He was a legendary military leader who specialized in the Army at the Frunze Military Academy in the Soviet Union, but he created the first air force of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and fired a shot on the Korean battlefield, which made the United States exclaim that it was simply impossible!
He devoted all his efforts to the cause of China's air force.
General Liu Yalou, commander of the Air Force, was born on April 8. He was born in a poor rural family in Wuping County, Fujian Province, and was originally named Liu Xingchang, and was later renamed Liu Zhendong by a friend.
General Liu Yalou served as a commander in the Army and eventually became the first commander of the People's Liberation Army's Air Force.
In 1929, Liu Zhendong chose to join the Communist Party of China at the age of 19 and officially changed his name to Liu Yalou, intending to follow the pace of the party and reach a higher level. Liu Yalou studied in a private school and entered middle school when he grew up, which made him an intellectual with a certain level of knowledge in the revolutionary ranks.
Therefore, he was organized to continue his studies in the camp school of the Red Fourth Army.
Liu Yalou entered the Anti-Japanese Red Army University in 1936 and became chief of staff in 1949. He continued to learn and grow in battle, showing extraordinary learning ability and perseverance.
In 1939, according to the arrangement of the party organization, he went to the Soviet Union to further his studies at the Frunze Military Academy. Liu Yalou mastered the Russian language in only a short period of time and successfully overcame the language barrier.
In June 1949, the CCP moved from Xibaipo to Beiping, but the frequent invasion and harassment of the Kuomintang troops made *** deeply worried. In order to improve its military strength, the Frunze Military Academy came into being to train military personnel for the construction of New China.
Losing air supremacy is tantamount to leaving its own door open, allowing robbers to enter and exit at will and are powerless to resist, so *** decisively decided to build up its own air force.
Liu Yalou, an outstanding figure with a background in the Soviet Union, has participated in many battles, accompanied *** through the Long March, and has a brilliant resume as the principal of the old aviation school in Northeast China.
These rich experiences made him stand out in his heart and became the best candidate for the first commander of the Air Force.
Grandpa Mao found Liu Yalou and said kindly: "Yalou, you fought a really good battle, now I want you to fly a little higher on land, how about being our air force commander?" ”
When Liu Yalou heard the news, he was a little surprised for a while, he thought that there would be various possibilities for Grandpa Mao to talk to him, but he never expected Grandpa Mao to let him serve as the commander of the Air Force.
Although he has no experience in the Air Force, he is very confident in Liu Yalou's ability. With his unique insight, he saw that Liu Yalou had the determination and courage to surpass himself, so he encouraged him to take over the position of the first commander of the Air Force of New China.
Liu Yalou accepted the challenge and, with his firm belief and talent, successfully led the air force cause of New China.
Liu Yalou once felt that he had been pushed onto an unfamiliar stage, but he didn't expect that it was the appointment of *** that allowed him to release his huge potential and achieve remarkable achievements.
When he became the commander of the Air Force, he had only an empty shell, and although he was the commander of the Air Force, he did not have a complete air force, and he did not even have contact with the aircraft. However, five days later, he resolutely convened a meeting, and the core topic of the meeting was only one: "running an aviation school".
Liu Yalou, an old aviation school in Northeast China, stressed that this matter brooks no delay, and the aviation school must take immediate action without delay, and the start of school is only one month. This is undoubtedly a huge pressure for inexperienced responsible cadres, but as long as they do their best, they will definitely be able to complete the task.
School must start normally on December 1st! "It seemed like an almost impossible task at the time, but we are confident that we will open seven aviation schools in just one month, and it will be a tough test for everyone!
Lin Miichiro and Liu Yalou surrendered to our army after the end of World War II and became instructors of our air force. Knowing that the time is tight and the task is heavy, Lin and Liu led the person in charge to work day and night for more than 20 days, and this period has almost become the busiest month in Liu Yalou's life.
He wore a tweed coat every day and went back and forth between schools.
He told the crowd frankly: "I don't have a day of learning to fly, I haven't flown a day, and if I were to be the commander of the Air Force, I would have to start as a student and learn from scratch." ”
After more than 20 consecutive days of hard work, the six aviation schools finally opened successfully. In order to promote the regularization of the Air Force, aviation schools have become the basis for training pilots, however, there are pilots but there are no aircraft, which is a problem.
To solve this problem, Liu Yalou adopted a series of unconventional construction measures, which came to be known as "magic". Liu Yalou's first thought was to import fighter jets from the Soviet Union.
He sent Chief of Staff Wang Bingzhang to the Soviet Union to negotiate the introduction of fighter jets.
At first, the Soviet Union was only willing to provide MiG-9 fighters, refused to provide more advanced MiG-15 fighters, and arrogantly said: "The MiG-9 is already enough to meet your needs, do you doubt the advanced nature of our Soviet fighters?" ”
With the personal participation of General Liu Yalou and the close guidance of General Liu Yalou, through the joint efforts of everyone, we successfully facilitated the decision of the Soviet Union to donate more than 300 MiG-15 fighters to China.
Thanks to Liu Yalou's efforts, China finally reached an agreement with the Soviet Union to purchase a total of 3,000 fighters of various types, including the MiG-15. These equipment made a great contribution to the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Under the leadership of Liu Yalou, the scale of the Air Force has continued to expand and has received strong support. After several years of development, the Air Force has grown from a single brigade to a huge force of 28 divisions, 70 regiments and 3,000 aircraft in 1953.
In a short period of time, China has assembled a powerful air force, second only to the United States and the Soviet Union, and has become the third largest in the world. The speed of this growth is magical, like magic.
In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in 1950, the United States used air superiority to cause great trouble and great distress to our volunteers, so that we must have air power to compete with it.
Although our U.S. Air Force Aviation School only began on December 1, 1949, and the pilots flew only a few dozen hours, keep in mind that they were all newcomers with no combat experience. "
The new copy retains the core idea of the original copy, but with some changes in language to make it more fluent and easy to understand.
In the negotiations on the introduction of fighter planes, China and the Soviet Union were in a stalemate, and there were less than 200 fighters of various types available in the country, most of which were old Japanese fighters captured during World War II, and more than 30 could not be used due to maintenance.
In the face of the world's most powerful US Air Force, how can the air force of the Mitsubishi Type 99 attack aircraft win? In the eyes of most people, the odds of victory for the Chinese support force are slim. But can we back down?
No! Because the people are behind our volunteers, and as soon as they retreat, the enemy's artillery fire may be on Chinese territory**. Under such circumstances, Liu Yalou could only lead these young air force fighters to fight fearlessly, and he told the soldiers that only by sharpening in battle can the air force grow rapidly.
We are the warriors of the "bright sword", we are the soldiers who fight for the people!
Liu Yalou will hold a tactical summary meeting after each battle to share combat experience and lessons with the pilots, and record in detail the key information and precautions in the course of the battle in a notebook.
Whenever he is free, Liu Yalou will pick up this notebook and simulate the battle plan on the sand table.
Liu Yalou assured the commander Fang Ziyi that no matter when and where, as long as there was a new battle situation, he would immediately tell him, and even did not hesitate to wake him up from his sleep and convey the battle situation to him as soon as possible.
Through continuous exploration, Liu Yalou finally found the trick of air combat and summed up a set of "four-four system" air combat tactics.
Li Han, the first pilot to shoot down an enemy plane in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, his winning tactics lay in "maintaining one domain and fighting together." This tactic proved to be very effective in battle, and the Volunteer Air Force took part in 366 battles, shot down 330 enemy aircraft and damaged 95 enemy aircraft.
This outstanding record made *** full of praise, calling the Volunteer Air Force "a blockbuster".
In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Volunteer Air Force grew from weak to strong, and eventually developed into the third largest air force in the world. This journey of growth has been hailed as "magic" and has surprised many.
After the war, the commander of the US Far East Air Force repeatedly mentioned the wonders of the Volunteer Air Force in his memoirs, but he never understood why the Chinese Air Force could achieve such rapid growth in such a short period of time.
Liu Yalou said after the end of the war that we must not let the heroes who sacrificed for the country pay in vain, and we must compile a perfect training program and drill code, so that the air force fighters can better protect themselves when fighting and reduce unnecessary **.
His desk is always covered with a glass of glass, and under the glass are the heroes who sacrificed their lives for the country**, always reminding him of the importance of this responsibility.
Under Liu Yalou's leadership, the work of compiling the relevant regulations, regulations, training programs, and teaching materials of the Air Force has been gradually launched. However, Liu Yalou fell ill due to long-term hard work and was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1964.
Although his wife advised him to rest more, he insisted that there was still a lot of work to be done. As a member of the Communist Party, he believed that he had to work with enthusiasm, otherwise he would feel ashamed when he went down to meet his comrades who had died for the revolution.
Although Liu Yalou's physical condition is deteriorating day by day, he has always maintained an optimistic attitude towards life. Even in the last moments of his life, he was most concerned about the Air Force's doctrine and discipline.
When he fell into a coma and woke up resuscitated, his first words were still about the ordinance. His spirit and conviction touched people deeply.
On May 7, 1965, Liu Yalou died in Shanghai at the age of 55. At his funeral, the ** Military Commission wrote a couplet: "The country lost the city, the three armies shed tears, the merit is in the community, and the centuries will be famous."
Liu Yalou was the first commander of the Air Force, and his untimely death made the entire Air Force community lament. He has made great contributions to the development of China's Air Force, and is known as a "magical" leapfrog development.
Let's pay tribute to the memory of this great man!