Since 1949, when the Chiang Kai-shek government suffered a crushing defeat in the War of Liberation and fled to Taiwan Province, the two sides of the strait have been separated for a long time.
Among the many means of political and military struggle, the most prominent one was to encourage the pilots of the other side to fly to the mainland, or to pursue fame and fortune, or to relieve heavy nostalgia, or out of personal grievances; between the 50s and 80s, many outstanding Taiwan pilots chose to fly back to the mainland to add luster to the motherland's flying cause.
There are countless famous pilots in history, but Huang Zhicheng is the most unusual one.
On August 8, 1981, on such an ordinary day, Taiwanese pilot Huang Zhicheng took off from Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport, crossed the Taiwan Strait, and came to the mainland to land at Fuzhou Airport, but this move caused panic in many aspects, because he was not flying an ordinary plane, but the most advanced American fighter, F-5F.
It is said that this plane was the backbone of Taiwan's air force and was worth more than $5 million at the time, and his feat caused a tremendous shock to the Taiwan authorities. Huang Zhicheng's move can be said to have caused a sensation in China at that time.
As a matter of fact, since Huang Zhicheng flew the plane, he was determined to fly the plane to the mainland one day. So he has been looking for opportunities, and he knows that flying from the air to the mainland is not an easy thing either, and Taiwan's radars monitor the sky over the strait day and night, and if the plane deviates from the course, it will be detected immediately.
Since uprisings by pilots of the Taiwan Air Force often occur, the Kuomintang Air Force has continuously conducted anti-hijacking and anti-uprising drills, and the Air Force has taken extremely strict precautionary measures. Even in this case, it still can't stop Huang Zhicheng's determination to fly back to the mainland.
On November 25, 1981, Taiwan's Defense Minister Gao Kuiyuan also resigned because of Huang Zhicheng's flight to Chengcheng. And many officers in Taiwan who are related to Huang Zhicheng have been implicated.
In fact, with Huang Zhicheng's strength and deeds, if he is willing to stay in Taiwan and continue to develop, the future must be bright, so why did he revolt and defect to the mainland?
This is all due to Huang Zhicheng's dissatisfaction with the Kuomintang, and deep down in his heart, Taiwan and the mainland are originally one family. However, Taiwan's Kuomintang insisted on separating Taiwan from the mainland. This made Huang Zhicheng emotionally unacceptable.
In addition, since 1962, China has also issued many statements welcoming the uprising and defection of Taiwan's air force pilots, and has formulated a corresponding commendation policy. It also announced the course of the three airports in Guangzhou, Shantou, Zhejiang, and Qingtian, Fujian, and the wavelength of the call sign opened the door for the Taiwan Air Force pilots to revolt and defect to Chengcheng.
1. The influence of the family environment made him aspire to become an air force
Born in Taiwan in 1952, Huang Zhicheng is from Guangxi, China. His father was also a Kuomintang Air Force pilot, his mother was honored as a model mother, and his older brother was also a very good pilot. In addition, his brother-in-law is also a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force.
With such excellent family genes and such a strong family atmosphere, Huang Zhicheng has been determined to become an outstanding air force pilot since he was a child.
In 1969, after graduating from high school at the age of 17, Huang Zhicheng was admitted to the Taiwan Kuomintang Air Force Officer Academy with excellent results, and he systematically learned aviation professional knowledge and flight driving skills.
In 1973, at the age of 21, he became the best graduate of his class with outstanding results, and this is when he officially began his career as an Air Force pilot.
Huang Zhicheng has always been strict with himself with the highest standards, and will never allow himself to slack off at all. Thanks to his unremitting efforts, in just a few years, Huang Zhicheng has been able to skillfully fly five different types of aircraft of the Kuomintang Taiwan Air Force. At the same time, he has also accumulated rich flying experience, excellent piloting and flying quality and impressive achievements, making him a leader in the Taiwan Air Force.
The Taiwan Air Force highly praised and affirmed Huang Zhicheng's ability and quickly promoted him to captain of the flight team.
In 1978, at the age of 26, he was promoted to the rank of major for more than 2,100 hours of flying experience and excellent flying skills.
Such impressive flying achievements gave him the opportunity to fly the most advanced F-F5 fighter in the United States. It's a great honor to be a pilot.
Because Huang Zhicheng's outstanding performance stood out among the crowd, his boss appointed him as the flight assessment officer of the Fifth Wing, responsible for the regularization and promotion of more than 100 pilots in the Wing.
2. Although the future is immeasurable, only because of patriotism, Huang Zhicheng decided to fly to the mainland in a plane
This special position means that he will definitely be able to enter the upper echelons of the Taiwan Air Force in the future. However, even though he knew that staying in Taiwan could have a bright future, he still felt that his roots were in the mainland, and he always wanted to return to his hometown to have a look.
Huang Zhicheng could not contain his strong homesickness, so under his careful planning, he decided to fly Taiwan's best plane at that time to the mainland to show his patriotism.
On the morning of August 8, 1981, Huang Zhicheng was ordered to go to the Fifth Company to test the flying skills of the new lieutenant pilot Xu Qiulin.
At 8:18, Huang Zhicheng was in the front seat, and Xu Qiulin drove an F-F5 two-seater training plane in the back seat to take off and start the assessment of the instrument flight subject in the dark warehouse.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Huang.
After 10 minutes in the air, the plane came to the predetermined air target area, which is close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait. It is about 80 kilometers from Taiwan.
In order to prevent Xu Qiulin from detecting his intentions, Huang Zhicheng ordered him to cover the dark cabin. Then cut off the radio device that connects the plane with the ground, directly reduce the altitude of the plane from 5,000 meters to more than 100 meters, and accelerate to the mainland.
The Fifth Wing of the Kuomintang Air Force was tasked with attacking the Fuzhou airfield. Huang Zhicheng is very familiar with the situation in this area.
He flew to Fuzhou close to the sea, and after a while he saw Pingtan and after a few minutes he judged that he was near Longtian, but he did not want to land at Longtian Airport, he thought that it was too close to Taiwan, and he remembered the words of a commander of the Taiwan Air Force Headquarters that even if the plane landed at Longtian Airport, the Taiwan Air Force could blow up the airport with a missile.
So Huang Zhicheng drove the plane to continue to Fuzhou Airport for safety reasons, and the F5-F plane soon flew to the Wulong River Bridge.
Huang Zhicheng ordered Xu Qiulin to open the dark cabin, and Xu Qiulin noticed that the situation had changed. Nervously said: Instructor, we have reached the sky over the mainland, hurry back. Huang Zhicheng told him, don't worry.
When Huang Zhicheng found Fuzhou Airport in the air, Xu Qiulin in the back seat still insisted on returning to Taiwan, and Huang Zhicheng decided to send Xu Qiulin back to Taiwan out of consideration that Xu Qiulin would have an adverse impact on the safe landing, and at the same time out of respect for Xu Qiulin's personal rights and interests.
The F-5 plane passed through the Fuzhou airport at low altitude before it had time to signal the uprising, and the soldiers of the liberation Jinan anti-aircraft artillery around the Fuzhou airport spotted the plane, but did not open fire.
At 9:12 a.m., Huang Zhicheng flew an F-5 plane to the sea two kilometers west of Dongyin Island, where Kuomintang soldiers were stationed, and he said to Xu Qiulin: I can only send you here, you can parachute. The people who lead to the east will find yours. Later, Xu Qiulin opened the seat catapult and parachuted into the sea and returned to Taiwan smoothly.
After seeing that Xu Qiulin had landed safely, Huang Zhicheng flew back to the direction of the mainland again.
In the sky above Fuzhou Airport, he followed the notice of the Fujian Front Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army to do a flight procedure, the plane swayed slightly, Huang Zhicheng opened the cockpit of the plane, took off the oxygen mask and walked off the plane, at this time it was 9:26, he flew in the air for 68 minutes and then successfully flew back to the mainland, piloting the plane to successfully revolt.
3. The return of the wanderer is admirable, and he won 650,000 yuan
On August 12, 1981, the Fujian military and civilians gathered in Fuzhou to welcome Huang Zhicheng's return from the uprising, and General Yang Chengwu, commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, highly praised Huang Zhicheng's patriotic spirit at the commendation meeting. In recognition of Huang Zhicheng's actions, he was given a cheque of 650,000 yuan and approved his enlistment in the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force.
But after accepting this huge amount of money, Huang Zhicheng did not take it for himself and squandered it, but donated this huge amount of money to those poor students in his hometown who were in urgent need of tuition, so that those children who were eager for knowledge but did not have the opportunity to study could see hope again.
The 5361F-5F combat trainer plane piloted by Huang Zhicheng also played a huge role in research. There are many advanced technologies on it that the continent has not yet mastered. The value of these technologies is far higher than the fighter itself, so the return of Huang Zhicheng not only plays an exemplary role for other Taiwan personnel, but also has great significance for the development of the mainland's air force.
This F-F5 trainer fighter is the most advanced type of aircraft in Taiwan at present, and it is the most advanced type of aircraft in Taiwan that was provided by the Northprogrumman Aircraft Company of the United States and successfully assembled by technicians. At that time, the Kuomintang Air Force also rarely had such aircraft, and many people visited the plane in a hall of Fuzhou Airport.
4. Accept the highest courtesy, achieve a brilliant life, and open up a new world in life
The day of October 4 should be unforgettable for Huang Zhicheng, because it was on this day that he was personally received by Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the leader of the country.
Deng Xiaoping praised Huang's actions, telling him that his uprising had a significant positive impact, and encouraged him to open up a new world in the mainland's air force.
After hearing such a high evaluation and affirmation of him by the state leaders, Huang Zhicheng determined his own mind, had a greater sense of mission and responsibility, and decided to stick to the mainland to realize the value of his life and do his best to contribute his life to the motherland.
Huang Zhicheng flew back to the mainland, whether he was the vice president of the Air Force Academy or the deputy director of the Military Academy of the Air Force Headquarters, he always devoted himself wholeheartedly to his work, devoted himself to the mainland's flying cause, added luster to the mainland's flying cause, and cultivated a large number of outstanding flying talents.
For his outstanding contributions, he was promoted to the rank of major general in 1995. He has also been elected as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) several times. It has made positive contributions to the economic development and social prosperity of the motherland.
Huang Zhicheng is also committed to promoting the development of cross-strait relations, and hopes that the two sides of the strait can establish a mutual trust mechanism. Huang Zhicheng, who loves flying, is still playing his role after retirement, and he uses his money to start a flying school, hoping to train more flying elites for his country. It is also hoped that this will attract aspiring young people from Taiwan's treasure island and contribute to the reunification of the motherland. He also served as a director of the Taiwan Compatriots Association and did a lot of work for cross-strait peace.