Liu Yalou

Liu Yalou
刘亚楼
1st Commander of the PLA Air Force
In office
25 October 1949 – 7 May 1965
ChairmanMao Zedong
Preceded byPost established
Succeeded byWu Faxian
Personal details
BornApril 1910
Wuping, Fujian, China
Died7 May 1965(1965-05-07) (aged 55)
Shanghai, China
Awards
Nickname103 (military call sign)
Military service
Allegiance China
 Soviet Union
Branch/service People's Liberation Army Ground Force
 People's Liberation Army Air Force
Years of service1929–1965
RankGeneral (PLA)
Major (USSR)
CommandsChief of Staff, Manchurian Army Group, Chief commander, People's Liberation Army Air Force
Battles/warsSoviet-German War (1940)
Liaoshen Campaign (1948)
Tianjin Campaign (1949)

Liu Yalou (simplified Chinese: 刘亚楼; traditional Chinese: 劉亞樓; pinyin: Liú Yàlóu; April 1910 – 7 May 1965) was a general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army who served as the inaugural commander-in-chief of the PLA Air Force. During the Chinese Civil War, he was chief of staff of Lin Biao's army group, which occupied the entirety of Manchuria in 1948 and captured 472,000 Kuomintang troops in the Liaoshen Campaign.