On 3 October 1939, Grigory Kulishenko led nine Soviet DB-3 bombers in a surprise raid on the Japanese-occupied Hankou airfield at Wuhan and returned without a single loss. Eleven days later he took off again to strike Japanese military installations in the same area. The attack was later described by the Japanese as “the greatest loss since the start of the incident.“ It destroyed 66 enemy bombers, 37 fighters, one gasoline depot holding 50,000 gallons of fuel, four ammunition dumps containing more than 30,000 crates of shells and bombs, three fire engines, and over 40 motor vehicles. Two Japanese air-force majors, more than 60 mechanics, and over 300 army and navy personnel were killed.

　　During the mission Kulishenko's formation was intercepted by Japanese fighters. In the fierce engagement, he personally shot down six enemy aircraft, but his own bomber was badly damaged. Flying alone out of the combat zone, he headed west toward his base. When he reached the skies over Wanxian (present-day Wanzhou, Chongqing), the plane suddenly became uncontrollable; the engines roared like muffled thunder as the aircraft plunged toward the residential quarters below.

　　Knowing that the bomber was irreplaceable state property, brought from thousands of kilometers away, and determined to spare the civilians on the ground, Kulishenko chose to risk his own life. He executed a forced landing on the Hongshaqi reach of the Yangtze just outside Wanxian town. The bomber settled onto the water, but Kulishenko, severely wounded and exhausted, lost consciousness and sank with the aircraft. The rest of the crew, aided by local residents, reached the riverbank and survived.

　　The Falcon Fell, the Faith Endures