14 Facts About Yue Yiqin

Yue Yiqin was a flying ace of the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Yue Yiqin achieved five confirmed aerial victories until his death in combat during the Battle of Nanking.

Together with Gao Zhihang, Liu Cuigang and Li Guidan, Yue Yiqin was considered to be one of the "Four Heroes of the Chinese Air Force".

Yue Yiqin was born 1914 in Lushan County, Sichuan as Yue Yiqin Yizhong.

Yue Yiqin's father Yue Boying was an owner of hookah shops and tea houses who ran a booming business in Lushan, Ya'an, and Chengdu.

Yue Yiqin attended West China Union Senior High School after graduating from Private Mingde Junior High School.

Yue Yiqin dropped his medical studies when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, and instead joined the Central Aviation Academy.

Yue Yiqin was the only one to shoot down one of the floatplanes, though the Japanese pilot, Shigeru Yano, managed to survive by ditching his E8N in the Huangpu River.

Probably as a result of the dogfight's confusion, Yano later mistakenly reported that he had successfully rammed and thus destroyed the Hawk III that had attacked him; Yue Yiqin however returned to his base unharmed.

Yue Yiqin flew his Hawk III 2204, this time with an oxygen system that allowed him to operate in much higher altitudes.

Yue Yiqin's machine was eventually hit and he bailed out, but his parachute failed to open and he fell to his death.

Yue Yiqin was buried at the Aviation Martyrs Cemetery, Nanjing, in the spring of 1946.

In 1937, the artist Ye Qianyu created a large propaganda poster based on a photograph of Yue Yiqin and used it for an exhibition in Nanjing.

Yue Yiqin visited the exhibition and had a photograph taken with the artist.