On April 11, 1955, Air India's Kashmir Princess flight was passing off the coast of Indonesia**, killing five crew members and 11 passengers.
The incident has attracted widespread attention both domestically and internationally as *** was originally scheduled to travel to Jakarta on this plane to attend the Bandung Conference.
Just a year later, in May 1956, while the effects of the incident were still ongoing, the Chairman offered to travel by plane. Why is that?
It turned out that the ** chairman insisted on flying only Chinese planes. In the mid-50s of the 20 th century, with the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, China's economic and military construction gradually returned to normal.
At that time, the main aircraft of our Air Force were imported from the USSR, and the training of excellent pilots was also carried out by Soviet instructors. In order to facilitate state leaders' visits abroad and to receive foreign guests visiting China, the Air Force has set up the Third Independent Air Force Regiment which is specially responsible for the task of airlifting special planes.
The members of this flight team are all skilled and come from formal aviation schools. In particular, the regiment commander Hu Ping, who was one of the earliest fighter pilots in China, has successfully completed the transportation tasks of the leader's special plane for many times, and has accumulated rich experience in aircraft piloting and special plane airlifting.
One day in late April 1956, Hu Ping received an invitation from Liu Yalou during daily training. As the first commander of China's air force, Liu Yalou took "administering the army strictly" as his working principle and set extremely strict requirements on the work style of lower-level officers.
This made many officers nervous when facing him, but Hu Ping was an exception.
Hu Ping is often responsible for the transportation of national leaders, and has frequent contact with Liu Yalou, and the relationship between the two has gradually become closer. When he pushed open the door of Liu Yalou's office, he found that the atmosphere was extremely serious, and the smile disappeared instantly, and he was keenly aware of the abnormality.
Hu Ping saluted Liu Yalou and asked if there were any instructions, Liu Yalou motioned for him to sit down, and told him straight to the point that there was a very important task to be given to him.
When Hu Ping heard the commander's urgent task, her heart was full of doubts. He didn't interrupt Liu Yalou's words, just sat quietly on the side and listened to his explanation. Liu Yalou paused, looked at Hu Ping keenly, and asked solemnly: "* If you want to take a plane from our Air Force, do you think you can guarantee his safety?" ”
When Hu Ping heard the news, she was shocked and couldn't help but ask: "Why do you have to use an airplane?" Isn't it safer to take the train? ”
Liu Yalou looked at Hu Ping and explained the whole process of the matter in detail. It turned out that the chairman had recently planned to visit Guangzhou, and the distance between Beijing and Guangzhou was about 2,000 kilometers, and if you took a train, it would take twenty or thirty hours.
The Chair was concerned about the impact on the progress of the work and therefore intended to fly.
I'm going to fly on a plane that we Chinese drive ourselves! ”
The Chinese stood up. Truth be told, none of us believed it. ......However, in the Korean War, the Chinese People's Volunteers drove the US troops to the 38th parallel, and the Americans had to swallow the bitter fruit of defeat.
From that moment on, we believed that your nation was indeed different ...... than before.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the leaders made clear a clear goal: not only to build a territorial and agricultural power, but also to develop into a political and military power.
Therefore, it is highly recommended to travel on a special aircraft piloted by a national pilot. After hearing Liu Yalou's explanation, Hu Ping was deeply encouraged. He knew that he must have made great determination to decide to travel by plane in such an environment, and the fact that the troops had entrusted them with this important task also showed the trust of his superiors and the whole country in him.
At first, Hu Ping was a little nervous, but at the moment he was full of motivation. He stood up, saluted Liu Yalou, and said firmly: "Please rest assured, commander!"
Since *** insists on flying on our plane, we will definitely be able to show the ambition of the Chinese Air Force! Liu Yalou smiled knowingly and said, "I know your ability, and I believe that you will be able to successfully complete the task." ”
As a result, the Third Independent Regiment of the Air Force carefully selected several pilots with high ideological consciousness and good piloting skills from the troops, and together with Hu Ping, formed a special crew to carry out the mission.
After careful consideration, we decided to use the Li-2 transport aircraft for this mission. This model has a relatively low failure rate, better stability, and a flight altitude of about 2,700 meters and a flight speed of 240 kilometers per hour.
After deciding on the type of aircraft, we also modified the aircraft to ensure the comfort of the chair when riding. At about 8 o'clock in the morning of May 3, 1956, Hu Ping and his crew piloted this special Li-2 transport plane, carrying the chairman, Liu Yalou, ** and others from Beijing's western suburbs airport and flying to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, the destination of our trip.
Thus began the President's first special flight.
Due to the limited range of the Li-2 aircraft, the flight required refueling in Wuhan before continuing to Guangzhou. During the four-hour journey to Wuhan Airport, Hu Ping and the other crew members always maintained a high degree of concentration and did not dare to slack off.
In order to reduce the fatigue of the driver, the Li-2 transport aircraft is equipped with an autopilot function. However, Captain Hu Ping and Co-Pilot Chen Jinzhong preferred to take turns flying the plane rather than activate the autopilot mode.
None of them want to affect the riding experience because of the instability of the mode. With the joint efforts of Hu Ping and Chen Jinzhong, the aircraft has always maintained a stable flight state and has always maintained a happy mood.
When the plane crossed the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge under construction, the chairman suddenly put down the "Zizhi Tongjian" in his hand and moved his eyes to the window of the plane. At this moment, the chairman of the chairman is in front of the huge bridge pier standing on the river, as well as the endless flow of traffic and crowds, this spectacular scene makes the chairman deeply shocked, he said to the side of the ***: "It's beautiful!"
So beautiful! At about 4 p.m. on May 3, 1956, the Li-2 transport plane piloted by Hu Ping appeared over Guangzhou Baiyun Airport. Soon after, the news of "confirmation of receipt" came from the airport tower, which means that Baiyun Airport is ready to welcome the arrival of Chairman ***.
When the plane docked smoothly on the tarmac of Baiyun Airport, Hu Ping and the co-pilot Chen Jinzhong's tense heartstrings were finally relaxed. The local military and political leaders in Guangzhou welcomed the arrival of the party with warm applause.
Smile and wave to them one by one. Despite a long flight of several hours, *** was still in good spirits and in a very happy mood.
In the course of talking with the leaders of Guangzhou, the chairman also said happily: "It is so convenient to take the plane, and I arrived in Guangzhou on the same day. ”
** He stayed in Guangzhou for a long time, and did not leave for Hunan until the end of the month, and then came to Wuhan, where he wrote the famous poem "Water Tune Song Tou Swimming" on the Yangtze River.
On June 4, 1956, he returned to Beijing on a special plane, but encountered trouble caused by high-altitude cumulonimbus clouds while passing through Hebei. The Minister was so concerned about the strong convection in the Cumulonimbus clouds that caused the plane to jolt, and repeatedly inquired about the situation in the cockpit.
Hu Ping and her colleagues kept the control stick tight on the plane after it entered the cumulonimbus cloud to keep the plane flying smoothly. The lightning disrupted communication between the aircraft and the control tower, and despite repeated attempts to re-establish contact with the tower, they were unsuccessful.
At this time, the staff in the cabin was worried about ***'s body and asked him if he needed to lie down and rest. However, ** refused, he still looked intently at the document in his hand, and made annotations on the document with a pen from time to time.
Considering the safety of the flight, the crew decided to bypass this cumulonimbus cloud. According to Hu Ping et al.'s analysis of the weather map before the flight, they believed that this cumulonimbus cloud belonged to local convective weather, and there was enough fuel left to bypass it, so as to avoid it.
Acting immediately, Hu Ping worked closely with the rest of the crew to take advantage of the gap between the cumulonimbus clouds to fly flexibly and make a detour from Cangzhou, Hebei Province, successfully avoiding the cumulonimbus clouds.
At this time, the crew re-established contact with the Beijing Tower, and at the Beijing airport, Liu Yalou's frowning brow did not relax until this moment. A few hours later, Hu Ping drove the plane and landed safely on the runway of Beiping's Xijiao Airport, and everyone, including Air Force Commander Liu Yalou, could not contain their excitement and began to cheer.
And ***, who is over sixty years old, is still full of energy and no fatigue. I saw him get off the plane and shake hands with the crew one by one to say goodbye.
When he saw Liu Yalou again, his smile was no longer smiling, and he blamed Liu Yalou for "deceiving" himself. This word "deception" made Liu Yalou scratch his head, and explained with a smile: "Didn't you say that we don't have excellent pilots in China?"
I think Hu Ping is very good, aren't you lying? After hearing this, everyone smiled, and Liu Yalou said that he wanted to summarize the travel task, because he would often travel by plane in the future.
According to Liu Yalou's **, he traveled more than 60 times by air force plane in the next three years. As the most trusted "air driver", Hu Ping always personally participates in the flight, whether it is flying the plane or directing the flight.
Thanks to his efforts, he was able to reach his destination safely and quickly every time. At the same time, these missions also provide Air Force pilots with a wealth of experience and opportunities to improve their skills.