In the early morning of August 23, 1956, there was a roar of machine guns in the airspace east of Qushan Island in Zhejiang. After a fierce battle, the tide of battle turned around. "Report to headquarters, ammunition is completely exhausted.
Confirm that all hit the target. Immediately after that, a large American reconnaissance plane that was hit rolled several times in the air and crashed into the sea at a near-vertical angle, causing a huge splash.
The MiG-17 fighter successfully completed the mission and returned to the base to report. How did this heroic fighter pilot manage to win in a temporary mission? He managed to shoot down an enemy reconnaissance plane, will the enemy give up?
In 1956, China had just been founded, and this land was recovering and developing after a hundred years of war. Although the smoke of war has dissipated, the threat of war remains.
Although China** has been established, its political power and state building are not yet stable. The Kuomintang troops in Taiwan are still eyeing each other, and the European and American imperialist countries far overseas are also secretly watching.
They have advanced air forces and abundant military talents, which pose a huge threat to the new China. Under these circumstances, the ground command began preparations on August 22, 1956.
They studied the enemy's tactics and strength, and worked out a series of countermeasures. They hope that by uniting the forces of the whole country, they will improve their military level and finally defeat the enemy and protect the security and stability of the country.
Urgent briefing! The radar detected a large reconnaissance aircraft, model P4M-1Q, which was likely to take off from Japan and flew in the direction of Shandong and Jiangsu in our country, and was carrying out an illegal reconnaissance mission.
At present, this reconnaissance plane has intruded into China's airspace, and such behavior will be resolutely intolerable in the international community. The U.S. military is well aware of this, and they intend to use small tricks to invade our airspace again after returning to the high seas.
Our army has long been prepared for this, and we are already familiar with this trick of theirs. Until then, our inaction was only observing the whole situation. Now, we have confirmed that the destination of this reconnaissance plane is the area around our Zhoushan Islands.
We must act immediately to protect our territory and airspace from violation! "
This is no child's play, the P4M-1Q is an advanced large reconnaissance aircraft with dual piston and turbojet power. This kind of reconnaissance plane, which is dispatched alone, dares to harass China's territorial waters, and must also be equipped with some **.
Tonight, a skirmish of air battles with the quiet night sky as the stage quietly unfolded in the Shanghai area. It was the heroic pilots and their wingmen who were given the order in danger.
Zhang Wenyi, a hot-blooded young man from Dali County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, joined the People's Army in 1949. With his love of knowledge and dedication to his flying career, he successfully transferred to the Air Force and rose from an ordinary pilot to the regimental chief of navigation.
During his flying career, he shot down a Kuomintang B-17 aircraft. This kind of aircraft is huge, long-range, fast, and has no obvious shortcomings, which can be called a "flying monster" with all attributes.
However, in that era when the air force was outdated, pilots had to judge the flight trajectory and speed of enemy planes with the naked eye during a 360-degree rotation flight, endure the internal organs of the river and the sea, and at the same time dodge enemy bullets and strive to hit the target.
This is an extremely difficult task, and Zhang Wenyi, with his courage and intelligence, has successfully completed this mission.
In this confrontation with the P4M-1Q reconnaissance plane, our pilots were faced with extremely high demands, because of the existence of various objective factors, and Chu Futian, deputy division commander of the ground command, was also very nervous.
He knew the strength of the chief navigator, but the MiG-17 fighter plane operated by Zhang Wenyi was not equipped with real-time radar, which meant that he could not independently locate the location of the enemy reconnaissance plane.
The instructions in the headphones are only vague directions, and the process is not easy and pleasant. If Zhang Wenyi can't react quickly, he may miss the best time to intercept.
Suddenly, an unusual shadow in the upper left caught his attention, and he immediately looked up to take a closer look, "Finally found you." Zhang Wenyi showed absolute confidence in himself at this time and immediately reported this important information to the ground.
At this time, the reconnaissance plane had been in China's airspace for 23 minutes, and was still moving straight in the direction of Ningbo, without any fear. Chu Futian of the ground command immediately picked up the intercom device and prepared to take action.
In the early morning of the 23rd, a tense and exciting air chase battle was quietly staged. Pilot Zhang Wenyi grasped the joystick, adjusted the direction of flight, and the wings cut through the sky, facing the enemy's large reconnaissance plane P4M-1Q.
No matter how advanced the reconnaissance plane is, it cannot be compared with the MiG-17 fighter plane piloted by Zhang Wenyi, and its speed is unrivaled. Under Zhang Wenyi's straight-line pursuit, the distance between the two sides gradually narrowed, as if they could hear each other's breathing.
However, the blinding flames erupted in the quiet night sky, but due to the slightly longer distance and ballistic natural fall, they failed to hit the target. However, this did not stop Zhang Wenyi's determination, and with his rich experience, he had successfully locked on the position of the reconnaissance plane, while the enemy plane, due to its large size, was difficult to deal with flexibly, and could not get rid of Zhang Wenyi's pursuit for a while.
When the distance between the two sides was shortened to 400 meters, Zhang Wenyi activated the second round of cannon again. Some of the bullets hit the reconnaissance plane's wings, causing damage to the Iron Bird's wings and preventing it from flying.
They immediately changed direction, silently praying that the situation with the reconnaissance aircraft would support their return to the airfield of departure. Zhang Wenyi nimbly avoided a barrage of bullets fired from the reconnaissance machine gun, and once again narrowed the distance to about 300 meters.
At this time, staying calm is more important than any masterful skill. "Bang bang-" A continuous sound sounded, and not a single shell fell on the sea, but all hit the fuselage of the reconnaissance aircraft.
Zhang Wenyi piloted the MiG-17 in the air and successfully avoided the raging enemy aircraft in a smooth arc. "The enemy P4M-1Q reconnaissance aircraft was successfully shot down, and the mission was completed", a sudden tension was successfully dealt with.
However, the incident set off a chain reaction. After learning the news that the P4M-1Q reconnaissance plane was shot down and 16 crew members were missing, everyone understood that this was a self-directed and self-staged act by the clown, and our side would not make a special response to this.
On August 25, our fighters did not flinch and were ready to go. At the same time,
A few months later, we managed to recover the bodies of two pilots on two reconnaissance planes. The bodies were unrecognizable due to the long immersion, but we were able to identify them through their clothing and belongings.
We did not threaten the other side with this, but happily returned the bodies of the two pilots to the American side. Originally, the US side was the one who was at fault, but now that there is conclusive evidence, they cannot refute it.
In the end, of the 16 pilots who disappeared along with the reconnaissance plane, we found the remains of only 4 of them. It is worth mentioning that the main driver at the time, James Dean, was on the mission when his new wife had just turned 3 months.
Although Dean's wife, Schiavo, and his good friend Rumsfeld firmly believed that he was not dead, and they searched everywhere, and even went to China to look for him in person, Zhang Wenyi, the pilot who shot down the reconnaissance plane, was transferred to the embassy in the United States as an air force attaché.
Despite the face of life and death, every soldier should fulfill the responsibility of defending the motherland and the sovereignty and security of the country, because they have their relatives and country behind them, and this is what they must defend to the death.