When the title was awarded in 1955, Liu Yalou, the commander of the Air Force, was awarded the rank of general, which has always been controversial.
As the three major branches of our army, the commander of the army, that is, the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army, is Zhu Laozong, the unquestionable rank of marshal, the commander of the navy, Xiao Jinguang, is a general, and even the commander of the armored corps, Xu Guangda, is a general, and Liu Yalougui is the commander of the air force, and he is only awarded the rank of general, which is indeed a bit low.
Therefore, Liu Yalou was also very dissatisfied with this rank at that time, and also interceded with Lin Biao, but Lin Biao was raising obscurity in Taoguang at that time and did not help him speak.
Of course, although Liu Yalou was not satisfied with his rank, he did not have the slightest emotion in his work, and devoted all his energy to the construction of the new China's air force, so that the new China's air force developed rapidly in just a few years, and even vandenberg, chief of staff of the US Air Force, said with admiration: "Almost overnight, China has become one of the world's major air force powers!" ”
But unfortunately, Liu Yalou died of liver cancer in 1965 at the age of 55 due to long-term overwork.
In 1955, in addition to Liu Yalou as the commander of the Air Force, there were four generals who served as deputy commanders of the Air Force, namely Liu Zhen, Wang Bingzhang, Chang Qiankun, and Xu Shenji.
The first is Liu Zhen, like Liu Yalou, who is a founding general.
Born in 1915 in Xiaochang County, Hubei Province, Liu Zhen served as the commander of the Second Column in Siye, leading the Second Column to participate in the Siping Defense Battle, the Battle of Jinzhou, the Battle of Liaoshen, the Battle of Pingjin, the Battle of Hengbao, the Battle of Guangxi, etc. It can be called the column with the largest number of annihilated enemies and the most outstanding performance in the Four Fields, and is known as the "Northeast Tiger Army".
During the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, General Liu Zhen served as the commander of the Air Force of the Chinese Volunteer Army, led the fledgling Chinese Air Force, and launched an unprecedented and tragic aerial battle with the world's most powerful US Air Force, creating countless brilliant achievements!
When he was awarded the rank in 1955, Liu Zhenzheng served as deputy commander of the Air Force, was awarded the rank of general, and was the only founding general among the four deputy commanders of the Air Force.
Later, Liu Zhen also served as the president of the Air Force Academy, vice president of the Academy of Military Sciences, and deputy commander of the Shenyang Military Region, and was elected as a member of the Central Committee and a member of the Central Military Commission.
The second was Wang Bingzhang, with the rank of lieutenant general.
Born in 1914 in Anyang County, Henan Province, Wang Bingzhang originally served as a soldier in Feng Yuxiang's army, but later followed Ji Zhentong and Dong Zhentang in the Ningdu Uprising and joined the ranks of the Red Army.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wang Bingzhang served as the chief of staff of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and after the former chief of staff, Zhou Kun, absconded with money, Wang Bingzhang actually exercised the functions of chief of staff.
It is worth mentioning that when Lin Biao was mistakenly injured by Yan Xishan's sentry, Wang Bingzhang was at his side and urgently sent Lin Biao back to Yan'an for treatment, saving Lin Biao's life.
When the New China Air Force was established in 1949, Wang Bingzhang was appointed chief of staff of the Air Force and assisted Liu Yalou in quickly establishing the Air Force, which made a very great contribution.
In 1953, because of Wang Bingzhang's great contributions in the field of air force, he was appointed by the Central Military Commission as the first deputy commander and chief of staff of the air force, and his status was even higher than that of General Liu Zhen.
However, because Wang Bingzhang's seniority before the founding of the People's Republic of China was not as rich as Liu Zhen's, he was only awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
Later, Wang Bingzhang also made a very important contribution, that is, he presided over the development of missiles, assisted Qian Xuesen, Qian Sanqiang, and many other scientists to create New China's own missiles on the basis of being poor and white, and shocked the world!
The third was Chang Qiankun, who also had the rank of lieutenant general.
Compared with Liu Yalou, Liu Zhen, and Wang Bingzhang, who were halfway out of their homes to build the Air Force, Chang Qiankun was an authentic talent from the Air Force, so he was deeply valued by the Central Military Commission.
Chang Qiankun was born in 1904 in Yuanqu County, Shanxi Province, was admitted to the third phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and after graduation was selected to enter the Guangdong Aviation School, and later was sent to the Soviet Union's Zhukaovsky Aeronautical Engineering College, specializing in aviation technology, obtaining the technical titles of aeronautical engineer and air pilot, and was one of the earliest professional aviation talents in China.
Because of Chang Qiankun's excellent performance, the commander of the Soviet Air Force invited him to stay in the Soviet Union and join the Air Force, but Chang Qiankun said that my motherland was being invaded by the Japanese, and I wanted to go back to help the motherland resist the war, and resolutely gave up the high-paid position of the Soviet Air Force and returned to the motherland.
However, at that time, the Eighth Route Army had no aircraft at all, let alone the Air Force, and the heroes of Chang Qiankun had no place to play, so they had to cultivate talents first and prepare for the future.
It was not until after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that Chang Qiankun finally waited for the opportunity to create the first aviation school of our army, the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army Aviation School, and trained countless outstanding air force talents.
Therefore, when the Central Military Commission decided to establish a new Chinese air force, Chairman Mao was the first to think of Chang Qiankun and appointed him as deputy commander of the air force to assist Liu Yalou in forming an air force.
When the rank was awarded in 1955, Chang Qiankun was originally not supposed to be awarded the rank of general because he had not participated in the Red Army and did not have much seniority during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, but under the struggle of Premier Zhou and others, Chang Qiankun was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in an exceptional manner.
Moreover, Chang Qiankun served as deputy commander of the Air Force from 1949 until his death in 1973, serving for 24 years, the longest of all the deputy commanders of the Air Force.
The fourth is Xu Shenji, also a founding lieutenant general.
Born in 1910 in Hong'an County, Hubei Province, Xu Shenji joined the Red Army in 1930 and participated in the Long March, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, serving as the chief of education of the University of the Red Army, the president of the Sixth Branch of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, the commander of the Ji'nan Military Region, and the deputy chief of staff of the North China Military Region.
Xu Shenji originally had little contact with the Air Force, but in March 1955, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Air Force, in charge of air force logistics, and in a subsequent award, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the Air Force.
Later, Xu Shenji also served as deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region, and after his retirement, he also presided over the compilation of important historical materials such as "The Combat History of the Fourth Front of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" and "The Chronicle of the Fourth Front of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army."
In addition, there was another Wang Bi, who served as deputy commander of the Air Force for a period of time in 1951, but in 1952, Wang Bi left the army to become the first deputy director and chief engineer of the Aviation Industry Bureau of the Ministry of Heavy Industry, so he missed the 1955 award.
Otherwise, Wang Bi's seniority and contribution would also be enough to confer the rank of lieutenant general.
Later deputy commanders of the Air Force were appointed after the title was awarded in 1955, including Lieutenant General Cao Lizhongzhong, Lieutenant General Cheng Jun, Lieutenant General Kuang Rennong, Lieutenant General Luo Yuanfa, Lieutenant General Zeng Guohua, Lieutenant General Tan Jiashu, Major General Zhang Tingfa, Major General Xue Shaoqing, and so on.
(References: "The Great Title", "Anecdotes of the Founding Generals", "One General Is Hard to Find: A Record of Famous Generals of the Four Wilds")
——To learn more about the story of the founding generals, you can check out the column of the history inn, a total of 100 founding generals.