Located in the West Korean Gulf, Daewa Island, no more than 70 kilometers from the mouth of the Yalu River, is an intelligence base for the US military and the South Korean army, specializing in collecting military intelligence and carrying out sabotage activities, and is a "nail" planted by the enemy under the eyes of the volunteer army. In order to ensure the safety of the rear and transportation lines of the Volunteer Army, and to cooperate with the armistice negotiations, at the end of October 1951, the Volunteer Army Headquarters decided to use the Volunteer Air Force to cooperate with the units of the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army to remove this "nail".
The first bombing was a victory
This was the first time that the Volunteer Air Force had coordinated operations with multiple aircraft and types, and its main tasks were: to ensure that the attacking troops on the islands were not attacked by air raids in the assembly areas, to conduct aerial reconnaissance of Linden Island and the large and small islands, to destroy the enemy's intelligence command facilities on the islands, to bomb the US and South Korean warships on the nearby sea, and to cooperate with the ground forces to seize the big and small islands.
On 1 November, the Volunteer Air Force issued operational orders to the participating units. On the 2nd, the 2nd Brigade of the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Volunteer Air Force and the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division dispatched aircraft to Linden Island, Ogwa Island, and Yamato Island through the Cherukan to conduct reconnaissance, to find out the deployment and fortifications on the island, and to provide reliable information for ground troops to land on the island for operations.
On the night of 5 November, two infantry battalions of the 148th Division of the 50th Army captured Linden Island. At 14:35 on the 6th, Han Mingyang, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 22nd Regiment of the 8th Division of the Volunteer Air Force, led 9 Tu-2 bombers to take off from Shenyang Yuhongtun Airport and flew east at a speed of 360 kilometers per hour. 40 minutes later, 16 La-11 fighters of the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division of the Volunteer Air Force rushed to join the formation and take cover. At 15:38, 24 MiG-15 jet fighters of the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Volunteer Air Force also arrived at patrolling the skies over The Island of Mi, south of Xuanchuan.
When the combined aircraft group was still 30 kilometers away from Yamato Island, the captain of the group, Han Mingyang, first found the target. The pilots quickly calibrated the bombing parameters and prepared for war. At this time, the U.S. anti-aircraft guns on Yamato Island began to fire at the aircraft group.
Enemy artillery fire exploded in front of and behind the bomber group, causing the air waves to jolt violently. Han Mingyang issued an order: "Suppress the enemy's fire and rush over." The bomber group fired rows and rows of shells, and the enemy's anti-aircraft guns were quickly muted.
At 15:39, nine Tu-2 bombers flew over Yamato Island. Subsequently, incendiary bombs and explosives shells poured down on targets on Yamato Island, with a hit rate of 90%, which effectively cooperated with the task of the landing troops to consolidate Linden Island.
"Night of Snowflakes" deters the enemy
After intense preparations for battle, the Volunteer 50th Army decided to capture the islands of Daiwa and Kowa at 23:00 on November 30. Liu Shanben, commander of the 10th Division of the Volunteer Air Force, proposed a night bombing of Yamato Island, which was adopted by the Sino-DPRK Air Force Joint Command. Orders were then issued to bomb enemy ships anchored in the waters around Yamato Island, by the 28th Regiment of the 10th Division of the Volunteer Air Force, the first night navigation brigade of the People's Air Force.
At 23:15 on November 29, 10 Tu-2 bombers of the 28th Regiment, led by Captain Yao Changchuan, took off and followed up continuously, flying in a "one" formation over Yamato Island.
According to the operational deployment, the 50th Army troops fired "Katyusha" rockets at Yamato Island, diverting the enemy's attention on the one hand and guiding the direction of the bombers on the other. At the same time, in order to interfere with the enemy's radar search and tracking, the shooters of all the bombers threw tin foil strips outside the cabin at regular intervals. The tin foil strip will make the US military radar screen appear "snowflakes fluttering" scene, unable to distinguish the target. This ingenious and flexible confrontation tactic is figuratively known as the "Snowflake Night" of Yamato Island.
After the formation flew to the target airspace, it used the follow-up lighting tactic to carry out the bombing, that is, the first aircraft dropped the flares and pointed out the target for the second aircraft to drop the bomb... The last plane carried and dropped only bombs. When the last bomber of the formation flew more than 10 minutes out of the target airspace, the enemy F-86 aircraft group reached the skies over Yamato Island.
Unfortunately, due to lack of experience, this night attack failed to hit the target, but the fledgling Volunteer Air Force had the ability to bomb at night, which played a role in deterring the US army to a certain extent.
Bloody battles
On the afternoon of 30 November, the 50th Volunteer Army was ready to cross the sea and launched a general offensive only when the bomber groups that cooperated with them took action. At 14:19:30, the 24th Regiment of the 8th Division of the Volunteer Air Force dispatched 9 Tu-2 bombers, led by Gao Yueming, commander of the L Brigade, from Shenyang Yuhongtun Airport.
Before takeoff, the command changed the bombing target according to the information on the front line, and temporarily changed the bomber formation from the "pin" shape to a column lined up in front, middle and rear of the three squadrons. Due to the reduced time for the formation after take-off and the rapid speed, the formation arrived at the scheduled rendezvous site earlier than scheduled, but this situation was not reported to the Volunteer Air Force Command Post.
After the bomber group was combined with the L6 Ra-11 fighters led by Xu Zhaowen, commander of the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Air Division, who was serving as a direct escort, they formed a joint group and flew over Yamato Island. The MiG-15 fighter, which was on a cover mission, still took off at the scheduled time, so it failed to play a supporting cover role, and the situation was unfavorable to me.
When the group flew over the sea, it was suddenly attacked by more than 30 US Air Force F-86 jet fighters, and the wingmen of the 3rd Squadron of the bomber formation were shot down. At this critical juncture, Wu Kai, the ground commander and commander of the 8th Air Division, ordered: "Resolutely advance and complete the task!" Under the leadership of the leader of the squadron, Gao Yueming, the joint aircraft group organized a counterattack with firepower while breaking through the barrier and flying bravely to the target. The two engines of the right wingman of the 2nd Squadron were hit and caught fire one after another, and Zhang Fuyan's crew tenaciously piloted the aircraft to keep up with the formation, and finally fell into the sea due to the loss of control of the aircraft, and the crew members died heroically.
In the fierce battle, the long hatch cover of the long aircraft piloted by The 3 Squadron Squadron Leader Xing Gaoke was shattered. Communications Chief Liu Shaoji was wounded in the head and bleeding profusely, and took the cannon and continued to shoot at the enemy plane. When the two planes were 450 meters apart, Liu Shaoji fired a company of shots that hit the enemy planes and turned their heads to escape. Then, he gave chase, and another burst of fire, the enemy plane exploded in the air. He set a precedent for shooting down an F-86 jet fighter with a piston bomber.
At this time, 3 of our bomber formations had been shot down, and 5 of the remaining 6 were wounded, but under the firm and composed command of the captain, Gao Yueming, the formation always maintained its formation, reached the target at 15:21, and poured all the bombs it was carrying on Yamato Island, turning the intelligence bases of the United States and South Korea into a sea of fire.
At the same time, the pilots of the escorting La-11 fighters fought with the American aircraft within 1,000 meters of the bomber formation and covered the bomber's advance until the bomber reached the target. Deputy Brigade Commander Wang Tianbao was quick in his eyes, aimed at the US planes and fired frequent cannons, shooting down L F-86 aircraft in succession and injuring 3 of them. Squadron Leader Xu Huaitang also shot down L F-86 aircraft, and deputy squadron leaders Wang Yong and Liu Zhuosheng each injured 1 F-86 aircraft.
The island-attacking units of the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army landed by boat that night, captured the islands of Daiwa and Xiaohe in one fell swoop, and completely destroyed the enemy intelligence base. This was a battle in which the weak against the strong and the inferior against the superior were extremely asymmetrical in terms of strength and extremely asymmetrical performance of the aircraft; the pilots of the Volunteer Army carried forward the fighting style of not being afraid of sacrifice and bravely forging ahead, and composed a magnificent long-air battle song. (Source: Jiefangjun Bao)