In October 1950, in order to defend the country, the Chinese volunteers entered Korea and fought hard for three years against the "United Nations Army" armed to the teeth.
And the USSR, as the leader of the socialist camp, also provided our army with much-needed weapons and equipment, and even secretly sent air force units to cover our rear.
But miraculously, at that time, the United States also quickly discovered that the Soviet Air Force was involved in the Korean battlefield, but chose to keep it secret, and Soviet Russia and our military did not openly publicize the role of the Soviet Air Force in the Korean War for decades.
What's the secret worth exploring?
American
Our army must face up to the threat of the US Air Force, and although Stalin hesitated for a while, he finally sent the Air Force
Since the beginning of the Nanchang Uprising, our army has long been forced to engage the superior enemy with aircraft and artillery with rudimentary infantry weapons, and during the five counter-"encirclement and suppression" and bloody battles on the Xiangjiang River, many Red Army soldiers fell under the indiscriminate bombardment of Chiang's aircraft.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese army repeatedly bombed Yan'an, even threatening the security of the Party Central Committee, and our army did not have the ability to form an air force, and could only attack the enemy by sneaking up on airfields.
It was not until 1946, when our army entered the northeast and captured a group of former Japanese aircrew, that the Northeast Old Aviation School was established in Tonghua and worked hard to cultivate its own air force talents.
However, while the People's Air Force pilots were still flying the old Japanese trainer, the U.S. Air Force was rapidly present on the Korean Peninsula when the Korean War broke out in June 1950.
American
At this time, the United States Air Force, which had experienced World War II, had thousands of fighters, and its B-29 bombers dropped atomic bombs in World War II and became a well-known artifact of national destruction.
As the "United Nations Army" brazenly crossed the "38th parallel" on October 3 and approached the Sino-DPRK border, the Central Military Commission had no choice but to urgently form the Northeast Border Defense Army to prepare for the war in Korea.
Most of our generals are not afraid to fight land battles with an enemy with superior equipment, but they have to worry that an enemy with unprecedented air superiority can control air supremacy on the battlefield and even bomb our large rear.
Therefore, when Kim Il-sung, the supreme leader of the Korean people, sent a distress telegram to Moscow and Beijing on October 1, Chairman Mao proposed to Stalin that he could send Chinese volunteers to fight in Korea, but hoped that the Soviet Union would send air support.
Stalin
However, just as our army was moving the main forces of the four fields to the Yalu River day and night, on October 11, Stalin suddenly sent a letter to Chairman Mao, saying that he could not send an air force to fight in a short period of time.
On October 12, Premier Zhou Enlai flew to Moscow to interview Stalin, who said that if the Soviet Air Force intervened in the Korean battlefield, it would inevitably engage the US military, which in turn could lead to World War III.
After all, since September, the US Air Force has not only crossed the Yalu River nine times to bomb Dandong and other places; And also frequently "mistakenly" Soviet fighters in the Far East, and every time Stalin only verbally protested the provocations of the US military.
However, if the troops were not sent to Korea at this time, the "United Nations Army" would reach the Yalu River, and Chairman Mao finally asked Premier Zhou to convey to Stalin: Whether or not the Soviet Air Force fights, our Chinese Civilian Volunteers will resist US aggression and aid Korea.
Stalin
In the face of such a resolute statement by the Chinese comrades, Stalin also regretted his cowardice and selfishness, and according to Marshal Chen Yi's recollection, Stalin actually said with tears in his eyes: It is better to be a Chinese comrade.
So on October 19, when the volunteer troops crossed the Yalu River, the first Soviet fighter units also transferred from the Far East to Shenyang and Anshan airfields.
On 1 November, our army had just fired the first shots to resist US aggression and aid Korea in the Yunshan area, and eight Soviet MiG-15 fighters taking off from Shenyang airfield flew across the Yalu River to engage the US army for the first time.
Caught off guard by the lack of defense, the Soviet Air Force shot down two American F-82 fighters at the cost of zero casualties.
F-82 fighter
The Soviet Air Force secretly entered the northeast to defend our rear, using various means in the hope of avoiding revealing its identity
Although Stalin finally agreed to send fighters to support our army to resist US aggression and aid Korea due to the overall situation, he still put a tight curse on the front-line troops out of fear of conflict with the United States.
First of all, Stalin's task for the volunteer air force to aid China was only to protect the rear of our army on the west side of the Yalu River, and never took the initiative to intervene in the Korean battlefield to compete with the "United Nations Army" for air supremacy; At the same time, Soviet pilots were required to wear uniforms of the Chinese and DPRK air forces, wear forged insignia of Chinese and DPRK soldiers, and carry fake documents;
In addition, Soviet pilots who were well known to the Americans as their personal belongings were never allowed to appear in the cockpit of a fighter, and even Soviet pilots were required to learn Chinese or Korean languages, give themselves Chinese or Korean names, and firmly avoid direct communication in Russian on the radio.
Of course, the Soviet Union also sent a large number of ground personnel into the relatively safe Korean area under the control of the volunteers, providing the necessary weather and enemy warnings for the airport at any time.
Volunteers
It was precisely by referring to the advanced experience of the Soviets that the volunteers and the Korean People's Army also quickly mobilized the military and civilians to set up anti-air observation posts along the main communication routes, which became an important part of reducing the losses of the enemy's air raids.
Beginning in November 1950, six regiments, including the 67th and 139th Aviation Regiments of the 28th Fighter Aviation Division of the Soviet Union, the 29th and 177th Aviation Regiments of the 50th Fighter Aviation Division, and the 28th and 72nd Aviation Regiments of the 151st Guards Fighter Aviation Division, were stationed at the airport of Liaoning on the mainland.
In June 1951, the 18th Aviation Technical Division was also stationed at our airfield, so that our ground crew could also learn advanced experience from their Soviet counterparts while fighting.
Because Dandonglangtou and Dadonggou airports are too close to the Sino-DPRK border, in order to reduce the risk of sneak attacks and leaks, our army built the mainland's first steel-plate runway airport in Dajiangjia Village, Gushan Town, Donggang City.
air force
In December 1950, the above three aviation divisions were combined to form the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps, of which Lieutenant General Robov became the first commander of the Air Corps.
In March 1951, the Sino-DPRK People's Joint Air Force Command was established, with our founding general Liu Zhen as commander and Soviet expert Golunov as military adviser.
In addition, in order to prevent enemy aircraft from suddenly attacking the airfield at low altitude, in January 1951, the Soviet Union sent the 64th Anti-aircraft Artillery Division to the northeast of the mainland to accompany a searchlight regiment, which also prompted our army to set up a searchlight unit for night air defense.
In order to allow more pilots to get actual combat training and avoid some familiar faces being discovered by the Americans, the Soviet Union adopted the aviation rotation battle mode during the three-year process of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea.
air force
According to statistics, before the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, the Soviet Union successively sent 12 fighter aviation divisions, 2 independent fighter aviation regiments, 4 anti-aircraft artillery regiments and 2 searchlight regiments totaling 72,000 officers and men to participate in the battle.
Among them, there are more than 1,500 fighter pilots alone, and it can be said that all pilots flying jet fighters in the whole Soviet Union have participated in the Korean war.
In order to hide their identities to the greatest extent possible, the top management of the Soviet army even ordered that if the fighter was damaged in the air, they must insist on flying to the west of the Yalu River and then parachute, and if they were shot down over North Korea and forced to parachute, they must not be taken prisoner once they encountered enemy forces.
air force
MiG-15 fighters were sent to play a great role in covering the logistics line of the volunteers and laying the end of the Korean armistice
In the early days of the PVA's invasion of Korea, it endured the bombardment of US planes every day but could not see a single Soviet fighter, but the Soviet Air Force did provide an invisible air umbrella for the PVA logistics system on both sides of the Yalu River.
Of course, it is fair to say that in order to control the scale of the war, the actual troop deployment of the Soviet army was far less than the air force of the "United Nations Army" in the Korean battlefield. Moreover, the US aircraft carriers, which can carry a large number of aircraft, are mobile airfields that change positions every day, so the Soviet Air Force can only respond passively in fact.
But arrogant Americans could not have imagined that the Soviet Union would put the MiG-15 fighter, which represented the highest level at the time, into the Korean battlefield, partly to make up for the huge gap in quantity through qualitative superiority.
Before the outbreak of World War II, Germany successfully developed the world's first practical jet engine, and the emergence of the Messerschmitt-262 fighter in 1944 once made the US and Soviet air forces very scared.
Messerschmitt-262 fighter
After World War II, the Soviet Union absorbed the achievements of wartime Germany in aerodynamic research, and imported the most advanced "Nien" jet engine production line from Britain, and finally achieved mass production of MiG-15 fighters in 1950.
Compared with the early jet fighters of the same era in Western countries, this aircraft has the advantages of speed, maneuverability and high climb rate.
Moreover, it is equipped with one 37mm and two 23mm large-caliber cannons against American bombers, which can destroy tanks if fired directly at the ground, let alone against fighters with only one layer of aluminum skin.
In the early days of the Korean War, U.S. fighters quickly eliminated the weak North Korean air force and dominated the entire peninsula, not only directly strafing the fighting Chinese and North Korean troops, but also dropping huge aerial bombs on railway lines, stations, and bridges.
MiG-15 fighter
The addition of the MiG-15 first caused the B-29 bomber that the U.S. military seemed impossible to shoot down, and in December 1950, a B-29 was rushed to land by Soviet MiG-15 fighters, killing the aircraft.
B-29 pilots were horrified to find that the remote-controlled machine-gun turret that could once fight German and Japanese fighters was powerless against the high-speed passing MiG-15, and the MiG-15 only needed to hit the B-29 with a single shell could wreak havoc on its airtight cockpit and become a live target.
The sudden appearance of the MiG-15 in the North Korean air forced the US military to put a large number of fighters into the escort mission of the B-29, thereby reducing the number of fighters directly attacking our ground forces.
But its early F-80 and F-84 jet fighters were still hoisted in front of the MiG-15, and many times American pilots could only pray that the MiG-15 would run out of fuel first.
On November 8, 1950, the U.S. military bombed the lower bridge of the Yalu River and completely destroyed eight holes on the Korean side, and on April 12, 1951, the U.S. military dispatched 152 military aircraft, including 72 B-29s, in a vain attempt to destroy the bridge over the Yalu River.
B-29
However, as soon as the American pilots could see the Yalu River, they were besieged by 60 Soviet MiG-15s, and in the air battle for nearly an hour, the American troops lost 10 B-29s and 4 escort fighters.
After that, the US military completely abandoned its attempt to bomb the bridge over the Yalu River, which was of great significance to protect nearly one million volunteer officers and men on the front line. The U.S. military had no choice but to put its most advanced F-86 fighters into the Korean battlefield, and in October 1951, nine B-29s under F-86 escort tried to attack our Dandong airfield;
As a result, 4 were shot down and 3 damaged by the MiG-15 interception, which almost pronounced the death sentence of traditional propeller bombers such as the B-29. Although the F-86's participation in the war somewhat reduced the technical disadvantage of the United Nations Air Force, the MiG-15 was able to maintain a 1.9-to-1 exchange ratio in the final year of the war.
The participation of the Soviet Volunteer Air Force in the war greatly weakened the air superiority on which the "United Nations Army" depended, and was an important reason why the Chinese Volunteer Army was able to stabilize the front near the "38th parallel."
B-29
The best efforts to secrecy were still recognized by the US military but there was no publicity, and the volunteer air force finally developed and grew by fighting for training
Despite the utmost secrecy, the U.S. military discovered two months later that the Soviet Air Force had appeared in Korean airspace.
More than one U.S. pilot heard the enemy calling in Russian on the radio during air combat, and Green, who later became America's first astronaut, recalled seeing the faces of typical Europeans, not yellows, piloting enemy fighters.
But miraculously, these reports were sent to the U.S. High Command, and decades later, the United States and South Korea never mentioned the participation of the Soviet Air Force in commemorations of the Korean War.
In fact, even with all the disguises, the identities of Soviet pilots could not be kept secret in the context of the combat environment in which the fighters of the two sides fought bayonets face to face on the Korean battlefield, and even the Soviet military leadership stopped punishing Soviet pilots for conversing in Russian after 1951.
Stalin
But Stalin also had a pulse on the U.S. government, and they were equally afraid that the Korean War would expand into a full-scale war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
After all, the center of gravity of the United States after World War II has always been in the European direction, and by 1950 the two sides had deployed powerful forces in Central Europe that could wage a full-scale war at any time.
Ironically, due to the Korean War, the United States deployed F-86s with less than one aviation division to Europe, while Soviet factories produced MiG-15s around the clock and sent them to Central European garrisons.
In this way, based on their common strategic objectives and concerns, both sides chose not to talk about the appearance of the Soviet Air Force on the Korean Peninsula, while the mainland basically did not publicize the Soviet Air Force out of publicizing the heroic achievements of the volunteers and avoiding intensifying the contradictions between the United States and the Soviet Union.
However, the historical achievements of the Soviet Air Force in supporting the Chinese Volunteers cannot be erased, according to the summary of China, the Soviet Union and the DPRK, the Soviet Air Force made a total of 63,000 sorties throughout the Korean War and engaged the US military more than 1,400 times. It shot down 1,309 US fighters of various types, and the anti-aircraft artillery unit shot down about 212 US aircraft.
People's Volunteers
The Soviet Air Force itself lost 345 aircraft, a total of 242 killed, and 202 Soviet pilot martyrs who found their bodies were buried in the Soviet Martyrs' Cemetery in Lushun, Liaoning today.
Although U.S. officials strongly denied that the Soviet Air Force ever appeared on the Korean Peninsula, at least 300 U.S. planes were shot down by the Soviet Air Force.
Therefore, although the Soviet Union did not directly send ground troops to support the Sino-Korean coalition in the battle, it could provide real air cover for the volunteers, but the Americans still linger.
But don't forget that on December 15, 1950, the 4th Division of our Air Force entered Dandong and carried out combat substitute training with the strong assistance of the Soviet Air Force, and Wang Hai and other flight warriors directly switched to MiG-15 fighters in the difficult environment without jet trainers, and mastered piloting skills with amazing progress.
MiG-15 fighter
In the second half of 1951, the PVA Air Force began to appear over Korea at the same time as the Soviet Air Force, and in October 1951, the young PVA Air Force sent bombers to bomb Yamato Island, causing the "United Nations" command to call it impossible.
After the training of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, by 1954, the People's Air Force had more than 3,000 fighters of various types and thousands of pilots, and began to develop domestic fighters by introducing the Soviet military-industrial system.
Although the Soviet Air Force helped our army in that special historical period, the sky of the republic was ultimately guarded by our own warriors.
Resources
[1] Central Literature Research Office, ed., Zhou Enlai Chronology (1949-1976), vol. 1, Central Literature Press, 1997: 124
[2] Shi Hai Review: The U.S. and Soviet Air Forces' Korean Battle MiG Begins to Show Its Might (2/3).Phoenix.2009-02-25
[3] Bombing of Yamato Island: The first outbound operation of the New Chinese Air Force. [J].Science Grand View Park.2010.(17).42-43