Author:Li Ping, Li Zhen 《Mulberry Yu Zhong Evening Qing》
The most beloved father, Li Wenmo, has been away from us for more than four years. My father's life was bumpy and tortuous, he joined the Red Army at the age of ten, followed the Long March of the Red Fourth Front, walked through the meadow three times, crossed the snowy mountains twice, and went through nine deaths to reach Yan'an. He joined the Communist Party of China at the age of fourteen. He wanted to avenge his fallen comrades and aspired to become a red army pilot. Under his repeated requests, his dream was finally realized, and he entered the first aviation school established by our army, the "Northeast Old Aviation School" to learn to fly. At the aviation school, he overcame many difficulties, successfully flew into the blue sky, and became the first batch of fighter pilots of the New China Air Force. In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, in the skies over the "Three Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains," he and his comrades-in-arms fought a bloody battle with the multinational coalition led by the US military, led the aircraft group to annihilate the enemy in the air on many occasions, and personally shot down a US aircraft, making battle achievements, and was known as the only Red Army pilot who shot down a US aircraft on the Korean battlefield.
Today, my sister and I write this article with reverence, remembering my father and sending condolences. He lives forever in our hearts, and His spirit always inspires our descendants!
My father, Li Wenmo, was an old Red Army soldier and a third-term cadet of the Old Northeast Aviation School.
At the beginning of 1925, my father was born in the beautiful historical town of Langzhong, Sichuan, where the mountains and rivers are beautiful and the scenery is beautiful, but my father's family is poor and poor. In 1934, when the Red Army's Long March reached Langzhong, his father resolutely joined the Red Army and became a red ghost.
In 1935, his ten-year-old father followed the Red Fourth Front on the Long March. Although the enemy is strong and we are weak, the Red Army stubbornly kills the enemy, skillfully intersperses them, and often turns dangers into ruin; there are strafing and bombing by enemy planes in the air, but the Red Army can only evade and have no other way. At that time, my young father often looked up at the blue sky and made a grand ambition: When the Red Army has an airplane, it must learn to fly, fly the plane to the sky, beat down the enemy plane, avenge the comrades-in-arms, and open the way for victory!
After the Red Army arrived in Yan'an, my father was first sent to the Red Army University to study culture, and then to study newspaper affairs, and after graduation, he was assigned to the central organ as the chief confidential secretary. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the news came that the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army had established an aviation school and enrolled students, and my father in Yan'an was very happy and applied for learning to fly many times. In the winter of 1947, he finally embarked on the journey to achieve his ideals.
When he arrived at the aviation school, the organization first arranged for him to go to the engineering aircraft maintenance class, and while studying, he petitioned upwards to ask him to learn to fly; in 1948, the organization transferred him to the work of receiving Kuomintang air force personnel, until the end of 1948, when the acceptance work came to an end, he went to the sixth squadron of the aviation school that he thought about day and night, and concurrently served as the secretary of the squadron branch. In this way, my father began the "new Long March".
At that time, the aviation school had been open for a period of time, and my father could imagine the difficulties due to his low culture, thin foundation, tight time, heavy work tasks, and the transfer of classes. But he didn't complain, didn't back down, and gave up all his days off to try to catch up. Every night after going to bed, I have to go through the lessons I learned during the day in my mind. In this way, he nibbled down courses such as flight principles, navigation, engine science, meteorology, instrumentation, and flight rules, and finally passed the assessment with a total score of 93.5 points.
After theoretical study, they entered the practice of flight, because there is no beginner and intermediate trainer aircraft, the students are Japanese "nine nine" advanced trainer aircraft as soon as they get on the plane. I heard Japanese instructors say that to train pilots in Japan, you must first train on the primary and intermediate trainer aircraft for 2-3 years before you can go to the "nine-nine". The process of training pilots by the Communist Party of China has become a miracle in the history of air force training in the world. My father and classmates were full of pride and determined to create a new miracle for the history of flight training in New China like the first two students!
In the days of construction and study of the old aviation school in northeast China, my father still remembered two things: the first was that the trainees had to renovate the airport by themselves, dig up rocks and rammed the ground, and use human pulling carts to transport gasoline. Once my father and a few classmates went to the train station to pull gasoline, more than ten kilometers of road, potholes, gasoline barrels were turned upside down into a small ditch on the side of the road. The four of them pushed and pulled together, pushed the large and heavy gasoline barrels to the flat ground, and then carried the board truck to bundle up, making them covered in oil and their hands were worn out; the second thing was to fly the "Nine-Nine" trainer plane, once, the Japanese instructor Kuroda took his father to fly the long-distance flight test, from Mudanjiang - Xing'anling - Logging Yard as the turning point - Harbin (refueling) - Mudanjiang. There is no parachute on the "Nine-Nine" trainer, there is no clock, in order to grasp the time, the father borrowed a horseshoe clock, tied a rope to hang around the neck, in order to correct the deflection affected by the wind speed at any time, in addition to paying attention to the instrument data, observing the terrain and landform, checking the track. The heart, brain, hands, eyes, ears, and legs must cooperate with each other, very busy, and it is easy to make mistakes when busy. When turning in the air, father did not fly accurately over the checkpoint and turned a little earlier. Instructor Kuroda, who was sitting in the back, tapped his father's head with a small wooden stick and gestured for him to fly back and do it again. So the father flew back, accurately entered the sky over the checkpoint, confirmed the checkpoint, and then turned to a new course. As soon as the plane landed, my father saluted Instructor Kuroda and reviewed the mistake. Instructor Kuroda said in a serious tone that if he did not fly accurately to the turning point and barely entered the new route, it would be nothing in peacetime, but in wartime it could cause a major danger of trek. He stressed that the flying career must not be sloppy! Kuroda's words benefited his father for life. Since then, my father has trained more carefully and meticulously, and there is no word "almost" in his dictionary.
During the old aviation school, my father was awarded the third class meritorious service twice because of his serious study and excellent grades, and won the study certificate issued by the Air Force of the Central Military Commission.
After his father graduated, he went to beijing sixth aviation school to study in the crash course, and after the crash course, he entered Shanghai. In June 1950, he participated in the formation of the first fighter flying regiment of the People's Air Force, received the Soviet MiG XV jet fighter, and became the pilot of the first generation of jet fighters in New China.
In 1951, his father served as the deputy commander of the 12th Regiment of the Fourth Air Division, participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and led his troops to meet enemy planes on many occasions, winning one victory after another. During the air battle to defend the Cheongcheon River Bridge, my father shot down an American F-84 fighter-bomber and was awarded the Second Class Battle Merit and the Order of the National Flag of the Third Class and the Order of Independence and Freedom of the Second Class issued by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
After returning to China, his father was transferred to the 17th Division of the North China Air Force as a regimental commander and deputy division commander. In 1954, the whole division was reorganized into the Navy, renamed the Fourth Naval Aviation Division, and his father served as the deputy commander and division commander of the division, and he commanded the troops to cooperate with the army and naval ships to liberate the southeast coastal islands such as Yijiangshan.
In the summer of 1958, his father, who was stationed in Qingdao with his troops, suddenly received an urgent notice from the Central Military Commission, asking him to rush to Beijing that afternoon to meet with Liu Yalou, commander of the Air Force. Time was pressing, so my father immediately flew to the plane himself and accepted Commander Liu's order to immediately lead the Fourth Division and Ten Regiments to move to Fujian to ensure the safety of the ground troops shelling Kinmen. After making preparations overnight, the troops moved to Fuzhou the next day, and within two hours of landing on the ground, the plane shot down and injured one Kuomintang reconnaissance plane under his command, and achieved a "good start." The Kuomintang Air Force exclaimed that the "Naval Overlord Regiment" had come.
In the face of the new situation and new characteristics of defending the sea and air, in order to cultivate the troops' ability to distinguish between sea and sky and the ability to fight between sea and air, my father vigorously grasped training and work style, took the lead in piloting aircraft to try out extreme flight, and made the troops have solid technology, excellent work style, and repeated meritorious achievements. The Tenth Regiment of the Fourth Division was named the "Sea and Air Eagle Regiment" by the Ministry of National Defense, becoming the first combat unit in New China to be named regimental level.
In 1960, his father served as deputy commander of the aviation corps of the South China Sea Fleet, and later as the deputy commander and commander of the aviation corps of the East China Sea Fleet, and in 1981 he became the deputy commander of the East China Sea Fleet, and retired in 1989.
Father often said that his life's ideal is to fight the blue sky, fly freely like a bird, fight bravely like an eagle, and it should be thanked that the old northeast aviation school has inserted the ideal wings for him! When my father was 90 years old, although his thinking was slow and his movements were slow, when he mentioned the old northeast aviation school, his eyes were shining, and he would still clearly remember those "passion burning" years, which was my father Li Wenmo, and his northeast old aviation school complex!
On December 16, 2016, my father died of illness, and he always had a model airplane at the head of the bed.
About the Author
Li ping
Li Ping is the daughter of Li Wenmo. Born in 1954, he joined the army at the end of 1969, engaged in medical work in the army, and in 1986, he turned to state-owned enterprises to engage in party affairs and trade union work.
Li Zhen
Li Zhen is the daughter of Li Wenmo. Born in 1965, he joined the army at the end of 1981, engaged in clerical work in the Military Training Department, and in 1985, he transferred to local state-owned enterprises and private enterprises to engage in financial and management work.
[Authors: Li Ping, Li Zhen transferred from "Mulberry Yu Heavy Evening Qing"]