated in the manual cloud removal experiment. On the day of National Day, it is also shouldered with the task of reporting the actual situation of the air weather.
The roar of the aircraft, this is the 94 warhawks piloted by our air force athletes, the new air echelon composed of bombers, strike aircraft, and fighters, flying over Tiananmen... This is the thunderbolt in the air that shocks the blue sky of our country, and this is the invincible war eagle that defends the territorial airspace of the motherland.
——Military parade for the 35th anniversary of the National Day
Xing Shuhua said: "The plane is going to pass through Tiananmen, he wants to form a formation, he can't see it and can't form a formation, right?" One of us was to scout the weather, the other was to go to the fog, and at the western suburbs airport we carried out this task, reporting the specific situation to the ground command group, and that mission was done quite well. ”
Flying in 1966, 35 years with the blue sky, the track is all over the country, for Xing Shuhua, home has become a "often landed" place.
When my son was a child, he had the impression of his mother as the man in the military uniform in the family photo.
Xing Shuhua
Xing Shuhua said: "My parents always say, this is your mother, she is a soldier. To confirm this, I changed into civilian clothes, and my son stood up: Auntie, who are you looking for? I really... Our family is different from ordinary people's families, most of us are double soldiers, double pilots, not only me, but also any child eats a hundred meals. ”
Despite the verbal reproach of the parents, the action has been silently supportive. Xing Shuhua felt that "dedication" was the spirit of their family.
Xing Shuhua said: "My father was an underground worker before liberation. During the Liberation War, my uncle was sacrificed next to my grandmother, and then she pushed her son to the side, and then hit, and my grandmother's family was hanging a sign of martyrdom at that time. This is what has been passed down from generation to generation. ”
Yangguang reporter Li Xin interviewed a group photo at Xing Shuhua's home, and the blue sky and white clouds behind the background were drawn for Xing Shuhua himself
The spirit of hard work and dedication also subtly affected his son.
Xing Shuhua recalled: "I said that my mother gave you a small red book, and my mother said that you were not a book of Communist Party members, and he said that I had it." After more than half a month, I took back two tables, one of which was the dry table of the Central Organization Department and the other was the application for joining the party. ”
Chairman Mao commented that the female pilots were "not simple", they flew the blue sky, carried out "urgent, difficult, dangerous, and heavy" tasks such as air transportation, emergency rescue and disaster relief, artificial rainfall, and scientific research test flights, and were praised as "iron-winged flying women."
In 2012, the first female astronaut Liu Yang carried the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft into space. In 2013, Wang Yaping completed China's first space lesson on the Tiangong-1, and they were all selected from the seventh batch of female pilots.
China already has one of the largest numbers of female pilots in the world. When the People's Air Force was 60 years old, Xing Shuhua made the first seven laws, "The sky does the painting of the clouds as a roll, and the fighters weave brocade in color." Heroic and cool blue sky woman, long sky sword show smile. Today, Xing Shuhua, who is the same age as the People's Air Force, still yearns for the blue sky.
"We all keep in mind that we pilots are not here to perform, not to show others, we are one of them."
——Xing Shuhua
(Source: Voice of China, China Radio, Film and Television)