In 1981, at the peak of the Sino-Vietnamese border conflict, a Vietnamese military helicopter that crossed the border without authorization appeared in Guangxi, but this American-made UH-1H Huey helicopter was not here to sabotage, and the Vietnamese pilot Qiao Qinglu who flew the plane was a pro-China faction in the Vietnamese army, and he came to surrender to Cheng.
[Qiao Qinglu and others who flew to China]
Qiao Thanh Luh's arrival once again showed that the Vietnamese authorities' anti-China line was unpopular, and for this reason, Qiao Thanh Lu and other defective pilots were also slandered by the Vietnamese side with ulterior motives.
Vietnamese pilots who threw themselves into the light
Qiao Qinglu was born in a military family in Vietnam, he and his father are both hardcore pro-China, in fact, before Le Duan came to power, the pro-China faction was the backbone of the Vietnamese army, after all, the Vietnamese army was established with the help of China.
【Le Duan inspects the Vietnamese army】
In the eyes of Qiao Qinglu and others, China has always been Vietnam's closest friend, so when Le Duan began to take the line of uniting with the Soviet Union and opposing China, Qiao Qinglu felt very dissatisfied.
At that time, Le Duan was also consciously purging the pro-China forces in the army, but fortunately, Qiao Qinglu was a very scarce helicopter pilot in the Vietnamese army, and he had been following the Vietnamese army in foreign combat missions, and Qiao Qinglu was not dismissed and liquidated.
But Qiao Qinglu's father was not so lucky, he was directly expelled from the Vietnamese army, which gave Qiao Qinglu the idea of leaving the country.
However, it was not so easy to escape from Vietnam to China, although Qiao Qinglu was a pilot, and there was a certain convenience in escaping, but the atmosphere on the Sino-Vietnamese border was quite tense at that time, and if he rashly crossed the border and did not protect himself, he would be shot down by the air defense forces of China and Vietnam.
【Vietnamese Air Defense Positions】
In order to successfully cross the border, Qiao Qinglu must ensure that he flies at an ultra-low altitude to avoid detection by the air defense radars of the two countries.
Qiao Qinglu pinned his hopes for the completion of this task on the UH-1H helicopter that he got along with day and night, this kind of American helicopter was left behind by the US military in Vietnam after the end of the Vietnam War, and its versatility is quite excellent
During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military invested tens of thousands of such helicopters in Vietnam, but with the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Vietnam did not have many intact Huey, and the No. 576 helicopter that Qiao Qinglu usually flew belonged to the Vietnamese military organs, and the entire organ unit was just like that.
[Huey driven by Qiao Qinglu]
After studying the flight route, Qiao Qinglu believed that his UH-1H was the only model that could help him successfully escape. After determining the type of aircraft, Qiao Qinglu faced a new problem, and the purpose of these pilots was to prevent them from escaping to China.
The security level of the helicopter itself is also quite high, and every time the helicopter lands, the ground crew will remove the compass and battery to prevent someone from stealing the helicopter.
Qiao Qinglu also realized that it was impossible for him to complete the escape operation on his own, so he found his iron buddy Huang Chuntuan, intending to persuade him to join his escape team.
【Qiao Qinglu Escape Team】
Huang Chun Tuan is a ground mechanic, with his cooperation, the flight will be more secure, under the introduction of Huang Chuntuan, there are several other Vietnamese soldiers who also have the idea of fleeing to join the team, all of them are working towards the same goal.
Is the pilot a murderer?
After a period of preparation, Qiao Qinglu finalized the final time for action, he would be in charge of maneuvering the helicopter across the Sino-Vietnamese border, and Huang Chuntuan would be in charge of loading the batteries and compasses they bought from the black market onto the plane.
[UH-1H Helicopter]
On September 28, 1981, Qiao Qinglu parked the helicopter at Bai Mai Airport in Vietnam by taking advantage of the day's mission.
The sentries at the airport didn't know the pilot's mission arrangement, and when they saw Qiao Qinglu, they thought they were going to go on another mission, so they let them into the airport without doing much to stop them.
Immediately after that, several people quietly jumped on the helicopter by taking advantage of the sentry's lack of notice, Qiao Qinglu immediately took off, at this time the sentry still did not report the situation to the headquarters, and waited until an hour later, the Vietnamese army found that the helicopter was actually stolen.
Qiao Qinglu showed a super high level of flight during the flight, due to the lack of battery power, the aircraft dashboard was not fully activated, he relied on his own experience to find a route, and maintained a fairly low flight altitude throughout the whole process.
[Low-flying UH-1H]
The ultra-low-altitude flight made it impossible for the Vietnamese armed helicopters and fighters that took off to intercept the Huey plane, and after a two-hour thrilling flight, Qiao Qinglu's helicopter successfully landed in Guangxi.
After the news of Qiao Qinglu's 10 people coming to China came out, the Vietnamese government began to attack these Vietnamese soldiers who abandoned the secret and turned to the light, and the Vietnamese authorities claimed that Qiao Qinglu and the others were all murderers, and they absconded in fear of crime rather than uprising.
After pouring dirty water on Qiao Qinglu, the Vietnamese government turned the finger to the Chinese government, saying
【Vietnamese Pilot】
Of course, China would not agree to such an unreasonable request, and immediately publicly stated that Qiao Thanh Lu and others had obtained the right to legally reside in China, and at a foreign press conference, Qiao Thanh Lu and others also appeared to prove that they were not criminals as claimed by the Vietnamese authorities, but righteous people who resisted Vietnam's erroneous policy line.
The government's already fragile credibility has been dealt a blow again, and a growing number of people in Vietnam have begun to criticize the Vietnamese authorities' erroneous course, especially Le Duan's political ambitions.
Qiao Qinglu and others settled down in China, and the UH-1H helicopter he brought was of great research value, which helped the mainland explore a correct road for domestic general-purpose helicopters.
【UH-1H helicopter from China Southern Airlines】
To this day, this helicopter is still in the collection of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and is being visited by future generations.
Sources:
[1] Pan Kaien. Return to the Historical Scene: The 35th Anniversary of the Self-Defense and Counterattack War against Vietnam. WanFang》，2014