Vietnamese pilot once shocked the world when he single-handedly hijacked an enemy plane.

In the blazing heat of April, when the whole South was eagerly preparing for the 50th Anniversary of National Reunification Day, Mr. Ho Duy Hung sat quietly turning the pages of the book Broken Wings Spy , a book that encapsulates a lifetime of silent and proud intelligence work.

The man who shocked the world when he stole an American UH-1 helicopter in 1973, escaped enemy control and flew to the liberated zone, now lives a simple life in his old memories. He was once embedded deep inside the Saigon government, living on the line between life and death to deliver information to the revolution.

The pages of the book contain the heroic youth, but to Mr. Hung, they are not worth mentioning compared to the blood and flesh of his comrades and compatriots who sacrificed for peace .

"My strength is insignificant," he said modestly.

This year, the old spy still yearns for the parade. He hopes to see his old comrades again - those who fought with him, lived and died for the ideal of national independence and freedom.

Mr. Ho Duy Hung, alias Chin Chinh, (born in 1947 in Cam Son, Duy Trung, Duy Xuyen, Quang Nam ), was born into a revolutionaryfamily . His father - Mr. Ho Duy Tu - was one of the first Party members of Duy Xuyen district, his brothers and sisters all participated in secret activities, some of them worked as spies in enemy territory.

At the age of 14, he studied at Tran Cao Van School (Tam Ky) and participated in the student movement against the government. In 1967, he was exposed and left his hometown to live with his uncle in Quy Nhon, studying while continuing to secretly participate in the Saigon - Gia Dinh student movement.

In 1968, following the organization's instructions, he joined the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and attended Thu Duc Officer School. At the end of that year, Mr. Ho Duy Hung was selected to study English for aviation. In December 1969, after graduating from the Military Language School, he was sent to the United States to study helicopter flying.

In the US, he graduated with honors with a UH-1 and received additional training in gunship operations.

"To get that driver's license, I had to overcome myself, including the pain of being shunned and ridiculed by my relatives...", Mr. Hung said.

In 1970, he returned to Vietnam and was assigned to Squadron 215, Division 2 of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force stationed in Nha Trang. At the same time, the organization assigned him to be a member of the E4 intelligence team.

Thanks to this position, he provided many top secret documents: maps, reconnaissance photos, US military communication frequencies... which were of great help to our revolutionary forces.

However, after 5 months of returning to the country, in March 1971, he was arrested by the Saigon Military Security because he was discovered to come from a revolutionary family, many of whom participated in activities for the Liberation Front. He was detained and interrogated for 5 months. Without enough evidence to charge him with anti-government activities, he was dismissed from the army on the grounds of "falsifying his background, showing signs of being pro-communist".

Returning to our forces in 1972, Mr. Hung was assigned the task of stealing or hijacking enemy aircraft in the "Red Summer" campaign. But at that time the war situation was fierce, the enemy troops were densely stationed, and the airports were strictly controlled, making it impossible to carry out the mission.

A year later, in November 1973, Mr. Hung returned to Da Lat, receiving a mission assigned by the Saigon - Gia Dinh Military Region's military intelligence, taking a UH-1 helicopter, flying to the liberated zone to serve the plan to attack the Independence Palace.

"This mission was actually proposed by me," he said.

He understood that this was a mission where death could come in the blink of an eye - failure meant sacrifice. For him, being an intelligence officer was like walking on a knife's edge, one wrong step could cost him his life. But if he calculated carefully enough, the probability of survival was still 50-50, so he chose to continue.

"I am mentally prepared. If I fail, I die. But on the battlefield, who doesn't face death? Once you accept a mission, there is no turning back," he said firmly.

He carefully prepared the plan to approach the plane, every detail like a life-or-death chess game. He chose an empty lot near Thuy Ta restaurant, next to Xuan Huong lake - a familiar landing spot when he was a pilot of Squadron 215. Thanks to his extensive experience, he knew every corner of this area.

There were almost no military guards here. The only checkpoint was a militiaman standing at the tennis court - a serious security gap, which was his golden opportunity to act.

The plane's parking position was right within sight of the road to Da Lat market. He calculated: "If an American pilot suddenly appeared, I could detect it from afar and deal with it immediately, either retreating safely or acting quickly, leaving the enemy no time to react."

On November 4, he approached a helicopter parked at the airport. After checking, he discovered that there was not enough fuel to fly back to base, so he quietly withdrew.

On the morning of November 7, despite the bad weather, he persisted in monitoring. At exactly 9:00 a.m., a UH-1 with the registration number 60139 suddenly landed.

He immediately approached, quickly climbed into the cockpit, checked the joystick and locking system, then checked the fuel and voltage. Seeing that the gauge showed 24V - the starting level - Mr. Hung turned on the switch, checked one last time. The electricity was stable, he felt secure leaving the cockpit, unhooking the tail rotor wire and returning to the control position.

Instead of taking 3-4 minutes as in the usual process (unfastening the tail strap, winding the rope, putting it in the cabin, fastening the seat belt, starting, monitoring the rpm, engine temperature...), it only took him 40 seconds to take off the helicopter.

The UH-1 tilted and glided across Xuan Huong Lake, straight into the white rain, disappeared into the gray sky, heading towards the revolutionary base.

The moment he stepped into the cockpit, for Mr. Hung, was like riding a horse into battle - there was no room for fear or hesitation. In his mind at that moment, there was only one goal: Start the plane, reach the required rpm, and take off safely.

But the sky of Dalat at the end of the year did not let go easily. As soon as he left the ground, thick clouds covered the plane, and as soon as he took off, rain poured down. In his haste, he accidentally forgot to turn on the power switch - the device that controlled the horizon clock, the only thing that helped him navigate in the fog.

"Flying into the clouds without any horizontal indicators, an accident could happen at any time," Mr. Hung recalled the life-and-death moment that year.

Thick clouds surrounded the UH-1. With no light or direction, he was almost swallowed up in the white sky. Fortunately, the altimeter - a mechanical device that uses air pressure - was still working. He immediately pulled the stick, sending the helicopter soaring to an altitude of over 2,000m, avoiding the risk of crashing into the mountains in the rugged terrain of Da Lat.

Although this action went against the rules of combat, requiring him to fly close to treetops to avoid enemy radar, he accepted the risk of being detected in exchange for the safety of the helicopter.

In the absence of a horizon gauge, Mr. Hung was forced to use the speedometer as a basis for balancing. "If the speed is too low, the plane will lose lift and fall. On the contrary, if it exceeds the threshold, the nose of the plane will dive down, which is very dangerous," the male pilot explained.

The controller kept working, he kept a steady speed of 120-130km/h, every second fighting with death in the air.

When he saw the Lien Khuong runway appear under the clouds, he shouted: "I'm alive!". In the middle of the flight struggling in the clouds, when he regained his composure, Mr. Hung suddenly remembered that he forgot to turn on the inverter switch to determine his position.

"I quickly turned it on. Immediately, the horizon clock lit up again, and the fuel gauge also showed the parameters. Only then did I realize I had been flying for 20 minutes in the white sky," he said. For him, those were the longest 20 minutes of his life.

Re-establishing his position, he immediately lowered his altitude and returned to his original route. But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, another worry struck. "I was afraid the infantry on the ground would mistakenly fire at me, thinking it was an enemy helicopter," the pilot said.

When he was still a short distance from the target, the fuel indicator light turned red - only 15 minutes of flight left, while the base was still 50-60km away, seeing our army camp below, Mr. Hung decided to land nearby. After carefully hiding and camouflaging the UH-1, he walked alone more than 2km to find the unit.

Wearing civilian clothes, he did not reveal his identity as a pilot. "I saw a comrade on guard, reporting and asking to see the chief. A moment later, the political commissar came out and went with me back to the scene to inspect the plane," he said.

At first, the soldiers were wary, the plane was too far away to help, and asked to fly closer to the barracks.

According to the original plan, the UH-1 helicopter that Mr. Hung had hijacked would carry half a ton of explosives and "go into the air" and fly along the Saigon River on the morning of January 1, 1974 to attack the Independence Palace. However, the plan was not approved and instead, the aircraft was dispatched to the Loc Ninh border.

Mr. Hung was assigned to survey the area and coordinate with the combat unit of Artillery Group 75 to bring the aircraft to a safe assembly point.

During the preparation, an anti-aircraft artillery soldier from the North was assigned to lead the way. Just as he was about to take off, an enemy scout flew over. Fearing that he would be discovered, Mr. Hung was forced to delay until it was dark and the enemy withdrew.

As the sun set, in the dim light, Mr. Hung could not determine the exact location of the appointment. According to the plan, the ground would burn smoke as a signal. But at that moment, another cloud of smoke - from a group of people cooking nearby - confused him.

"When I landed, it turned out that below was a group of soldiers cooking dinner, not the unit that picked me up. Seeing the strange plane, they immediately opened fire from three sides," he recalled.

Amidst the barrage of bullets, Mr. Hung was forced to pull the control stick, steering the plane deep into the forest. In the darkness, he saw a low-lying area with no trees, and immediately landed the plane. The plane was hit, but luckily that was not the main part.

That night, Mr. Hung and his teammates discussed returning to the location where they were mistakenly shot the next morning, choosing the right time for the soldiers to exercise or water vegetables - when they were least alert - to land.

The next morning, as planned, he took off, circled back to the old area, and landed the plane on a grassy field 200 meters from the vegetable garden. The guide, wearing a military uniform and a conical hat, jumped out first and then quickly moved as planned. Mr. Hung also immediately turned off the engine and jumped out later.

Before they could do anything, the two were surrounded. The soldiers there pointed their guns straight at them. Tension reached its peak, and although no one had fired yet, they immediately contacted the Command Headquarters for instructions.

In the moment of life and death, Mr. Hung quickly pulled out a piece of paper - an inseparable item that the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Region had personally given him beforehand, instructing him to always carry it with him in case of emergency. The paper contained only a few lines: "Comrade Chin Chinh is carrying out a mission assigned by the General Staff. Requesting that units create conditions and support."

Luckily, the platoon commander saw the paper and immediately recognized the signature of his superior. The dangerous situation was resolved in a flash.

"A small piece of paper saved two lives and an extremely precious plane," Mr. Hung emotionally recalled.

The UH-1 helicopter stayed in Loc Ninh for about a month when a group of Air Force officers - including pilots and technicians from Hanoi - was sent to survey and train.

"During the discussion, we realized that if we let the helicopter operate in this area, sooner or later the enemy would discover it and bomb it. After reporting, our superiors directed us to find a way to bring the helicopter to the North for training," Mr. Hung recounted.

However, flying straight to the North was impossible - the distance was too far, and the risk of being intercepted in the air was very high. The only solution was to disassemble the plane and transport it along the Truong Son road, overcoming more than 1,000km of steep passes, deep streams, and dangerous mountains. "The most difficult thing is that when we arrive, the plane must still be intact and able to fly," Mr. Hung emphasized.

After much calculation, the optimal solution was chosen, disassembling the UH-1 into many parts. The system of captured military trucks was mobilized. Two Zin 157s, along with an American GMC crane, were mobilized to serve the dismantling and moving of the UH-1 to the North. Every detail was firmly fixed and carefully camouflaged.

On March 26, 1974, the special convoy quietly rolled out. After nearly a month of crossing mountains and forests, facing many dangers and challenges, the last UH-1 was safely brought to Hoa Lac airport (Son Tay). Here, the special helicopter was officially assigned to Battalion 5, Air Force Brigade 919 - starting a new journey, contributing to the final victory of the nation.

52 years have passed since that historic mission, but every time he recalls the story, Mr. Hung's eyes still light up with emotion as if he were reliving the moment of November 7, 1973. The soldier back then not only hijacked a plane - but also demonstrated his bravery, courage, and indomitability before the enemy.

Content: Nguyen Ngoan

Photo: Nguyen Ngoan

Design: Huy Pham

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/doi-song/phi-cong-viet-tung-khien-the-gioi-chan-dong-khi-mot-minh-cuop-may-bay-dich-20250423120903817.htm