The PLAAF’s 1st Aviation Brigade, under the Northern Theater Command Air Force, is one of those units that has been “elite” for so long it no longer needs to say it out loud. Its lineage runs straight back to 19 June 1950, when it stood up as the 4th Mixed Brigade and promptly became the first PLAAF unit to see combat in the Korean War. Not a bad opening act. But the 1st hasn’t just lived off its history, it has spent seven decades doubling as the PLAAF’s unofficial operational testbed for whatever new bird Shenyang or Chengdu rolls out next.
A few highlights:
- 1980s: First to field the J‑8B and the J‑7E
- 2000s: Early operational user of the J‑11 and late‑model J‑8s
- 2010s: First frontline unit to receive the J‑20
- 2020s: Reorganized into the 1st Aviation Brigade and—drum roll please —now the first PLAAF unit flying the land‑based J‑35A, China’s second 5th‑generation fighter
(Yes, the PLAN gets the navalized version. Yes, the photos are below. Yes, the nose gear is different.)
This pattern is familiar one in the PLAAF modernization: whenever a new fighter is ready to leave the brochure and enter the real world, the 1st is likely to gets the keys first.
For a deeper dive into why units like this matter and how the PLAAF actually organizes, grades, and manages its aviation forces then there is no better guide than Kenneth Allen, and "His 70 Years of the PLA Air Force" (CASI, 2021) remains the gold standard (link)
J-35A (61820, 61821) of the 1st Aviation Brigade
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