The first commander of the Republic's air force was General Liu Yalou, followed by Lieutenant General Wu Faxian. And then what? He was also a founding general. This general's military rank is not as high as Liu Yalou and Wu Faxian, and his fame is not as great as theirs, but he also has his own legend.
His name is Ma Ning, we are from Qinyang, Henan, and Qinyang belongs to Jiaozuo City. Ma Ning, who joined the revolution at the age of 13 and joined the Party at the age of 16, was a veteran of the Eighth Route, a general led by Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping of the 129th Division.
During the Liberation War, Ma Ning was the deputy commander of the Sixth Column under Wang Jinshan, who was only 21 years old at the time. Wang Jinshan is a famous war maniac, and Maning followed Wang Jinshan and fought a lot of vicious battles, fierce battles, and was also a bit crazy.
In the first 16 months of the Liberation War, Manin was wounded as many as 4 times, including 2 times, he was already a mid-level general, why was he so easily injured? Because Manin likes to command from the front, likes to charge the front.
Because the rescue was not timely, Maning also left a lifelong disability, his left leg was shorter than his right leg, and he walked with a limp, much like Wang Jinshan, and they both had a nickname, called "lame man". In 1949, Manin was awarded the title of Grand Combat Hero.
Of the 1614 founding generals, only Manin received this honorary title, and Manin became the most special founding general. It's really impressive.
After the founding of New China, Manin, who was already very accomplished in the army, suddenly had to start from scratch to learn to fly, he read a Soviet novel, the protagonist of the novel had his legs amputated, but with superhuman perseverance, he installed a prosthetic leg and became an excellent pilot.
Manin felt that he could too. Under Maning's conditions, it was very difficult to learn to fly, and Wang Jinshan was reluctant to let him go. Maning convinced Wang Jinshan to enter the Air Force Academy. This is only the first step in the long march.
On the road to learning to fly, Manin will encounter many setbacks, and during the physical examination, he was brushed off. Manin interceded. When checking his sense of smell, Manin was brushed off again, and he directly went to the commander of the Air Force, Wu Faxian, and asked to join the Air Force.
Wu Faxian was touched by his sincerity and agreed. Manin trained very hard, excelled in all sorts of achievements, and eventually became an excellent all-weather pilot who could fly bombers. Who says that if you have a leg disability, you can't go to heaven? Manin created a miracle.
After completing his studies, Manin served as the deputy commander of the 20th Division of the Air Force, and he led the bombers to participate in the liberation of Yijiangshan Island, making new contributions to the revolution. In 1962, Manin was promoted to commander of the First Army of the Air Force. He was only 40 years old. Very young and promising.
In 1964, Manin was promoted to the rank of major general, and he was also a member of the founding major general. Opportunities are always left to those who are prepared. In 1970, Ma Ning served as deputy commander of the air force of the Lanzhou Military Region, and the commander of the Lanzhou Military Region at that time was Lieutenant General Pi Dingjun.
In 1973, Maning received a call from Pi Dingjun saying that Beijing had sent a plane to pick him up and take him to Beijing for a meeting. What did Manin ask? Pi Dingjun did not know. After getting off the plane, Manin asked the person who had come to pick him up, what was the matter? He was told that he might have to produce organizational results.
During the meeting, someone quietly told Manin that you might be the commander of the Air Force. Manin thought this was an international joke, he was only the deputy commander of the air force in the local military region, and according to the practice of promotion, he was still several levels away from the commander of the air force.
However, there are many things in the world that are often unexpected. A few days after the meeting, Manin was appointed commander of the Republic's air force. He was the third air force commander after Liu Yalou and Wu Faxian.
Manin later recalled that he was really unprepared and his head exploded. He was actually promoted three levels in a row, directly crossed the local major military region air force commander and deputy commander of the air force, and suddenly became the commander of the air force, just like a dream.
Why? After the September 13 incident, Premier Zhou proposed to Chairman Mao that he should choose an air force commander who could go to heaven, which meant that he could personally fly an airplane to soar. Looking at so many surviving founding generals in China, it is really rare that they can personally fly a plane to the sky.
And Manin is one, he is in his youth, and he held an important position in the air force system. Li Desheng, director of the General Political Department, recommended Maning. Li Desheng and Ma Ning were both old subordinates of Wang Jinshan, and they had fought side by side in the past, and they were considered old comrades-in-arms.
Ma Ning served as the commander of the Air Force as a major general, and the deputy commanders at the time, Zhong chengjun and Cao Lihuai, were both lieutenant generals, and their ranks were even higher than his. The Major General leads the Lieutenant General. Manin created another miracle.
Maning also set a precedent for Henan people to serve as commanders of the Republic's air force. After him, Cao Shuangming, Qiao Qingchen, Ma Xiaotian and other three Henan people also successively served as air force commanders. There are a total of 12 air force commanders in the Republic, 4 of whom are from Henan. Henan people are really in the middle! In 2010, Manin died at the age of 89.