preface
Pictured| General Manin
One day in February 1973, Ma Ning, then deputy commander of the Air Force of the Lanzhou Military Region, received a call from General Liu Zhen, the political commissar of the meeting in Lanzhou:
"Tomorrow morning the Air Force is going to have a plane pick you up in Beijing."
In March, the Party Committee of the Air Force was going to hold the Fifth Plenary Session of the Fourth Session in Beijing, the commander and deputy commander of the Air Force of the Lanzhou Military Region had all arrived in Beijing, and the political commissar General Liu Zhen was holding a meeting in Lanzhou, and there was only General Ma Ning on duty at home.
After Ma Ning returned to the Xiaguan camp of the Lanzhou Air Force station, he called Pi Dingjun, commander of the Lanzhou Military Region, overnight.
As early as the war of resistance against Japanese Aggression, Pi Dingjun and Ma Ning were superiors and subordinates, and when Pi Dingjun was the commander of the Seventh Sub-district of the Taihang Military Region, Ma Ning was the chief of the Operations Unit in the Seventh Sub-district.
After the phone call was called, Ma Ning told the commander about his concerns, and although Pi Dingjun cared about Ma Ning, he did not know why he was called to Beijing for a meeting, so he had to comfort him:
"Don't ask too much, you'll know when you get to Beijing."
Although Ma Ning had made sufficient preparations in advance, after arriving in Beijing, Ma Ning learned that the Air Force Party Committee had held several forums in the previous two months to discuss the selection of the commander of the Air Force, and Li Desheng directly recommended his old subordinate to the Central Military Commission.
Sure enough, just after the enlarged meeting of the Air Force Party Committee, the Central Military Commission formally issued an appointment, with Ma Ning as air force commander, Fu Chuan as political commissar, Zhang Tingfa, Cheng Jun, Cao Lihuai, Kuang Rennong, Xue Shaoqing, Zhang Jihui, and Zou Yan as deputy commanders, Gao Houliang as deputy political commissar and director of the political department, and Liang Pu as chief of staff.
Manin also became the third air force commander in the history of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force.
Picture | 1972, Ma Ning (3rd from the right in the second row) took a group photo with the leaders and comrades of the organs of the Air Force of the Lanzhou Military Region
The legendary "Flying General"
In 1973, the Central Military Commission began to ponder the issue of the selection of air force commanders and naval commanders.
Chairman Mao said to Premier Zhou that "the commander of the air force must be able to go to heaven, and the commander of the navy must be able to go to the sea." Chairman Mao's remarks have also become an important indicator for the selection of air force commanders.
General Maning also became the first commander in the history of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force to fly an airplane.
General Ma Ning was born in September 1922 in Majiagou, Qinyang County, Hebei Province, and joined the Eighth Route Army in May 1938.
There is no doubt that throughout the years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and even the War of Liberation, Ma Ning was a distinguished commander.
In september 1945, in the Battle of Shangdang, Ma Ning led the 50th Regiment of the Sixth Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army (at that time, Ma Ning was the deputy regimental commander, and the unit was not equipped with a regimental commander or political commissar), successfully predicted the enemy's escape route, joined forces with the brother troops, completely annihilated the enemy army, captured more than 2,000 people, and captured a large number of guns, ammunition, and military supplies.
This battle also made Manin completely famous.
However, on the battlefield, sudden accidents occurred from time to time, and Manin was seriously injured twice and almost became "glorious".
In January 1947, during the Battles of Jinxiang and Yutai, Ma Ning was hit in the abdomen by an enemy bullet, and the blood flowed on the spot.
When the brigade commander Li Desheng heard that Ma Ning was injured, he rushed over, personally arranged for someone to send Ma Ning to the hospital, and told Luo Yuqi, the leader of the health team: "We must send Ma Ning to the operating room of the column health team as soon as possible." ”
Manin's injuries far exceeded everyone's expectations, and when Health Minister Zhan Shaolian untied the bandages on Manin's abdomen, he and his assistant were taken aback, Manin's abdominal cavity was full of blood, parasitic roundworms, undigested food, and the whole person had entered a state of shock.
Pictured| Maning took a group photo with other students during his studies at the Harbin Aviation School
With Maning's injury at that time, it had far exceeded the technical level of the health team, but now that Maning had been carried to the operating room, Zhan Shaolian also knew that it was too late in time, and only the dead horse was used as a live horse doctor.
After more than 5 hours of surgery, Manin managed to retrieve his life.
Although his body had not yet recovered, Ma Ning could not wait to return to the army, and then participated in the advance of Dabie Mountain with Liu Deng's army, but in the battle, Ma Ning was wounded again.
In the winter of 1947, the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army, which had leapt thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains, encountered the Seventh Army of the Gui Clan in the Xiongjia area of Macheng, Hubei Province, and the two sides fought a bloody battle.
During the fierce battle, Manin was hit in the left thigh by the enemy machine gun, although the bullet did not remain in the body, the formation was also a penetrating wound, but when the bullet entered the leg, it caused a fracture of the left leg leg bone.
Although the operation cured Manin's broken leg, he could no longer participate in the fierce battle that followed, so he had to hide in the homes of ordinary people nearby.
In order to avoid the pursuit of the Kuomintang army, Maning dragged his injured leg through the lofty mountains, and his leg, which had not been easy to heal, broke again.
Although the accompanying military doctor made a simple fixation for him, Manin's injuries were not completely treated, and by the time he found the large troops and was taken to the rear hospital, Manin's legs had healed on their own. Due to the harsh conditions during the war years, there was no traction, and the left leg bone was misplaced when healing, and there was no way to correct it, resulting in Manin's left leg being a full 4 centimeters shorter than the right leg.
Picture| 12 deputies attending the first session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in September 1949 (Ma Ning, the fourth in the back row)
In recognition of his exploits, The Two Wilds Awarded Maninte and other meritorious service and conferred the honorary title of Special Combat Hero.
According to the actual situation, Manin's left leg is 4 centimeters shorter than the right leg, and there is no way to fly a plane to the sky.
Manin himself knew it.
Although the idea of flying a plane was only a sudden thought, Manin turned the idea into reality little by little
Especially during his recuperation in Chongqing, Manin's wife found him a Soviet novel "Real Man - Footless Pilot", the contents of which gave Manin great encouragement:
"The Soviets can fly on five feet, but my left leg is only a few centimeters shorter than my right leg, so why can't I fly?"
Soon after, the Central Military Commission issued instructions to the whole army, calling for "the establishment of an air force on the basis of the army," and the air force to select backbone cadres and pilots in the army.
When Ma Ning heard this news, he pestered Wang Jinshan to grind hard bubbles, and forced Wang Jinshan to say, "Go, go, annoy me." ”
"I must learn to fly"
After Manin signed up for the Air Force, the first hurdle he had to pass was the physical examination.
In order to get through, Manin quietly stuffed several layers of insoles in his shoes, and even so, the Soviet military doctors recognized his "trick" at a glance.
"Comrade, the plane is going to go to heaven, how can you do this physical condition?"
Seeing that he was about to be eliminated, Ma Ning remembered that Zhan Shaolian, the director of the health department of the column who had operated on himself, was already the director of the Cadre Department of the Ministry of Health of the Central Military Commission, and Ma Ning quickly called Zhan Shaolian, hoping that he could speak for himself.
Zhan Shaolian was so entangled that he had no choice but to intercede with the Soviet military doctor for Manin, but fortunately, the relationship between the two was still good, and Manin successfully passed this pass.
However, during the physical examination, Manin found a problem again.
When the last test of smell, the Soviet military doctor took out 5 bottles of solution and let Manin smell, Manin could only identify three of them, no matter how Manin explained, the doctor would not let him pass.
In desperation, Manin found the director of the Political Department of the Air Force and asked him to help intercede.
The director comforted him a few words and put forward a compromise plan: "Many comrades who failed the physical examination were arranged to work on the ground in the Air Force. ”
When Ma Ning heard this, he insisted on disagreeing: "I came to the Air Force to learn to fly, and if I can't be elected, I will still return to the Army." ”
The master saw that he was so resolute, and there was no way: "Well, I will give you 300 pounds of millet (at that time, millet was used instead of currency), and you took it to cure your nose well." ”
After more than 20 days of treatment, Maning healed his nose and passed the physical examination as desired.
In July 1950, Ma Ning successfully became a cadet of the First Aviation School of the People's Liberation Army Air Force of the Chinese.
After entering the aviation school, Manin studied very hard, although at that time because of the translation problem, it was difficult for everyone to understand the words of the Soviet instructors, but Manin mastered the aircraft piloting with great perseverance. From the initial teaching aircraft to the higher education aircraft, and then to the new model of modified aircraft flight, Maning was the first to fly alone, and later because there were not enough instructors, Maning sat in the instructor position to escort the students who flew alone.
After completing all the subjects, Manin successfully became a bomber pilot, which is not easy for a person who has been seriously injured several times and has a disability on his legs.
At the end of 1951, after graduating from the Aviation School, Ma Ning was ordered to Bengbu, Anhui Province, to form the 20th Division of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force, and Ma Ning was appointed deputy division commander and promoted to division commander in June 1954.
Manin also became one of the few air force division commanders in the Air Force at that time who could fly directly.
In the same year, the Central Military Commission deployed the East China Military Region to prepare for the liberation of the islands off the coast of eastern Zhejiang, and in August established the East Zhejiang Front Command of the East China Military Region, with Zhang Aiping, chief of staff, as commander and political commissar.
On August 31, Zhang Aiping summoned the commanders of the three services to a meeting in Ningbo city and drew up a plan for the coordinated landing operations of the three services.
In order to obtain first-hand intelligence information in advance, Manin decided to personally fly a plane to reconnoiter over the islands in the war zone.
At the beginning, this proposal was opposed by the division headquarters, and the division commander personally flew to the front line to reconnoiter, which was too risky, and although the Nationalist army was in the twilight of the day, it still had a strong anti-aircraft artillery fire network on the island.
However, Manin insisted on going in person, as early as the war years, he used to be on the front line to investigate, so that he knew what was going on.
Everyone in the city could not convince him, so they had to equip him with a strong crew.
Through this adventurous reconnaissance, Maning obtained first-hand information on Yijiangshan Island, and after returning, Maning found an area with similar topographic conditions to Yijiangshan Island through screening, and after arranging defensive positions according to the enemy, the bomber formations repeatedly tested and trained, and because of the clear target, the bombing hit rate of each formation was greatly improved.
Pictured|Chinese Liu Yalou, the first commander of the Air Force of the People's Liberation Army
On the morning of January 10, 1955, Manin received an order from his former commander to launch a campaign against enemy ships in the waters off Dachen Island with the strength of a regiment and under the cover of fighters.
"It's on fire, it's on fire."
There was an exciting sound coming from the air-to-air radio.
Manin, who was in the command post, couldn't help but shout, "Blow it up well, blow it up well." ”
During the battle, the bomber formation hit the tank landing ship "Zhongquan" given to Chiang Kai-shek by US President Harry Truman, which burned for a day and a night in the bay of Dachen Island and finally sank into the water.
On January 18, Manin dispatched three bomber formations to cooperate with the navy and army in the campaign to liberate Yijiangshan Island, and twice raided, destroying the headquarters and communications of the Kuomintang army on the island, and the enemy's command system was completely paralyzed.
Chairman Mao met With Ma Ning: "I'll give you a mystery."
With his outstanding military exploits, Manin was only a colonel in the Air Force in September 1955, and by 1964, Manin had been promoted to major general in the Air Force, becoming a veritable founding general.
In 1970, Maning was transferred to the deputy commander of the Air Force of the Lanzhou Military Region.
In the early 1970s, the Central Military Commission decided to send Li Desheng, director of the General Political Department, with a working group composed of cao Lihuai, Wang Huiqiu, Kuang Rennong, Xue Shaoqing, and Liang Pu to the Air Force to guide the work.
During this period, the Central Military Commission began to prepare candidates for the commanders of the air force and navy.
Pictured| Chairman Mao
At the beginning, Chairman Mao's idea was to let Li Desheng stay in the Air Force and preside over the work. Li Desheng has worked in the Air Force for more than a year, has a very good understanding of the situation in the Air Force, and has achieved great results in his work; the Air Force is basically on the right track.
However, when asking for Li Desheng's opinion, Li Desheng said:
"The Air Force is a technical branch, and I don't know how to fly, so I can't."
Chairman Mao also very much agreed with Li Desheng's idea, and put forward a request to Premier Zhou on the issue of the selection of air force and navy commanders: "The commander of the air force can go to the sky, and the commander of the navy can go to the sea." ”
Based on such a situation, Li Desheng recommended his old subordinate, Ma Ning, who was then the deputy commander of the Air Force of the Lanzhou Military Region.
When Ma Ning was in the post of deputy commander of the air force of the Lanzhou Military Region, he always worked diligently and devoted himself to his work, and everyone around him was very aware of Maning, and Li Desheng guided the work of the air force over the years and had a very clear understanding of Maning's work.
In March 1973, the Party Committee of the Air Force held the Fifth Enlarged Meeting of the Fourth Session in Beijing. Discuss the question of the selection of the commander of the Air Force. In order to show the importance attached to the major military regions, personnel were also sent to the meeting.
Picture | Li Desheng
When Maning received the notice asking him to go to Beijing, he did not know what had happened, and he did not think at all in the direction of becoming the commander of the Air Force:
"There are so many old qualifications in the Air Force, people have been working in the Air Force for decades, like the old chiefs in the past, Nie Fengzhi, Cheng Jun, Liu Zhen, and others whose revolutionary qualifications are longer than mine." How a lowly qualified person like me could come to the Air Force as a leader, I didn't dare to think about it at the time. ”
Not only that, as early as early 1972, when Ma Ning went to Beijing to attend the Air Force Training and Security Conference, Ye Jianying asked everyone at the meeting about their views on the candidates for air force commanders and political commissars, and Ma Ning made a statement:
"Like Cheng Jun, Liu Zhen, Huang Yukun, Zhang Yanfa, etc., they are all very capable, and if there is no problem, these people can be competent as air force commanders and political commissars."
In 1973, after Ma Ning arrived in Beijing, After a meeting, Ye Jianying and Li Desheng talked to him and asked him: "If you are transferred to the Air Force, how should you start your work?" ”
Afterwards, Manin recalled that they seemed to be asking for my opinion at that time, but Manin did not think much about it, but said very sincerely:
"I work in the city, I haven't figured out the work in the military, and it's not appropriate to come to the Air Force."
At this time, Li Desheng interjected a sentence next to him: "What if you must come to the Air Force?" ”
Manin thought carefully about his situation and said truthfully: "If I had to come, I would at most be engaged in operations and some specific training work in the operational departments below the Air Force." ”
Ye Jianying and Li Desheng talked to Ma Ning, but they only said that if they wanted to transfer him to the Air Force, they did not talk about becoming the commander of the Air Force, so Ma Ning believed that even if he was transferred to the Air Force, he would only do some specific combat training work in some of the following business departments.
On the day of the meeting, Premier Zhou attended the meeting and roll called names at the meeting, and the second one named Manin.
"To."
Maning stood up directly, and Premier Zhou gently asked him some questions about the people there, how old they were, and whether they could fly or not. Although Manin did not realize the significance of the roll call and the inquiry at first, he was told afterwards: "You may be the commander of the Air Force." ”
"Don't guess." Manin shook his head directly.
It was not until the appointment that Manin realized that he had become the commander of the Air Force, but he had not been prepared for this.
Premier Zhou and Ye Jianying also received special members of the new leading team of the Air Force after the meeting.
In this way, Manin became the third air force commander in the history of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force, and the first air force commander to fly an airplane.
Member of the squad during General Tumanin's tenure as Air Force Commander (different members appointed successively in different periods)
When Ma Ning was the commander of the Air Force, the deputy commanders were all older than him, such as Cheng Jun, Cao Lihuai, Kwong Rennong, and when General Liu Yalou was the commander, they were deputy commanders and were also founding lieutenant generals.
Although there is an element of promotion, it undoubtedly shows that General Manin's work has been widely recognized by everyone.
On December 21, 1975, Chairman Mao received the main leaders of major military regions and branches of the armed forces in Zhongnanhai.
When meeting Air Force Commander Ma Ning, in order to ease the atmosphere, Chairman Mao came up with an anagram for everyone to guess: "One big, one small, one jumping, one running, one eating meat, one eating grass." ”
Manin thought about it for a while, and finally answered honestly, "Chairman, I can't guess." Chairman Mao laughed and said, "To know is to know, not to know is not to know, is to know." ”
None of the people present at that time could guess the mystery, and Chairman Mao did not publish the mystery later.
Pictured| November 2, 2009, former Commander of the Air Force, Manin reads a newspaper during a break between interviews
General Maning has worked in the Air Force for many years, which has completely changed the appearance of the Air Force, and its cohesion and combat effectiveness have been greatly enhanced.
In 1984, the Central Military Commission approved General Ma Ning to leave his post for recuperation, although he had left his post, but in his later years, Man Ning was still concerned about the construction of the Air Force, especially the development of equipment of the Chinese Air Force, and many Air Force commanders and fighters still had great respect for Maning and affectionately called him "Commander Ma".