Northeast Old Aviation School: The First Aviation School Founded by the People's Army

On March 1, 1946, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Aviation School was established in Tonghua, Jilin Province. People are used to calling it "Northeast Old Aviation School". This is the first aviation school founded by the people's army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and is known as "the cradle of the Chinese people's aviation cause".

Established Aviation School and Settled in Tonghua

As early as on the eve of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Mao Zedong pointed out the importance of establishing the Northeast base area at the Seventh National Congress of the Party. On September 15, 1945, the CPC Central Committee decided to establish the Central Northeast Bureau with Peng Zhen as its secretary. On September 17, Liu Shaoqi, who stayed in Yan'an to preside over the work of the Central Committee, held consultations with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in Chongqing on the adjustment of strategic layout. On September 19, Liu Shaoqi drafted and issued instructions on "current tasks and strategic arrangements" to the central bureaus, proposing the strategic policy of "developing northward and defending southward. the core of implementing this strategic approach is to control the northeast. To this end, the central government sent 20000 cadres and 110000 troops from the Shandong Military Region, the New Fourth Army, the Jinji Luyu, Jinchaji, Jinsui and other military regions and the Yan'an headquarters to quickly sail to the northeast to establish a stable base.

In late 1945, Kuomintang troops entered the northeast. The central government made the strategic decision of "getting out of the way and occupying the two sides". Many organs and schools of our party and our army have been stationed in Tonghua, including military academies such as Yan'an Anti-Japanese Military and Political University and Yan'an Artillery School. A large number of cadres were reserved for the later establishment of the Northeast Old Aviation School.

In August 1945, the Soviet Red Army entered the northeast and Japan announced its unconditional surrender. During the Japanese and puppet rule, the Japanese army built many aviation training bases in Northeast China. After the defeat and surrender, they abandoned a large number of aviation facilities and equipment, with no less than 160 airports. The central leadership reviewed the situation and foresaw that this was a major opportunity to create an air force, so it decided to establish an aviation school in the Northeast to accelerate the pace of building the People's Air Force.

As for the location of the aviation school, the central leadership finally focused on Tonghua, an important strategic place in the southeast of Jilin Province and the hinterland of Changbai Mountain, which is only separated from North Korea by a boundary river (Yalu River), known as the "border city.

The Hard Way to Founding

After a long period of revolutionary war, the Communist Party put the early establishment of the air force on the agenda, made full preparations, and specially trained a group of aviation talents. Just after the Anti-Japanese War, the Party Central Committee decided to entrust the task of establishing an aviation school to comrades such as Wang Bi and Chang Qiankun who were sent to the Soviet Union to study aviation during the First Civil Revolutionary War.

From September to November 1945, the Central Organization Department selected more than 30 cadres from the Yan'an Aviation Research Group, the Kangda Mechanical Engineering Class, the Central Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Russian School to prepare for the establishment of an aviation school in Northeast China. On September 2, 1945, Wang Bi and Liu Feng led the uprising Wang puppet "Jianguo 8.20" crew members Cai Yunxiang and Gu Qing flew from Yan'an to the northeast. Due to the failure of the plane, Wang Bi and others stayed. The rest, led by Liu Feng, arrived in Shenyang by land and then Tonghua. At the beginning of October, more than 20 comrades including Chang Gankun set off from Yan 'an and arrived in Tonghua at the end of the year.

In order to strengthen the leadership of the establishment of the aviation school, on September 18, 1945, the central government appointed Wu Xiuquan, chief of staff of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces, to be responsible for the preparation of the aviation school. In November, the Northeast Bureau established an Aviation Committee with Wu Xiuquan as its chairman and Huang Naiyi as its secretary-general. In October 1945, the Northeast Bureau reorganized more than 300 people from the Second Air Force of the Japanese Air Force, Ichiro Lin, who had surrendered to our army, into the Shenyang Air Force, and assigned Liu Feng, Huang Nai, 1. Cai Yunxiang and Ichiro Lin to take charge of the air force. On January 1, 1946, according to the instructions of the Central Committee, an aviation corps was established on this basis, with a total of more than 500 people. At the inaugural meeting held in Tonghua, it was announced that Zhu Rui was the chief captain, Wu Ji was the political commissar, and the aviation corps had the teaching team, civil aviation team, maintenance team, repair shop, etc.

In November 1945, Peng Zhen, secretary of the Northeast Bureau, instructed that the current task of the aviation corps was to mobilize the masses to collect aviation materials, organize Japanese aviation technicians to repair the aircraft, and restore the technology as soon as possible for those who had learned to fly. The entrepreneurs of the old aviation school bravado the wind and snow, and their footprints spread all over the northeast, collecting 120 kinds of dilapidated aircraft, more than 300 engines, more than 100 boxes of instruments and 2000 large barrels of oil. The Kuomintang sent airstrikes and ordered the Japanese puppet remnants and bandits to destroy them. In addition to the severe cold climate in the northeast, many comrades were seriously injured or even disabled for life. Some of them strayed into the Japanese army's poisonous fungus field and gave their precious lives.

On March 1, 1946, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Aviation School was established in Tonghua, with Zhu Rui as principal, Wu Ji as political commissar, Bai qi as vice principal, and Gu Lei and Huang Nai as deputy political commissars.

Led up the Chinese people's aviation industry

During the years of the War of Liberation, the old Northeast Aviation School was forced to move four times, successively to Mudanjiang, Dong'an (Mishan), and finally settled in Changchun. On November 18, 1949, according to the instruction of the Central Military Commission to "run an aviation school first and create an air force again", seven aviation schools were successively established. The northeast old aviation school successively selected backbone forces to be sent to various aviation schools. These excellent aviation talents later became an important technical backbone for the construction of the people's air force.

May 4, 1949, the Kuomintang reactionaries six U. S.-made B- 24 bombers bombed Peiping Nanyuan Airport. facing the threat from the air, the party central committee decided to build a powerful people's air force. On August 15, 1949, at Beiping Nanyuan Airport, our army formed the first combat flight unit, Nanyuan Squadron, which was composed of students from Class A and Class B of the Northeast Old Aviation School and members of the Kuomintang uprising who joined the Northeast Old Aviation School.

On October 1, 1949, at the founding ceremony of the the People's Republic of China, the Central Military Commission decided that the Air Force organized a fleet of aircraft through Tiananmen Square to participate in the air separation for inspection. More than 20 pilots from the old Northeast Aviation School, including Xing Haifan, Liu ShanBen, and Lin Hu, flew P51 fighter jets and C- 46 transport aircraft and 17 fighters of 5 types formed a formation and flew over Tiananmen Square to accept the inspection of New China.

On November 11, 1949, the Central Military Commission announced that the Air Force Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was formally established and the Aviation Bureau of the Military Commission was revoked. A new page was opened in history, and this day was later designated as the founding day of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force.

In September 1950, the United States invaded Korea and the war burned to the Yalu River. The newly established People's Air Force sent the first batch of the 28th Battalion of the 10th Regiment of the 4th Air Division to North Korea to participate in the war. All the pilots were graduates of the Northeast Old Aviation School. In the face of more than 1200 fighters of the "United Nations Army" led by the United States and pilots with a per capita flight time of more than 1000 hours, the pilots of the Northeast Old Aviation School are not afraid of strong enemies, carry forward the fighting spirit of daring to fight, and use "surprising to win, The air combat method of" wiping out the enemy in close combat "resolutely eliminates the invading enemy. Wang Hai, former commander of the air force, Lin Hu, former deputy commander of the air force, Liu Yudi, former commander of the air force of the Beijing Military Region, and Zhang Jihui, who shot down the American ace pilot George Andrew Davis, all went out from here. The northeast old aviation school has prepared the backbone for the establishment of the people's air force and has become the cradle of the Chinese people's aviation industry. (Du Jinping)

Source: Learning Times