China Armed Forces No.25,Vol.1,2014
Major General Zhu Yaozong, a former political commissar of the PLA Nanjing Institute of Politics, recounts his experiences of the Korean War, known in China as the War to Resist the U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.
In December 1950, I left school and joined the army to take part in the War to Resist the U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, to protect our homes and defend our country. After receiving a short period of training, I entered an aviation school to study the maintenance of MIG-15 fighters. After this strict training, I went on to become an aircraft maintenance mechanic. Later, I was assigned to the No.1 Brigade of the 16th Regiment of the 6th Division of the PLA Air Force of the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) and went to fight in Korea.
A Battle in the Skies
On July 16, 1952, my regiment and other units sent 36 fighters to intercept enemy aircraft above the Mount Iron area. In the fierce combat, our fighters dueled with the enemy aircraft through the skies, though the enemy planes outnumbered ours significantly. Wingman Jing Yujie, closely following the lead aircraft to protect the leader Liu Baorong, was hit by an enemy fighter at 6,000 meters. He managed to bail out, but was shot dead by the enemy in the air, with bullets cutting seven strings of his parachute.
Leader Liu Baorong was so angry that he dived to attack an enemy aircraft, shooting with all three guns at once. The enemy was immediately shot down. However, Liu’s aircraft was soon hit by another enemy and the bullets shattered the cockpit and control panel, causing shrapnel to hit his face. He survived thanks to the steel plates in his seat. Fortunately, his operations system and the engine were still working. Liu, fighting the pain of his wounds, managed to shake the enemy and fly home at low altitude.
The No.12 aircraft unit received a report from the command post and prepared to help the returning aircraft land safely. Shortly afterwards, an aircraft zigzagged its way towards the base, along the runway extension and then landed on the runway. Everyone knew it was Liu, who was a skillful pilot. He landed heavily and fast, with a sudden halt, bursting the two main tires. The aircraft came to a halt in the middle of the runway. We rushed to the site aboard a rescue vehicle, so as to clear the way for other aircraft. We were struggling to jack up the fighter to change the tires, but everyone on the base came to help lift the aircraft and put the jack under it. We replaced the tires in a few minutes and towed the damaged fighter off the runway.
Each Air Force regiment had its own maintenance unit, responsible for routine maintenance and repairs. Every division had its own workshop, hidden away from the base and camouflaged, to make major repairs on severely damaged aircraft.
The No.12 aircraft was badly shot up, with parts of the engine damaged, and a dozen holes in the fuselage. Moreover, the operating lever was warped and many of the instruments, electrical circuits and lines were damaged. The cockpit was so cramped, that I, being small, was the only one who could enter and remove all the damaged parts and pass them to specialists waiting outside to repair them. Later, I had to install the repaired parts. I stayed in the cockpit for days and nights, during insufferable heat as we had to work underneath the camouflage to avoiding detection by enemy aircraft. After several days, I felt very uncomfortable with a stomachache. One day, while installing a shutdown switch, I passed out. My colleagues found me incontinent and immediately sent me to the base hospital. The damaged aircraft was completely repaired in five days, thanks to our efforts. Battle Ready
As ground crew, we had to get up as early as 3 or 4 a.m. to prepare the aircraft for their various operations. An auxiliary fuel tank had to be hung under each wing, and the main and rear tanks filled. When the pilots saw enemy aircraft, they dropped the auxiliary tanks before joining the battle. In 1953, the last year of the three-year war, our aircraft flew so frequently that we had to prepare three to five pairs of drop tanks for each fighter. In this case, every aircraft unit had to maintain eight pairs of auxiliary tanks, which were covered with anti-corrosive paint. We had to clean the paint with kerosene in advance. It was quite a challenge to clean the drop tanks as they were very heavy and difficult to carry. We had to wash these tanks everyday, without complaint.
December is the coldest month in Andong, now Dandong, a Chinese town bordering the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), with temperatures often plunging to minus 10 to minus 20 degrees centigrade. The maintenance crews worked around the clock, wearing leather gloves. Sometimes, we had to work without gloves, and our hands could stick to the metal. Some colleagues from other parts of the country had no experience of the bitter northeast winters. When they found their hands sticking to the metal, they tore them, resulting in injuries and bleeding.
They were difficult times, dealing with numerous missions, long-haul flights, frequent takeoffs and landings, and ceaseless breakdowns and stoppages for different systems. Most of the maintenance workers were high school graduates with little experience, and supplies of parts and equipment were poor. But we were in high spirits with a sense of political responsibility, willing to work selflessly. We worked with the motto, “Breakdowns will not be left overnight and stoppages will not become airborne.” We had to work constantly, regardless of hunger, fatigue or the weather.
Once we discovered two oil pipes of the No. 12 aircraft were leaking, a potentially lethal danger. The Mig-15 fighter had dual air vents on each side of the fuselage, just big enough for someone to edge along. As mechanic Wang Zhefu looked over the team, I volunteered to enter the passages and do the repairs.
That was a very cold, windy day. I took off my leather uniform, leaving just a sweatshirt, and then braved the cold to get into the vent and move to the engine and work under it, trying to open the oil pipe with pliers. I took off my gloves to make it easier, but my hands were soon numb with cold. I had to put on the gloves for a while and then take them off to continue working. I did these again and again. The mechanic was worried about my health and kept asking if I was alright. In about an hour, I had prized apart the two pipes and wrapped each with tape, and changed the position of the fasteners holding the pipes. When the problems were resolved, I lost consciousness, and my colleagues found me and pulled me out of the vent by my feet. They put me in my leather uniform and sent me to the hospital, where they covered me with cotton quilts. This experience made my reputation and afterwards, colleagues from other units also came to ask me for help to resolve problems in the vents.
At that time, we had slogans like “All for victory” and “Victory is achieved in the air and guaranteed on the ground”. The pilots made a lot of flights to break the enemy siege, and as ground crews we had to battle ready when each pilot took off. Once the pilot was in the cockpit, we rushed to help him fix the parachute, start the engine, and check all the instruments, lights and switches in order to ensure a smooth flight. Once the aircraft landed, we checked it all over, sorted out any problems and replaced damaged parts. At the same time, we installed the drop tanks, filled the fuel, oxygen and air tanks, and cleaned and reloaded the machineguns. This way, we tried to get the aircraft ready to fly again in the shortest possible time. Even on chilly winter days, we were soaked with sweat when we worked on the aircraft.
All the crew members were exhausted. We learned to sleep whenever and wherever we could. As a result, everyone suffered from arthritis. I was 18 and became used to sitting on the ground and thinking about my work and the bitterness and happiness of life.
