Sounding the Alarm

Only five months after Taiwan (Republic of China) took delivery of its first six AH-64E Apache Block III helicopters in November, 2014, the first ill-fated Apache crashed due to human errors in a loiter and taxi practice.  This basic training was for developing pilot’s sense of feel, without any advanced combat maneuver.  The ROC Army is the first Apache user outside the US to receive the latest E model, the world’s most powerful attack chopper.  The order of 30 AH-64Es was part of a $6.5 billion arms deal unveiled in 2008 that irked PROC, at least subtly.  Somewhat ROC’s Apaches ain’t a real threat.

0958, 25 April, 2015, Apache s/n 808 flew by seed instructor Chen took off at the ROCA 601^st Brigade’s home base in northern Taiwan, his back-seater was the 601^st‘s deputy CO Liu.  Chen had 350 flt hr in Apache, and Liu had more than 1,000 flt hr in AH-1W SuperCobra.  This was Liu’s first Apache flight, he didn’t touch anything; the DFDR record revealed that it’s Chen did all the control.  Soon after T/O, Chen suddenly climbed from loiter altitude 120 ft to 350 ft under his spacial confusion.  Lost his ground reference, he even activated night vision device.  Before crash the control tower questioned his inadequate climbing, Chen used fogged up cockpit to conceal his mistake.

Surely crewman’s crapped-out airmanship for crashing an astronomical-priced chopper is inexcusable; Apache is not suitable for Taiwan’s requirements in the first place.  The lighter and cheaper Cobra can fully handle Taiwan’s high mountainous terrain and salty coastlines, neither are gracious to Apache.  But, Taiwanese top brass need the highest-tech equipment to justify their jobs, and the US needs to maximize its profit from Taiwan.  $70M is the Apache Longbow’s unit price for Taiwan, while $18M is for other Longbow operators.  With its aviator’s once-burnished reputation is being tarnished, ROC armed forces’ very survival is at stake.  It comes down to reality vs. wishful thinking, hopefully it’s not all doom and gloom.

Web of Power 以其可見而知其所隱

At the height of a fratricidal wrangling across the Taiwan straight, a Taipei-based C-46 passenger airliner (Civil Air Transport No. B-908) crashed as a result of a failed hijacking to Red China.  It was on June 20, 1964, all 57 onboard were killed, including the high profile founder of Cathy Organization (Singapore), Motion Picture and General Investments Ltd. (Hong Kong), Loke Wan Tho-the target of this attack.  Ignoring the death threat from the Red China, Loke’s Taiwan trip for the 11^th Asian Film Festival infuriated Beijing.  Before Loke’s VIP group went aboard in Taipei, two “Navy officers” had already boarded in Penghu, each men brought a thick USN Radar Operator Manual in his carry-on luggage, containing was a 9mm FN Browning hi-power pistol in a cut-out in each manual.  But when the aircraft overflew Taizhong, the hijacker’s plans went very wrong, so they shot both pilots in order to accomplished mission at any costs.

Among the debris on the scene, one of the hollow manual was found by an experienced CIA agent.  On the bombshell clue, he furtively traced back to the 2^nd Navy Shipyard in Penghu, then down to the saboteurs on the passenger list.  Surely such outcome was a relief for the powerless CAT employees, CAT’s name seemed to be cleared, and its insurance might cover all the losses.  But, they had no idea that the Chiang Kai-Shek’s image as a nation savior, this was required of the military not to reveal their absolute loyalty to Chiang’s authoritarian rule in order to support a fidelity outwardly.  Soon all the evidences were erased by the secret police, even CIA-boss of CAT-was closemouthed about the conspiracy.  Thus CAT was made the scapegoat for its “pilot’s error”, and it had backtracked since ever.

In retrospect, the democratic tide in Taiwan runs with unsuspected power and depth.  During Chiang’s reign, there were many ways one can land in state political prison, one of the victims under “shotgun blasting Commie hunt” was my neighbor Lee (李我炎)-future assistant of deputy secretary general of the UN.  However, as a lucky toddler, I was carefully protected by my parents.  In 1961 my mother took me in CAT’s new CV-880 jet to visit my grandma in Hong Kong, among my new toys I brought back home was a little drum made in Red China-with a Red Star on a drumhead.  When my dad spotted the “politically incorrect” logo, he cut off that drumhead.  Like far-reaching free expression, aircraft seems rare and jaw-dropping sights then.  Amid aircraft types used in Taiwan, I crossed through their service lives in different ways, where I had close encounters with Convair 880, Boeing 737, Beechcraft Super King Air 200, Republic F-84 Thunderjet and North American F-86 Sabre, etc. in my early days in Taiwan.

Yankee Doodle Dady

During the Cold War, the Red China knew about the terrific seapower of the 7^th Fleet surrounding Taiwan, that’s what kept the Reds starting invasion.  When they suddenly launched heavy bombardment of Quemoy outpost in 1958, the 7^th’s flagship Helena and carrier Lexington were both ready for action by the islet at 8 Am the next morning.  Three 8” selfpropelled howitzers were secretly ferried from Okinawa to Quemoy, M-55’s firepower was the major factor in putting out the 44 days Red’s barrage.  Among the four 7^th‘s Task Forces, only the TF 72 was responsible for Formosa (Taiwan) Patrol.  Inversely, it also prohibited any cross-strait operation under Reclaim the Mainland policy from the Nationalist Chinese.

The U.S. Army also deployed ground units in Taiwan, consisting of the MGM-1 Matador Tactical Missile Squadrons stationed at Tainan.  The Martin Matador was the first U.S. operational surface-to-surface cruise missile, which armed with the W5 nuclear warhead.  In 1962 the Tainan squadrons were decommissioned with the last phased-out Matadors in South Korea and West Germany.  After having the warheads removed from fuselage, the bulkhead attachment points were cut off by axes, then the non-flyable airframes were sold as scrap locally.  Meanwhile most of the inactivated support vehicles were dismantled, mainly 2 1/2-ton and 5-ton trucks.

Under the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, ROC forces’ were re-armed for island defense. Equipped with all defensive fighters, the powerful F-4 Phantom had always been CAF’s ultimate dream weapon.  The Air Asia’s maintenance hangars at Tainan were constantly filled with warbirds, e.g. F-4s from the Vietnam Theater, and a F-4 flight visited the CAF Academy in 1969.  However, silver linings finally among the political clouds.  1970, U.S. DoD approved to supply F-4D to Taiwan, and CAF crewmen started their WSO training on the back seat.  But CAF pilots had never used the front seat, the U.S. Congress rejected the deal to avoid China’s frustration.  One 1973 afternoon, I and my buddy were among the enthusiastic local folks, waiting for boarding the visiting 7^th’s cruiser Oklahoma City cruiser (CL-91).  Right after the harbor gate opened, crowd squeezed in like mob, and speaker announced immediately “tour canceled”.  Anyone mess with dominator will have a problem.

The Truth Hurts

By the time the Republic of China was revitalized in Taiwan, more than 60 million Chinese “unnatural died” in mainland China.  In 1949-61, though the Commies was putting the energy into Building New China, this totalitarian regime’s technique was endless political purge, it’s essence is brutality, and a core part of it is its Mao-ness.  In order to waste no time during the political straitjacket sent PROC into chaos, Chiang Kai-Shek escalated his Reclaim the Mainland in April 1961.  Code named Nation Light (SL 國光計劃), Ministry of National Defense (MND) started planning cross-strait strike, amphibious landing, counter-offensive, special operation, and counter-insurgency.  For the air force’s part, a Atlas Team with command, plan, audit, and FOC officers worked round the clock in a restricted MND office.

Under the US military/economic aid and Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, ROC forces’ were re-armed for offshore coastal defense.  All CAF prop powered fighters were upgraded to defensive jets, and the Atlas Team processed endless top-secret red-cover folders.  In 10 years totally 26 assault operations under five-folded NL were proposed, and the Atlas Team conducted 97 presidential briefings.  In retrospect, then no one considered the risks outweighed cross-strait power projection.  All in all, challenging the autocratic leadership was risky, questioning Chiang’s policies was disastrous.  At the height of the war game, June 1965, five LVTs sunk and killed dozens marines in a landing maneuver.  Followed by two failed sea battles in August and November, respectively, revealed that supporting an amphibious campaign was simply unachievable for the ROC Navy.

As the NL finally exposed to the United States Taiwan Defense Command, it had another different agendas working at odds with this unwinnable plan.  Leaving aside flawed calculation, strategically-it’s just not going to work.  The USTDC pointed out the PLA forces were waiting behind the coastal area, this clearing out battlefield would be a graveyard for the over-stretched invaders with questionable re-supply.  And the mainland featured a tight array of uncertain loyalties and hostility, it’s impossible to decamp the PLA troops.  The Americans, couldn’t be more bullish, their refusal was effectively a slap in the face to Chiang officialdom.  July 1972, his Reclaim the Mainland which fuss the Far East’s stability was forced to abort by the US.  Ever since the ROC’s annual massive military parade-a FOC review-was indefinitely shelved, so did a dream with inexcusable consequences.

China's Wrong Turn

As one of the only two Northrop Black Widows still in existence, a P-61B is the centerpiece aircraft of the Beijing Air and Space Museum.  1944, it had been transfer from 10^th Air Force, India, to China under the Chinese American Composite Wing for B-29 escort.  Facing the advancing Communists, 1949, all the P-61 starboard wings were made non-flyable by chopping out the outer panels, and these advanced night fighters became inactivated crap when they fell in the wrong hands.  Some Chinese Air Force personnel in urgent retreat to Taiwan still remembered that chaos.   Right after touch down, secret police singled out Commie suspects, and shot them on the spot.

CAF was enjoying a equipment windfall around 1946.  Though a mammoth army backed up by a mighty air force equipped with hundreds of U.S. planes, its slow-burn strike and drip-feed supply was not causing havoc for People’s War by air campaigns.  The difficult was the complexity of the situation on the ground, the battlefield features a shifting array of friends and foes.  Using aerial surveillance to assess targets had proven notoriously inadequate; without trustful air-ground coordination, once a whole infantry battalion was wiped out under B-24 air raid.  In 1946-49, 43 aircraft defected to the Reds, including L-5, AT-6, PT-17, P-51, C-46, C-47, and B-24.  In late 1948, the U.S. 7^th Fleet moved its homeport from Qingdao to the Philippines, and the Reds were using the truce to push their own agenda.

The reality by 1948 was about 30% of People’s Liberation Army was ex-centre influx, and this ratio approached 80% in 1949.  In addition to the various units defected to the PLA, some 400 million centre POWs became its cannon fodder.  PLA depended on fat trophies from the Nationalists to keep their arsenal a sudden spike in the US weaponry.  When the unwinding of its servicemen occurred, it sent shock waves throughout China.  Outraged by the Red’s insurgency, more and more of centre sovereignty was slipping into the Red’s hands.  A less-motivated army not backed up by leadership and aerial support, an unstoppable spiral into collapse.  China was proclaimed a communist state on Oct 1, 1949, 17 ex-CAF aircraft formation overflew Tiananmen Square to salute Mao and his ilk.

Empire Without Sunset?

Mar 17, 1946, the C-47 VIP transport (CAF s/n 222) exploded in the mid-air near Nanking, none of the 11 on-board survived, included the Nationalist intelligence chief Dai Li (戴笠).  Amidst four factions struggled for dominance of the post-WWII Chinese Navy, Britphobic Dai was the figurehead of the pro-American faction led by Chiang Kai-Shek.  Chiang’s regime had already been hopelessly infested by Red’s spies, right under Dai counterintelligence’s nose.  Even Dai’s arch enemy, Mao ZeDong, was not a de facto inheritor of his death.  An unproven theory suggested the C-47 s/n 222 was blasted by a incendiary device planted by the British M-16, carried aboard by the unaware pilot. Di’s mysterious crash was only beneficial to the sunset empire for paving the way for its reclaim to China.

As wishful thinking to restore its pre-war imperial adventures, the British invested a flotilla for rebuilding the Chinese Navy and trained its cadets at Portsmouth in 1946.  Facing a huge US naval aid to China, the Royal Navy reluctantly proposed one light cruiser, two corvettes, and two T-class submarines as gift to the exhausted Chinese Navy.  However, most of the bubble flotilla were delayed then canceled under various excuses.  Furthermore, when one of the corvette (靈甫)- which had already been operated by the Chinese Navy- refueled in Hong Kong in April, 1949, UK simply confiscated it.  Eventually this ex-HMS Mendip ended up in Israel as Haifa.

Despite facing unavoidable setbacks in China, the UK had relentlessly pursued its impulsive agenda to Far East from Hong Kong.  Since Malayan “Emergency”  began, the Sunderland flying boat patrol bomber squadron transfer from Hong Kong carried out hundreds of sorties over Malaya.  During the guerrilla war in 1948-60 the Chinese freedom fighters-who were treated as disposable trash after their community had borne the brunt of fighting the Japanese occupation-were painted as Communist insurgency by UK and overprivileged Malaysian.  The anti-British liberation war draws the Commonwealth forces and British Special Air Service into the fight against jungle fighters, they were eventually crushed under the colonial force’s modern fire firepower and war crimes.  Just like Britain assisted Japanese building its navy and air power, backing up Hitler in the Munich Conference, exporting jet engine to Stalin, provocateur always backfired its self.

A Pyrrhic Victory

1980-82, when I was an Allison J-33 turbojet engine techie with the CAF’s T-33 fleet, some ghost stories about the kamikaze pilots were still widely circulated at Gangshan AFB.  Under the Japanese occupation, Gangshan in southern Taiwan was one of the main IJN airfields during the WWII, and our ground crew quarter was the very kamikaze barrack.  Then they used the Type-96 attack bomber and Zero Sen, while other IJN Sentais also operated in southern Taiwan, namely Tainan and Dongan.  The former flew Zero, Type-2 and Type-98 land-based recon, the latter used Type-2 float fighter and Type-2 flying boat.  All advanced attack bomber crewmen were trained at Xinzhu with B7A Ryusei and P1Y1 Ginga, etc.

In 1945, the IJA 8^th Hikoshidan was the major Japanese air strength in Taiwan.  Under the 8^th, the Taipei based 10^th Sentai used Type-98 attack bombers, as well Type-94, Type-97, Type-100 HQ recons, and the Xinzhu based 29^th Sentai used Type-2 fighters.  Both the 14^th and 50^th Sentais operated at Jiayi, the 14^th used Type-4 and Type-97 bombers, the 50^th used Type-1, Type-4, and Type-97 fighters.  Pingdong airfield housed the 8^th and 13^th Sentais, the 8^th used Type-97, Type-100 recons, and Type-99 bombers, while Type-1, Type-2, Type-4 , Type-97 fighters and Type-97, Type-100 recons flew with the 13^th.  September 22^nd, 1945, 389 IJN aircraft stationed in Taiwan began surrendered to China, and several current CAF bases were started from then IJN and IJA airfields. These soon-to-be scrap metal received by the CAF only played a minor role, as the U.S. types did (struggled to survive off) the heavy lifting.

It’s the Communists took full advantage of few IJA trophies when they planned to slowly gain altitude in Manchuria.  Right after the VJ Day, the Reds were nothing short of reform of their military might to broaden their reach.  January 1, 1946, a crude air force was found, slowly but irrevocably slipping from Nationalist centre’s grasp.  Two months later, 20 pilots, 24 techies, 72 mechanics, and near 200 more ground crews of the IJA 101^st Training Regiment, 2^nd Hikoshidan, started working for the newly-established Northeastern Aviation School.  Among the 120 plus IJA aircraft received by the Reds in Manchuria, 46 units were passed onto this facility, while 36 serviceable ones became the backbone of covert training.  The Reds slaughtered its way across China, declaring RPOC in 1949.