The veteran of the last Flying Tigers who flew over the hump route many times in Yunnan passed away
Lu Jianhang, a member of the Flying Tigers and a veteran of the Anti-Japanese War, died in Kunming on May 19 at the age of 95. He was the last Flying Tigers member of Yunnan Province to fly a plane across the hump route.
95-year-old Flying Tiger veteran dies
Determined to save the country and renamed "Jianhang"
Zhu Junkun, head of the Yunnan Flying Tigers Research Association, told the Beijing Youth Daily on the 23rd that Lu Jianhang, the last member of the Flying Tigers who had piloted a plane over the hump route in Yunnan Province, was sick in Yunnan on May 19 at 16:20 Kunming passed away at the age of 95.
According to reports, Lu Jianhang, formerly known as Lu Fengyao, was born in Peiping in March 1926 and his ancestry is Yuyao, Zhejiang. In 1937, the Japanese invasion of China launched the Lugou Bridge Incident. Lu Jianhang ’s father fled the family to Xi’an, Hanzhong, Shaanxi, so that Lu Jianhang and his siblings could continue their studies.
Lu Jianhang was determined to "save the country by aviation" from a young age. In 1940, at the age of 14, he was admitted to the first phase of the infant aviation military school in Guanxian County, Hengyang, Hunan. "When his father led him to register, he wrote the words" Lu Jianhang "in the name column. He told his father that he would learn from the Chinese Air Force hero Gao Zhihang and renamed him Lu Jianhang." Flying Tigers Research The staff of the meeting said that after many years of anti-Japanese war, the Chinese Air Force suffered great losses, and it was particularly difficult for pilots to supplement. Therefore, the Air Force Childhood School was established to recruit excellent elementary school graduates for 6 years of training. After graduating from high school, they entered the Air Force Officer School to learn to fly. In this way, the quality of pilots was guaranteed to meet the needs of long-term anti-Japanese war.
Multiple risk of plane crash
Transport aid to China back to China
In 1943, Lu Jianhang was 17 years old. After studying in the first phase of the Air Force Childhood School for 3 years, he has grown into an excellent student. But he was so eager to save the country that he was unwilling to wait three years to graduate before learning to fly. As a result, he left the Air Force Childhood School and was admitted to the 19th period of the Air Force Officer School from Chongqing. After graduating, he joined the Air Force at the Central Military Officer School of Wujiaba, Kunming, and was sent to the Indian Lava Air School Branch (now Pakistan) to study flight, and then went to the United States Air School for further study.
At the beginning of 1945, Lu Jianhang flew an airplane over the hump route back to China, and thus joined the airlift brigade, and repeatedly transported foreign aid materials from China to China through the hump route. On this toughest route in the world, members of the Flying Tigers, including Lu Jianhang, drove transport aircraft to deliver more than 730,000 tons of strategic materials.
Participated in the "Kunming Defense War"
Won many honors during his lifetime
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Lu Jianhang left the Air Force to "remove his armor and return to the field" and went to Kunming Jianshe Middle School to teach and get married. On December 9, 1949, Lu Jianhang responded to the call to participate in the "Yunnan Uprising", and in the "Kunming Defence War", he flew the enemy's airfield in Mengzi and Xichang to bomb Kunming. crisis. In 1985, Lu Jianhang was awarded the title of "competent person in lift-off combat".
Statistics show that for many years, Lu Jianhang has been actively involved in public welfare undertakings and has been repeatedly elected as the vice chairman of the Flying Tigers Research Association of Yunnan Province. He has actively recalled the search for World War II sites and the Flying Tigers site in Nanping Street, Xiangyun Street, Jinbi Near the road, he helped identify the locations of the Flying Tigers. On September 3, 2015, Lu Jianhang participated in the "70th Anniversary of the Victory of the Anti-Japanese War" held in Beijing on behalf of the veterans of the Anti-Japanese War in Yunnan and won the "70th Anniversary Medal of the Victory of the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese War". "Lu Jianhang is the last Flying Tigers team member to fly over the hump route in Yunnan Province. On the 21st, we held a farewell ceremony for Lu Lao ’s body in Kunming. In the future, our Flying Tigers team will continue to organize and collect flying The historical data of the Tigers will allow future generations to remember this history forever. "Zhu Junkun told the Beiqing Daily reporter. Text / Reporter Qu Chang