The 1st Fighter Brigade (1st BDE,

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

: 第1航空旅;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''Dì 1 hángkōng lǚ''), sometimes called 1st Air Brigade, previously 1st Fighter Division, is a fighter aircraft unit of the Chinese

People's Liberation Army Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force, also referred to as the Chinese Air Force () or the People's Air Force (), is the primary aerial warfare service of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAAF controls most of the PLA's air assets, includi ...

(PLAAF) based at

Xianyang Xianyang ( zh, s=咸阳 , p=Xiányáng) is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now int ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

province. Part of the

Northern Theater Command Air Force The Northern Theater Command Air Force is the air force under the Northern Theater Command. Its headquarters is in Shenyang, Liaoning. The current commander is and the current political commissar is . History On 1 February 2016, the founding ...

, the brigade was originally established as the first division level formation of the PLAAF, established 19 June 1950. In the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

the unit shot down 92 airplanes. It was the first in PLAAF history to fight in

air combat ''Air Combat'' is a 1995 Combat flight simulation game, combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation, and the first title of the ''Ace Combat'' franchise. Players control an airc ...

, provide

close air support Close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS requires ...

, perform

night bombing A night bomber is a bomber aircraft intended specifically for carrying out bombing missions at night. The term is now mostly of historical significance. Night bombing began in World War I and was widespread during World War II. A number of moder ...

operations and more. It is also the only air brigade of the

to participate in five Chinese national day parades (1st, 10th, 35th, 50th and 60th national day parades). The unit's MUCD is 93056.

History

4th Mixed Brigade

The 1st Fighter Aviation Mixed Brigade originates from the 4th Mixed Brigade of the

. In 1950, Commander of the Air Force

Liu Yalou Liu Yalou (; April 1910 – 7 May 1965) was a general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army who served as the inaugural commander-in-chief of the PLA Air Force. During the Chinese Civil War, he was chief of staff of Lin Biao's army group, w ...

telegraphed Political Commissar of the Second Aviation School Li Shian and both agreed to form the first aviation unit. Fang Qiang will become brigadier-general while Li Shian will be the political commissar. While arranging the name of the Mixed Brigade,

decided on the name 4th Brigade as he claimed that the name "First Brigade" would entice arrogance within the unit. The brigade was decided to be reformed into the 4th Mixed Brigade by the

Central Military Commission Central Military Commission may refer to: *Central Military Commission (China), the highest national defense organization in the People's Republic of China. *Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the highest body in Vietnam ...

during 19 June 1950 in

Nanjing Dajiaochang Airport Nanjing Dajiaochang Airport was an airport that served Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu province. It is located south of Xinjiekou, the center of Nanjing, and is surrounded on three sides by the Qinhuai River. On 28 June 1997, ...

. This is to counter the bombing of Shanghai and various other cities by the

Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force ( Chinese, 中華民國空軍), or the ROCAF; known colloquially as the Taiwanese Air Force ( Chinese, 臺灣空軍) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Air Force ...

and to prepare for the invasion of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

in the future. As the first air brigade of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

, its members were mostly graduates of the

PLA Air Force Aviation University The People's Liberation Army Air Force Aviation University () is a military university in Changchun, Jilin, China. As of fall 2014, the university has 7 campuses, consists of 7 departments, covers a total area of , with more than 19,000,000 s ...

. The aircraft of the brigade includes

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

s and

attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pr ...

. The officer corps were arranged in the style of the

Third Field Army The Third Field Army was one of the five main forces of the Chinese Communist Party's People's Liberation Army during the Chinese Civil War. It was established in early 1949. Initially known as the East China Field Army, it was formed by the New ...

. The brigade concentrated all the air power of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and thus included of many types of aircraft. The brigade was split into four regiments, which are the 10th Regiment, 11th Regiment, 12th Regiment and 13th Regiment, which all had differing numbers of airplanes and airplane types.

4th Division

The 4th Mixed Brigade was moved to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

on 8 August 1950 and was undergoing patrols of airspace near Shanghai by 19 October in the same year. Under the orders of

, the brigade was relocated to

Liaoyang Liaoyang ( zh, s=辽阳 , t=遼陽 , p=Liáoyáng) is a prefecture-level city of east-central Liaoning province, China, situated on the Taizi River. It is approximately one hour south of Shenyang, the provincial capital, by car. Liaoyang is hom ...

by brigadier-general

Fang Ziyi Fang Ziyi (; 21 January 1917 – 17 March 2015) was a major general in the People's Liberation Army Air Force of China. He served as Deputy Commander of the Air Force of Beijing Military Region and Deputy Commander of the Air Force of Guangzhou M ...

in preparation of the

. The brigade was joined up with the Third Division (currently: 3rd Fighter Aviation Division) of the

and Soviet MiG fighter equipment. The 4th Mixed Brigade was reorganized and renamed into the 4th Division. The 4th Division was split into two regiments, 10th and 12th regiments. Each regiment comprised three squadrons, each with 10 aircraft. The entire division included 60

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful jet fighters to incorporate s ...

s, two

Yakovlev Yak-12 The Yakovlev Yak-12 (, also transcribed as Jak-12, NATO reporting name: "Creek") is a light multirole STOL aircraft used by the Soviet Air Forces, Soviet civilian aviation and other countries from 1947 onwards. Design and development The Yak- ...

s and one Guard battalion with a total of 1983 personnel. The 4th Division was sent off personally by Generals

Zhu De Zhu De; (1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Zhu was born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan. He was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...

and

on 30 November 1950. An order from the

to rotate squadrons into

Dandong Langtou Airport Dandong Langtou Airport is an airport serving the city of Dandong, Liaoning, China. History Korean War Antung Airfield was a major base for People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and Korean People's Air Force (KPAF) fighters during the ...

for providing air support was received on 4 December 1950. The 10th Regiment was the first to be deployed to Dandong Langtou Airport. Li Han was the first Chinese pilot credited with shooting down a U.S. aircraft. He would later lead another attack which saw no Chinese losses and one American casualty. 10th Regiment returned to

to recover on 3 March 1951. The 12th Regiment was assigned to combat roles and deployed in July 1951 but delivered subpar combat performance. Pilot Zhao Zhichai being ambushed by American forces and shot down, navigation errors, mid-air collisions between friendly aircraft and the death of regimental commander Zhao Dahai led to the division's temporary relief from combat missions. On 12 September 1951, the division resumed operations which was its third deployment. It engaged in battles eight times in total and resulted in 26 American aircraft being shot down and 8 damaged American aircraft. However, the 4th Division also faced losses with 14 MiG-15s shot down and 6 damaged. The 3rd Division took over combat missions in

and the 4th Division was returned to base. The 4th Division participated in an award ceremony later on, Hua Longyi was awarded a Special Class Meritorious while Zou Yan and five others were awarded First Class Meritorious Service. The division reentered the

on 16 January 1952 as their fourth deployment. Zhang Jihui and his wingman Dan Zhiyu fought and won against an American

F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

led by flying ace

George Andrew Davis Jr. George Andrew Davis Jr. (December 1, 1920 – February 10, 1952) was a highly decorated fighter pilot and flying ace of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, and later of the United States Air Force during the Korean War. He was ki ...

The division fought 17 battles, shot down 17 and damaged 6 American aircraft for the duration of its deployment. It was recalled back to Liaoyang in June 1952 to receive upgrades and by the end of the year all the MiG-15s were fully upgraded into MiG-15bis. The 4th Division was deployed for the fifth time on 15 March 1953 to Dagushan Airport. It took part in 29 battles, shot down 24

F-86 The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

, 1

Lockheed F-94 Starfire The Lockheed F-94 Starfire is a first-generation jet powered all-weather day/night interceptor aircraft designed and produced by Lockheed Corporation. It was the first operational United States Air Force (USAF) fighter equipped with an afterbu ...

and damaged 3

. Due to the signing of the

Korean Armistice Agreement The Korean Armistice Agreement (; zh, t=韓國停戰協定 / 朝鮮停戰協定) is an armistice that brought about a cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. It was signed by United States Army Lieutenant General William Kelly Harrison Jr ...

on 7 July 1953, the 4th Division was ordered to stop all combat operations and returned to its base in Liaoyang. During the

, the 4th Division was tasked with protecting the supply chains and key locations of the

People's Volunteer Army The People's Volunteer Army (PVA), officially the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV), was the armed expeditionary forces China in the Korean War, deployed by the History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976), People's Republic of Chi ...

. Its aircraft took off in total of 4058 times, fought in 914 air engagements with 43 of its pilots successfully downing enemy aircraft. It has 64 shot down enemy aircraft, 24 damaged enemy aircraft in total with the losses of 55 aircraft and 25 damaged aircraft. 1,424 men of the division has been awarded for their service.

1st Division

After the end of the

, the 4th Division was decided to be renamed into 1st Division by the party committee of the

. The 10th Regiment, 11th Regiment (formed in 1954) and the 12th Regiment under the 1st Division were also renamed into 1st Regiment, 2nd Regiment, 3rd Regiments respectively. 46 wings of

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is a Soviet second generation, single-seat, twinjet fighter aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S. " Cen ...

aircraft were imported from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to equip the division in October 1958. The division undergone upgrades in

Tongzhou District, Beijing Tongzhou is a district of Beijing. It is located in southeast Beijing and considered the eastern gateway to the nation's capital. Downtown Tongzhou itself lies around east of central Beijing, at the northern end of the Grand Canal (China), G ...

. In 1959, the 1st Regiment and 3rd Regiments were re-based to

Anshan Anshan ( zh, s=鞍山, p=Ānshān, l=saddle mountain) is an inland prefecture-level city in central-southeast Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, about south of the provincial capital Shenyang. As of the 2020 census, it was Liaoning' ...

. The 1st Regiment was temporary reformed into a night flying unit under the direct control of the division leader. It was than shortly changed into a division independent regiment. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments were renamed into 1st, 2nd and 3rd Large Squadron respectively. On 15 November 1964, 2nd Large Squadron leader Xu Kaitong piloting a Chinese

Shenyang J-6 The Shenyang J-6 (wikt:歼, Chinese: 歼-6; designated F-6 for export versions; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is the Chinese version of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19, MiG-19 'Farmer' fighter, the world's first mass-produced supersonic airc ...

managed to bring down a

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

Ryan Model 147 The Ryan Model 147 Lightning Bug is a jet-powered drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle, produced and developed by Ryan Aeronautical from the earlier Ryan Firebee target drone series. Beginning in 1962, the Model 147 was introduced as a reconn ...

unmanned

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using Aerial photography, photography), signals ...

in the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is composed of stratified temperature zones, with the warmer layers of air located higher ...

, becoming the first recorded instance of an aircraft being shot down in the stratosphere. While defending the airspace of China, the division damaged 4 enemy airplanes in total. During 8 August 1968, the 2nd Large Squadron and 3rd Large Squadron was re-based to

Chifeng Yulong Airport Chifeng Yulong Airport is an airport serving Chifeng, a city in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia in China. Facilities The airport has one runway which is long. Airlines and destinations See also * List of airports in China This ...

, the 1st Large Squadron joined up in Chifeng Yulong Airport on 14 September 1968. All of the Large Squadrons were tasked with protecting the airspace surrounding

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

1st Fighter Aviation Division

During May 1970, the

ordered the 1st Division to be renamed 1st Fighter Aviation Division. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Large Squadrons has also been renamed into 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments. From 1979 to 1983, the aircraft of the 1st and 3rd Regiments were systematically upgraded into the

Chengdu J-7 The Chengdu J-7 (wikt:歼, Chinese: 歼-7; third generation export version F-7; NATO reporting name: Fishcan) is a People's Republic of China, Chinese fighter aircraft. It is a licensed production, license-built version of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gur ...

and

Shenyang J-8 The Shenyang J-8 (Simplified Chinese characters, Chinese: 歼-8; NATO reporting name: Finback) is a family of interceptor aircraft developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute, 601 Institute (Shenyang) in the People's Republic of China ( ...

respectively. The division was the first unit in the

to adapt the

. The 1st Regiment was being upgraded with the Shenyang J-8B in 1992 while the 2nd Regiment was upgraded with the Chengdu J-7E. Two types of third-generation aircraft were later incorporated into the division. On 3 February 2009, upgrades made to the division (

Chengdu J-10 The Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon (; NATO reporting name: Firebird) is a Chinese medium-weight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft using a delta wing and canard design, with a maximum speed of Mach 1.8. It is produced by the Chengdu Aircr ...

Shenyang J-11 The Shenyang J-11 ( Chinese: 歼-11; NATO reporting name: Flanker-B+/Flanker-L), also known as Yinglong ( zh, s=应龙, t=應龍, p=yìnglóng, l=responsive dragon). is a 4th generation twin-engine jet fighter of the People's Republic of China ...

/ J-11B, Shenyang J-8F) were shown in CCTV-7 Military·Agriculture Channel. The 1st Fighter Aviation Division became the focus of the

for upgrades and became one of the most advanced divisions in the

. Headquartered in

, the division was split into three sub units: first, second and third regiments. Both first and third regiments are stationed in

while the second is stationed in

Chifeng Chifeng,; also known as Ulanhad ( (Улаанхад хот), ''Ulaɣanqada qota'', , "red cliff") also known as Ulankhad in Mongolian, is a prefecture-level city in Southeastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. It borders Xilin Gol Le ...

1st Fighter Brigade

In the late 2010s, the 1st Fighter Division was reduced in status to a brigade, in line with a PLA-wide changeover to primarily brigade formations. In 2021, the 1st Brigade transitioned to the

Chengdu J-20 The Chengdu J-20 (), also known as Mighty Dragon (, NATO reporting name: Fagin), is a twinjet, twin-engine Night fighter, all-weather Stealth aircraft, stealth fighter developed by China's Chengdu Aircraft Corporation for the People's Liberatio ...

stealth fighter. The

China Aerospace Studies Institute The China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) is a United States Department of the Air Force think tank which examines all facets of the China, People's Republic of China and Chinese Communist Party's efforts to project power in the Aerial warfa ...

of the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

identifies these aircraft as tail numbers 61022, 61023, 61026, 61027, 61120, 61121, 61125, 61127, and 61128.

References

External links

''1st Fighter Division'' at SinoDefense

at Scramble Magazine - Dutch Aviation Society {{DEFAULTSORT:1st Fighter Aviation Division (People's Liberation Army Air Force) Brigades of the People's Liberation Army Anshan Fighter aircraft units and formations of the People's Republic of China 1950 establishments in China