A heroic song of battle in the sky

Located in the central Dae Xiahe Island in the West Korea Bay, only 70 kilometers away from the Yalu River Estuary, it is an intelligence base for the US and South Korean troops, specializing in collecting military intelligence and carrying out sabotage activities. it is a "nail" planted by the enemy under the eyes of the volunteers ". In order to ensure the safety of the rear and transportation lines of the volunteers, and to cooperate with the armistice negotiations, at the end of October 1951, the headquarters of the volunteers decided to use the volunteer air force to cooperate with the units of the 50th army of the volunteers to remove this "nail".
　First Bombing Wins 
This is the first time that the Volunteer Air Force has coordinated operations with multiple aircraft types. Its main tasks are: to protect the island-attacking forces from air strikes in the assembly area, to conduct aerial reconnaissance on the Tilia Island and the large, small and small islands, and to destroy the enemy's intelligence and command facilities on the island. Bomb U.S. and South Korean warships on the nearby sea, and cooperate with ground forces to seize the large, small and island.
On November 1, the Volunteer Air Force issued operational orders to the participating troops. 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 planes to carry out reconnaissance to linden island, Xiaohe island and Daiwa island via the chariot hall to find out the deployment and fortifications on the island, providing reliable information for the ground troops to land on the island.
On the night of November 5, 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 nine Tu-2 bombers to take off from Shenyang Yuhongtun Airport and flew eastward at a speed of 360 kilometers per hour. Forty minutes later, 16 La -11 fighters from the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division of the Volunteer Air Force came to join the formation to take on the cover task. At 1538 hours, 24 MiG -15 jet fighters from the 7th regiment of the 3rd division of the volunteer air force also arrived at the air patrol on the island of Yumi in the south of Xuanchuan.
When the joint fleet was still 30 kilometers away from Yamato Island, the battalion chief Han Mingyang first discovered the target. The pilots quickly proofread the bombing parameters and prepared for the war. at this time, the antiaircraft guns of the us military on daiwa island began to fire at the fleet.
The enemy's artillery exploded in front of and behind the bomber group, and the air waves jolted the aircraft violently. Han Mingyang gave the order: "Suppress enemy fire and rush through." The bombers fired rows of shells, and the enemy's artillery soon went dumb.
At 1539 hours, nine Tu-2 bombers flew over Daiwa Island. Immediately, incendiary bombs and explosive bombs poured down on the target on Yamato Island, with a hit rate of 90%, effectively cooperating with the task of consolidating the island.
　　"Snowflake Night" frightens the enemy 
After intense preparations for the battle, the 50th Army of the Volunteers decided to capture the large, small and islands at 23: 00 on November 30. the plan proposed by liu shanben, commander of the 10th division of the volunteer air force, to bomb yamato island at night was adopted by the joint command of the chinese and dprk air forces. Subsequently, an order was issued to bomb enemy ships moored in the waters around Daiwa Island by the 28th Regiment of the 10th Division of the Volunteer Air Force, the first night flight 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 on a single plane and followed up continuously, flying to Daiwa Island in a "one" formation.
According to the operational deployment, the 50th Army fired "Katyusha" rockets to Daiwa Island, diverting the enemy's attention on the one hand and guiding the direction of the bomber on the other. At the same time, in order to interfere with the enemy's radar search and tracking, the bombers of all bombers threw tin paper outside the cabin at regular intervals. The tin paper will make the U.S. military radar screen appear "snowflakes fluttering" scene, can not distinguish the target. This clever and flexible confrontation tactics is vividly called the "snowflake night" of Daiwa Island ".
After the formation arrived at the target airspace, it adopted the follow-up lighting tactics to launch the bombing, that is, the first plane dropped flares to indicate the target for the second plane to drop bombs... The last plane only carried and dropped bombs. More than 10 minutes after the last bomber of the formation left the target airspace, the enemy F-86 fleet arrived at the air space on Daiwa Island.
Regrettably, due to lack of experience, this night attack failed to hit the target, but the fledgling volunteer air force has the ability to bomb at night, which has played a role in deterring the US military to a certain extent.
　　bloody battle in the sky 
On the afternoon of November 30, the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army was ready to cross the sea and launched a general offensive only after the bombers 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, the captain of the L Brigade, and took off from Shenyang Yuhongtun Airport.
Before takeoff, the headquarters changed the bombing target according to the front-line intelligence, and temporarily changed the bomber formation from "product" to a column with the front, middle and back rows of the three squadrons. Due to the reduction of the formation assembly time after takeoff and the faster 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 rendezvous with the l6 La -11 fighter planes led by Xu Zhaowen, head of the 4th Regiment of the Air 2nd Division, which served as direct escort, the bomber group formed a joint group and flew to Daiwa Island. However, the MiG -15 fighter plane, which served as the cover task, still took off at the original planned time, so it failed to play a supporting and covering role, and the situation was not good for me.
When the fleet flew over the sea, it was suddenly attacked by more than 30 U.S. Air Force F-86 jet fighters, and the left and right wingmen of the third 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 move forward and complete the task!" under the leadership of captain gao yueming, the joint aircraft group organized a firepower counterattack while breaking through the barriers and courageously flying to the target. Two engines of the right wingman of the 2nd squadron were hit and caught fire one after another. Zhang Fuyan's crew stubbornly drove the plane to keep up with the formation. Finally, the plane lost its control and fell into the sea. The crew members died heroically.
During the fierce battle, the rear hatch of the long plane piloted by Xing Gaoke, the leader of the 3rd Squadron, was smashed to pieces. Liu Shaoji, the communications chief, was wounded in the head and blood flowed. He took over the cannon and continued to fire at the enemy aircraft. When the two planes were 450 meters apart, Liu Shaoji hit the enemy planes with a series of shots and turned their heads to escape. Then, in pursuit, another burst of fire, the enemy's volley exploded. He set the precedent of shooting down F-86 jet fighters with piston bombers.
At this time, three of our bomber formation had been shot down, and five of the other six were injured. However, under the firm and calm command of the leader Gao Yueming, the formation always maintained its formation and arrived over the target at 15:21, dumping all the bombs it carried on Daiwa Island, turning the intelligence base of the US and South Korean forces into a sea of fire.
At the same time, the escorting La -11 fighter pilots fought with the US aircraft within 1000 meters of the bomber formation, while covering the bomber's advance until the bomber reached the target. Vice-captain Wang Tianbao was quick-eyed and quick-wailed, aiming at the U.S. aircraft and firing frequent shots, shooting down one F-86 aircraft and injuring three. Squadron leader Xu Huaitang also shot down a F-86 plane, while deputy squadron leaders Wang Yong and Liu Zhuosheng each injured a F-86 plane.
The 50th Army of the Chinese People's Volunteers landed on the island that night by boat, captured the island, and completely destroyed the enemy's intelligence base. This is a battle with great disparity in strength and asymmetric aircraft performance. The volunteer pilots carried forward the fighting style of not being afraid of sacrifice and moving forward bravely, and composed a heroic battle song in the long sky.
 

Source: Liberation Army Daily