Editor-in-Chief: Cui Xiaohan Editor-in-Chief: Xu Yan Advisor: Shortly after Mao Xinyu's War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea began, the young Chinese Air Force also sent planes across the Yalu River to participate in the war over North Korea. Why did people jokingly call these air force units "volunteers who could not resist US aggression and aid Korea"? After the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States completely controlled the airspace over the theater of operations. After the end of World War II, the United States was the most powerful air power in the world, and its air force had aircraft since 1950.170,000 units, the Navy has 1 aircraft40,000 aircraft, and there are hundreds of thousands of pilots who participated in World War II in China. The number of combat planes of the US military in the Korean theater remained at more than 1,000, reaching a maximum of 2,400, and its pilots had more than 1,000 flight hours. When the Chinese Volunteers entered Korea in October 1950, the Chinese Air Force still had only three brigades (the brigade was renamed a division in November), and by the end of the year, five divisions had been urgently formed, but each division was only equipped with a few dozen aircraft, and all of them, except for the 4th Division, had just begun assault training. Under such circumstances, if the air force of the new China participates in the operation over the DPRK, the air force itself and even the rear bases will have to take great risks. However, while facing risks, the new China's air force has a rare opportunity to participate in the war. That is, by using the latest aircraft to engage the most modern enemy, one can quickly learn how to fight in the course of war, and quickly build a powerful air force. 
There are also some special favorable conditions for the construction and use of the air force in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. First of all, the new China's air force was established on the basis of the army, and the pilots selected and transferred by the whole army have developed a good fighting style and the psychological quality of not fearing hardships and dangers in land warfare. Second, the construction and operation of the new China's air force have received all-round assistance from the Soviet Air Force, so that the training and combat of the Chinese Air Force can start from a relatively high base. In addition, the planes of the Chinese side and friendly forces participating in the war are all based in northeast China, and the US political leaders have never dared to bomb airfields in northeast China, which they call "shelters," except for sporadic raids and reconnaissance, because they are afraid of expanding the war, and the Chinese air force can conduct training and combat without bombing the bases.
China and the Soviet Union had disagreements over the use of the Chinese Air Force. General Zakharov, Stalin's representative to China, and the military commissariat twice had a dispute over the use of the Air Force. Zakharov's point of view was: "You are too cautious, how can you fight without sacrifices, it is a big deal to lose some planes and pilots." * replied: "It's not that we are unwilling to make greater national sacrifices, if it is the army that sacrifices 500,000, or even 1 million, we can bear it, but the air force can't!" With such a small amount of strength, it is difficult for the Air Force to develop if it is lost. Our principle is to learn war in the course of war, to grow stronger and stronger in the course of war, and to become stronger and stronger in the course of war; if we become weaker and weaker in the course of war, we will eventually lose our vitality and even shake the foundation on which we rely for development, and that is unacceptable to us. "In light of the comparison of the air forces of the enemy and our air force at that time and the conditions in all aspects, the PLA Air Force Command put forward the idea of training in actual combat before joining the war. The PLA Air Force Command proposed not to fight hard with weak forces, but to start with small battles, so that units that have never participated in air battles can uncover the mysteries of air battles and temper them in actual combat. On December 4, 1950, he agreed and instructed the use of the Air Force to "take a prudent approach", and specifically stated: "One shot is enough, and there is no need to be alarming." From December 1950, the 4th Division of the Chinese Air Force was stationed at the airfield near Andong and entered the initial stage of air combat under the cover of the Soviet army. On January 21, 1951, the 4th Air Division engaged the U.S. Air Force for the first time in the skies near the Yalu River, and Group Leader Li Han damaged an F84 fighter. On 29 January, Li Han shot down and damaged one F84 fighter plane in an air battle, setting a record for the Air Force for shooting down an enemy plane. The initial stage of the Air Force basically ended in September 1951, and it mainly met the requirement of not knowing how to fight to learning to fight. 
From September 1951 to June 1952, the Chinese Air Force entered the stage of formally participating in the war with a large number of troops, mainly participating in large-scale air battles and cooperating with the Soviet Air Force to strike at enemy aircraft groups. In September 1951, the Air Force had nine destroyer divisions and two bomber divisions ready to fight after intensive training. On 4 September, the 4th Air Division and friendly forces engaged in a fierce air battle in which more than 200 aircraft from both sides participated. On November 6 and November 30, 1951, the 8th Air Division also dispatched Du 2 bombers to bomb the enemy on Yamato Island twice. This was the first time that the People's Air Force carried out a bombing mission. During this voyage, the Du-2 bomber and the escorting La-11 destroyer also engaged in aerial combat with the US F86 fighter that came to intercept them, shooting down three US planes, setting a precedent in the history of world air warfare for a piston bomber to shoot down a jet fighter.
The operation of the Chinese and Soviet air forces in the northwest corner of the DPRK dealt a serious blow to the daytime activities of US planes in this area, and the US military called this area the "MiG corridor." On November 21, 1951, US Air Force Chief of Staff Vandenberg lamented: "Communist China has become one of the world's major air powers almost overnight. "From July 1952 to the armistice of July 1953, the Volunteer Air Force entered the stage of independent operations. The main task at this stage was to defend important targets together with the Soviet Air Force. In the spring of 1953, because the Air Force of the Chinese People's Volunteers and friendly forces participated in the war with a large number of new units and new pilots instead of the old units, the air battle situation was unfavorable for a time, and the air front retreated to the Yalu River. However, at this stage, the tactical and technical level of the Volunteer Air Force was constantly improved, and it began to train in night operations. After the air base remained in the country and was stationed at the Yalu River, after the Korean armistice negotiations had made progress, in February 1952, the Air Force was instructed that it was necessary to seize the opportunity to conduct actual combat training, and that it was necessary to attach great importance to the significance of actual combat training to the air force, even if it was good to fight only a few air battles. Subsequently, the Air Force took divisions as units and adopted such prudent methods as growing from few to many and using the old to lead the new, and organized units to take turns to participate in the battle, which underwent training. Since the construction of an airfield in the northern part of the DPRK has never been completed due to frequent air raids by enemy planes, the Chinese Air Force has taken off from the airfield in the northeast when it goes out for operations, and the personnel of the rear base are also in China. At that time, the air force units that participated in the war repeatedly demanded that the honorable title of "Volunteer Army" be given, and on January 20, 1952, ** replied: "It should be counted as a volunteer army". From then on, the air force units that entered the skies over Korea to participate in the war were all considered volunteers. Internally, these troops participating in the war were nicknamed "the volunteer army that could not resist US aggression and aid Korea." 
After the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Air Force of New China successively had 10 destroyer divisions and two bombing divisions participating in the war, with 672 pilots and 590,000 ground crews have undergone practical training. The Chinese Air Force fighter planes flew 2,457 sorties and 26,491 sorties, shooting down 330 enemy planes and damaging 95. Chinese fighters were shot down 231 and 151 damaged, with a total of 116 pilots killed.
By learning war in the midst of war, the new Chinese Air Force started almost from scratch and made achievements that attracted worldwide attention. In just three years from the autumn of 1950 to the autumn of 1953, the PLA Air Force grew to have nearly 3,000 aircraft in 23 air divisions, second only to the United States and the Soviet Union in terms of air combat strength, and ranked third in the world's air force.