65 years ago, on International Labor Day (May 1, 1959), at Gia Lam airport (Hanoi), the 919th Air Transport Regiment, the first military -civil aviation transport unit of our country, was established.
Not only performing military transport missions combined with civil services, Regiment 919 also directly participated in combat.
During the period from 1965 to 1968, the US Air Force conducted a war of destruction in the North. Regiment 919 stopped its passenger transport mission and switched to combat preparation missions, flying special aircraft, transporting weapons and food for the army and supplying localities.
As the second generation pilot of Flight Group 919 since 1964, Mr. Tran Huu Tho said that was a time of many hardships but also very heroic.
“In 1968, during the counter-attack in the South, we were ordered to directly bomb Thua Thien Hue. I was in the first group of pilots, and when I flew over Khe Sanh, Quang Tri province, I felt very sad to see the country being destroyed. Looking down at my homeland, I whispered to myself: “Mom, above you, there are not enemy planes, but your son…”, he shared.
For this pilot, flying without navigation, flying at night without airport lights, flying on missions he had never been trained for such as dropping supplies, helping flood victims... are unforgettable memories.
"The flights to drop supplies and aid our compatriots were carried out in complex meteorological conditions, which were difficult to observe and very dangerous. In particular, to deliver supplies to our compatriots, the planes had to fly close to the water. Not only did we fly to deliver supplies to the Vietnamese people, we also flew day and night to drop supplies to the Lao people," Mr. Tho recalled.
In his emotion, the elderly pilot did not forget to mention the memory of New Year's Eve 1967. That was when the flight crew had just returned to the living room when they received a gift of a package of cakes and a New Year's poem from Uncle Ho.
Overcoming difficulties
Mr. Pham Huy Van is the third generation pilot of Regiment 919. He shared that when the unit was established 6 years ago, he was assigned to the flight crew.
Recalling the first days of training without any curriculum, just the previous class of pilots teaching the next class, Mr. Van laughed and said: “It was war. Sometimes we had to study in evacuation areas, in people's houses, in temples. There were many shortages. All the studying took place in our imagination, because there were no learning tools or flight models. We all studied "virtually" based on the experiences of our predecessors.
But studying was not peaceful. In 1967, the US continuously bombed the North, including Hai Phong . The moments when we had to study while flying bombers happened like everyday meals.
According to Mr. Van, there was a time when the class seemed to be wiped out because of enemy bombing. The whole class only had time to run to the drainage ditch, the bombs were hitting both sides, but fortunately everyone was safe. After 7-8 months of studying in poverty and hardship, the pilots began to fly.
Having flown old Soviet aircraft that transported troops, goods, and weapons, but were not fighter planes, Mr. Van revealed that "its interior had nothing."
"At that time, the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 attack aircraft were very crudely built. Some planes even leaked, had no air conditioning, and got colder the higher they went. Once, while flying, we couldn't hear the engine sound, and when we looked outside, we saw the propellers standing still, the engine had stopped working. At that time, we calmly handled the situation by holding the throttle and shaking it back and forth, and the engine started running again," said Mr. Van.
Assessing the first years of operation of Regiment 919, Major General Bui To Viet, Deputy Political Commissar of the Air Defense - Air Force, said that despite difficulties and hardships, the unit has affirmed its role.
“The regiment directly fought on all three fronts, including participating in shooting down aircraft, destroying radar stations guiding American aircraft to attack the North, and sinking American ships... That is a feat that not every country's Air Transport Force can achieve,” said Major General Bui To Viet.
During the glorious years, Regiment 919 achieved resounding feats such as sinking and shooting down two enemy ships in the 1968 Tet Offensive; transporting the Vietnamese delegation to France to negotiate and sign the Paris Agreement; providing flood relief to compatriots in the 1971 Red River dike breach...
Regiment 919 also participated in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign to unify the country. Air Force transport aircraft and civil aviation aircraft made hundreds of flights, mobilizing officers and soldiers, transporting weapons, technical equipment, medicine, etc. to meet the urgent needs of the campaign.
On the day of total victory, Air Transport flights brought Party and State leaders to Saigon to attend the national reunification celebration.
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