Taiwan in Time: July 4 to July 10
On the morning of July 5, 1959, four F-86 Sabre fighter planes departed from the Hsinchu Air Base, their mission a simple one — to patrol the airspace over the Matsu Islands, just off the coast of China.
It was not a combat mission, but the four Taiwan-based Republic of China (ROC) Air Force pilots were still advised to be careful, as there were reports of increased enemy People’s Republic of China (PRC) MiG-17 fighter plane activity in the area.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
The last major battle between ROC and PRC forces concluded on Oct. 5, 1958 with the end of the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, but minor skirmishes continued to take place.
Most incidents were not meant to be combat missions -- the planes usually set out from Taiwan to either patrol the strait or take reconnaissance photos, but there was always the risk of running into the enemy.
Because of the success of the US-provided Sabres, the aircraft was nicknamed “MiG Buster” (米格剋星). The real advantage, however, was most likely their infrared-guided Sidewinder missiles, first used in a September 1958 skirmish that led to the destruction of 10 MiGs.
This is the story as told in Wang Li-chen’s (王立楨) book, Pilot Stories (飛行員的故事). The pilots noticed the presence of four enemy planes as they flew over Wuchiu Island (烏坵). They immediately prepared for combat, and after some maneuvering Captain Chang Yen-ming (張燄明) opened fire and shot down one of the MiGs.
As the remaining MiGs split up into two groups, so did the Sabres, who continued pursuit. At this time, another group of MiGs arrived, forcing Chang Kang-ling’s (張崗陵) group to give up the chase and go on the defensive. Wang writes that Chang made a 7.5G turn and plunged straight downward toward one of the planes and opened fire, shooting it down.
Meanwhile, Chang Yen-ming’s team also ran into additional enemy planes. Chang engaged in scissor maneuvering with an enemy plane, only to find two more heading his way. To get away, he flew at full speed toward the ocean — pulling up at the last minute. One of the enemy planes did not pull up in time and crashed.
Chang Yen-ming’s groupmate, Kuan Yong-hua (關永華) also engaged in battle on his own, finally downing a fourth enemy plane. Wang writes that as the enemy pilot parachuted out of his plane, Kuan slowed down, made a circle around the pilot and saluted him before flying off.
Reports seem to vary on this event — some say that five MiGs were downed, some say that the planes set out from Chiayi, and some say that one MiG was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery on one of the ROC-controlled islands.
Aerial battles after this incident were sparse, the next recorded one being when two ROC fighters shot down a MiG in February 1960.
Lee Chiun-rong (李俊融) and Lee Ching-yi (李靜宜) write in the study, Comparing the Development and Battle Results of the Nationalist and Communist Air Forces (國共空軍發展及戰果差異之比較) that PRC was going through the disastrous Great Leap Forward and the Great Famine during that time and had little energy to devote to coastal air patrols.
The final battle, and also the final direct military engagement of any kind between the two sides took place on Jan. 13, 1967.
By that time, Taiwan had upgraded to the F-104 Starfighter and China the MiG-19, and this was reportedly the first time the first and last time an ROC Starfighter would shoot down a MiG.
This was another reconnaissance mission, and on the way back, the Starfighters were attacked by a group of MiG-19s. They shot down two enemy planes before heading back to Taiwan — but Major Yang Ching-tsung (楊敬宗) somehow disappeared on the way home.
There are many theories about what happened (which we will not delve into), and until today, Yang’s fate is still a mystery.
Taiwan in Time, a column about Taiwan’s history that is published every Sunday, spotlights important or interesting events around the nation that have anniversaries this week.
From the last quarter of 2001, research shows that real housing prices nearly tripled (before a 2012 law to enforce housing price registration, researchers tracked a few large real estate firms to estimate housing price behavior). Incomes have not kept pace, though this has not yet led to defaults. Instead, an increasing chunk of household income goes to mortgage payments. This suggests that even if incomes grow, the mortgage squeeze will still make voters feel like their paychecks won’t stretch to cover expenses. The housing price rises in the last two decades are now driving higher rents. The rental market
July 21 to July 27 If the “Taiwan Independence Association” (TIA) incident had happened four years earlier, it probably wouldn’t have caused much of an uproar. But the arrest of four young suspected independence activists in the early hours of May 9, 1991, sparked outrage, with many denouncing it as a return to the White Terror — a time when anyone could be detained for suspected seditious activity. Not only had martial law been lifted in 1987, just days earlier on May 1, the government had abolished the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist
Fifty-five years ago, a .25-caliber Beretta fired in the revolving door of New York’s Plaza Hotel set Taiwan on an unexpected path to democracy. As Chinese military incursions intensify today, a new documentary, When the Spring Rain Falls (春雨424), revisits that 1970 assassination attempt on then-vice premier Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國). Director Sylvia Feng (馮賢賢) raises the question Taiwan faces under existential threat: “How do we safeguard our fragile democracy and precious freedom?” ASSASSINATION After its retreat to Taiwan in 1949, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime under Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) imposed a ruthless military rule, crushing democratic aspirations and kidnapping dissidents from
Fundamentally, this Saturday’s recall vote on 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers is a democratic battle of wills between hardcore supporters of Taiwan sovereignty and the KMT incumbents’ core supporters. The recall campaigners have a key asset: clarity of purpose. Stripped to the core, their mission is to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They understand a basic truth, the CCP is — in their own words — at war with Taiwan and Western democracies. Their “unrestricted warfare” campaign to undermine and destroy Taiwan from within is explicit, while simultaneously conducting rehearsals almost daily for invasion,