114 Air Battle over Chengdu(Date: 4th November 1939)
Japanese military aggression was obstructed by the determined ROC Armed Forces. Being at their wits’ end, Japanese forces decided to conduct strategic bombardment to upset the morale of the Chinese population. They took advantage of their superior warplanes to conduct air raids from multiple directions at high altitude at the same time so as to overwhelm ROCAF’s pursuers. On 4th November 1939, 54 Japanese heavy bombers divided into two formations with 27 bombers each, were going to raid on Sichuan from Hubei. At 1030 hours, Japanese formations were approaching Mainyang of Sichuan, the sirens in Chengdu were sounded. At 1038 hours, Cmdr. Ce Ze-liu, 17th SQ, led 14 pursuers to take off and conduct patrols over the skies between Fenghuang Mountain and Wenjiang, Sichuan at 5,000 m while Cmdr. Xie Quan-he, 27th SQ, was leading 7 Polikarpov I-15s to patrol over Taiping Temple, Chengdu, and Fenghuang Mountain. At 1040 hours, Cmdr. Ma Guo-lian, 29th SQ, led 9 I-15s to patrol over Chengdu, Taiping, and Fenghuang Mountain while Deputy Cmdr. Wang Han-xun, 9th Attack Group (AG), led 6 I-16s to patrol between Taiping Temple and Wenjiang. Before their departure, flight leads that equipped with radios were asked to follow the order transmitted when hostile aircraft away from Chengdu for 20 km to lead all wingmen to engage them head-on. At 1100 hours, the first Japanese formation of 27 planes was reaching over Xinfan. Seven I-15s from the 27th SQ spotted them, and Cmdr. Xie Quan-he, as the flight lead, led all wingmen, including the 2nd and the 3rd flights, to engage. Two Japanese planes were hit, churning out thick smokes, and one crashed into the ground and burned while another two busted out. Cmdr. Cen Ze-liu, 17th SQ, led 7 Dewoitine D.510Cs to engage the Japs in a fanned-out formation while planes from the 27th SQ were dogfighting with their targets. Cmdr. Cen instantly knocked out one, which crashed at the southeast of Chengdu.
Photo: Polikarpov I-16
At 1118 hours, Cmdr. Ma Guo-lian, 29th SQ led 9 I-15s to take off, and spotted the second formation of 27 Japanese planes, flying from the northwest to the southeast of Chengdu. Cmdr. Ma gave signals for his wingmen to pay attention, and then began to chase the bogies from the south of Taiping Temple to the terrains around Zhongxingchang (or Huayang, Sichuan). Within range, he dived and engaged these bogies from above, and 4 or 5 Japanese planes were seen giving out fumes. Among those damaged, a flight lead of the Japanese formation on the right was spiraling after being caught on fire. ROCAF planes were chasing these bogies till Jianyang, and gave up for the sake of fuel low.
Photo: Polikarpov I-15
Result:
Three Japanese planes were shot down, and multiple were damaged. One ROCAF CB bomber (or Tupolev SB) was destroyed and two trainers were damaged on the ground at Wenjiang airfield by Japanese bombs while multiple ROCAF planes were damaged during air combats. Pilot Deng Cong-kai and Pilot Duan Wen-yu were killed in action.
Photo: A wreckage of a Japanese Type 96 bomber downed by the ROCAF