In 1974, the US spy balloon unknowingly entered China's airspace, and it was a domineering speech that it had to be shot down. In mid-May 1974, a balloon with a diameter of 15 meters flew into our airspace from the skies over Siberia of the Soviet Union.
This situation immediately aroused great attention in our country, because this seemingly ordinary balloon was actually a high-altitude spy balloon of the United States.
Since the advent of the spy balloon, it has invaded the airspace of many countries, and it carries high-definition cameras and a full set of transmitters, which can transmit the captured ** back to the United States, and can rise up to 40,000 meters in the air, even the big brother Soviet Union can't do anything about it.
You must know that the combat altitude of the SAM-2 missile is 34,000 kilometers, which is 6 kilometers lower than that of the spy balloon. The 6-kilometer altitude made the Soviets itch their teeth, and they also dispatched MiG-19 and other fighters to intercept the balloon, but in the end, they could only watch the old American balloon shoot and fly into China's airspace with a great swagger, which is simply a great shame.
The Soviets felt that they had no face, so they decided to develop a high-altitude balloon to counterbalance the American balloon, commonly known as fighting poison with poison.
However, their balloon was only developed after 8 years, so can the Chinese Air Force shoot down the spy balloon that Big Brother tossed for a long time and didn't get down?If it was the Americans at that time, they would definitely even say no, because in their opinion, the Soviet army had so many powerful ** equipment, and they were all played around by balloons, how could those few broken copper and iron in China trip up?Lao Mei started her own path of death in this situation where no one was in her eyes.
In May 1974, the spy balloon floated all the way to Hebei, taking pictures and obtaining ground information along the way. The people of Hebei saw this thing, and everyone stared at the sky, but they all thought it was the latest equipment developed by the country, so they didn't pay much attention to it.
But the radar soldiers were very nervous when they saw it, and they could clearly see from the radar signal that this was an old American spy balloon. But they couldn't figure it out, at that time, when the ice was breaking in Sino-US relations, how could Lao Mei suddenly make such a small move?In fact, this originated from an oolong.
After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States gradually formed a Cold War situation, and they could not act blatantly, so they had to fight an intelligence war. In 1974, the US spy balloon invaded China's airspace, and it was a domineering statement that it must be shot down.
Because the United States' ** intelligence bureau has been suppressed by the Soviet Union, it wants to overpower the Soviet Union in terms of science and technology, so they have produced a large number of spy balloons, which have strange flight paths and are not easy to shoot down.
At one point, more than 500 spy balloons flew over the Soviet Union's head, and one of them flew into Chinese airspace without even noticing.
Lao Mei looked down on China's scientific and technological level, did not believe that the Chinese could shoot down the balloon, and specially lowered the height of the balloon to take clearer images. After the Chinese radar crew picked up the signal, they hurriedly reported the news to Beijing.
Experts organize meetings for the first time to deduce the flight path of the balloon. As a result, it was discovered that the balloon had traveled to northwest China. That's a big deal. The northwest is the industrial and energy center of our country, and the atomic bomb experiments were carried out in the northwest.
If the balloon hits these **, then he can't leave China anyway. ** Upon learning of the situation, a death order was given to the Air Force to shoot the balloon down at all costs.
It was the first time for the comrades at the meeting to see the prime minister making such a big fuss, and they immediately realized how serious the matter was, and they did not dare to take it lightly.
The Air Force immediately set up a command group and selected four experienced pilots to fly the J-6 fighter to carry out the first plan. However, how can it be so easy to shoot down this balloon, the flight speed of the J-6 is too fast, if the pilot's reaction ability is not fast enough, it is very likely to crash into this behemoth.
If it were hit at close range, the debris from the behemoth would most likely injure the fighter by mistake. Moreover, the trajectory of the balloon is unpredictable, and precise strikes are also a problem.
After the 4 fighters took off, they came to a place 600 meters away from the balloon, and the first plane took the lead, but it missed, and the second plane followed. In the following time, the two fighters took turns to play, but the shells were empty and did not hit.
At this time, the balloon was already close to the Bohai Sea, and if it flew to South Korea on the other side, the US military stationed in South Korea would immediately respond to the balloon, and it would be too late to hit it. This made the third pilot, Dong Pei, very nervous, thinking about how to get the balloon down.
In order to shoot down this spy balloon, pilot Dong Pei thought of a way to change the second artillery salvo to a three-gun salvo. However, this method carries a great risk, because the lack of oxygen at high altitudes may cause the engines of the fighter to stop working, which is likely to lead to the destruction of the aircraft.
So the Air Force forbade three consecutive shots. But seeing the balloon drifting farther and farther, it's really too late to stop it. Dong Pei thought of ***'s instructions, gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, drove the fighter plane to a place 400 meters away from the balloon, and decisively fired three shots in succession.
In an instant, the spy balloon was reduced to pieces at an altitude of 10,000 meters, and Dong Pei piloted the fighter plane to maneuver in advance, skillfully avoiding the dangerous debris, and then flew through the clouds and returned to the ground. The debris produced by the balloon ** fell to the Hebei region, and after being found, it was placed as an exhibit in the military museum.
Dong Pei, who returned to the base at that time, found the leader Zhang Baotong and admitted his mistake to him because he was good at making claims, but he also said that he did not regret making the decision to make three consecutive shots.
At that time, Zhang Baotong saw that the apprentice who had always performed well had made such a great achievement, and he was willing to say half a sentence to him, not only did not punish him, but also gave him a big hug. Although China successfully shot down the spy balloon this time, because the international situation cannot be made public, not many people know about Dong Pei's feat, but everyone has not forgotten him.
Later, our party held a meeting with foreign guests, and Dong Pei was also on the list of invitees; as a representative of the Chinese Air Force, he met with international friends and established a brand-new image for the Chinese Air Force.
It's a pity that Dong Pei later couldn't bear the load because of a lot of extreme training, and his heart had problems, and the doctor regretfully informed him that he would not be able to perform flight missions in the future. With the precious memories left in the army, Dong Pei returned to his hometown and lived a low-key life.
It was not until six years later that Dong Pei's shooting down of the American spy balloon was made public. Unexpectedly, in February 2023, the United States will use the propaganda balloon of Chinese companies as a spy balloon, hype the theory of the China threat in the world, try to pour dirty water on China, and attack the propaganda balloon with missiles.