History
and development of the 401st Wing
The predecessor
of the 5th wing was the 5th Tactical Fighter Group and was established
in Jianqiao, Hangzhou, in 1936.
It was assigned to the Air Force Third Command in 1939 and stationed
at Shuangliu, Sichuan Province.
In 1943, it was assigned to the Chinese-American Composite Corps and
stationed at Zhijiang, Hunan.
It returned to Nanjing in 1945, after the victory over Japan.
The Chinese-American Composite Corps was then dissolved and the unit
was assigned to the Air Force
1st Command and stationed at Dajiaochang, Nanjing, before being
assigned to the 4th Military Region Command in 1946.
In 1948, the wing was ordered to relocate from Nanjing to Taiwan and
station at Taoyuan Air Force Base.
In 1953, a reconnaissance squadron was assigned to the command to form
the 5th Tactical Fighter Wing.
In 1960, the wing was renamed 5th Composite Wing.
In 1976, the wing was renamed 401st Tactical Composite Wing.
This wing has the record of victories in aerial battles during the War
of Resistance against the Japanese
aggression, and reached a score of 1:10 although being by far inferior
in numbers.
The pilots of the wing have shot down more than 120 enemy planes and
severely damaged another 23.
A remarkable mission was the surprise attack on Bailuo Airfield in
Yueyang. The brave pilots have destroyed more than 200 enemy planes at
one time and contributed to the final victory.
On October 15, 1955, the 5th Group shot down one Mig-15 of the PLA for
the first time in the air battles over
the Taiwan Straits. On July 21, 1956, the pilots of this wing also
shot down two Mig fighters of the PLA in the
airspace north of Matsu. Later on, the wing shot down a total of 21
Mig-17's in the battles of August 14,
September 8, September 18, September 20, September 24, and October 10,
1958, and might have shot
down another three and damaged another five enemy planes in the same
period.
The performance of the wing resulted in the conferring of a banner of
honor by late President Chiang Kai-Shek in person in August 1959.
This was the glorious page in the history of the wing during the civil
war.
On July 1st, 1998, the wing was ordered to relocate from Taoyuan Air
Force Base to Hualien Air Force Base and started to operate the
Lockheed Martin F-16A/B Fighting Falcon (block 15OCU's upgraded to MLU
standard before delivery and designated block20) under the new streamlined
organizational structure of the military forces. Under the same
policy, the reconnaissance squadron was also assigned to the wing.
With this new unit, the wing supported the establishment of the
"Phoenix eye" surveillance and photography capacity of the
Air Force and completed several important missions of intelligence
gathering through surveillance and photography, and was highly praised
by the senior officials.
Former President Chen Shui-Bian visited Hualien Air Force Base on
January 16, 2002 and took part in the
ceremony of the formation of the Air Force 401st Wing. The 5th
Composite Wing was then dissolved on
October 31, 2004 with the formation of the 17th, 26th, and 27th
Tactical Fighter Squadrons on November 1. |