In 1964, the American "FireBee" unmanned aerial vehicle invaded the air over the South China Sea, and after repeated failures, our military pilots flew the J-6 and crashed into it. Who knows, the plane is out of control due to excessive operation, the pilot

In 1964, the American "FireBee" unmanned aerial vehicle invaded the air over the South China Sea, and after repeated failures, our military pilots flew the J-6 and crashed into it. Who knows, the plane was out of control due to excessive operation, and the pilot was forced to abandon the plane and parachute. This incident quickly alarmed the leaders of our army, and Liu Yalou, commander of the Air Force, led a team south the next day to personally command the front line in the South China Sea.

During the Vietnam War, in order to avoid being shot down and the pilots captured during reconnaissance in Chinese territorial airspace, causing diplomatic troubles, the United States began to use the BQM-147G "Firebee" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to frequently conduct aerial reconnaissance in china's central and southwestern regions.

From August 9, 1964, when our army first discovered this new high-altitude drone, by early October, the U.S. military's drones invaded the southern provinces seven times. However, at that time, our army did not know much about the performance and activity characteristics of this kind of unmanned aerial vehicle, and although it dispatched fighters to intercept it every time, it did not achieve any results, which also made the soldiers indignant.

On October 13, the US military dropped the Firebee unmanned reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea for the eighth time through a DC-130 transport aircraft. After our army's radar was locked, the pilot of a certain unit of the aviation corps immediately flew a J-6 fighter to intercept it. However, due to inexperience and improper movements, the pilot's shells still failed to hit the target.

In order to defend the sovereignty of the mainland's territorial airspace, the pilot of our army, with a fearless spirit, flew the plane towards this "fire bee" unmanned aerial vehicle, but contrary to his wishes, he not only failed to knock the drone down, but also the aircraft lost control due to the thin air at high altitude and the excessive manipulation action, and the pilot was forced to abandon the plane and parachute and survive safely.

The fighter plane intercepted without success, and another combat accident occurred, which quickly attracted the great attention of the leaders of the Air Force. Commander Liu Yalou, who is familiar with the tactics of the Air Force, was even more present at the front line of the South China Sea, and while fully affirming the brave spirit of the pilots, he keenly saw the weakness of the "FireBee" UAV in its small size (7.01 meters in length), light weight (934 kg), and high flight (18,300 meters).

Combined with the performance of our army's J-6 fighter, under the leadership of Liu Yalou, our army quickly formulated a series of targeted attack tactics such as accurate traction of ground radar, locking the target track, and pilots adopted a series of targeted attack tactics such as optimal jumping and climbing high, rapid aiming, shooting, and disengagement. At the same time, while deploying J-6 and MiG-21 fighters with better performance, the Air Force has decided to set up high-altitude combat points in Nanning, Suixi, Kunming, Mengzi, and other places.

At 11:00 a.m. on November 15, the U.S. military, believing that the Chinese Air Force would have no way to take a high-altitude reconnaissance plane, once again sent a "fire bee" into the skies over the South China Sea.

This time, the "fire bee" of the US army had just entered our air defense alert range, and Xu Kaifang, commander of the 1st Air Force Division who had been waiting for a long time, was immediately ordered to fly an aircraft to intercept it. Under the tug of ground radar, the J-6 fighter piloted by Xu Kaitong quickly climbed to the predetermined interception altitude.

At 12:20, when Xu Kai opened the plane to an altitude of 16,200 meters, he found the US UAV pulling smoke (condensation trail) at 15 kilometers in front of the left, and he quickly pressed the trajectory of the enemy plane and bit the enemy plane. At the same time, Shen Guiyu, a ground radar operator, accurately positioned the enemy aircraft with the fastest (0.4 seconds) reaction time and repeatedly measured the interception data.

Xu Kaifang kept a close eye on the enemy plane and concentrated on manipulating the plane. After 2 minutes (22 minutes and 15 seconds), Xu Kaitong was only 3.8 kilometers away from the enemy aircraft, and at an ascent angle of 15 degrees, Xu Kaitong quickly pulled the aircraft up to make a power jump, jumping to 17500 meters in one fell swoop and leveling it, entering a favorable tactical position.

Immediately afterward, Xu Kaitong entered at a 5-degree entry angle from behind the enemy aircraft and aimed at the enemy aircraft with a fixed aura. However, after all, it was the first real contest between the fighter plane of our People's Air Force and the us high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance plane, and when it was 400 meters or 300 meters away from the enemy plane, Xu Kai opened two shots and failed to hit.

Due to the large speed difference between the two sides and the rapid approach, the opportunity for an attack is very small. At this time, the J-6 aircraft was only more than 200 meters away from the US UAV, and at this critical moment when the fighter was fleeting and might collide with the enemy, Xu Kai calmly piloted the Warhawk, quickly corrected the error of the previous aiming and shooting, and aimed at the enemy plane's abdomen for the third time.

From 230 meters to 140 meters away from the enemy plane, Xu Kaifang accurately poured a shell on the fuselage and wings of the "FireBee" UAV. Although the enemy aircraft adopted a honeycomb structure fuselage, it could not withstand the fierce fire of powerful aerial guns, and even if it dragged thick smoke, it fell sharply with a buckle.

After hitting the enemy plane, Xu Kaitong quickly took the left slope to get out of the enemy plane, and dangerously dodged the scattered debris a few meters above. At this time, the time pointed to 23 minutes and 20 seconds, Xu Kai opened to report to the command post that he had hit the target, and then returned victoriously. (Photo: Xu Kaifang, the first to shoot down a US high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance plane)

In this battle, our pilot pilot flew a J-6 fighter and shot down an intruding US unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance plane for the first time. From Xu Kaifang's discovery of the enemy plane to shooting it down, it took only 3 minutes and 20 seconds, which can be described as brilliant results.

After the war, Xu Kaitong was commended by the People's Air Force and awarded the first class merit, and he continued to fight in the front line of air defense until his retirement.

It is worth mentioning that after this BQM-147G "FireBee" was not shot by Xu Kai, the US military still did not die of thieves and did not stop using unmanned aerial vehicles to reconnoiter the mainland's borders, while our army became more and more courageous in the war, starting from 1964 to 1971, our army shot down a total of 20 US high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance planes that invaded the mainland's territorial airspace, creating a miracle in the history of world air defense.

In April 1971, with the visit of the US table tennis delegation to China, under the impetus of "ping-pong diplomacy", China and the United States moved from confrontation to peace talks, after which US aircraft stopped invading China's airspace.

As for the "Fire Bee" series of unmanned aerial vehicles shot down by our army, they have become a research sample of our army. In 1978, on the basis of "FireBee" 141A, Beihang Airlines imitated the mainland's first high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft - "Changhong" through reverse engineering.