On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was proclaimed. At the grand military parade after the founding ceremony, the people's liberation army air force of the Chinese people, which had not yet been formally formed, appeared in front of people for the first time. the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force was officially established on November 11, 1949, that is, it was not formally established until one month after the founding ceremony. So, before the People's Air Force was officially established, how was the flight of the founding ceremony organized?
On October 1, 1949, the Air Force participated in the air parade at the founding ceremony
The flying squadron that participated in the founding ceremony was established only one month ago
On May 4, 1949, the first session of the National Youth Congress opened in Beiping. On the morning of this day, the Kuomintang Air Force suddenly dispatched 6 B-24 bombers, dropped 30 heavy bombs, and air-attacked the Beiping Nanyuan airport. Because the air defense system in Peiping was not perfect at that time, and the People's Liberation Army did not have an effective radar, the aircraft of the Kuomintang Air Force entered Peiping in the form of ultra-low altitude formation rapid penetration, and quickly fled and returned to the ship after completing the bombing.
After the air raid, Chang Qiankun, then director of the Aviation Bureau of the Central Military Commission, received the order and organized personnel to draft a plan for the establishment of an air defense combat detachment overnight to strengthen the air defense forces in the Peiping area. On August 15, 1949, the first flying squadron of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was established at Beiping Nanyuan Airport, and on September 5, it officially undertook the air defense mission in the Beiping area.
After the establishment of the squadron, the first work of great historical significance participated in was the aerial reading of the founding ceremony. At that time, from the leaders of the Aviation Bureau to ordinary pilots, no one had the experience of participating in the parade flight. To carry out such a large-scale aerial parade, they face one difficulty after another.
First, how to form a formation? At that time, the aircraft equipment of the flying squadron was almost all from the captured or uprising Kuomintang aircraft, and the aircraft were old and of various types. High high, low low, fast fast, slow slow, how to put these completely different kinds of aircraft into a team?
Second, air-ground cooperation. Formation flight is completely different from the formation of ground personnel and vehicles. To complete any action in the air, the complexity and difficulty of training are much higher than the ground, and it is impossible for the ground queue to cooperate with the air for training, what to do?
3. Air liaison. Pilots come from all over the world, the language is different, the flight habits, air response methods are not familiar with each other, how to ensure effective and rapid communication and liaison in the air?
4. What is the height? What altitude is appropriate for aircraft formations in the air? High can not see clearly, low on the one hand the sound interference is large, on the other hand is the speed of the aircraft, in the blink of an eye to fly over can not see.
5. Is there a bullet? The flying squadron was also tasked with defending the air defense of Peiping and must be highly prepared for Kuomintang air raids. At that time, the pilots of the Kuomintang bombers had poor take-off and landing capabilities at night, that is to say, based on the air distance from the nearest Kuomintang-controlled airfield to Peiping, if the enemy plane wanted to return to the base before dark, the bombing must be completed before noon. Therefore, the time of the founding ceremony was set at 3 p.m., which also had to consider the factors of dealing with the Kuomintang air raids. In this way, the question of whether the aircraft carries a bomb is raised.
The last question, and the most important question, is who to fly?
Careful preparations, two days before the ceremony, received a secret order to "take the bomb to be read"
To this end, Chang Qiankun, director of the Aviation Bureau of the Central Military Commission, organized forces to step up the formulation of a preliminary plan including the type of aircraft to be inspected, the number of aircraft, the formation, and the situation of the pilots, and reported it to Nie Rongzhen in detail. Nie Rongzhen once again stressed: The aerial reading is different from the ground reading, the difficulty is great, the impact is also large, we must do a good job, you must seize the time, make careful plans, and ensure that nothing goes wrong.
Always dry
After receiving the task, the Aviation Bureau of the Central Military Commission immediately began various preparatory work. The first is to further clarify the flight plan and make work arrangements. The plan is to form a mixed formation of 5 types of aircraft, and in terms of formation arrangement and flight speed, it not only shows the tightness, integrity, compactness and magnificence of the entire formation, but also prevents overcrowding and endangering safety; at the flight altitude, it is necessary to let the party and state leaders on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square and the masses on the square see clearly, and also to consider the outdated aircraft, once it fails, it can glide to the suburbs for forced landing. To this end, the commanders and pilots who participated in the parade conducted repeated studies.
After the plan was formulated, the Aviation Bureau of the Central Military Commission began to mobilize aircraft, select pilots, draw up groups, determine routes, and strengthen safety and security. The general leader of the air parade flight is clearly served by Xu Zhaowen, the squadron leader of the flight squadron. Later, due to Xu Zhaowen's injury in the parade training, it was temporarily decided to transfer Xing Haifan, who was in charge of the training work of the old Northeast Aviation School, as the acting squadron leader and the general leader of the air parade. You Jiang, director of the Aviation Department of the North China Military Region, was responsible for the ground command of the air parade, Fang Huai of the Aviation Bureau of the Central Military Commission was responsible for the organization and planning work, and Liu Shanben, the old aviation school in Northeast China, was responsible for the calculation of pilot flight routes.
On September 2, the air parade echelon of 17 aircraft officially began flight training at Nanyuan Airport. In order to enhance the effect of being paraded, Zhou Enlai specifically requested that the 9 fighters of the leader of the team fly fast, and after passing through Tiananmen, they could turn back to the back of the trainer plane and pass through Tiananmen again, so that it seemed that 26 planes were paraded.
On September 23, Xing Haifan, Deng Zhongqing, Liu Shanben, Fang Huai, and others, as the leaders of each detachment, piloted the first field rehearsal above the Tiananmen Tower. On the afternoon of September 28, the captains and planes of each detachment rehearsed again over Tiananmen Square in accordance with the newly studied plan.
Two days before the founding ceremony, pilots Yan Lei, Zhao Dahai, Deng Zhongqing, Wang Yuke and four others received a secret notice to accept a secret mission. Notices are issued separately and secretly. The content is: In order to prevent the enemy planes from being disturbed when they are being read, they must take part in the parade with ammunition and be ready to transfer from the air to the anti-air raid operation at any time.
The idea of being viewed in the air with a bullet is quite incredible even today. Moreover, the four pilots who carried out the mission of carrying bombs were all Kuomintang air force pilots who flew the uprising. Decades later, Yan Lei recalled the night that made his heart flutter, and said the heartfelt words that were not spoken at that time: "As a pilot who had just come from the uprising, he participated in the flight with bullets, which fully reflected the great trust of the party and the people in the insurgents." ”
In addition, before participating in the founding parade flight, all the pilots who participated in the flight had a solemn event——— the parade oath. Years later, Lin Hu, a participant in the parade and former deputy commander of the Air Force, still clearly remembers every word in the oath: "I participated in the parade, and once the plane broke down, I would rather give my life than let the plane fall in the city, in the square and on nearby buildings." ”
"I became the real commander-in-chief of the three services"
At 5:00 a.m. on October 1, the pilots participating in the air parade entered various jobs at Nanyuan Airport, and the pilots on combat duty were also ready to take off at any time. Chang Qiankun and others entered the general headquarters under Tiananmen Square to make a final inspection of the troops under parade and various support work.
At 3 p.m., the celebrations began. On the upper floor of Tiananmen Square, Mao Zedong solemnly proclaimed the founding of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, and in the music of the national anthem, he personally raised the first five-star red flag of the People's Republic of China, and 54 salutes fired 28 in unison. Zhu De read out the order to all the commanders and fighters of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Subsequently, the parade began.
At 4 p.m., the Air Parade Headquarters received the order to take off the aircraft under review, and immediately organized the parade group to take off from Nanyuan Airport in turn, set sail according to the predetermined route, speed, and altitude, and first assemble in formation over the Shuangqiao Bridge in Tongxian County. At 4:35 p.m., the aircraft received the order to start the column formation, and flew from east to west in a neat formation toward Tiananmen Square.
Before the founding ceremony, the P-51 fighter jet was standby to take off at Nanyuan Airport
Flying in the front were 9 P-51 fighters, divided into 3 detachments, forming 3 "pin" glyphs, roaring over Tiananmen Square. The captain of the 1st detachment was Xing Haifan, the general leader of the paraded flight, and the left and right wingmen were Meng Jin and Lin Hu; the 2nd squadron leader was Yang Peiguang, and the left and right wingmen were Yan Lei and Wang Yanzhou; the 3rd detachment captain was Zhao Dahai, and the left and right wingmen were Tan Hanzhou and Mao Luwu. This was followed by the 4th Detachment, composed of two "Mosquito" bombers, lined up in a "one" formation, with Deng Zhongqing as the pilot of the long plane and Wang Yuke as the pilot of the wingman. The 5th Detachment consisted of three C-46 transport aircraft forming a "Pin" formation, with Liu Shanben and Xie Paifen and other pilots. The 6th detachment, which ranked last, was a "pin" formation consisting of one L-5 communication and liaison aircraft and two pt-19 trainer aircraft. The pilot of the long plane, Fang Huai, and the pilots of the left and right wingmen were An Zhimin and Ren Yongrong, respectively.
After the six detachments passed, the 9 p-51 fighters that first flew over Tiananmen Square followed the predetermined plan and then went around to the eastern suburbs, and then passed through Tiananmen Square again after the 6th detachment.
At 4:41 p.m., the airlift ended, and all the aircraft under review landed safely at Nanyuan Airport and continued to serve as air alerts. The air parade at the founding ceremony kicked off the splendid prelude to the upcoming birth of the People's Air Force and wrote a rich and colorful stroke in the history of air force construction and development.
In the evening, the Party Central Committee held a grand banquet at the Beijing Hotel, which hosted senior cadres of the People's Liberation Army and personnel of the army, navy, and air force. During the banquet, Zhu De said excitedly: "Today I have become the real commander-in-chief of the three armed forces!" ”
Editor: Zhou Xiaoyu