Lin Biao incident

The Lin Biao incident (Chinese: 九一三事件; lit. 'September 13 Incident') was an aircraft accident at 3 a.m. on 13 September 1971 involving Lin Biao, the sole Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. Everyone on board a PLAAF Hawker Siddeley Trident, including Lin and several members of his family, died when the aircraft impacted Mongolian terrain.

As Vice Chairman, Lin Biao had been the official heir to Chairman Mao Zedong since 1966. From 1970, a rift developed between on one side Lin and his power base in the Army and Politburo, and on the other side Mao, allies Jiang Qing and Zhou Enlai, and their PLA factions. Issues included Lin's growing power in the PLA and his prominent role in Mao's cult of personality. The crash was a key event at the midpoint of the ten-year Cultural Revolution, following which the Gang of Four gained prominence.

According to the Chinese government, Lin Biao was attempting to defect to the Soviet Union after a failed plot to assassinate Mao Zedong, and the crash was caused by fuel starvation. Following Lin's death, there was skepticism in the West and the Soviet Union concerning the official explanation. Classified Soviet investigations in the immediate aftermath, including recovery of bodies, confirmed that Lin was among the dead, but that the aircraft had sufficient fuel to reach the USSR. An investigation by Western scholars in 1994 found that Lin Biao had made two attempts to contact the Kuomintang government in Taiwan.