World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseLuo Yingde (Wade-Giles: Lo Ying-te) was born to a rich merchant in Panyu County, Guangdong Province, China in 1913. In 1931, when Japan invaded northeastern China, he had just begun his studies at the physics department of Jinling University (Wade-Giles: Chin-ling University; since merged into today's Nanjing University). He immediately left the school and headed to the Nationalist government's Central Aviation Academy, rather than the air force of the Guangdong regional warlord. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the 8th Pursuit Squadron. During the mid-1930s, he was transferred to 7th Pursuit Squadron of 3rd Pursuit Group and served as a flight leader. When WW2 began in China in 1937, the 7th Pursuit Squadron was broken up to bring squadrons of 4th and 5th Pursuit Groups up to strength; as a result, Lieutenant Luo was reassigned to 24th Pursuit Squadron of 5th Pursuit Group. On 26 Sep 1937, he and his wingman Zhang Daoliang, in Hawk III fighters, pursued Lieutenant Shichiro Yamashita's A5M fighter over Nanjing, China; Luo succeeded in damaging the A5M fighter and forced it to land. The captured fighter was briefly studied by the Chinese before being sent to the Soviet Union for a similar purpose. Meanwhile, Luo successfully befriended Yamashita, ultimately convincing Yamashita to defect to the Chinese side, which aided the Chinese efforts to break Japanese tactical codes; to protect Yamashita's family in Japan, the defection was classified for 30 years. In late 1937, he was transferred to the squadron of Soviet volunteer pilots based in Nanjing as a liaison officer. Having befriended Alexei S. Blagoveshchenskiy, Luo gained the Soviet group leader's trust to put Luo in a cockpit. In this role, he, flying an I-16 fighter, shot down Lieutenant Ryohei Ushioda's A5M2b fighter over Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China in Jan 1938. In May 1938, he was given command of 21st Pursuit Squadron of 4th Pursuit Group flying I-16 fighters. In Mar 1942, after scoring 5.33 victories, he left from the front lines to study at the Chinese Air Force Staff College, graduating in the following year. He spent the remaining years of WW2 in various staff positions, including being the chief of staff of the US Chinese-American Composite Wing (Provisional). Immediately after the war, he studied at the US Army Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Leavenworth, Kansas, United States. In 1948, he was assigned to London, England, United Kingdom as a military attaché. In 1950, he became the head of the second department (military intelligence) of the Ministry of the National Defense of the Republic of China with office in Taipei, Taiwan. In 1956, he returned to the Chinese Air Force, becoming the Air Force Chief of Staff in 1957. In 1960, he returned to the defense ministry as the deputy chief of staff. In 1965, he was made the deputy commanding officer of the Air Force. In early 1970, he was attached to the General Staff Headquarters of the defense ministry in preparation of his retirement. In Jul 1970, he was promoted to the rank of General Second Class, a rank equivalent to a full general in the west. Between 1970 and 1975, he served as the Chinese ambassador to South Korea. In 1975, he was reactivated to serve as a special advisor to President Yan Jiagan (Wade-Giles: Yen Chia-kan). He retired for a second time in Jul 1977. In late 1987, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He traveled from Taiwan to Los Angeles, California, United States in the spring of 1988 to receive treatment. He did not respond well to the treatment and passed away in Los Angeles in Sep 1988. In Aug 1988, Luo had expressed his wish to be cremated, and that he wished to be buried at the Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery in Xizhi, northern Taiwan. After his death, it was found that the Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery did not accept cremated ashes, thus his family decided to intern his ashes in the United States.

Luo Yingde Interactive Map

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Luo Yingde Timeline